Attica: the making and significance of a heroic prison uprising

“We the inmates of Attica Prison, have grown to recognize beyond the shadow of a doubt, that because of our posture as prisoners and branded characters as alleged criminals, the administration and prison employees no longer consider or respect us as human beings, but rather as domesticated animals selected to do their bidding in slave labor and furnished as a personal whipping dog for their sadistic, psychopathic hate. We, the inmates of Attica Prison, say to you, the sincere people of society, the prison system of which your courts have rendered unto is without question the authoritative fangs of a coward in power.”—”The Attica Liberation Faction Manifesto of Demands and Anti-Depression Platform,” July 2, 1971 The 1971 Attica prison uprising was a class conscious effort to tear down the curtain of silence and draw national attention to one of the most ostracized and exploited sectors of society—the millions of working class women and men forced to endure stark living conditions, as well as physical and sexual abuse behind bars. On Sept. 9, 1971, almost 1,500 inmates in Cell Block D took over the Attica Correctional Facility several months after having formally submitted a 27-point manifesto to the prison administration and the media. Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/attica-the-making-and-significance-of-a-heroic-prison-uprising/