Attica Rebellion 50th Anniversary: A Massacre that changed American Politics
The Socialist Program with Brian Becker
The Socialist Program
4.7 • 587 Ratings
🗓️ 9 September 2021
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
50 years ago today, the inmates at Attica prison in New York state staged a heroic uprising that shook the country and the world. Shortly after the assassination of legendary Black Panther leader George Jackson by prison guards at San Quentin, Attica inmates took over the prison demanding an end to the horrific conditions they were subjected to, including routine beatings and torture at the hands of guards. On September 13, 1971, authorities attacked the prison and carried out a massacre -- but the legacy of the Attica uprising continues to inspire millions today.
Brian is joined by by Eugene Puryear. He is the host of the podcast The Punch Out on BreakThrough News and host of the weekly live show The Freedom Side on BreakThrough News, which airs every Thursday on youtube.com/breakthroughnews at 8 p.m. Eastern/5 p.m. Pacific.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | 50 years ago today, the inmates at Attica Prison in New York State staged an uprising that shook |
| 0:10.1 | the country and the world. Shortly after the assassination of legendary Black Panther leader |
| 0:16.6 | George Jackson by prison guards at San Quentin. Attica prisoners took over the facility, |
| 0:23.4 | demanding an end of the horrific conditions they were subjected to, including routine |
| 0:28.4 | beatings and torture at the hands of guards. On September 13, 1971, authorities attacked |
| 0:36.6 | the prison and carried out the massacre. |
| 0:39.8 | 43 people were shot to death, many more wounded, and hundreds were brutally beaten and |
| 0:47.0 | tortured on the orders of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. But the legacy of the Attica uprising and the struggle for justice |
| 0:57.1 | continues to inspire millions today. We need a new system. We need a new society. We need to |
| 1:05.7 | demand that which may have sounded impossible even a few weeks ago, but is not only realizable, but an imperative necessity. Andy. Welcome to The Real Story on the Socialist program. I'm your host, Brian Becker. |
| 1:41.8 | Today I'm joined by Eugene Perrier. |
| 1:46.6 | Eugene is the host of the podcast, |
| 1:52.7 | The Punch Out on Breakthrough News. He is also the host of the weekly live show, The Freedom Side on Breakthrough News, which airs every Thursday on YouTube.com forward slash breakthrough news |
| 2:00.3 | at 8 p.m. Eastern. Eugene is also the author of an |
| 2:05.4 | important book on prisons called Shackled and Chained. Eugene, I am so happy you were able to |
| 2:12.6 | join this conversation on the real story on the socialist program. Usually on Thursdays, we do a deep |
| 2:19.8 | dive on a particular topic. And this week, we're going to focus on the Attica Prison Rebellion. |
| 2:26.9 | If you look at Wikipedia, it's called the Attica Prison Riot, which is truly a misnomer. |
| 2:32.0 | The Attica Prison Rebellion that started today, September 9th, |
| 2:37.8 | 1971, 50 years ago today, and ended on September 13th, perhaps one of the bloodiest |
| 2:45.8 | massacres in the United States, at least certainly in recent times. And, you know, you've been |
| 2:53.0 | following the issue of prisons, the struggles of prisoners. You wrote the really important book |
... |
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