In the fall of 1971 there were almost 200,000 people in the U.S prison system. Caging people was deemed fundamentally harmful and prisons cruel and unjust. On September 9th of that year, the country's public attention focused on Attica Correctional Facility outside Buffalo, New York. That day a prison uprising erupted as incarcerated people demanded to be treated as human beings. Four days later, Governor Nelson Rockefeller ordered state troopers to storm the prison leading to the deaths of 43 people and a sadistic and brutal takeover. In the ensuing years, the U.S prison population exploded with almost 2 million people caged today. What happened? What role did the Attica uprising play in the rise of mass incarceration?
Join us for a screening of excerpts of the award-winning documentary "Attica" followed by a discussion with the movement leaders fighting to close the deadly prison.
What will you learn?
- The series of events that occurred during the Attica uprising nearly 50 years ago and what it means today
- The role of the Attica uprising in the rise of mass incarceration
- How “Attica” examines a theme of American history: state repression and state violence against marginalized populations parlayed into political opportunities
Speakers
- Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele, Director of Community Organizing, Alliance of Families for Justice
- Tyrrell Muhammad, Senior Organizing and Advocacy Coordinator, Alliance of Families for Justice
- Stanley Nelson, Award-winning Filmmaker and Director of "Attica"
- Susan Shah (Moderator), Managing Director of Racial Justice, Trinity Church Wall Street
Recording
In Collaboration with
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Justice Reform Working Group
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Alliance of Families for Justice
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One for Justice & Galaxy Gives
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Trinity Church Wall Street