*Ø* Blogmanac September 8, 1971 | Remembering Attica

US: The beginning of the Attica Prison revolt at Attica State Prison, a maximum security prison located in western New York state.

What a waste of human power
What a waste of human lives,
shoot the prisoners in the towers
Forty-three poor widowed wives.

Media blames it on the prisoners,
But the prisoners did not kill.
"Rockefeller pulled the trigger"
That is what the people feel.

Attica State, Attica state,
we're all mates with Attica state.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono, ‘Attica State’, Some Time in New York City, 1972

" … thirteen hundred prisoners had rebelled, taken over the prison, and held forty guards hostage. Issuing a list of demands – including calls for improvements in living conditions as well as educational and training opportunities – they entered into negotiations with state officials. The negotiations failed and state police and national guard troops seized the prison; in the course of taking it over they killed forty-three individuals, including ten hostages." Source