09/13/2026
The ATTICA Rebellion Remembered, September 13, 2026
(an oral presentation to the WO’SE spiritual community by Nkechi Taifa on Sept. 16, 2020, and reprinted on Substack September 13, 2026)
We are men. We are not beasts and we do not intend to be beaten or driven as such. The entire prison populace, that means each and every one of us here, have set forth to change forever the ruthless brutalization and disregard for the lives of the prisoners here and throughout the United States. What has happened here is but the sound before the fury of those who are oppressed.”
Those were the words read by Elliot L. D. Barkley on September 9, 1971, part of the preamble to the list of demands addressed to ‘the People of the United States of America, to seek to bring light to their treacherous experiences at New York’s Attica State Prison.’
Elliot L.D. Barkley - His name is one that should be shouted out, honored and revered. Like that of George Jackson, Jonathan Jackson, Fred Hampton, we are talking about a brave 21 year old brother who was days away from his scheduled release date, and who was the epitome of the statement, “one is not free until all are free.” He was a man who spoke truth to power. We need to remember his name. Elliot L.D. Barkley.
This tribute is dedicated to the memory of those who valiantly seized the moment and fought for their human rights against horrific odds, yet needlessly perished due to state retaliation on the day of September 13, 1971 – yes exactly on this very day, 55 years ago.
Do you know where you were on that day? I do. I was 16 years old glued to the 6:00 news of the black and white television screen in my family’s living room, watching in horror the images of powerless Black men paraded naked through a prison yard after Attica, a prison in upstate New York, is needlessly stormed. I remember vividly how hard it was to hear the TV, as torrential rains were beating against the front windows of my family’s home, rains that had pummeled the east coast that week of September 9 through 13th, 1971.
That is my memory. Think back to your own. Just as many of us know what we were doing the day Dr. MLK was assassinated, or on 9-11. If you were born and of age, where were you and what were you doing when Attica exploded?
Many of us know what happened at Attica and many of us don’t. But what is not common knowledge are the events leading up to what the NY State Special Commission on Attica characterized as “the bloodiest one-day encounter between Americans since the Civil War.”
What really happened at Attica?
What did the prisoners want?
How did the officials react?
Who killed whom?
Has anything changed since the uprising?
43 prisoners and hostages lay dead after the 4-day rebellion. Many many more were wounded. Why?
The uprising did not come out of nowhere. In Sept 1971 at Attica Prison, there were over 2,200 people locked up in a facility built to accommodate 1600. All the guards but one and all the prison administrators were white. Prisoners at Attica spent 14-16 hours a day in their 6x9 cells. They got one shower a week, which essentially was a bucket of water.
In June 1971, five Attica Prisoners established the Attica Liberation Faction to try to bring about change in the conditions. They started reading and teaching political ideology -- Marx, Lenin, Malcolm, De Bois, and others. There were study groups led by prisoners with affiliations with the Nation of Islam, the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords and the Five Per Centers. They had to get along with the different factions to become one solid movement, rather than just be separate parts trying to accomplish the same things – better conditions and human rights.
In July they presented a Manifesto of 27 demands to NY Commissioner of Corrections Russell Oswald and Governor Nelson Rockefeller, summarized as followed:
We demand the constitutional rights of legal representation in parole board hearings.
We demand a change in medical staff. There are numerous “mistakes” made and improper and erroneous medication given by untrained personnel.
We demand adequate visiting conditions.
We demand an end to the segregation of prisoners due to their political beliefs.
We demand an end to the punishment of prisoners who practice the constitutional right of peaceful dissent.
We demand the right to subscribe to political papers and books.
We demand that better food be served and that inmates wishing a pork-free diet should have one.
And it went on to 27 detailed demands – nothing radical, just basic human rights.
Commissioner Oswald did not act on the demands. Instead, the warden responded by increasing the frequency of cell searches and censoring all references to prison conditions from news sources.
And then, George Jackson was killed by correctional officers at San Quentin Prison on August 21, 1971. His killing sparked protests, including work stoppages at prisons across the country.
One of the founders of the Attica Liberation Faction explained it this way.
“What really solidified things was George Jackson’s death. We thought, How can we pay attention to George Jackson because a lot of us idolized him and things he was doing and things that he was exposing about the system. So we decided that we would have a silent fast that whole day in honor of him. We would wear black armbands. No one was to eat anything that whole day. We noted that if the people could come together for this, then they could come together for other things.”
So on August 22, 1971 a hunger strike ensued at Attica in honor of George Jackson. Prisoners marched into the mess hall for breakfast in single file, sat silently and refused to eat. Frank ‘Big Black’ Smith who later ended up serving on the negotiating committee during the Sept rebellion, protected hostages, and observers, yet was later viciously tortured and brutalized by guardsn-- described the scene on the morning after Jackson’s death:
“I didn’t know anything about George Jackson,” he said. So when we got to the mess hall that morning, everything was quiet. No one was saying nothing, and you’re talking about five, six, seven hundred people.”
The unity and solidarity of the brothers was the epitome of the seven principles – Umoja, Kujichagulia, Ujima; Ujamaa, Nia, Kuumba, and yes Imani!!
WHAT HAPPENS TO A DREAM DEFERRED. DOES IT DRY UP LIKE A RAISIN IN THE SUN OR FESTER LIKE A SORE AND THEN RUN. MAYBE IT JUST SAGS LIKE A HEAVY LOAD, OR DOES IT EXPLODE?! Langston Hughes
Sept 9th – some prisoners subdue a lieutenant and overpower four guards and lock them in cells. The uprising quickly spread to the other cell blocks with more than 1200 prisoners congregating in Cell Block D. Ultimately, 42 correctional officers were taken hostage. Although members of the Attica Liberation Faction did not participate in the initial take over, as the result of their organized front, they quickly joined in to move the prisoners toward explicit demands for reform.
The prisoners created a committee to negotiate with Commissioner Oswald the release of the hostages, and demanded that outside observers be present. It is important to note that the organized members of the Attica Liberation Front and specifically the Black Muslims protected the hostages and were credited with keeping order, control and the peace during the long stressful days of the takeover. The prisoners were brilliant. They had a collective leadership, were cohesive and exercised solidarity.
These were their initial demands:
· We want complete amnesty, meaning freedom from any and all physical, mental and legal reprisals.
· We want speedy and safe transportation out of confinement to a non-imperialistic country
· And we urgently demand immediate negotiations – with listed observers included Atty William Kunstler, Huey P. Newton, Tom Wicker of the NYT, and more, and that they would guarantee safe passage of all people to and from the institution. We want them here to witness this degradation so that they can better know how to bring this degradation to an end.
SLIDE ONE - Listen up sisters and brothers. These were not mad, crazed prisoners, though they had every right to be. The prisoners were spot-on organized. They methodically constructed what I would call departments with essential services such as medical, food preparation and service, communications, security. We are talking about the necessity to feed and shelter and insure the basic necessities of over a thousand people. The guards that had been taken hostage received food first. And there were prisoners assigned to watch over the guards and make sure those prisoners seeking revenge and retaliation for years of abuse against them did not cause them harm.
SLIDE TWO (state troopers) – Rockefeller, however, refused to come to Attica to aid in the negotiations and also refused the prisoners demand for amnesty. Attorney Bill Kunstler later testified that they had worked out with the prisoners and the Commissioner several formulas for amnesty just hours before the attack and “if we had been allowed to continue, everyone would be alive and the matter would be settled today.”
But the process was not allowed to continue, despite the fact that it had been raining steadily for four days and that the prisoners’ morale was being worn down. Despite the fact that food was running out, and they just might have given in. Despite all those facts, on September 13, 1971, Rockefeller orders thousands of National Guardsmen, State Troopers, and Corrections Guards to attack the prisoners.
SLIDE THREE (mud) - Hundreds of prisoners are shot, along with nine of the hostages. They were shot by the storm troopers. The prisoners had no guns and many of the alleged leaders were selectively marked for assassinated. One prisoner said later, “it was a slaughter like man, the people were defenseless. They had sticks and homemade weapons to defend themselves, but this doesn’t compare man, with magnums and carbines.”
Egregiously, the Corrections Dept. said the hostages’ throats were slashed by the prisoners. A blatant lie. The Coroner’s report later showed that no hostages died of slashed throats. All died of police gunshot wounds.
Despite the humaneness and restraint shown by the Attica brothers, after the prison was retaken, the men were subjected to extreme cases of brutality and torture, made to strip and crawl on the ground through the muddy yard and forced to run naked between a gauntlet of enraged white officers who tortured and beat them mercilessly with sticks and clubs.
Elliot L.D. Barkley was among those murdered, marked for assassination, and shot in the back, after the surrender.
SLIDE FOUR – (naked pic) - Naked with hands over their head, the prisoners were forced to walk barefoot on glass, bleeding feet and all. Everyone was abused and beat by gauntlet guards and troopers yelling run ni**er, run white ni**er. Run Spanish ni**er. Some were sexually tortured by guards.
They were dumped in cold cells naked, many had fractures with no medical attention.
LAST SLIDE - (roll call) – George Jackson. Eliott L.D. Barkley. But, despite it all, as the result of the heroic stance and sacrifice of the Attica brothers during the uprising for human rights, changes were made throughout the New York State prison system as well as in prisons across the country. NYS in particular for the first time instituted a grievance procedure. It was the dawning of a new day and mass attention to prison issues.
After decades in the courts, the State of New York finally agreed to pay $12 million to families of the Attica brothers to settle the case.
And finally today, as we are in the streets shouting “Black Lives Matter,” “Get Your Knee Off Our Necks,” and “What Do We Want, Freedom – When Do We Want it NOW” - we must never forget the heroism and sacrifice of those from George Jackson to Eliott L.D. Barkley, and the roll call of names of human beings who lost their lives this day September 13th, 2026, 55 years ago.
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