Attica Is All of Us: Cornel West on 40th Anniversary of Attica Prison Rebellion

This week marks the 40th anniversary of another 9, 11 tragedy: the Attica prison rebellion. On September 9, 1971, prisoners took over much of state prison in Attica, New York, to protest conditions at the maximum security prison. Then governor, Nelson Rockefeller, ordered state police to storm the facility on the morning of Troopers shot indiscriminately more than 2000 rounds of ammunition, killing 39 male prisoners and guards. After the shooting stopped, police beat and tortured scores of more prisoners, many of whom were seriously wounded, but were initially denied medical care. After a quarter century of legal struggles, the state of New York would eventually award the surviving prisoners of Attica 12 million in damages. Democracy Now airs an excerpt from a Sept. 9 commemoration at Riverside Church in New York City, Attica Is All of Us, featuring Dr. Cornel West, professor of religion and African American studies at Princeton University and the author of nu