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The Attica Uprising

Back in the day on September 9th, 1971, more than a thousand mostly black inmates staged a revolt within the walls of the Attica State Penitentiary in New York. Complaints of worsening conditions in the correctional facility ignited the uprising after an incident the night before involving two prisoners sent tensions over the edge. Inmate L.D. Barkley made a statement the day of the revolt that read, “We are men! We are not beasts and we do not intend to be beaten or driven as such!” After having taken control of Attica, the prisoners held more than forty guards hostage and listed their demands which included a federal takeover of the facility, improvement in conditions and amnesty for the rebellion. Governor Nelson Rockefeller refused to negotiate, however, and instead ordered Attica retaken days later by force.

The ill-conceived raid achieved its ends in squashing the uprising, but the means meant the deaths of thirty-two prisoners and eleven guards.

For Uprising, this is your truth professa’ saying it’s no mystery why they conceal our people’s history