Attica

Attica

Stanley Nelson’s documentary, “Attica,” offers a shocking view of racism and the abuse of power that is drawn from perceiving others as less than human. The event itself was the riot at Attica Correctional Facility on September 9th, 1971, where over thirty staff members were taken hostage during America’s largest prison uprising ever recorded in history.

Prisoners of Attica mainly black and brown people but also white individuals staged the five day long standoff to negotiate for better conditions once they gain temporary control over parts of the prison. They brought in senators lawyers journalists even Commissioner Russel Oswald from outside among other personalities. But instead ending peacefully it ended five days later with bullets killing hostages as well as inmates.

Calling this film timely would be an insult because nothing has changed. In fact some details seem current they are so familiar; I live here in New York City where every day there’s another story about Rikers Island and how poorly run it is or what police officers can do when they’re sent on suburban beats without any understanding of those communities or who lives them.

For instance, Attica (New York) had been a prison town since the 1930s with all employees being local residents while many prisoners came from boroughs that were almost 250 miles away and “They might have been aliens,” according to one talking head; more directly lawyer Joe Heath says “There was this culture clash: all white guards versus 70% to 80% black/brown population.”

But we don’t just hear from inmates who survived; this isn’t one-sided affair either there interviews are conducted both sides including relatives corrections officer residents etcetera. Editor Aljernon Tunsil does an amazing job cutting together massive amounts footage inside/outside never before seen some too gruesome look at let alone imagine (much like he did in “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of Revolution”).

And yes those looking for justice are sometimes their own worst enemy which makes downfall as much complex than tragic unfortunately only thing movie can agree on is that all men inside Attica should’ve been treated like human beings regardless what crimes they committed or sentences served. “Even though we’re prisons we still have rights” Arthur Harrison echoes throughout film.

“Something always gonna happen,” former prisoner George Che Nieves reflects among others interviewed by Nelson who spent time behind bars there. “The population was tired. Tired of lies, promises.” Long before September 9th Attica had earned its reputation: “Attica was known as ‘The Last Place,’ the most strict prison in the state of New York,” Tyrone Larkins recounts his own days as an inmate there. When you went to Attica, he reminds us, it wasn’t Club Fed–and like several people point out, chances are you were locked up for doing something pretty serious if not psychopathic.

In a maximum security prison, creature comforts are few and far between. Che Nieves only spoke about toothpaste, soap, enough toilet paper things like that. And sheets. And toilets that work. It was everyone’s problem, but Al Victory notes that as a white prisoner he could wrangle slightly better treatment and resources from the guards. When L.D. Barkley, the man they elected their spokesperson, read off the list of demands most were what the outside negotiating “observer council” would have called reasonable.

The observer council was made up of some people who cared about prisoners’ rights. Among them were Senator John Donne, chairman of the Prisoner Committee; Clarence Jones, publisher of the Amsterdam News; William Kuntsler, Mark Rylance in The Trial Of The Chicago 7.

When they saw John Johnson a black reporter I grew up watching on WABC the inmates invited him in to listen too. He is one of our talking heads here: “I thought that this was going to be negotiated to a decent humanitarian end,” he said later on during these proceedings; most people involved on the inside thought likewise.

But there was a big difference in how it looked depending on where you sat. Attica builds tension by cutting back and forth between the negotiation process and the increasingly agitated police and relatives of hostages waiting outside this enormous facility’s walls.

If it’s true that the guards thought these men were sub-human animals because they were Black or brown or both well then one can only imagine what must have been going through their minds when these same men started acting like humans who had just remembered they could kill you if you tried them hard enough. Even if you didn’t know what happened next pacing armed men should clue you in pretty quickly: This doesn’t end well for anybody. Especially after William Quinn dies.

William Quinn is the guard whose overwhelming (and subsequent brutal beatdown) gives them Attica. He does not die right away, but he dies on Day Four of the standoff and once it happens they lose most of their bargaining power Governor Rockefeller brings in law enforcement to retake the prison.

What we know now is that 29 inmates and 10 hostages were killed on September 13, 1971 when the police and National Guard quashed the uprising at Attica.

All killed by law enforcement, an ominous end title tells us. Nelson uses extremely graphic police surveillance footage to show just how horrific these events were: You can hear announcements over loudspeakers droning about surrendering to police as gunfire continues to cut down people who are running towards them; there are racial slurs yelled by officers and surviving inmates are tortured; no aspect of the vengeful part of law enforcement’s response is spared here, which will cost NY state $24M in settlements paid out to surviving inmates eventually, or hostages’ families (or for that matter deceased hostage’s families). I could barely watch it. It makes you wonder who the worse criminal is.

Rockefeller, whose presidential ambition landed him the vice presidency, is on the phone with Richard Nixon after “order” has been restored. The president-to-be asks if all the inmates who died were Black and says he hopes so. Luckily for us, Nixon doesn’t get the last word in “Attica.”

That honor goes to two people: Dee Quinn, daughter of the slain guard, who says of the settlement “what does money do when you don’t have your Dad? It was the state’s way of saying we’re gonna give you this money and we want you to go away.” And Clarence Jones, who says “it didn’t have to happen this way. I will never, ever, ever, ever forget Attica.” Neither will you after watching this documentary.

Watch Attica For Free On Gomovies.