“Attica Is an Ongoing Structure of Revolt” - Orisanmi Burton on Tip of the Spear, Black Radicalism, Prison Rebellion, and the Long Attica Revolt

Orisanmi Burton returns to the podcast to discuss his forthcoming book Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt.

We recorded this episode on August 21st the anniversary of the assassination of George Jackson, and we release it on September 9th, the 52nd anniversary of the Attica Rebellion. We spoke with Dr. Burton for over three hours and will release the conversation in segments. In this episode we talk about Dr. Burton’s methodology and why this book is different from other historical renderings of Attica, something that will immediately be apparent as we get into the discussion. 

We talk in this episode about the relationship between prisons, slavery, war and the law. Burton also shares reflections on the New York City Jail Rebellions of 1970, also known as the Tombs Rebellion or the Tombs Uprising. We talk about ways that Dr. Burton works with political Blackness and different notions of manhood through meditations from Queen Mother Moore and Kuwasi Balagoon. Burton reflects on how rebels gained leverage in zones of captivity and recalibrate our understanding of the Panther 21 by examining their impact and influence as political actors amid their repression. We also discuss different aspects of the lesser known November 1970 Auburn Prison Rebellion.

In the remainder of our conversation with Orisanmi Burton we will discuss his work’s treatment specifically on the Attica Revolt. This is our 4th conversation with Orisanmi Burton and we will link the others as even though they are on separate writings, they all relate to this book and interventions within it and fill in gaps we don’t cover in this episode. 

If you haven’t already, go out and pre-order this book. I mean no disrespect to the other authors who’ve written great books this year, there are some other great contenders, but this is the best book that I’ve read this year.

And if you like what we do, please become a patron of the show. As I mentioned last time, this podcast keeps me more than busy with full-time work. And I know it keeps Josh extremely busy as well. You can become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. We have some special announcements coming soon there too that you won’t want to miss. 

Our previous episodes with Orisanmi Burton