What really happened during the Attica Prison Rebellion - Orisanmi Burton
“We are men.
We are not beasts and we do not intend
to be beaten or driven as such...
What has happened here
is but the sound before the fury
of those who are oppressed.”
These words were spoken during
the 1971 Attica Prison Rebellion
by one of its leaders, Elliott Barkley.
At the time, Attica prison
was severely overcrowded.
Its majority Black and Latino population
faced constant physical and verbal abuse.
All prison guards were white.
Some were members
of white supremacist hate groups.
Guards threw away letters
that weren’t written in English
and prohibited Muslim religious services.
They punished white prisoners
for fraternizing with non-white men.
Prisoners were allowed one shower a week
and one roll of toilet paper a month.
Among those imprisoned at Attica were
Elliott Barkley, Frank Smith,
and Herbert X. Blyden.
“I’m dying here little by little
every day...” Barkley wrote his mother.
She contacted authorities,
but nothing changed.
He began writing a book
about life at Attica.
Meanwhile, Smith worked a position
called the “warden’s laundry boy”
for 30 cents day.
His grandmother had been enslaved.
Because Smith and others were treated
as less-than-human
at the will of their keepers, they viewed
prison as an extension of slavery.
And Blyden had participated
in prison strikes and rebellions.
He and others saw the violence of prison
as symptomatic of a societal problem
where individuals are denied justice
based on their class and race.
They felt people shouldn’t be stripped
of their rights to health and dignity
upon being sentenced.
Instead, resources should go towards
meeting people’s basic needs
to prevent crime in the first place.
In the summer of 1971, Blyden co-founded
the Attica Liberation Faction.
The group compiled a manifesto
and petitioned
Corrections Commissioner Russell Oswald
and Governor Nelson Rockefeller
for better treatment.
Though largely ignored,
they continued organizing.
After activist George Jackson was killed
at a California prison,
700 men at Attica participated
in a silent fast.
Just weeks later, on September 9th,
a spontaneous uprising began.
A group of prisoners overpowered guards,
sparking the Attica Rebellion.
Prisoners broke windows, started fires,
and captured supplies.
They beat many guards.
One of them, William Quinn,
would die from his injuries.
Soon, over 1,200 prisoners had
assembled in the yard with 42 hostages,
preparing to demand change.
They established a medical bay,
delegated men to prepare and ration food,
protected and sheltered guards,
and elected a negotiating committee.
They appointed Blyden chief negotiator,
Smith as security chief,
and Barkely as a speaker.
Later that day, Barkley presented
their demands to the press.
When his mother saw him on TV,
she was terrified.
He was just days from being released.
But she believed authorities
would want retribution.
Over the next four days, prisoners
held negotiations with officials.
They called for a minimum wage,
rehabilitation programs,
better education, and more.
They promised all remaining hostages
would be safe
if they were given amnesty
for crimes committed during the uprising.
Meanwhile, Governor Rockefeller began
crisis talks with President Nixon.
The president told his chief of staff
that the rebellion should be quelled
to set an example
for other Black activists.
Commissioner Oswald announced he’d
meet a number of the demands,
but refused to guarantee amnesty.
Prisoners refused to surrender.
As warnings of an imminent siege mounted,
they threatened to kill 8 hostages
if attacked.
Nevertheless, Rockefeller ordered
troops to retake the prison.
Helicopters tear-gassed the yard.
Troopers shot over 2,000 rounds
of ammunition,
killing 29 prisoners and 10 guards,
and wounding many others.
Witnesses say troopers found Barkley
and shot him in the back.
Officers stripped surviving men naked,
tortured them,
and deprived them of medical attention.
Blyden was starved for days.
Smith was sexually violated,
burned with cigarettes,
dragged into isolation, and beaten.
Directly after the attack,
Governor Rockefeller thought prisoners
were responsible for the deaths
of the 10 guards.
He called it
“a beautiful operation.”
President Nixon congratulated Rockefeller
and told his chief of staff
that the way to stop “radicals”
was to “kill a few.”
But autopsies soon confirmed
that prisoners
hadn’t killed any guards during
the attack, as threatened.
Government forces had.
Nixon told Rockefeller
to stand his ground.
Those who survived the massacre continued
fighting for revolutionary change.
Long after being released,
Smith and Blyden campaigned
for social justice and prison abolition.
The demands men made at Attica in 1971
remain at the core of ongoing protests—
within and beyond prison walls.
