Fam,
Fifty-one years ago, hundreds of incarcerated men at Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York took over the prison in protest of the horrific conditions they were facing there. Fed up with overcrowding, censorship of mail, regular assault from corrections officers, and deplorable sanitation—including one shower a week and one roll of toilet paper a month—they refused to be ignored another day. So, on September 9, 1971, more than 1,300 inmates organized and rose up to demand an end to these inhumane conditions in what is now known as the Attica Uprising.
The uprising managed to hold the prison for five long days.
But on September 13th, then–Governor Rockefeller ordered the prison to be retaken instead of agreeing to meet the basic human needs of the protestors. With brute force, state troopers and guards fired 3,000 rounds of tear gas, killing 29 inmates and 10 prison workers, and wounding 89 others. Ultimately, 43 people were killed during the uprising, making it one of the deadliest prison riots in U.S. history
This uprising and its violent aftermath captured the eyes and attention of the world, and brought to light the brutal reality of incarceration in America. It became a rallying cry for abolitionists everywhere, radicalizing people across the country, moving them to see the carceral state for what it really was: 20th-century slavery. Black people who were moved by this uprising or who had personal connections to the violence of the prison system spent the next 50 years building the abolition movement we know today. Excessive force and inhumane conditions continue to be inflicted in prisons by law enforcement and the institutions they serve—and those institutions have expanded exponentially since the 1970s.
But the movement is gaining ground. Through decades of work, prison abolition has begun working its way into mainstream conversation, with more people interested in exploring “how” than ever before. Our demand and our mandate is to end all jails, prisons, immigration detention, youth detention, and civil commitment facilities as we know them, and to establish policies and programs that address the current oppressive conditions experienced by people who are imprisoned. Read more here.
The bravery and boldness of the men at Attica marked a critical moment in the progress toward our freedom, and we honor their sacrifice. We continue fighting for them.
In belief in a future without cages,
Movement for Black Lives
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