subtitles-attica/Attica.srt
2023-02-15 17:36:07 +01:00

8028 lines
135 KiB
Plaintext
Raw Blame History

This file contains ambiguous Unicode characters

This file contains Unicode characters that might be confused with other characters. If you think that this is intentional, you can safely ignore this warning. Use the Escape button to reveal them.

1
00:00:01,456 --> 00:00:06,448
Traduzione e sottotitoli a cura di Calusca City Light
Archivio Primo Moroni COX18
2
00:00:08,030 --> 00:00:13,000
Questo documentario contiene materiale duro da vedere.
3
00:00:34,430 --> 00:00:44,540
Il 9 settembre 1971 i detenuti di Attica, a 400km da New York
presero il controllo della prigione.
4
00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:51,200
Fu la più grande ribellione nelle carceri
della storia degli Stati Uniti.
5
00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:59,000
Giovedi
Il primo giorno.
6
00:01:02,032 --> 00:01:07,190
Stava sempre per accadere qualcosa, ad Attica.
7
00:01:08,170 --> 00:01:12,128
La popolazione era stanca.
8
00:01:15,700 --> 00:01:20,224
Stanca delle bugie, delle promesse.
9
00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:23,648
Eravamo stanchi.
10
00:01:25,710 --> 00:01:28,016
Qualcuno ha colpito una guardia..
11
00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:30,630
e quando colpisci una guardia, è finita.
12
00:01:30,670 --> 00:01:33,744
Ma poi si è scatenato linferno.
13
00:01:39,776 --> 00:01:41,810
Sono all'infermeria,
14
00:01:41,851 --> 00:01:43,686
e cominciano a suonare le sirene.
15
00:01:43,728 --> 00:01:45,146
“Che diavolo sta succedendo?”
16
00:01:45,188 --> 00:01:46,410
Ero sotto la doccia.
17
00:01:46,439 --> 00:01:49,275
Sono uscito, fradicio,
18
00:01:49,317 --> 00:01:51,150
e il posto stava impazzendo.
19
00:01:51,361 --> 00:01:53,738
Allimprovviso,
20
00:01:53,738 --> 00:01:56,282
ho visto aprirsi la porta dell'infermeria aprirsi
21
00:01:56,282 --> 00:01:58,618
e ho visto gente correre ovunque
22
00:01:58,660 --> 00:02:01,000
con grossi tubi e coltelli
23
00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,570
E di colpo tutti stavano correndo
24
00:02:04,620 --> 00:02:06,464
E poi si cominciarono a vedere
25
00:02:06,784 --> 00:02:09,344
gente che schiacciava la faccia
26
00:02:09,380 --> 00:02:11,420
attraverso le finestre rotte
27
00:02:11,420 --> 00:02:15,120
gridando: "Prendi le guardie! Prendi le chiavi!"
28
00:02:15,250 --> 00:02:17,648
c'erano guardie che venivano picchiate.
29
00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:23,632
Chiunque del personale ti fosse caduto fra le mani
lavresti picchiato.
30
00:02:23,810 --> 00:02:26,864
Ecco la mia occasione per
combattere chi mi ha picchiato,
31
00:02:27,168 --> 00:02:29,720
perché ora sto insieme
a un sacco di assassini.
32
00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:31,536
Noi contro di loro.
33
00:02:31,660 --> 00:02:34,290
Mi ci son buttato subito
senza pianificare niente.
34
00:02:34,352 --> 00:02:35,952
Non ero il tipo da pensare.
35
00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,736
Stavo prendendo a calci la polizia.
Mi son sentito bene.
36
00:02:38,740 --> 00:02:40,096
Sarebbe finita lì,
37
00:02:40,170 --> 00:02:43,270
perché erano in unarea confinata, i blocchi lucchettati
38
00:02:44,170 --> 00:02:48,208
la piazzetta (Times Square) era chiusa
ma i prigionieri sono tornati indietro
39
00:02:48,410 --> 00:02:50,528
e cominciano a strattonare il cancello
40
00:02:51,024 --> 00:02:54,416
I quattro blocchi si incontrano a Times Square
41
00:02:54,510 --> 00:03:03,344
è il punto d'incontro, per come è fatta la prigione,
Times Square è il centro, della prigione
42
00:03:06,288 --> 00:03:07,680
La mattina della rivolta,
43
00:03:07,824 --> 00:03:10,220
mio padre era a Times Square.
44
00:03:10,288 --> 00:03:13,424
Aveva le chiavi di tutte le porte
45
00:03:13,648 --> 00:03:16,336
e sfortunatamente,
46
00:03:16,510 --> 00:03:20,512
i detenuti nel tunnel continuavano a spingere
47
00:03:22,256 --> 00:03:27,024
quella porta, e gridavano
48
00:03:27,088 --> 00:03:29,984
a mio padre: Apri la porta!
49
00:03:30,048 --> 00:03:34,896
E Quinn è saltato su tipo: "oh ma questa è.."
e ha azionato l'allarme
50
00:03:35,344 --> 00:03:38,464
il corno che fa così: aahhoo
51
00:03:39,264 --> 00:03:43,712
E hanno cominciato a battere e battere sul cancello.
52
00:03:44,016 --> 00:03:45,328
Allinsaputa di tutti
53
00:03:45,460 --> 00:03:49,340
uno dei cardini era stato
saldato provvisoriamente
54
00:03:49,456 --> 00:03:53,430
durante le ristrutturazioni degli anni '30
55
00:03:53,430 --> 00:03:55,520
e si è rotto.
56
00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:57,300
Il lucchetto è saltato,
57
00:03:57,300 --> 00:03:59,290
e tutti si son precipitati fuori. Boom.
58
00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:04,592
Quando la porta è caduta, hanno attaccato mio padre
e gli han preso le chiavi
59
00:04:04,690 --> 00:04:08,976
e hanno avuto così accesso a tutte le porte
di Times square
60
00:04:09,780 --> 00:04:12,400
È stato picchiato molto duramente.
61
00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:17,904
Torno indietro e metto due dita sul collo di Quinn.
62
00:04:18,060 --> 00:04:20,976
Sentivo il battito, ma era molto debole.
63
00:04:20,990 --> 00:04:22,576
Tipo una pulsazione,
64
00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:26,944
e dopo un minuto o due,
un'altra pulsazione
65
00:04:27,008 --> 00:04:30,080
Alcuni detenuti conoscevano mio padre,
66
00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:34,576
quattro musulmani han portato
un materasso dal blocco A
67
00:04:34,704 --> 00:04:41,136
l'hanno messo sul materasso
e lhanno portato via da Times Square
68
00:04:41,296 --> 00:04:43,968
dicendo di avere una guardia
69
00:04:44,060 --> 00:04:48,112
gravemente ferita
e bisognosa di soccorso medico.
70
00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:52,592
A un certo punto è arrivata unambulanza.
71
00:04:53,168 --> 00:04:54,960
Nel frattempo, mia madre
72
00:04:55,210 --> 00:04:58,112
era stata informata del ferimento di mio padre.
73
00:05:00,256 --> 00:05:02,064
Presero le chiavi a Quinn,
74
00:05:02,176 --> 00:05:06,048
e hanno aperto tutti e quattro i lati
e han detto: “Ce l'abbiamo fatta”.
75
00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:08,736
e gridavano
“Ce l'abbiamo in pugno!”
76
00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:17,584
Abbiamo preso ogni blocco del complesso.
77
00:05:17,590 --> 00:05:18,544
Labbiamo preso,
78
00:05:18,624 --> 00:05:20,670
ma non potevamo tenerlo
79
00:05:21,744 --> 00:05:25,008
Quindi ci siamo ritirati nel blocco D.
80
00:05:29,504 --> 00:05:34,128
Il posto sta esplodendo.
Fumo da cinque edifici,
81
00:05:34,224 --> 00:05:37,408
La cappella e la lavanderia
sono in fiamme.
82
00:05:38,224 --> 00:05:40,380
Avevamo sotto controllo solo il cortile.
83
00:05:40,928 --> 00:05:43,936
Loro controllavano il sistema,
e i cancelli.
84
00:05:44,192 --> 00:05:48,352
e le porte, e i passaggi.
Erano sui marciapiedi con le pistole.
85
00:05:48,512 --> 00:05:50,224
da dove possono vederti.
86
00:05:50,384 --> 00:05:53,920
Sto facendo una panoramica
del blocco B
87
00:05:54,448 --> 00:05:58,464
riprendendo un gruppo
sul tetto del blocco C.
88
00:05:59,312 --> 00:06:00,960
ok
89
00:06:01,088 --> 00:06:04,384
Ora si vede il cortile
e il blocco D.
90
00:06:04,544 --> 00:06:07,408
Adesso uso il telescopio
del fucile .270.
91
00:06:08,512 --> 00:06:11,216
sono brutti e sono neri,
92
00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:15,424
il più brutto gentiluomo negro
che abbia visto in vita mia.
93
00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:18,912
Sapevamo che erano
là fuori sulle passerelle.
94
00:06:19,696 --> 00:06:22,620
Posizionati
in un certo modo..
95
00:06:23,888 --> 00:06:27,152
Anche se sapevi che erano lì,
loro si mettevano in modo
96
00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:28,608
da non farsi vedere.
97
00:06:30,210 --> 00:06:33,904
I prigionieri, perlopiù, si sono travisati
98
00:06:34,032 --> 00:06:37,408
con sciarpe, asciugamani, per nascondere la faccia.
99
00:06:38,368 --> 00:06:40,704
Era un modo per celare
100
00:06:40,740 --> 00:06:42,240
la tua identità,
101
00:06:43,456 --> 00:06:46,672
se gli sbirri fossero entrati,
sai, tu eri protetto.
102
00:06:46,816 --> 00:06:48,224
O pensavamo di esserlo.
103
00:06:54,368 --> 00:06:57,610
Ad Attica New York, un migliaio
di detenuti di lungo corso
104
00:06:57,610 --> 00:07:00,980
oggi si sono rivoltati
e hanno preso il controllo della prigione
105
00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:06,000
Hanno preso in ostaggio 33 guardie
e ne hanno ferite altre durante gli scontri.
106
00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,230
La polizia ha ripreso il controllo
della maggior parte del carcere
107
00:07:09,232 --> 00:07:10,928
ma i guai non sono ancora finiti.
108
00:07:11,936 --> 00:07:15,408
Quando siamo arrivati ad avere degli ostaggi
109
00:07:15,630 --> 00:07:20,800
abbiamo urlato:
“Abbiamo degli ostaggi!”.
110
00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:24,140
Un migliaio di persone che lo gridavano.
111
00:07:27,930 --> 00:07:33,600
Avere degli ostaggi impedisce alla polizia
di attaccare.
112
00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:37,408
Avere ostaggi è l'unico potere che hai.
113
00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:41,400
Finché avevano gli ostaggi.. non avevano pistole
114
00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:43,990
non avevano niente
115
00:07:44,950 --> 00:07:47,450
ma avevano degli ostaggi.
116
00:07:47,830 --> 00:07:53,330
Uomini tuoi
e tu ne sei responsabile.
117
00:07:53,710 --> 00:07:56,890
Hai la responsabilità di proteggere i tuoi
118
00:07:57,250 --> 00:08:00,420
e devi fare il tuo lavoro.
119
00:08:00,420 --> 00:08:03,840
Siediti e negozia.
120
00:08:04,430 --> 00:08:07,720
- Entrando nell'area dove sono tenuti i 21 ostaggi.
121
00:08:08,970 --> 00:08:14,600
- Sono nel gruppo principale. Al centro.
Non riusciamo a distinguerli
122
00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:18,940
perché i prigionieri gli han preso i vestiti.
123
00:08:20,230 --> 00:08:24,928
Erano in cerchio, bendati
in mezzo al cortile.
124
00:08:24,976 --> 00:08:30,304
Avevano anche delle guardie, guardie carcerate
intorno a loro, per proteggerli.
125
00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:33,776
Li vedevamo come prigionieri.
126
00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:38,368
Li abbiamo visti come persone
sotto la nostra supervisione.
127
00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:40,336
La nostra supervisione.
128
00:08:40,550 --> 00:08:43,720
Quindi non potevamo far loro del male.
129
00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:47,390
Capisci cos'è lIslam
Non devi fare del male a un prigioniero.
130
00:08:48,680 --> 00:08:51,680
Pertanto, si è deciso
131
00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:55,600
di lasciare che i fratelli musulmani
132
00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:57,776
fossero loro a badarci.
133
00:08:57,952 --> 00:09:00,944
Ero molto incazzato perché non mi lasciavano toccarli
134
00:09:01,008 --> 00:09:02,820
Volevo mettergli le mani addosso
135
00:09:02,820 --> 00:09:05,920
prenderne un paio
e conciarli per le feste.
136
00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:08,360
Erano le stesse guardie che mi trattavano male
137
00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:11,648
che mi parlavano sporco,
che mi davano ordini
138
00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:14,912
Così gli ho detto: “E adesso,
cosa ne pensi di me, eh?"
139
00:09:14,970 --> 00:09:21,008
E per fortuna cerano quei musulmani perché altrimenti le avrebbero prese.
Davvero.
140
00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:24,800
È difficile per qualcuno che
141
00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:31,232
che non sia mai stato in galera
capire quanto surreale
142
00:09:31,392 --> 00:09:33,904
sia la situazione in quel dato momento.
143
00:09:34,032 --> 00:09:39,264
Nessuno ci minacciava. Avevamo..
suonerà una cosa da matti
144
00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:44,784
ma quando hai finalmente tanto così di controllo sulla tua vita
anche solo per un attimo
145
00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:48,288
E lo sai che lo pagherai. Carissimo.
146
00:09:48,352 --> 00:09:51,824
È stato un momento di esuberanza
147
00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:58,304
in cui potevi fare qualcosa
e avere il controllo sulla tua vita.
148
00:10:14,770 --> 00:10:18,048
Appena uscito fuori, era il caos totale
149
00:10:18,352 --> 00:10:19,968
La gente arrivava con
150
00:10:20,112 --> 00:10:22,704
cibo, vestiti. Tiravano su le tende.
151
00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:27,008
Atmosfera di festa.
152
00:10:27,104 --> 00:10:28,352
Eravamo liberi!
153
00:10:30,700 --> 00:10:33,968
Ci siamo ritrovati una comunità.
154
00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:37,024
In quel momento non esistevano
155
00:10:37,232 --> 00:10:40,816
neri, bianchi, ispanici
o chissacché.
156
00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:42,576
Siamo compagni di cella
157
00:10:42,944 --> 00:10:47,120
e dobbiamo essere capaci
di affrontare ogni cosa, per sopravvivere.
158
00:11:08,990 --> 00:11:12,128
I ragazzi che erano stati in Vietnam,
159
00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:15,072
han detto:
“Facciamo le cucce”.
160
00:11:17,488 --> 00:11:19,440
prendevi un bastone
161
00:11:19,552 --> 00:11:22,288
e ci mettevi sopra un lenzuolo
162
00:11:22,416 --> 00:11:25,088
e ho dormito come un bambino.
163
00:11:27,872 --> 00:11:31,344
Quando la gente ha cominciato
164
00:11:31,936 --> 00:11:34,512
ad aver bisogno del gabinetto
165
00:11:34,592 --> 00:11:37,120
Non ce n'era uno che funzionasse
166
00:11:37,248 --> 00:11:40,304
Ii gruppo che era stato in Vietnam, disse:
167
00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:42,864
“Dobbiamo costruire una latrina”
168
00:11:42,944 --> 00:11:44,560
Sapevano cosa fosse una latrina.
169
00:11:44,590 --> 00:11:46,800
Io non lo sapevo.
170
00:12:00,450 --> 00:12:02,656
Fratello.
171
00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:04,992
Dico: fratello. Ed era bianco.
172
00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:07,136
Lo chiamavano Il piccoletto.
173
00:12:07,312 --> 00:12:11,488
ed era come un'infermiera, anche da prima
174
00:12:12,464 --> 00:12:16,336
Hanno sistemato una sezione medica in cortile
175
00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:21,296
Chiunque avesse un problema andava lì
e il piccoletto lo curava
176
00:12:21,472 --> 00:12:25,104
E le cure mediche in cortile
177
00:12:25,232 --> 00:12:29,232
in cortile erano molto migliori
di quelle mai ricevute prima.
178
00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:32,208
Oh, e ci siamo divertiti.
179
00:12:32,416 --> 00:12:36,016
Facevamo il vino, e cucinavamo all'aperto.
180
00:12:36,144 --> 00:12:38,624
Era come un grande picnic,
in una baraccopoli.
181
00:12:38,752 --> 00:12:41,392
Era una scena del tipo di Buffalo Bill
182
00:12:41,552 --> 00:12:43,696
quando c'era Buffalo Bill..
183
00:12:43,792 --> 00:12:47,872
hai mai visto Gunsmoke?
il film western?
184
00:12:47,984 --> 00:12:52,672
Matt Dillon era il capo della polizia in Gunsmoke.
185
00:12:52,752 --> 00:12:54,544
manteneva l'ordine
186
00:12:54,656 --> 00:12:57,680
ma qui non non avevamo un Matt Dillon.
187
00:12:57,936 --> 00:13:01,904
Ogni uomo era la propria legge,
era lui stesso a farla.
188
00:13:02,064 --> 00:13:04,944
Faceva quello che gli pareva.
189
00:13:05,310 --> 00:13:07,632
Non c'era ordine.
190
00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:40,510
Il redattore capo dice che c'è questo posto chiamato Attica
191
00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:47,200
"C'è stata una rivolta nella prigione e
vogliamo che tu vada là a coprirla."
192
00:13:47,290 --> 00:13:52,592
"Non sappiamo i dettagli"
193
00:13:53,552 --> 00:13:56,160
E così sono partito.
194
00:13:57,440 --> 00:14:02,128
Prima a Buffalo e poi ad Attica.
195
00:14:07,500 --> 00:14:11,600
Per ABC news, John Johnson da Attica, New York.
196
00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:19,344
Era una situazione estremamente fluida
per così dire
197
00:14:19,472 --> 00:14:22,240
Ed era difficile avere informazioni.
198
00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:26,320
Non potevamo entrare
e tutto quello che sapevamo era
199
00:14:26,448 --> 00:14:29,264
che i detenuti volevano parlare.
200
00:14:29,344 --> 00:14:31,104
E che avevano prigionieri.
201
00:14:31,730 --> 00:14:38,016
E questa è una cosa che non era mai successa,
nella storia.
202
00:14:38,176 --> 00:14:42,624
Questa enorme istituzione
presa dai detenuti.
203
00:14:42,768 --> 00:14:44,160
Ti rendi conto?
204
00:14:44,990 --> 00:14:49,584
Attica, New York.
Mai sentita nominare prima. Cos'è un Atika?
205
00:14:49,824 --> 00:14:55,712
Francamente, non sapevo cosa aspettarmi.
206
00:14:56,432 --> 00:14:58,960
Abbiamo parcheggiato davanti alla prigione.
207
00:14:59,136 --> 00:15:04,880
Abbiamo sistemato le attrezzature e cominciato le riprese
208
00:15:05,248 --> 00:15:10,240
delle attività fuori dalla prigione.
209
00:15:10,672 --> 00:15:14,272
Non avevamo idea di cosa stesse succedendo dentro.
210
00:15:14,384 --> 00:15:20,032
Le istruzioni sono che le armi non devono esservi portate via.
211
00:15:20,256 --> 00:15:22,624
Vi opporrete con forza alla forza.
212
00:15:22,896 --> 00:15:26,784
Membri del personale carcerario
feriti gravemente sono dentro,
213
00:15:26,832 --> 00:15:30,656
stamattina. E di sicuro non vogliamo vedere nessuno dei buoni farsi male.
214
00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:35,424
Agli agenti della polizia di Stato
215
00:15:35,696 --> 00:15:39,536
sono state distribuite armi
216
00:15:39,664 --> 00:15:42,640
maschere antigas
217
00:15:43,248 --> 00:15:48,768
A me sembrava che fossero pronti
ad entrare e riprendersi la prigione.
218
00:15:49,168 --> 00:15:56,256
In quali circostanze, potreste entrare?
219
00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:57,616
Non si sa..
220
00:15:57,640 --> 00:15:58,352
Devo scriverlo.
221
00:15:58,384 --> 00:16:00,500
I detenuti hanno avanzato delle richieste?
222
00:16:00,512 --> 00:16:04,032
Hanno detto che vogliono parlare con il governatore
o con me.
223
00:16:04,208 --> 00:16:07,312
Sembrava al momento che ci fosse del buon senso.
224
00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:11,472
Che ci sarebbe stata una negoziazione.
225
00:16:11,712 --> 00:16:15,440
per salvare le vite deglio ostaggi.
226
00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:19,456
Proprio a causa degli ostaggi,
227
00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:24,032
c'era la possibilità che iniziasse una negoziazione.
228
00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:30,416
Stiamo cercando l'uomo
229
00:16:30,810 --> 00:16:35,744
che sta usando un megafono.
230
00:16:37,776 --> 00:16:43,776
Sembra che ci sia una grossa assemblea in quell'area,
231
00:16:43,872 --> 00:16:46,928
anche se non riusciamo a sentire niente.
232
00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:55,104
E i detenuti decisero che eravamo in una situazione,
233
00:16:55,264 --> 00:16:59,152
che richiedeva più attenzione,
234
00:16:59,376 --> 00:17:01,824
un po' più di disciplina.
235
00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:05,600
Ci siamo chiesti:
“Da chi volete essere rappresentati?”.
236
00:17:07,616 --> 00:17:11,648
Abbiamo fatto le elezioni.. bla bla bla
237
00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:14,240
È così che abbiamo avuto dei leader
238
00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:18,432
Alcuni ragazzi avevano già del sale in zucca.
239
00:17:19,152 --> 00:17:22,288
Ragazzi che erano dentro da un pezzo
240
00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:24,960
e che gli altri detenuti rispettavano.
241
00:17:25,152 --> 00:17:28,624
Quel che dicevano aveva senso
per tutti quelli che stavano nel cortile.
242
00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:31,296
E avevano un piano.
243
00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:35,328
Un piano per cambiare le cose nello stesso sistema carcerario.
244
00:17:35,660 --> 00:17:38,480
Tutto quello che volevamo erano cose di base:
245
00:17:38,608 --> 00:17:41,744
essere trattati come esseri umani
246
00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:45,216
anche se siamo in prigione
siamo esseri umani.
247
00:17:47,104 --> 00:17:51,856
I prigionieri in cortile
devono aver avuto una radio.
248
00:17:51,984 --> 00:17:54,368
Hanno saputo che ero lì fuori.
249
00:17:54,496 --> 00:17:57,200
Così mi hanno chiesto di entrare.
250
00:17:57,360 --> 00:17:59,216
E dissi: "certo".
251
00:17:59,856 --> 00:18:02,320
Così dissero:
252
00:18:02,416 --> 00:18:05,490
Vogliamo che il deputato Oswald venga fatto entrare.
253
00:18:05,696 --> 00:18:10,432
Qualcuno dei suoi assistenti disse:
"Non andare".
254
00:18:10,592 --> 00:18:13,728
Non andare. Non puoi fidarti.
255
00:18:14,032 --> 00:18:17,440
E Oswald disse: "Certo che entrerò".
256
00:18:18,064 --> 00:18:21,488
Eravamo lieti di avere con noi una persona dell'amministrazione.
257
00:18:21,648 --> 00:18:23,648
Di punto in bianco, che veniva dentro.
258
00:18:25,312 --> 00:18:27,840
Da questo momento in poi vedevamo un progresso.
259
00:18:27,936 --> 00:18:29,696
Avevamo un contatto con qualcuno.
260
00:18:29,856 --> 00:18:32,208
Per le negoziazioni
qualcuno ci stava ascoltando.
261
00:18:32,256 --> 00:18:34,810
Non avevo mai visto questa cosa prima
262
00:18:35,060 --> 00:18:38,800
una negoziazione con dei detenuti
263
00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:45,856
E ho pensato che questo era un momento storico
264
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:51,808
della storia americana.
L'inizio delle negoziazioni.
265
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:55,584
verso un'uscita umanitaria decente.
266
00:18:55,760 --> 00:19:00,048
Sembra che ci sia un piccolo equivoco
riguardo le ragioni,
267
00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:02,624
questo incidente sia avvenuto qui ad Attica.
268
00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:05,552
In questa dichiarazione spiegheremo le ragioni.
269
00:19:05,712 --> 00:19:10,016
L'intero incidente che si è sviluppato qui ad Attica, è il risultato..
270
00:19:14,930 --> 00:19:20,080
Ci sono città-universitarie, ci sono città-fabbriche
ci sono tanti tipi di città in questo Paese.
271
00:19:20,192 --> 00:19:21,984
e questa è Attica, New York.
272
00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:24,032
è una città-prigione.
273
00:19:24,672 --> 00:19:28,176
La maggior parte delle persone che vivono in questo centro abitato,
274
00:19:28,304 --> 00:19:31,440
si guadagna da vivere lavorando nella prigione statale.
275
00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:36,576
Per 40 anni, la maggior parte di loro
ha vissuto dentro i muri della prigione,
276
00:19:36,688 --> 00:19:38,928
non hanno mai avuto paura.
277
00:19:42,510 --> 00:19:46,560
Attica era un posto
fantastico in cui vivere.
278
00:19:48,304 --> 00:19:49,536
molto tipico,
279
00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:51,232
il classico paesino
280
00:19:51,344 --> 00:19:54,992
dove conosci tutti,
281
00:19:55,184 --> 00:19:58,960
e sei imparentato con metà del villaggio.
282
00:19:59,220 --> 00:20:03,344
Andavamo in bici per la città
andavamo al parco
283
00:20:03,408 --> 00:20:08,336
a fare il bagno nella piscina pubblica,
passeggiate per i boschi..
284
00:20:11,872 --> 00:20:14,752
Attica è una città-fabbrica (company-town)
285
00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:17,984
La maggior parte delle persone che lavoravano lì
286
00:20:18,060 --> 00:20:24,352
come impiegati civili o come guardie, vivevano qui
ad Attica.
287
00:20:25,088 --> 00:20:27,920
Mio nonno lavorava lì.
288
00:20:28,250 --> 00:20:30,800
Mio padre lavorava lì.
289
00:20:31,050 --> 00:20:36,064
E dalle 6 alle 8 case nella nostra via
erano abitate da guardie.
290
00:20:36,144 --> 00:20:41,904
o civili con le loro famiglie che lavoravano lì.
291
00:20:44,912 --> 00:20:47,920
Erano gli unici lavori disponibili nell'area
292
00:20:48,304 --> 00:20:51,072
nell'agricoltura e nella prigione.
293
00:20:51,344 --> 00:20:55,536
Esisteva uno scontro culturale
che si è condensato ad Attica.
294
00:20:55,664 --> 00:20:58,496
Tutte le guardie erano bianche,
295
00:20:58,768 --> 00:21:05,904
mentre la popolazione prigioniera era del 70% o più nera o di colore.
296
00:21:06,500 --> 00:21:08,896
Cosa potrebbe andare storto?
297
00:21:12,752 --> 00:21:16,752
La reputazione di Attica.
Era chiamata: "l'ultima fermata".
298
00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:19,728
Era la prigione più dura dello Stato di New York.
299
00:21:19,792 --> 00:21:20,480
si sapeva.
300
00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:23,952
Lo sapevano tutti, che quando ci arrivavi era finita.
301
00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:26,336
Un posto duro. L'ultimo posto.
302
00:21:26,448 --> 00:21:28,736
Attica era il posto finale.
303
00:21:29,120 --> 00:21:33,696
e dovevi vederla per capire perché
304
00:21:33,792 --> 00:21:36,048
Non c'erano guardie nere ad Attica
305
00:21:36,176 --> 00:21:38,880
Non c'erano guardie ispaniche
306
00:21:39,024 --> 00:21:43,264
Erano tutti bianchi. Gente che veniva dal quartiere vicino
307
00:21:43,472 --> 00:21:47,488
che non sapevano nulla della gente che veniva da Brooklyn
308
00:21:47,552 --> 00:21:51,344
o della gente che viene da Manhattan
o dal Bronx.
309
00:21:51,504 --> 00:21:53,792
Non sapevano niente di questa cultura.
310
00:21:53,900 --> 00:21:57,100
La maggior parte di loro
non ti rivolgevano neanche la parola.
311
00:21:57,180 --> 00:21:59,616
E te lo dicevano chiaramente:
312
00:21:59,664 --> 00:22:01,744
Non mi parlare! Non parlare con me!
313
00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:04,100
Usavano quel bastone con la punta di metallo,
314
00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:07,856
la punta di metallo
315
00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:11,872
che faceva un rumore e TAP! e cammini..
316
00:22:12,048 --> 00:22:15,536
e quando vogliono che ti fermi facevano: TAP TAP!
317
00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:17,632
Questa era la loro comunicazione.
318
00:22:17,820 --> 00:22:22,464
L'unica cosa giusta da fare era essere bianco
e lo dico sinceramente
319
00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:29,210
Nessuno era dellidea di mescolarsi con altre culture,
320
00:22:30,176 --> 00:22:31,800
alloo scopo di sopravvivere.
321
00:22:32,096 --> 00:22:35,392
Ero bianco, e così avevo i lavori migliori
322
00:22:35,664 --> 00:22:40,048
avevo sempre un po' più di margine dei neri..
323
00:22:41,952 --> 00:22:46,496
potevo avere un pò di cibo extra se volevo
perché.. ero un bianco.
324
00:22:46,912 --> 00:22:51,376
Sono bianco, dai. Dammene un po' di più.
E lo ottenevo!
325
00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:56,816
Sono sempre stato in grado di manipolare il sistema
da dentro la prigione
326
00:22:57,008 --> 00:22:58,416
perché ero un bianco.
327
00:22:58,592 --> 00:23:02,928
Mi vergogno quasi di dirlo
che ho tratto dei vantaggi, allora
328
00:23:03,056 --> 00:23:05,536
ma era l'unico modo per sopravvivere.
329
00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:07,840
Sul serio.
330
00:23:17,700 --> 00:23:19,280
Un rotolo di carta igienica
331
00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:21,320
deve durarti un mese.
332
00:23:22,816 --> 00:23:25,296
Devi essere un mago
o strappare la carta
333
00:23:25,970 --> 00:23:28,384
dai libri e cose del genere
per pulirti il culo.
334
00:23:28,380 --> 00:23:31,840
I ragazzi si lamentavano
per cose elementari come il dentifricio,
335
00:23:32,290 --> 00:23:33,280
la carta igienica,
336
00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:35,792
un cambio di lenzuola
337
00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:37,488
più di una volta al mese,
338
00:23:37,790 --> 00:23:40,648
cose tipo il lavaggio dei vestiti da lavoro.
339
00:23:41,420 --> 00:23:44,464
L'igiene personale
essere trattati da esseri umani.
340
00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:49,120
Nessun programma scolastico.
Attica era…
341
00:23:49,330 --> 00:23:51,830
Non riesco a descriverlo
voglio dire
342
00:23:53,161 --> 00:23:54,537
La morte.
343
00:23:54,670 --> 00:23:56,038
Semplicemente la morte.
344
00:23:58,630 --> 00:24:01,300
Non c'era alcuna libertà religiosa,
in particolare
345
00:24:01,300 --> 00:24:05,047
per il nascente movimento mussulmano.
346
00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:08,640
Non avevano il diritto di pregare.
347
00:24:09,024 --> 00:24:12,770
Gli davano da mangiare carne di maiale
perché la prigione aveva una fattoria
348
00:24:12,770 --> 00:24:14,348
dove si allevavano maiali.
349
00:24:16,416 --> 00:24:18,730
Per nutrirci spendevano
63 centesimi al giorno,
350
00:24:19,088 --> 00:24:20,780
cioè 21 centesimi a pasto.
351
00:24:20,780 --> 00:24:24,025
Come puoi dare da mangiare a qualcuno con 21 centesimi?
352
00:24:26,740 --> 00:24:27,680
Lo giuro su Dio.
353
00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:30,880
Una volta una guardia mi ha rotto la testa,
354
00:24:31,250 --> 00:24:34,035
e sono stato messo in cella disolamento.
355
00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:36,913
È venuto il dottore,
356
00:24:37,632 --> 00:24:39,050
sanguinavo dappertutto.
357
00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:43,728
Così gli ho detto: “Ho un…
Mi hanno spaccato la testa.
358
00:24:44,110 --> 00:24:45,421
Dice: “Metti la testa qui”.
359
00:24:45,421 --> 00:24:49,000
Nella cella cera unapertura
per farci passare il cibo.
360
00:24:49,180 --> 00:24:52,100
Quindi ho messo lì la testa
e lui ha preso una torcia come…
361
00:24:52,140 --> 00:24:54,960
Giuro su Dio, quello mi ha colpito
con quella fottuta torcia,
362
00:24:54,980 --> 00:24:57,088
proprio lì dove cera il taglio…
363
00:24:59,008 --> 00:25:00,353
… e se nè andato.
364
00:25:05,552 --> 00:25:08,112
La notte, aspettano che tutti siano chiusi in cella,
365
00:25:08,110 --> 00:25:09,362
e poi vengono a prenderti.
366
00:25:09,730 --> 00:25:12,224
Vengono a prenderti come
una squadra di picchiatori.
367
00:25:13,866 --> 00:25:15,960
È la squadretta.
368
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:19,872
Questi tipi arrivano
in una decina, pesanti.
369
00:25:20,416 --> 00:25:21,666
Dei tipi davvero grossi
370
00:25:21,860 --> 00:25:23,668
con dei bastoni altrettanto grossi.
371
00:25:24,032 --> 00:25:29,050
Entrano in cella e ti picchiano,
poi ti portano in isolamento,
372
00:25:29,050 --> 00:25:30,352
e a volte non fai ritorno.
373
00:25:30,350 --> 00:25:31,856
Attica era…
374
00:25:37,984 --> 00:25:39,180
Paura.
375
00:25:39,820 --> 00:25:42,186
Una prigione retta dalla paura.
376
00:25:43,020 --> 00:25:45,840
Avere paura di loro:
era questo il loro modo
377
00:25:46,190 --> 00:25:47,328
di gestire la prigione.
378
00:25:51,424 --> 00:25:54,352
O chiudi la bocca
o sei nei guai.
379
00:25:55,700 --> 00:25:57,702
Alcune persone sono morte.
380
00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:03,296
Alcuni erano come paralizzati.
Alcuni sono rimasti segnati psicologicamente per sempre.
381
00:26:05,888 --> 00:26:07,424
e...
382
00:26:08,340 --> 00:26:10,432
Era un brutto posto dove stare.
383
00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:20,650
Facevano regnare la paura
per instillartela, per farti capire
384
00:26:20,650 --> 00:26:22,240
che avevano il controllo,
385
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:25,600
anche se sapevano
che stavano perdendo il controllo.
386
00:26:27,740 --> 00:26:31,312
Quelli della mia generazione
che sono arrivati ad Attica a quel tempo,
387
00:26:32,110 --> 00:26:34,830
Non eravamo scoraggiati
In altre parole
388
00:26:34,830 --> 00:26:38,618
In altre parole, non stavamo strascicando i piedi
avremmo camminato a testa alta.
389
00:26:38,750 --> 00:26:41,000
Avremmo parlato a modo nostro.
390
00:26:41,424 --> 00:26:42,980
Eravamo ribelli
ecco cos'era.
391
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:45,170
Non avremmo subìto nulla,
da nessuno.
392
00:26:46,288 --> 00:26:47,376
Volevamo rispetto.
393
00:26:49,552 --> 00:26:51,890
E tu dovevi darcelo,
volente o nolente.
394
00:26:52,780 --> 00:26:55,472
Avevo letto il libro di Eldridge Cleaver
“Anima in ghiaccio”
395
00:26:55,470 --> 00:26:58,880
Huey P. Newton e, sai,
le Pantere Nere,
396
00:26:58,976 --> 00:27:01,840
come la storia di George Jackson.
Avevo letto tutta questa roba.
397
00:27:01,850 --> 00:27:06,496
George Jackson era un rivoluzionario
Arrestato per una rapina di pochi dollarii
398
00:27:06,510 --> 00:27:08,048
Una rapina ad un benzinaio
399
00:27:08,070 --> 00:27:09,330
Ha preso l'ergastolo.
400
00:27:09,344 --> 00:27:12,190
È finito nel sistema nella prigione di Soledad.
401
00:27:12,350 --> 00:27:15,490
Lui ci ha mostrato… e intendo a “noi”,
402
00:27:16,512 --> 00:27:18,832
ai ragazzi più giovani
entrati ad Attica,
403
00:27:19,410 --> 00:27:22,203
Era giusto dire di no
404
00:27:22,460 --> 00:27:25,706
Che era giusto essere ribelli.
405
00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:30,211
Ci ha fatto capire che potremmo aver avuto
delle conseguenze al nostro dire NO
406
00:27:30,976 --> 00:27:32,416
Ma era OK
407
00:27:32,900 --> 00:27:34,460
Ed è stato educativo.
408
00:27:35,010 --> 00:27:36,416
E' stato educativo.
409
00:27:36,717 --> 00:27:40,912
Penso che il razzismo sia un dispositivo di controllo,
un meccanismo di controllo.
410
00:27:41,490 --> 00:27:44,992
Crea unatmosfera
in cui ti controllano.
411
00:27:46,020 --> 00:27:50,768
Certo, qui in prigione vediamo
la repressione, lo sfruttamento
412
00:27:51,250 --> 00:27:53,760
la vittimizzazione
413
00:27:54,530 --> 00:27:56,904
di persone appartenenti alla classe inferiore.
414
00:27:57,405 --> 00:28:00,912
Un sacco di Pantere Nere
stavano entrando in prigione.
415
00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:04,510
Ho iniziato a vedermi con loro,
e mi hanno politicizzato.
416
00:28:04,912 --> 00:28:08,580
Il Partito delle Pantere Nere per lAutodifesa
chiama il popolo americano in generale
417
00:28:08,580 --> 00:28:11,585
e i neri in particolare
a tenere docchio
418
00:28:11,590 --> 00:28:16,384
le agenzie di polizia razziste in tutto il paese
che stanno intensificando il terrore
419
00:28:16,380 --> 00:28:19,593
brutalità, omicidi
e repressione dei neri.
420
00:28:19,590 --> 00:28:24,100
Certo, ci sono stati i Black Muslims [Musulmani Neri],
e il loro messaggio alluomo nero
421
00:28:24,100 --> 00:28:28,519
ha davvero dato la sveglia
a molti ragazzi dentro le prigioni.
422
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:30,020
Vogliamo una cosa!
423
00:28:30,020 --> 00:28:33,392
Dichiariamo il nostro diritto
su questa Terra
424
00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:38,400
di essere uomini, di essere degli essere umani,
di essere rispettati in quanto esseri umani
425
00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:40,688
di avere i diritti di un essere umano
426
00:28:40,690 --> 00:28:44,000
in questa società, su questa Terra, in questo giorno,
427
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:49,728
e che vogliamo realizzare questo nostro diritto
con ogni mezzo necessario
428
00:28:52,410 --> 00:28:56,672
Ufficiali del penitenziario californiano di San Quentin
429
00:28:56,700 --> 00:29:00,032
stanno ancora cercando di ricostruire
che cosa sia successo e come
430
00:29:00,030 --> 00:29:01,886
in un tentativo di evasione avvenuto ieri
431
00:29:01,890 --> 00:29:04,889
costata la vita a tre detenuti
e tre guardie
432
00:29:04,890 --> 00:29:07,558
Uno dei detenuti morti
era George Jackson,
433
00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:11,562
dei sedicenti Fratelli di Soledad. Jackson aveva 29 anni.
434
00:29:11,616 --> 00:29:15,216
Le ultime parole di George Jackson sono state:
“Non me ne frega più un cazzo.
435
00:29:15,264 --> 00:29:17,680
Ci uccideranno comunque.
Non possiamo uscire.
436
00:29:17,744 --> 00:29:20,570
Siamo in una gabbia del cazzo.
Come ne usciamo?
437
00:29:20,570 --> 00:29:22,928
Se dobbiamo morire.
Moriamo da uomini.
438
00:29:22,930 --> 00:29:25,296
E i fratelli si sono sentiti frustrati.
439
00:29:28,208 --> 00:29:29,824
Andavamo in sala mensa
440
00:29:30,414 --> 00:29:31,880
con una fascia nera al braccio.
441
00:29:32,917 --> 00:29:35,920
e ci sedevamo lì.
tQuando entri, prendi un cucchiaio.
442
00:29:36,096 --> 00:29:37,421
Non prendere cibo
443
00:29:37,664 --> 00:29:39,072
Non abbiamo parlato
444
00:29:40,128 --> 00:29:41,776
per tutto il tempo
445
00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:43,792
e non abbiamo preso il cibo.
446
00:29:44,928 --> 00:29:48,930
Questo, credo, ha fatto capire allistituzione
447
00:29:48,933 --> 00:29:50,160
che eravamo solidali.
448
00:29:50,928 --> 00:29:54,944
Probabilmente non avevano mai visto prima
questo tipo di solidarietà.
449
00:30:02,613 --> 00:30:07,330
Si è parlato molto della situazione:
450
00:30:07,330 --> 00:30:11,072
perché i detenuti erano molto agitati,
451
00:30:11,330 --> 00:30:14,064
e lì stavano succedendo delle cose
452
00:30:14,060 --> 00:30:16,920
e c'era una grossa preoccupazione.
453
00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:21,072
Era una bomba pronta ad esplodere
e ci vivevamo dentro.
454
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:24,816
Ogni giorno in casa quando dicevo: "Arrivederci"a mio padre,
455
00:30:24,928 --> 00:30:27,888
sapevo che poteva essere l'ultima volta,
456
00:30:27,952 --> 00:30:30,000
era un argomento di conversazione.
457
00:30:32,730 --> 00:30:34,960
Le cose stavano peggiorando,
458
00:30:35,056 --> 00:30:38,144
e così hanno avuto una riunione,
con l'amministrazione
459
00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,360
e l'amministrazione ha detto che non
c'era di che preoccuparsi.
460
00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:44,208
e li ha rimandati al lavoro.
Aggiungendo:
461
00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:48,832
"Pensiamo sia una buona idea
che lasciate a casa gli oggetti personali,
462
00:30:48,910 --> 00:30:50,848
come gli anelli nunziali e il portafogli.
463
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:54,140
E così mio padre sapeva, che qualcosa stava per succedere.
464
00:30:54,208 --> 00:30:56,624
Stavamo facendo colazione,
465
00:30:56,800 --> 00:30:59,280
mi parlava, ed era nervoso.
466
00:30:59,376 --> 00:31:03,376
Mi ha detto: "qualcosa sta per succedere
ma non so cosa o quando.
467
00:31:03,488 --> 00:31:05,904
ma penso che andrà tutto bene.
468
00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:10,400
C'è stata una rissa
469
00:31:10,496 --> 00:31:13,872
in cortile, l'otto di Settembre.
470
00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:17,504
e le guardie promisero che non sarebbe successo nulla
in conseguenza
471
00:31:17,552 --> 00:31:20,336
perché sentivano la tensione salire.
472
00:31:20,368 --> 00:31:22,736
Poi, la notte stessa, ruppero la promessa.
473
00:31:22,816 --> 00:31:27,776
vennero e ne tirarono fuori dalla cella tre o quattro
474
00:31:27,792 --> 00:31:29,296
e poi..
475
00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:34,768
Se la presero con la scusa che aveva un bicchiere,
476
00:31:34,830 --> 00:31:38,560
o una lattina, o quel che aveva
qualcosa che gli dava noia.
477
00:31:38,592 --> 00:31:43,420
Così i detenuti decisero in quel momento
Siamo stanchi.
478
00:31:43,450 --> 00:31:45,344
Avevano ucciso già George Jackson
479
00:31:45,392 --> 00:31:47,648
lo facevano da anni.. Siamo Stanchi.
480
00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:49,808
e così non ci sono stati più.
481
00:31:59,184 --> 00:32:01,110
Quel giorno ero a scuola,
482
00:32:01,710 --> 00:32:03,728
e la sirena,
483
00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:07,536
e si sentiva la sirena della prigione.
484
00:32:07,744 --> 00:32:11,120
Ricevemmo una telefonata dalla prigione
485
00:32:11,210 --> 00:32:13,872
che diceva che mio padre era stato: "preso e trattenuto".
486
00:32:13,984 --> 00:32:17,488
E ho avuto paura. per mio padre.
Gli volevo bene.
487
00:32:17,616 --> 00:32:20,496
ma non avevamo idea di cosa stesse succedendo.
488
00:32:22,688 --> 00:32:25,488
Sembra esserci un malinteso riguardo il perché,
489
00:32:25,632 --> 00:32:28,112
questo incidente sia successo qui ad Attica.
490
00:32:28,144 --> 00:32:31,024
In questa dichiarazione spieghiamo le ragioni.
491
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:35,408
Questo incidente, che vi ha portato qui, ad Attica.
492
00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:39,984
Non è il risultato del vile pestaggio subito da due prigionieri
493
00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:42,752
l'otto di settembre 1971
494
00:32:42,848 --> 00:32:45,232
ma è il risultato dell'incessante oppressione.
495
00:32:45,328 --> 00:32:49,856
operata dalla direzione razzista di questo carcere per anni.
496
00:32:49,936 --> 00:32:54,192
Vogliamo che il governa garantisca
che non ci saranno rappresaglie.
497
00:32:54,272 --> 00:32:58,736
e vogliamo che ogni sfaccettatura nei media
articoli questo concetto.
498
00:32:59,136 --> 00:33:01,136
Avevamo bisogno dei media, perché
499
00:33:01,264 --> 00:33:05,264
avevamo bisogno che il mondo sapesse
cosa stava succedendo.
500
00:33:05,792 --> 00:33:10,912
Questo è stato un momento di svolta
nell'intera faccenda.
501
00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:15,808
Noi volevamo che la stampa entrasse,
502
00:33:16,016 --> 00:33:19,088
comprese le telecamere della televisione,
503
00:33:20,496 --> 00:33:24,416
e questo ha cambiato tutto.
504
00:33:24,950 --> 00:33:30,064
Perché da questo momento in poi, i prigionieri
avevano spettatori in tutto il mondo.
505
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:34,448
Qualunque cosa stia succedendo
qui nella prigione di Attica
506
00:33:34,656 --> 00:33:40,176
Non so come abbiano saputo
che c'èra un giornalista nero
507
00:33:40,336 --> 00:33:45,712
e mi volevano parte del gruppo che doveva entrare.
508
00:33:45,790 --> 00:33:49,600
con Oswald. E di colpo sono nel gruppo,
509
00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:52,430
ed entro nella prigione,
510
00:33:52,496 --> 00:33:56,272
con il capo del sistema penitenziario.
511
00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:59,760
Mi ha sorpreso che chiedessero di me
512
00:33:59,872 --> 00:34:04,560
ma credo che abbiano visto i miei notiziari
513
00:34:04,768 --> 00:34:08,688
e le mie notizie erano fattuali.
514
00:34:08,816 --> 00:34:13,184
e non ero di parte.
515
00:34:13,312 --> 00:34:14,864
In tutto ciò.
516
00:34:15,536 --> 00:34:18,016
Entrammo..
517
00:34:18,128 --> 00:34:23,088
ed era completamente surreale,
518
00:34:23,184 --> 00:34:27,472
come entrare in un tunnel,
e improvvisamente
519
00:34:27,568 --> 00:34:30,240
ti trovi in quell'enorme cortile.
520
00:34:30,464 --> 00:34:35,920
dove c'erano uomini ovunque
un migliaio di uomini.
521
00:34:35,984 --> 00:34:38,864
E mi ricordo
522
00:34:38,992 --> 00:34:41,712
persone che gridavano: "Ehi J.J."
523
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:44,224
Ho salutato la gente
524
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:47,456
che conoscevo da Bed-Stuy e Harlem
[quartieri di NY]
525
00:34:47,728 --> 00:34:50,490
e che erano qui ad Attica.
526
00:34:53,248 --> 00:34:56,528
Una volta dentro, siamo stati accompagnati per il cortile
527
00:34:56,576 --> 00:35:00,464
con un membro della sicurezza dei detenuti
sempre al nostro fianco.
528
00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:03,648
Ci dicevano dove andare,
529
00:35:03,792 --> 00:35:07,792
E ci era permesso di fare riprese solo quando ce lo dicevano.
530
00:35:07,936 --> 00:35:11,888
Le facce dei detenuti erano coperte
per mantenere segreta la loro identità.
531
00:35:11,980 --> 00:35:16,560
La nostra prima preoccupazione era sapere
come stavano gli ostaggi.
532
00:35:19,008 --> 00:35:21,408
Ho potuto chiedere,
533
00:35:21,952 --> 00:35:25,488
una domanda, prima di essere portato
534
00:35:25,632 --> 00:35:28,150
al tavolo delle negoziazioni.
535
00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:32,224
"Sei stato trattato bene?"
Si, per ora sì, non ho lamentele.
536
00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:35,984
"Nessun problema?"
No, sono stato trattato molto bene.
537
00:35:36,368 --> 00:35:39,952
Poco dopo, uno dei detenuti,
538
00:35:40,112 --> 00:35:44,064
un giovanotto di nome L.D. Barkley
539
00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:46,048
ha cominciato a leggere
540
00:35:46,288 --> 00:35:47,680
le richieste.
541
00:35:47,870 --> 00:35:51,936
L'intera popolazione della prigione
tutti noi qui,
542
00:35:52,016 --> 00:35:55,184
vuole mettere fine per sempre
543
00:35:55,248 --> 00:35:59,712
alla brutalità illegale e al disprezzo
per le vite dei prigionieri, qui
544
00:35:59,820 --> 00:36:01,600
e in tutto il resto degli Stati Uniti.
545
00:36:01,712 --> 00:36:04,320
Stava dicendo quello che tutti noi volevamo gridare.
546
00:36:04,512 --> 00:36:08,416
ma lo spiegava anche
in modo che tutti potessero capire.
547
00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:10,944
stavi seduto nella tua sala da pranzo,
548
00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:14,448
e potevi dire "ma questo è un criminale!"
Si, ma
549
00:36:14,896 --> 00:36:18,384
ma sta dicendo qualcosa che..
550
00:36:18,512 --> 00:36:20,240
qualcosa che posso capire.
551
00:36:20,368 --> 00:36:23,936
come diavolo faceva.
Stava svegliando l'America.
552
00:36:24,112 --> 00:36:26,368
E lo faceva alla grande.
553
00:36:26,576 --> 00:36:28,384
Siamo uomini!
554
00:36:28,544 --> 00:36:32,848
Non siamo bestie e non intendiamo
essere picchiati o trattati come tali
555
00:36:32,890 --> 00:36:36,800
L.D. doveva stare qui solo tre mesi,
e poi sarebbe uscito
556
00:36:36,896 --> 00:36:40,688
ma voleva che il mondo fuori sapesse,
557
00:36:41,008 --> 00:36:43,552
che la prigione è inumana.
558
00:36:43,584 --> 00:36:49,424
Quello che sentite qui è il rumore della furia
di coloro che sono oppressi
559
00:36:49,456 --> 00:36:52,464
non fare compromessi in nessun modo,
560
00:36:52,512 --> 00:36:55,952
tranne nei termini che decideremo noi.
561
00:36:56,032 --> 00:36:58,160
Questa è una chiamata..
562
00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:04,352
Potevi sentirlo.
563
00:37:06,576 --> 00:37:08,160
E in quel momento,
564
00:37:08,240 --> 00:37:11,088
Io ho sentito e ho visto.
565
00:37:11,456 --> 00:37:13,760
E questo ha riaffermato
566
00:37:14,176 --> 00:37:17,888
il motivo per cui eravamo lì.
Perché io ero lì.
567
00:37:20,180 --> 00:37:23,664
Cera la sensazione
che fosse qualcosa di grande.
568
00:37:23,856 --> 00:37:25,712
Era grandioso.
569
00:37:28,770 --> 00:37:33,552
Lalto funzionario penitenziario Oswald sostenne
570
00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:36,592
di aver accettato
571
00:37:36,832 --> 00:37:38,910
un bel po delle cose
572
00:37:39,184 --> 00:37:43,152
richieste dai detenuti.
573
00:37:43,310 --> 00:37:46,560
Ho rispettato
574
00:37:46,688 --> 00:37:51,536
le diverse cose che avevo promesso.
575
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:56,496
Ho portato qui la stampa
e altri mass media qui dentro,
576
00:37:56,752 --> 00:37:58,880
e ci ascoltano mentre parliamo,
577
00:37:59,024 --> 00:38:03,488
E adesso la mia domanda è, come ho chiesto anche prima:
578
00:38:03,696 --> 00:38:07,216
Quando rilascerete gli ostaggi?
579
00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:10,800
Ora la situazione era cambiata
580
00:38:11,056 --> 00:38:13,648
e noi avevamo il potere.
581
00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:17,632
Quindi quando gli chiediamo qualcosa
lo deve concedere.
582
00:38:17,664 --> 00:38:19,232
Perché non ha scelta.
583
00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:23,072
Volevamo qualche garanzia che non ci sarebbero state
584
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:25,280
vendette o ritorsioni.
585
00:38:25,408 --> 00:38:30,272
Domandammo a Herman Schwartz
di andare in tribunale a New York
586
00:38:30,816 --> 00:38:34,384
e ottenere un'ingiunzione
587
00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:38,832
che assicurasse che non ci sarebbero state ritorsioni.
588
00:38:38,928 --> 00:38:41,600
Mi sono seduto e ho scritto un'ingiunzione
589
00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:46,912
che vietava qualsiasi tipo di ritorsione,
590
00:38:47,136 --> 00:38:52,976
Era stato concordato che si sarebbe svolta
unaltra riunione il mattino dopo.
591
00:38:53,152 --> 00:38:55,808
Ora sono le otto e dieci.
592
00:38:55,888 --> 00:39:02,000
Stiamo girando questo video da circa due ore.
Abbiamo iniziato alle sei.
593
00:39:02,490 --> 00:39:05,440
È quasi buio.
594
00:39:05,552 --> 00:39:09,248
Possiamo vedere le luci
accese nelle celle del blocco D.
595
00:39:18,130 --> 00:39:21,424
Il ragazzo di fianco a me
Si chiamava Raymond White.
596
00:39:22,656 --> 00:39:25,600
Stava camminando,
col naso allinsù.
597
00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:29,680
È buio. E ho detto: “Ehi, Raymond White".
Yo Ray,
598
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:37,470
Disse: “Amico, sono 22 anni che non esco
dopo il tramonto, 22 anni”.
599
00:39:37,740 --> 00:39:42,688
E abbiamo parlato, mentre si cantava..
Era una notte di festa.
600
00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:45,008
Mi piaceva. Ed ero fuori.
601
00:39:45,104 --> 00:39:47,952
Amico, ero fuori, di notte, a guardare le stelle.
602
00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:50,928
Ero ubriaco. Ero felice.
Ero illuminato.
603
00:39:51,008 --> 00:39:52,480
Mi sono divertito.
604
00:39:52,528 --> 00:39:55,328
Ed era bello. Mi sentivo libero.
605
00:39:55,376 --> 00:39:59,216
Sai, cosa voglio dire, ero in prigione, ma mi sentivo libero.
606
00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:01,968
Non dovevo sentire
607
00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:04,480
il rumore delle porte che si chiudono.
608
00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:09,312
È stata una bella sensazione quella prima notte.
609
00:40:09,488 --> 00:40:11,280
Quando si fece buio,
610
00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:14,528
E tutti parlavano di trovare qualcuno con cui dormire.
611
00:40:14,576 --> 00:40:17,824
Sai, non si dorme da soli.. queste cose qua
612
00:40:17,872 --> 00:40:20,864
Ci sono molti psicopatici e sociopatici
613
00:40:20,896 --> 00:40:24,976
in queste strutture.
Quindi, devi proteggerti
614
00:40:25,104 --> 00:40:27,856
anche dai tuoi compagni.
615
00:40:33,824 --> 00:40:36,790
Sapevo che non sarebbe durata per sempre
616
00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:40,944
sapevo che ci sarebbe stata una fine.
617
00:40:41,090 --> 00:40:43,760
Ma solo perché stavamo in prigione,
618
00:40:43,824 --> 00:40:46,576
non voleva dire che fossimo meno che umani.
619
00:40:47,810 --> 00:40:50,864
Qualcuno doveva prendere posizione.
620
00:40:58,704 --> 00:41:04,736
Allalba, quando ancora il fumo degli incendi di ieri
indugiava sulle mura della prigione
621
00:41:04,910 --> 00:41:11,904
è stata ottenuta uningiunzione federale che vieta le rappresaglie fisiche
contro le persone coinvolte nella rivolta
622
00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:15,232
Quando ho portato lingiunzione,
623
00:41:15,328 --> 00:41:19,424
se nè parlato con i prigionieri
alle estremità opposte
624
00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:22,780
dun tunnel piuttosto lungo.
625
00:41:23,008 --> 00:41:26,064
Hanno chiesto:
“Dove sono gli amministratori?”.
626
00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:27,472
Ho risposto: “Non lo so".
627
00:41:27,536 --> 00:41:29,760
Io sono qui, ma loro non so dove siano.
628
00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:34,944
Finalmente, alle dieci, Oswald e gli altri si presentano.
629
00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:38,112
I prigionieri erano furiosi.
630
00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:42,752
Erano stati, come dicevano loro "dissed"
[mancati di rispetto]
631
00:41:42,848 --> 00:41:46,544
Lincontro avrebbe dovuto svolgersi
alle sette o alle otto
632
00:41:46,688 --> 00:41:48,784
ed era molto chiaro..
633
00:41:48,848 --> 00:41:52,032
Il clima era molto teso.
634
00:41:52,144 --> 00:41:56,288
Si è preso posto ai tavoli.
635
00:41:56,384 --> 00:41:59,040
Noi eravamo a un lato.
636
00:41:59,136 --> 00:42:02,192
I detenuti erano dallaltra parte.
637
00:42:02,576 --> 00:42:06,896
E ho dato loro il documento
che il giudice aveva firmato.
638
00:42:06,976 --> 00:42:09,792
"Questo non vale niente".
639
00:42:10,048 --> 00:42:12,976
Mi dispiace, ho passato ore a..
640
00:42:13,072 --> 00:42:16,176
e non ho dormito,
ho solo problemi..
641
00:42:16,272 --> 00:42:20,544
Ha affermato che cera la firma
dun giudice federale
642
00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:25,392
su uningiunzione in base alla quale
non ci sarebbero state rappresaglie.
643
00:42:25,472 --> 00:42:27,760
Ed è entrato
sventolando questo documento,
644
00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:30,640
e Jerry lEbreo ha domandato:
“Dovè il sigillo?
645
00:42:30,720 --> 00:42:33,240
Non cè nessun sigillo giudiziario
su questo foglio.
646
00:42:33,248 --> 00:42:36,960
Ho ricevuto delle ingiunzioni
dal Distretto Meridionale
647
00:42:37,120 --> 00:42:39,008
che recavano i sigilli giudiziari.
648
00:42:39,104 --> 00:42:40,976
Questo pezzo di carta non vale niente!
649
00:42:41,056 --> 00:42:43,472
Jerry lEbreo.
Era il suo soprannome.
650
00:42:43,568 --> 00:42:48,432
Jerry Rosenberg era un tipo in gamba.
Ed era molto rispettato.
651
00:42:48,470 --> 00:42:50,368
Aveva una laurea in Giurisprudenza.
652
00:42:50,544 --> 00:42:56,000
Conosceva la legge e aiutava tutti i detenuti.
Era un avvocato in carcere.
653
00:42:56,112 --> 00:42:59,744
Possiamo prendere questo pezzo di carta e stracciarlo,
654
00:42:59,740 --> 00:43:01,210
non serve a proteggere nessuno.
655
00:43:01,216 --> 00:43:03,760
Geoffrey Rosenberg, che Dio lo benedica
656
00:43:03,840 --> 00:43:06,816
dice:
“Il giudice non lha firmato"
657
00:43:06,992 --> 00:43:12,976
Su questo documento del Tribunale, manca il timbro,
658
00:43:13,152 --> 00:43:17,136
anche se dice che non ci succederà nulla, manca il timbro.
659
00:43:17,250 --> 00:43:19,520
E lha stracciato.
660
00:43:19,696 --> 00:43:22,672
Herman, sappiamo che hai
delle buone intenzioni,
661
00:43:22,784 --> 00:43:24,864
ma non venire qui con le stronzate, Herm.
662
00:43:24,944 --> 00:43:26,784
Vogliamo un sigillo giudiziario
663
00:43:26,832 --> 00:43:31,248
e unordinanza restrittiva valida
fino a quando il contenzioso si sarà concluso
664
00:43:31,320 --> 00:43:36,112
senzalcuna rappresaglia o brutalità
contro i detenuti di questo istituto.
665
00:43:45,856 --> 00:43:51,728
Gli avvocati sanno che i sigilli
non significano nulla
666
00:43:51,820 --> 00:43:55,488
se cè la firma.
667
00:43:55,600 --> 00:44:00,064
Avrei potuto prendere a calci in culo Jerry.
E avrei dovuto farlo.
668
00:44:00,500 --> 00:44:04,464
Davvero, perché aveva
iniziato a fare un comizio.
669
00:44:04,576 --> 00:44:07,776
Sai, si era fatto prendere dal momento.
670
00:44:09,840 --> 00:44:13,072
Benché fosse intelligente e scaltro,
671
00:44:13,168 --> 00:44:18,096
ha avuto una reazione eccessiva,
e abbiamo perso unoccasione.
672
00:44:18,192 --> 00:44:25,360
E poi qualcuno ha detto: “Tratteniamoli”
Li aggiungiamo agli altri ostaggi”.
673
00:44:26,020 --> 00:44:29,570
I speak everybody here,
674
00:44:29,570 --> 00:44:31,900
I want to to you as well.
675
00:44:31,900 --> 00:44:33,990
When you come in here covering the game,
676
00:44:34,820 --> 00:44:39,620
I know you don't give a fuck about no max
that they somehow give a fuck about you.
677
00:44:39,950 --> 00:44:42,080
Nothing I know.
678
00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:44,670
Nothing, you know?
679
00:44:44,670 --> 00:44:46,880
And I'm gonna to leave you.
680
00:44:46,880 --> 00:44:49,550
It seems to me that you are
681
00:44:50,840 --> 00:44:54,220
saying to me that you,
you are an artist at pretty rare occasion.
682
00:44:55,050 --> 00:44:57,510
I bear witness
to your evil deeds, Mr. Art.
683
00:44:58,470 --> 00:44:59,970
Now I repeat,
684
00:44:59,970 --> 00:45:03,390
as I told you yesterday,
we are being lenient with you.
685
00:45:04,350 --> 00:45:05,940
We are negotiating.
686
00:45:05,940 --> 00:45:08,400
We are talking. We shouldn't be.
687
00:45:08,900 --> 00:45:10,530
We should be demanding.
688
00:45:10,530 --> 00:45:11,530
So why?
689
00:45:11,530 --> 00:45:15,200
Because we have 35 lives, not hostages.
690
00:45:15,860 --> 00:45:16,870
And I repeat Mr.
691
00:45:16,870 --> 00:45:20,950
Oswald, a moment's
hesitation would cause you delay.
692
00:45:21,330 --> 00:45:23,830
The meeting in the yard got very tense
693
00:45:24,790 --> 00:45:28,880
because Oswald would talk to you
from one side of the mouth.
694
00:45:29,170 --> 00:45:31,550
And then when he left the yard
and go outside,
695
00:45:31,550 --> 00:45:33,970
he talks from the other side of the mouth
696
00:45:33,970 --> 00:45:37,050
of the inmates made any demands
that, you know, there are all kinds
697
00:45:37,050 --> 00:45:40,760
of demands, you know, for the change
of change in the whole world.
698
00:45:40,890 --> 00:45:44,560
But what he forgot
was that he was being seen on TV.
699
00:45:45,640 --> 00:45:47,440
Come on, how could you do that?
700
00:45:48,520 --> 00:45:50,020
We watch you
701
00:45:50,020 --> 00:45:54,700
and you stated it yesterday on the news
media, in a huff, in a panic, you said.
702
00:45:54,820 --> 00:45:56,410
Well, I don't know what they want.
703
00:45:56,410 --> 00:45:58,530
They want the world and what you like.
704
00:45:58,530 --> 00:45:59,740
You walk away from reporters.
705
00:45:59,740 --> 00:46:01,830
Would you reply that the sidewalk?
706
00:46:01,830 --> 00:46:04,160
Yes, I did say that.
707
00:46:04,870 --> 00:46:05,580
Let him finish.
708
00:46:05,580 --> 00:46:06,620
I don't say that.
709
00:46:06,620 --> 00:46:09,210
Can't bullshit a bullshitter.
710
00:46:09,210 --> 00:46:10,630
You can't do that.
711
00:46:11,040 --> 00:46:13,090
The first time he came in, I'm going to do
712
00:46:13,090 --> 00:46:15,220
this, a b, c, d e f g
713
00:46:16,340 --> 00:46:18,760
and people said, All right,
going back to business, get it done,
714
00:46:19,180 --> 00:46:21,510
came back in and started talking
and you know,
715
00:46:22,390 --> 00:46:26,100
it was going around about hearing around
about then this scenario.
716
00:46:26,140 --> 00:46:28,190
Not that the hostages go.
717
00:46:28,690 --> 00:46:30,980
But you be hostage,
718
00:46:31,570 --> 00:46:33,020
whatever, you know, power
719
00:46:33,980 --> 00:46:34,780
and water.
720
00:46:34,780 --> 00:46:35,740
We haven't got that.
721
00:46:35,740 --> 00:46:38,860
We're going to get Mr. Harper for himself.
722
00:46:39,070 --> 00:46:40,370
So we got to.
723
00:46:42,830 --> 00:46:45,330
We're not letting him out of here
and keeping him in Austin.
724
00:46:46,330 --> 00:46:47,960
We all we shut that down.
725
00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:49,750
We're not going to be like them.
726
00:46:49,750 --> 00:46:50,920
We're not going to break our word.
727
00:46:50,920 --> 00:46:53,920
And it says, well, inmates
would be more honorable than them.
728
00:46:53,920 --> 00:46:57,800
Yes, we were because we gave him my word
nothing would happen to him.
729
00:47:06,810 --> 00:47:07,850
Everybody starts
730
00:47:07,850 --> 00:47:10,440
screaming at him, go, let him go.
731
00:47:12,110 --> 00:47:12,360
Don't.
732
00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:18,900
He got out of Dodge.
733
00:47:18,900 --> 00:47:21,240
He never came back.
734
00:47:25,240 --> 00:47:26,200
In New York State,
735
00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:30,580
some 500 inmates of the Attica maximum
security prison are still in revolt.
736
00:47:30,830 --> 00:47:34,000
Authorities tried unsuccessfully
to reach a settlement with the prisoners
737
00:47:34,290 --> 00:47:38,300
over demands for reforms and to obtain
release of more than 30 hostages.
738
00:47:38,670 --> 00:47:42,340
We have a report on what's been happening
at Attica from ABC's John Johnson.
739
00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:45,390
Fires were still burning at Attica
State Prison,
740
00:47:45,810 --> 00:47:48,680
despite a small army of police and state
troopers.
741
00:47:48,850 --> 00:47:51,480
The prisoners continue to call the shots
at Attica.
742
00:47:52,190 --> 00:47:54,610
Commissioner Oswald announced that
743
00:47:54,610 --> 00:47:57,570
prison officials
were attempting to bring to the prison
744
00:47:57,730 --> 00:48:02,530
those people requested by the prisoners
in areas under where the group
745
00:48:03,030 --> 00:48:05,490
was basically people
746
00:48:06,410 --> 00:48:10,040
whom they knew people like Tom Wicker,
747
00:48:10,120 --> 00:48:12,790
who had written a column about prisoners.
748
00:48:13,670 --> 00:48:16,000
Senator John Dunn was chairman
749
00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:18,590
of the Prisons Committee and sympathetic.
750
00:48:19,210 --> 00:48:21,170
He was asked to come.
751
00:48:21,170 --> 00:48:24,550
Bill Kunstler, a lawyer for the Chicago
752
00:48:24,550 --> 00:48:27,140
seven, asked him to come in
753
00:48:27,890 --> 00:48:32,350
and Clarence Jones,
publisher of the Amsterdam News.
754
00:48:37,190 --> 00:48:38,020
Have a driver was
755
00:48:38,020 --> 00:48:41,490
driving me up,
the ampersand is the driver, says Boss,
756
00:48:41,860 --> 00:48:43,990
they're calling your name on the radio,
so what you mean?
757
00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:47,200
Called Rockefeller,
758
00:48:47,200 --> 00:48:50,000
and lo and behold,
the governor picked up the phone.
759
00:48:50,000 --> 00:48:53,080
He said, thank you so much.
760
00:48:53,080 --> 00:48:55,500
Mr Jones, we have a major situation.
761
00:48:57,210 --> 00:48:58,500
A number of the inmates
762
00:48:58,500 --> 00:49:00,590
have called your name.
763
00:49:02,630 --> 00:49:04,630
We'll have a car and pick you up.
764
00:49:04,630 --> 00:49:07,010
And taking him to a private airport.
765
00:49:08,970 --> 00:49:10,100
We're a state private
766
00:49:10,100 --> 00:49:12,270
plane is waiting for you.
767
00:49:13,980 --> 00:49:16,020
And there are more.
768
00:49:16,520 --> 00:49:18,900
Atika, you be part of the.
769
00:49:20,230 --> 00:49:21,990
Observers committee.
770
00:49:23,570 --> 00:49:26,450
My wife and I were off on vacation
at the time
771
00:49:26,820 --> 00:49:27,870
and we got a call
772
00:49:27,870 --> 00:49:31,790
that they had asked me to come there,
and I felt that with my prior experience
773
00:49:31,790 --> 00:49:35,670
and my responsibilities as a chairman
of the prison committee ought to be there.
774
00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:39,750
I was optimistic.
775
00:49:39,750 --> 00:49:40,550
I thought.
776
00:49:41,090 --> 00:49:42,340
Give it a shot.
777
00:49:43,010 --> 00:49:45,760
For the rebel prisoners of Attica,
the encouraging appearance,
778
00:49:45,760 --> 00:49:47,680
the people, they consider friends.
779
00:49:47,680 --> 00:49:51,220
A 30 man mediation committee,
including a congressman for newsmen
780
00:49:51,680 --> 00:49:54,230
and most importantly, lawyer
William Kunstler.
781
00:49:54,560 --> 00:49:56,900
Have you heard anything from Governor
Rockefeller's office?
782
00:49:56,900 --> 00:50:00,110
I mean, has he put any time
limit on these negotiations?
783
00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:03,400
No, but I understand that
there is no present
784
00:50:03,650 --> 00:50:07,030
plan to use force in this prison,
and I hope that continues.
785
00:50:07,160 --> 00:50:10,910
I just hope that they realize
that this is a unique situation
786
00:50:10,910 --> 00:50:15,000
and that it may take time
and that if everyone has a good faith,
787
00:50:15,250 --> 00:50:17,080
something will work out.
788
00:50:18,750 --> 00:50:21,630
It was scary, the tension was tremendous.
789
00:50:21,630 --> 00:50:25,470
Eager to cut the air with a knife,
it was terrifying.
790
00:50:25,840 --> 00:50:28,890
I remember going into the yard
and saying to Mel, Where was I?
791
00:50:29,090 --> 00:50:30,050
Do you have a cigaret?
792
00:50:30,050 --> 00:50:30,470
And he said,
793
00:50:30,470 --> 00:50:33,770
You have one on you, one in your hand,
one in your mouth and one in your.
794
00:50:35,100 --> 00:50:36,600
I was scared.
795
00:50:37,520 --> 00:50:39,770
When you see a tower
with people with rifles,
796
00:50:41,150 --> 00:50:43,020
I kept thinking
797
00:50:43,440 --> 00:50:45,990
we should stay close to Tom Wicker
and Herman Badillo
798
00:50:45,990 --> 00:50:48,530
because they would be the least likely
to be shot.
799
00:50:51,200 --> 00:50:52,620
Frank Big Black
800
00:50:52,620 --> 00:50:56,540
Smith was the overall security leader.
801
00:50:57,410 --> 00:50:59,670
He took that job on himself already.
802
00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:02,000
He was the guy.
803
00:51:02,340 --> 00:51:04,170
Here's the big man.
804
00:51:04,250 --> 00:51:06,840
I mean, this is big.
805
00:51:06,840 --> 00:51:08,680
That was responsible to make sure
806
00:51:08,680 --> 00:51:11,680
that the observers that came in.
807
00:51:13,260 --> 00:51:15,890
They the same way
they can't manage the same way
808
00:51:15,890 --> 00:51:19,480
they did
that, you know, no harm come to them.
809
00:51:19,940 --> 00:51:23,060
He said, Well,
we've got to have a security force.
810
00:51:23,770 --> 00:51:26,610
So we were looking for volunteers.
811
00:51:26,610 --> 00:51:27,570
You, you.
812
00:51:28,530 --> 00:51:30,610
Along the way for her,
813
00:51:30,610 --> 00:51:35,330
can't be all black as we need
black guys, white guys and Puerto Ricans.
814
00:51:38,620 --> 00:51:41,420
We would line up and create a corridor,
815
00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:45,840
and they would walk down the middle
of the corridor with us being a barrier
816
00:51:45,840 --> 00:51:49,630
between general population
and the negotiators.
817
00:51:49,760 --> 00:51:53,680
So we would just
stand shoulder to shoulder and give them
818
00:51:53,680 --> 00:51:56,010
that safe space to walk through.
819
00:52:00,310 --> 00:52:01,730
We begin to talk with them
820
00:52:01,730 --> 00:52:06,690
about what they wanted,
and they had their their
821
00:52:06,780 --> 00:52:10,700
their list of things that they wanted
already written.
822
00:52:11,360 --> 00:52:13,950
You know, everybody wanted a voice.
823
00:52:13,950 --> 00:52:14,660
Good, bad.
824
00:52:14,660 --> 00:52:19,000
And it worked out,
so nothing went easy, but it went.
825
00:52:19,500 --> 00:52:24,920
We got to a point where we had
what we thought might be possible.
826
00:52:25,380 --> 00:52:27,670
Their demands were, you know,
827
00:52:28,130 --> 00:52:31,260
reasonable demands
about living conditions.
828
00:52:31,630 --> 00:52:34,090
They wanted medical care.
829
00:52:36,140 --> 00:52:38,430
Decent food,
830
00:52:39,560 --> 00:52:41,850
fair disciplinary hearings.
831
00:52:45,020 --> 00:52:46,440
Basically,
832
00:52:46,440 --> 00:52:50,400
they wanted to be treated
like human beings,
833
00:52:51,320 --> 00:52:54,820
prisoners late last night met
with a civilian committee
834
00:52:54,820 --> 00:52:58,160
in an attempt to clarify demands
ranging from better prison
835
00:52:58,160 --> 00:53:00,910
life conditions
to more religious and political freedom.
836
00:53:01,540 --> 00:53:03,920
I injected into the two demands
837
00:53:04,670 --> 00:53:08,170
for some people
to go to non imperialistic country.
838
00:53:08,800 --> 00:53:10,880
You have to be frightened flight out.
839
00:53:11,210 --> 00:53:12,920
We thought Cuba
was going to come and get us.
840
00:53:14,180 --> 00:53:17,800
You ship
troops to Vietnam to stop the men.
841
00:53:17,800 --> 00:53:20,810
Go to all these five countries
to press the button.
842
00:53:21,020 --> 00:53:23,850
You can bet why these helicopters
in air and ship
843
00:53:24,100 --> 00:53:26,230
on this country.
844
00:53:27,480 --> 00:53:29,440
We didn't seeing people snatch airplanes
845
00:53:29,440 --> 00:53:32,940
and all like dead and go to Cuba
and Algiers and all other places.
846
00:53:33,240 --> 00:53:34,950
Why not get out of jail?
847
00:53:34,950 --> 00:53:38,120
An Air France
jet was hijacked by Palestinian girls.
848
00:53:38,160 --> 00:53:41,830
17 year old girl hijacked a twb jetliner
849
00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:44,580
I have for years
and on a 25 to life sentence.
850
00:53:44,580 --> 00:53:46,960
Why not get out of jail?
851
00:53:46,960 --> 00:53:48,040
Why not?
852
00:53:49,290 --> 00:53:50,590
We all do that.
853
00:53:50,590 --> 00:53:52,010
I wasn't going to happen.
854
00:53:52,010 --> 00:53:54,260
We weren't going to go to
855
00:53:54,340 --> 00:53:55,840
Algeria on the plane.
856
00:53:55,840 --> 00:53:58,680
I knew that everybody
in the back of their mind knew that.
857
00:53:59,850 --> 00:54:01,010
But we need it, obviously.
858
00:54:03,520 --> 00:54:04,480
We want the federal
859
00:54:04,480 --> 00:54:08,560
judiciary to guarantee complete amnesty
to each and every one of us
860
00:54:08,770 --> 00:54:13,940
has taken part in the struggle
here at Attica to ensure that this amnesty
861
00:54:13,940 --> 00:54:19,120
will not be just a groping in the win, but
a reality for each and every one of us.
862
00:54:20,030 --> 00:54:23,620
They were not looking to be relieved
of the prison sentences
863
00:54:23,620 --> 00:54:27,080
to which they have been sent by the courts
after being convicted.
864
00:54:27,420 --> 00:54:30,500
They were looking to be freed from any
865
00:54:30,500 --> 00:54:32,880
prosecution or any penalties
866
00:54:33,300 --> 00:54:35,340
for their engaging in the riot.
867
00:54:38,470 --> 00:54:41,260
Besides the normal beatings
and everything else
868
00:54:41,300 --> 00:54:45,350
they're going to do to us, which is,
you know, automatic.
869
00:54:46,230 --> 00:54:49,940
We knew that they could also take us
and bring us to court and,
870
00:54:50,480 --> 00:54:55,690
you know, and turn us into the monster
inmates who took over the prison.
871
00:54:56,530 --> 00:54:59,110
We are not advocating violence.
872
00:55:00,160 --> 00:55:02,200
We all want to live.
873
00:55:04,990 --> 00:55:07,290
All right.
874
00:55:07,290 --> 00:55:09,290
If you get one on dog.
875
00:55:11,500 --> 00:55:14,420
You're treating them
better than we have been treated
876
00:55:15,130 --> 00:55:15,880
the last.
877
00:55:19,680 --> 00:55:21,220
They were fiercely
878
00:55:21,220 --> 00:55:25,520
trying to convince prison authorities
that they didn't cease
879
00:55:25,640 --> 00:55:29,100
being a human
being merely by the fact that they were
880
00:55:30,020 --> 00:55:32,400
incarcerated because they had broken.
881
00:55:33,360 --> 00:55:36,860
A law society,
and that's a profound thing.
882
00:55:37,780 --> 00:55:40,570
I am somebody.
883
00:55:40,570 --> 00:55:42,700
I'm not a thing.
884
00:55:42,990 --> 00:55:46,290
You can't treat me like a dog.
885
00:55:46,290 --> 00:55:48,580
I may be a prisoner, but I have dignity.
886
00:55:50,040 --> 00:55:52,040
And that's what they insisted.
887
00:55:53,500 --> 00:55:55,250
I'm getting the.
888
00:55:56,380 --> 00:55:59,420
Power structure of Africa to recognize.
889
00:56:00,590 --> 00:56:03,550
That they continue to be.
890
00:56:03,550 --> 00:56:04,930
Somebody.
891
00:56:05,560 --> 00:56:07,140
All of you have seen
892
00:56:07,220 --> 00:56:10,390
the observers,
they all were listening to us.
893
00:56:10,810 --> 00:56:13,600
I feel that they were supporting us.
894
00:56:14,980 --> 00:56:15,730
We see.
895
00:56:15,730 --> 00:56:17,900
And that meant a lot to us.
896
00:56:19,990 --> 00:56:21,280
This is our situation.
897
00:56:21,280 --> 00:56:23,740
Please listen to us.
And that's what they were doing.
898
00:56:24,160 --> 00:56:25,030
They were listening.
899
00:56:25,030 --> 00:56:27,410
It felt like they were somebody
that believed in us.
900
00:56:27,540 --> 00:56:29,160
It felt that way.
901
00:56:29,160 --> 00:56:32,080
If somebody believe that you know,
you did have some rights,
902
00:56:32,080 --> 00:56:34,420
even though you were a convicted felon
or whatever.
903
00:56:36,460 --> 00:56:37,920
Would we able to get
904
00:56:37,920 --> 00:56:41,340
a better mailing
privileges, better medical privileges?
905
00:56:41,670 --> 00:56:47,390
We tried to nail it down to that,
which was realistic and possible over
906
00:56:47,430 --> 00:56:50,100
distinguished from a plane waiting for us
907
00:56:50,680 --> 00:56:53,730
outside the cellblock, flying us to Cuba.
908
00:56:54,770 --> 00:56:57,690
That's what it was like it was
it was realism
909
00:56:58,190 --> 00:57:01,570
from fantasy.
910
00:57:01,780 --> 00:57:05,370
We want to be treated as human beings,
911
00:57:05,370 --> 00:57:08,280
we will be treated as human beings.
912
00:57:08,870 --> 00:57:11,290
Yeah, we have come to the conclusion.
913
00:57:13,540 --> 00:57:15,120
That's the study.
914
00:57:16,540 --> 00:57:19,920
After much suffering.
915
00:57:19,920 --> 00:57:23,090
After much consideration.
916
00:57:23,090 --> 00:57:25,890
But if we cannot move
917
00:57:26,090 --> 00:57:27,180
people.
918
00:57:28,390 --> 00:57:30,680
We will at least try.
919
00:57:30,680 --> 00:57:32,980
Today, let me.
920
00:57:36,100 --> 00:57:38,190
That statement was sounded
921
00:57:39,650 --> 00:57:41,070
everywhere.
922
00:57:45,990 --> 00:57:46,820
In that yard,
923
00:57:46,820 --> 00:57:50,790
when he said that a roar went up
like no other.
924
00:57:51,700 --> 00:57:54,580
This was this day, and I saw that
925
00:57:55,330 --> 00:57:58,540
I really none of us
were going to be observers,
926
00:57:58,540 --> 00:58:03,300
we were going to be mediators ,
whether we wanted to be mediators or not,
927
00:58:03,300 --> 00:58:06,010
whether we were called up to be mediators.
928
00:58:07,010 --> 00:58:11,510
This prison uprising had to be mediated.
929
00:58:11,510 --> 00:58:14,680
Otherwise it was going to end in disaster.
930
00:58:16,270 --> 00:58:19,020
If you people do not understand.
931
00:58:20,020 --> 00:58:22,150
If you people do not pick what?
932
00:58:23,650 --> 00:58:25,900
If you people can not make the commitment
933
00:58:25,900 --> 00:58:28,360
that we have made here.
934
00:58:29,910 --> 00:58:31,740
We all did.
935
00:58:32,080 --> 00:58:32,990
All right.
936
00:58:33,160 --> 00:58:34,870
We'll take you all
937
00:58:35,960 --> 00:58:37,750
to stand with us.
938
00:58:38,880 --> 00:58:42,170
Not necessarily.
939
00:58:42,380 --> 00:58:45,210
I know you want to
940
00:58:45,210 --> 00:58:48,090
hey, hey, before.
941
00:59:12,030 --> 00:59:14,950
Things were growing on the outside,
942
00:59:16,080 --> 00:59:17,370
don't take.
943
00:59:20,210 --> 00:59:22,380
There were more journalists.
944
00:59:22,380 --> 00:59:25,210
There were more police.
945
00:59:25,210 --> 00:59:27,510
And it was just getting bigger
946
00:59:27,800 --> 00:59:30,260
and bigger and bigger.
947
00:59:31,930 --> 00:59:34,350
People are coming night and day
948
00:59:34,640 --> 00:59:37,680
vans with reporters and police
949
00:59:37,680 --> 00:59:41,310
and things are building up.
950
00:59:42,900 --> 00:59:44,730
Among those keeping a vigil outside
951
00:59:44,730 --> 00:59:48,530
the prison walls, the families
of some of the 38 men held hostage.
952
00:59:48,690 --> 00:59:51,700
I was just home watching the TV.
953
00:59:51,990 --> 00:59:54,910
I just kept looking for my husband.
954
00:59:55,330 --> 00:59:58,410
Maybe he'd be killed or brutalized
in some way
955
00:59:58,660 --> 01:00:02,170
because the inmates at that time
had the power there, you know,
956
01:00:02,790 --> 01:00:05,500
and if they didn't like somebody
who who knew
957
01:00:05,500 --> 01:00:08,920
what you were scared to death that,
you know,
958
01:00:08,920 --> 01:00:12,300
they'd just kill him or something
and they didn't get their way.
959
01:00:14,050 --> 01:00:16,810
Families of the 31 hostages wait for word
960
01:00:16,810 --> 01:00:19,480
as part of the prison remains
in control of the inmate.
961
01:00:26,570 --> 01:00:27,860
They were upset.
962
01:00:27,860 --> 01:00:29,940
They were angry and they were scared
963
01:00:30,570 --> 01:00:35,030
standing out there while their loved ones
are being held hostage
964
01:00:36,030 --> 01:00:39,790
and they are waiting
for any scrap of information
965
01:00:41,330 --> 01:00:44,830
to hear something.
966
01:00:44,960 --> 01:00:47,250
And many of those families
967
01:00:47,250 --> 01:00:50,970
stood vigil day and night out there.
968
01:00:52,510 --> 01:00:54,340
A bunch of people crying,
969
01:00:54,340 --> 01:00:57,220
the wives and brothers and fathers
970
01:00:57,680 --> 01:01:00,430
freaking out to his panic.
971
01:01:01,180 --> 01:01:04,850
People are afraid to talk
in the parking lot because they thought
972
01:01:04,850 --> 01:01:10,280
that any reporters or anybody, even
they did it on the privacy
973
01:01:10,570 --> 01:01:13,780
because they didn't want the relatives
targeted, singled out
974
01:01:13,780 --> 01:01:15,780
by the inmates.
975
01:01:26,630 --> 01:01:28,290
I had sympathy for them.
976
01:01:28,290 --> 01:01:32,800
They were elsewhere, you're going to get
a job if you lived in that
977
01:01:34,180 --> 01:01:36,430
area and you had no
978
01:01:37,180 --> 01:01:41,180
training and no understanding
979
01:01:41,180 --> 01:01:44,310
of what it was like to grow up in
980
01:01:45,390 --> 01:01:48,270
a poor black urban area.
981
01:01:49,520 --> 01:01:52,690
You used these were aliens.
982
01:01:52,690 --> 01:01:56,070
These were people from a different world
983
01:01:58,240 --> 01:02:01,410
and your family members.
984
01:02:01,580 --> 01:02:04,410
Maybe you're going to get killed
985
01:02:04,410 --> 01:02:06,330
because of them.
986
01:02:06,330 --> 01:02:08,670
Sure, you were.
987
01:02:08,670 --> 01:02:10,880
Infuriated.
988
01:02:12,050 --> 01:02:13,590
All these dogs up there with
989
01:02:13,590 --> 01:02:15,800
all those rifles are trying to kill us.
990
01:02:16,760 --> 01:02:20,510
Well, we ain't gonna quit the inmates
that we're giving microphones.
991
01:02:20,510 --> 01:02:21,560
I'm on TV.
992
01:02:21,560 --> 01:02:23,810
I mean, the very upsetting.
993
01:02:25,060 --> 01:02:26,730
They should have resolved it right away.
994
01:02:26,730 --> 01:02:28,730
It just went on too far.
995
01:02:28,730 --> 01:02:31,440
We all just wanted it to end.
996
01:02:32,320 --> 01:02:36,320
What I what you hear over the radio
997
01:02:36,990 --> 01:02:40,320
and the TV was and it's inspiring to me
998
01:02:41,030 --> 01:02:43,870
because it seemed to
me that what I was hearing.
999
01:02:44,910 --> 01:02:47,540
I didn't think
1000
01:02:48,370 --> 01:02:50,670
they were doing the right thing.
1001
01:02:50,670 --> 01:02:52,840
It just seemed sort of limp to me
1002
01:02:53,670 --> 01:02:56,510
and it was frustrating.
1003
01:02:57,300 --> 01:02:59,180
You'd hear stuff from people.
1004
01:02:59,180 --> 01:03:03,140
That's where it got a little scary too,
because you could see how the inmates
1005
01:03:03,140 --> 01:03:07,310
were considered like less than human
kind of like animals.
1006
01:03:07,560 --> 01:03:10,900
There was people saying,
You know, don't worry about your dad,
1007
01:03:11,150 --> 01:03:14,020
you know, they'll get theirs type thing.
1008
01:03:14,020 --> 01:03:16,990
And so that kind of made it
even more scary.
1009
01:03:17,030 --> 01:03:20,700
You realize how emotionally charged
the community is getting.
1010
01:03:21,620 --> 01:03:23,660
The tensions got worse and worse. Worse.
1011
01:03:23,660 --> 01:03:25,750
Emotions got worse and worse and worse.
1012
01:03:35,760 --> 01:03:36,710
Sadly,
1013
01:03:36,710 --> 01:03:42,180
I think that the hope was stronger
than any doubt because after three days
1014
01:03:42,430 --> 01:03:45,390
Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
1015
01:03:45,970 --> 01:03:47,520
They had came in
1016
01:03:47,520 --> 01:03:50,980
we had like 30
demands and most of them what
1017
01:03:52,560 --> 01:03:53,940
possible,
1018
01:03:53,940 --> 01:03:56,530
and we will still be doing about it.
1019
01:03:57,150 --> 01:03:59,860
I've never seen anything like this.
1020
01:03:59,860 --> 01:04:02,160
The people in here are treated like dogs.
1021
01:04:02,160 --> 01:04:04,240
Not only the Black Lives Matter, white.
1022
01:04:04,950 --> 01:04:06,740
And we're going to get what we planned.
1023
01:04:06,740 --> 01:04:08,790
Are we going to die? Try.
1024
01:04:08,790 --> 01:04:12,370
But we thought that whatever happened,
1025
01:04:12,370 --> 01:04:15,710
we may maybe really walk away
with some improvement
1026
01:04:15,710 --> 01:04:17,170
in our lives.
1027
01:04:19,130 --> 01:04:21,760
Point was, is that whatever happened,
1028
01:04:22,300 --> 01:04:24,890
it just had to make a difference.
1029
01:04:25,180 --> 01:04:26,970
Change had to happen.
1030
01:04:26,970 --> 01:04:29,020
You had to embrace who.
1031
01:04:34,020 --> 01:04:34,690
There's a report
1032
01:04:34,690 --> 01:04:37,730
that prison officials
have yielded to most of the demands
1033
01:04:37,730 --> 01:04:40,860
by the rebelling inmates
of the Attica state prison in New York,
1034
01:04:41,150 --> 01:04:44,490
where more than 30 persons
have been held hostage for three days.
1035
01:04:45,740 --> 01:04:48,490
As you know, during this ordeal.
1036
01:04:48,490 --> 01:04:51,000
I have personally met with inmates
1037
01:04:51,460 --> 01:04:54,830
on several occasions
in areas under their control,
1038
01:04:55,670 --> 01:04:58,340
and they have demonstrated my commitment
1039
01:04:58,340 --> 01:05:00,760
to deal with the issues they have raised
1040
01:05:01,510 --> 01:05:04,050
by accepting 28
1041
01:05:04,050 --> 01:05:06,930
of the three major inmate proposals.
1042
01:05:07,680 --> 01:05:09,850
The second is like
any time of what's going to happen now.
1043
01:05:10,520 --> 01:05:12,810
Well, we hope negotiations will
1044
01:05:13,350 --> 01:05:16,310
start this afternoon and continue
until they reach a solution.
1045
01:05:16,650 --> 01:05:19,650
Huey Newton or Bobby Seale,
are they coming?
1046
01:05:19,650 --> 01:05:20,190
They were asked.
1047
01:05:20,190 --> 01:05:23,150
Or we hope
we understood that they were en route.
1048
01:05:23,360 --> 01:05:23,860
We had.
1049
01:05:25,030 --> 01:05:27,530
Kind of settled in on the demands
1050
01:05:28,200 --> 01:05:30,950
we had negotiated with Oswald
1051
01:05:30,950 --> 01:05:33,960
for his commitment to 28 of them.
1052
01:05:35,370 --> 01:05:39,880
The commissioner and the whole point of
Bobby SEALs coming there would be for him
1053
01:05:39,880 --> 01:05:43,420
to bless and support and urge the inmates
1054
01:05:43,420 --> 01:05:45,130
to accept them.
1055
01:05:50,310 --> 01:05:50,600
Bobby
1056
01:05:50,600 --> 01:05:53,600
Seale was our hero
because he was speaking out
1057
01:05:53,600 --> 01:05:55,810
about the brutality
that was happening in the prison system.
1058
01:05:56,940 --> 01:05:59,730
He was doing what we were trying to leave.
1059
01:05:59,730 --> 01:06:00,980
He was a panther.
1060
01:06:00,980 --> 01:06:02,820
The second in command.
1061
01:06:02,820 --> 01:06:05,780
I really thought it would help us out
of everything
1062
01:06:05,820 --> 01:06:08,240
we ever demand.
1063
01:06:10,660 --> 01:06:12,750
Bobby didn't stay long.
1064
01:06:12,750 --> 01:06:17,540
Bobby to stay long, came up to it and go
shake table was made a little speech.
1065
01:06:17,710 --> 01:06:19,750
You walk around your.
1066
01:06:20,920 --> 01:06:23,630
Well, we won't read about the jail.
1067
01:06:23,630 --> 01:06:26,050
A lot of times we're going back in time.
1068
01:06:26,090 --> 01:06:28,340
It was quite a letdown.
1069
01:06:28,340 --> 01:06:32,390
There is no remember me
at all, about three minutes.
1070
01:06:35,350 --> 01:06:37,100
At that point,
1071
01:06:37,100 --> 01:06:40,440
everybody's just sitting around
waiting for something to happen.
1072
01:06:44,990 --> 01:06:47,780
But then Billy Quinn died.
1073
01:06:49,200 --> 01:06:51,700
And that transformed everything
1074
01:06:51,700 --> 01:06:54,660
the state prison in Attica,
New York, is at the crisis point.
1075
01:06:55,000 --> 01:06:58,710
The death of one of the guards as harden
the position of prison officials
1076
01:06:59,040 --> 01:07:01,710
and there are
you don't get amnesty for a murder.
1077
01:07:01,960 --> 01:07:04,460
I immediately knew.
1078
01:07:07,470 --> 01:07:08,840
That the
1079
01:07:10,010 --> 01:07:11,510
process of negotiations
1080
01:07:11,510 --> 01:07:13,970
just became far more difficult.
1081
01:07:15,060 --> 01:07:16,680
I knew that was.
1082
01:07:17,520 --> 01:07:20,730
I was the worst
possible thing that could happen.
1083
01:07:20,730 --> 01:07:23,440
How could they peacefully negotiate?
1084
01:07:25,440 --> 01:07:28,700
With inmates
who they held responsible for the death
1085
01:07:28,700 --> 01:07:29,660
of a guard.
1086
01:07:33,280 --> 01:07:36,830
Prior to his passing on.
1087
01:07:37,120 --> 01:07:40,210
There was a hope and even an expectation
1088
01:07:41,170 --> 01:07:43,710
because people were listening.
1089
01:07:43,710 --> 01:07:46,420
People were coming to understand
what we had been living through
1090
01:07:48,090 --> 01:07:50,340
and suffering as prisoners there.
1091
01:07:52,300 --> 01:07:54,350
We know that it was a new ball
1092
01:07:54,350 --> 01:07:57,430
game was depression.
1093
01:07:57,430 --> 01:07:58,810
And fear.
1094
01:07:59,810 --> 01:08:02,770
And, you know, anxiety and yeah,
1095
01:08:04,230 --> 01:08:05,940
everything you can imagine.
1096
01:08:05,940 --> 01:08:08,990
We had to drop a lot of issues
1097
01:08:08,990 --> 01:08:11,030
and focus on amnesty
1098
01:08:11,030 --> 01:08:13,740
as one as the main issue
1099
01:08:14,240 --> 01:08:16,910
because we want to be charged
1100
01:08:18,120 --> 01:08:19,250
with murder.
1101
01:08:19,250 --> 01:08:20,660
We said.
1102
01:08:21,040 --> 01:08:22,540
As a group.
1103
01:08:24,630 --> 01:08:26,000
That we was going
1104
01:08:26,000 --> 01:08:28,170
to stay in solidarity with anyone.
1105
01:08:30,550 --> 01:08:32,630
They could not give amnesty to everybody.
1106
01:08:32,970 --> 01:08:36,140
Then was not going to leave
anyone in the clutch in
1107
01:08:36,680 --> 01:08:39,980
to take a towing back on the bus
or speak to take this.
1108
01:08:40,140 --> 01:08:45,190
We acted together
that we understood that this was us,
1109
01:08:46,020 --> 01:08:48,780
that if we didn't stand together now,
we never would.
1110
01:08:48,780 --> 01:08:49,820
And it would.
1111
01:08:49,820 --> 01:08:52,910
We would live
like dogs for the rest of our lives.
1112
01:08:55,490 --> 01:08:57,580
We understood that.
1113
01:08:57,580 --> 01:09:02,460
Did I wish that we could somehow
back away, but not without amnesty?
1114
01:09:02,500 --> 01:09:04,500
How do the inmates feel
about the current situation?
1115
01:09:04,960 --> 01:09:06,210
I will.
1116
01:09:06,210 --> 01:09:08,880
A group of us were in with the inmates.
1117
01:09:08,880 --> 01:09:10,670
We met with them.
1118
01:09:10,670 --> 01:09:13,220
We had two and a half hours.
1119
01:09:13,220 --> 01:09:14,590
Some of the people are here,
1120
01:09:14,590 --> 01:09:18,100
but we really have nothing to say about
it, except they are firm in their demands.
1121
01:09:18,430 --> 01:09:19,680
And that's it.
1122
01:09:19,680 --> 01:09:20,270
In other words,
1123
01:09:20,270 --> 01:09:23,390
they're not going to let the hostages
go until they're granted total amnesty.
1124
01:09:23,560 --> 01:09:26,650
That was their last position.
1125
01:09:31,110 --> 01:09:33,820
The flag at half staff
for the injured guard who had died
1126
01:09:33,820 --> 01:09:35,910
the night before
set the mood this morning,
1127
01:09:36,120 --> 01:09:38,910
it was clear that the troubles of this
troubled prison had grown worse.
1128
01:09:39,030 --> 01:09:42,120
That Sunday,
you had that fall that came over
1129
01:09:42,700 --> 01:09:44,750
and it was a certain chill in the air.
1130
01:09:46,250 --> 01:09:47,750
Something didn't feel right.
1131
01:09:47,750 --> 01:09:49,710
It didn't feel right.
1132
01:09:49,710 --> 01:09:52,550
There are strong indications tonight
that police will be sent
1133
01:09:52,550 --> 01:09:56,140
into the cellblock in an attempt
to rescue the rest of the hostages
1134
01:09:56,140 --> 01:09:57,260
by force.
1135
01:10:01,680 --> 01:10:03,480
Water was cut off.
1136
01:10:03,480 --> 01:10:05,810
Food was getting scarce.
1137
01:10:05,810 --> 01:10:09,060
Patients were getting shot
and people were totally
1138
01:10:10,190 --> 01:10:12,280
wondering what is going to be the outcome
1139
01:10:13,110 --> 01:10:15,030
of the situation.
1140
01:10:22,370 --> 01:10:24,960
There was enormous pressure,
and I witnessed
1141
01:10:24,960 --> 01:10:29,710
that as I took a breather
and went out to the public space
1142
01:10:30,880 --> 01:10:34,300
just outside the prison,
where a lot of correction
1143
01:10:34,300 --> 01:10:37,720
officers, their families, troopers
and other officials
1144
01:10:37,720 --> 01:10:39,640
were gathered together.
1145
01:10:40,930 --> 01:10:43,470
I mean,
the news was completely about that.
1146
01:10:43,770 --> 01:10:46,640
You know that the state troopers
and everybody were poised
1147
01:10:46,640 --> 01:10:49,560
on the top looking and
1148
01:10:49,560 --> 01:10:52,480
it was all about these rumors
1149
01:10:52,650 --> 01:10:56,950
that the prisoners were castrating
1150
01:10:56,950 --> 01:11:01,450
the hostages,
that they were torturing them.
1151
01:11:02,080 --> 01:11:04,540
And it's going to end in bloodshed.
1152
01:11:04,540 --> 01:11:08,960
And that was the storyline
that was terrifying, people.
1153
01:11:09,670 --> 01:11:11,170
Could you turn around
this way to the camera?
1154
01:11:11,170 --> 01:11:13,710
I think I did a few interviews
1155
01:11:14,760 --> 01:11:16,170
and the people were
1156
01:11:16,170 --> 01:11:20,760
made it very clear
that these are bad people in there and
1157
01:11:21,850 --> 01:11:23,430
they shouldn't be doing this.
1158
01:11:23,430 --> 01:11:25,600
You know, they should be taken care of.
1159
01:11:25,680 --> 01:11:26,850
You know what I mean?
1160
01:11:26,850 --> 01:11:28,770
And hang them and
1161
01:11:28,810 --> 01:11:29,940
crazy stuff.
1162
01:11:29,940 --> 01:11:32,310
I mean, they're just really crazy.
1163
01:11:32,690 --> 01:11:35,190
It was a very hostile environment.
1164
01:11:35,230 --> 01:11:36,400
And I just
1165
01:11:36,820 --> 01:11:39,110
don't I
1166
01:11:40,530 --> 01:11:42,990
don't think that Jaime,
I'll stick up your hand.
1167
01:11:43,870 --> 01:11:47,080
I'm a father of eight children
and my boy is the oldest,
1168
01:11:47,450 --> 01:11:50,580
and I wouldn't
want to see any one of them die.
1169
01:11:50,580 --> 01:11:52,580
Whatever he is going to die,
1170
01:11:52,580 --> 01:11:55,840
I want that whole damn thing
bound right to hell. OK.
1171
01:11:57,010 --> 01:12:00,510
And while we're talking went
on, the state police
1172
01:12:00,510 --> 01:12:04,050
kept reinforcing
at least 500 men in and out of the wall.
1173
01:12:04,470 --> 01:12:08,100
No indication that any of this force
will be used at the police already.
1174
01:12:09,390 --> 01:12:09,940
Well, any
1175
01:12:09,940 --> 01:12:15,230
time you went in and out of the prison,
there was an army
1176
01:12:15,690 --> 01:12:21,780
and they were armed
with every conceivable type of weapon .
1177
01:12:21,780 --> 01:12:25,120
And it really looked like
1178
01:12:25,950 --> 01:12:28,370
they wanted to use those weapons.
1179
01:12:28,410 --> 01:12:31,540
You had the sense of their anger
1180
01:12:31,540 --> 01:12:33,580
and they've been held back and
1181
01:12:37,670 --> 01:12:39,090
they wanted to move.
1182
01:12:39,090 --> 01:12:42,760
They wanted to to to attack.
1183
01:12:47,220 --> 01:12:49,890
Yeah, they were very impatient,
1184
01:12:49,890 --> 01:12:51,440
very unhappy.
1185
01:12:52,390 --> 01:12:56,940
They were all thrown into a situation
in which they are not prepared for
1186
01:12:57,440 --> 01:13:01,450
and about which
they had basically an animosity.
1187
01:13:05,320 --> 01:13:06,160
And I wish to
1188
01:13:06,160 --> 01:13:09,040
would any of the men that a lot us off
the roof?
1189
01:13:09,410 --> 01:13:14,210
Adobe that group is out of here because
if you get these shaky guy shooting off
1190
01:13:14,210 --> 01:13:18,340
or getting up, and all of a sudden
somebody is going to get excited
1191
01:13:18,750 --> 01:13:21,720
and then we're all going to say now,
this is not a joke.
1192
01:13:22,420 --> 01:13:23,130
This is not
1193
01:13:24,470 --> 01:13:26,760
some kind of a little tea party
we've got here.
1194
01:13:26,760 --> 01:13:29,350
And I just hope that the commissioner
1195
01:13:29,810 --> 01:13:32,480
and the other people in the committee
that they've gathered together
1196
01:13:34,190 --> 01:13:36,980
can come up with a solution
1197
01:13:36,980 --> 01:13:39,860
to solve these people's problems
1198
01:13:39,860 --> 01:13:40,820
and ours.
1199
01:13:41,070 --> 01:13:42,690
Thank you very much.
1200
01:13:46,370 --> 01:13:49,700
Late Sunday afternoon,
1201
01:13:49,790 --> 01:13:53,290
Commissioner Oswald
and the officials were prepared
1202
01:13:53,620 --> 01:13:57,040
and intended to retaking.
1203
01:13:57,670 --> 01:14:00,340
But I pressed Israel to agree
1204
01:14:01,130 --> 01:14:03,590
to give them until 7:00 on Monday
1205
01:14:03,590 --> 01:14:05,970
morning, by Sunday morning,
everything else had failed.
1206
01:14:07,390 --> 01:14:12,640
And so the the the final shot
1207
01:14:13,060 --> 01:14:15,850
was going to be
to try to get the Roc-A-Fella.
1208
01:14:17,060 --> 01:14:21,230
And there was there was a committee
of people put together to do that.
1209
01:14:21,940 --> 01:14:22,610
Good morning.
1210
01:14:24,150 --> 01:14:26,780
We wanted four friends of the governor
1211
01:14:27,030 --> 01:14:29,450
to call him and please as your friend.
1212
01:14:29,950 --> 01:14:33,950
Let me ask you to come to Attica,
not to meet with the prisoners,
1213
01:14:33,950 --> 01:14:37,960
but to come and lay your hand
on approving these measures,
1214
01:14:38,920 --> 01:14:40,460
Sergeant Cunningham.
1215
01:14:40,460 --> 01:14:42,550
Now, would you give us a message
1216
01:14:42,800 --> 01:14:45,130
for Governor Nelson Rockefeller?
1217
01:14:46,340 --> 01:14:47,590
I certainly would.
1218
01:14:47,590 --> 01:14:51,100
one of the recommendations is
and he said, No, I'm dead.
1219
01:14:51,680 --> 01:14:55,310
I and some of my fellow members
of the Service Committee felt
1220
01:14:55,310 --> 01:15:00,440
very strongly that if Governor Rockefeller
were to come to and identify
1221
01:15:00,650 --> 01:15:04,400
with finding a solution,
it might have broken the logjam.
1222
01:15:05,490 --> 01:15:09,200
So I placed the call, the governor
Rockefeller, somewhere around 3:00.
1223
01:15:09,530 --> 01:15:13,030
Governor, what about your
personal feelings right now?
1224
01:15:13,330 --> 01:15:15,790
On one level, it was a Hail Mary.
1225
01:15:15,790 --> 01:15:18,790
On the other level
it was more than a Hail Mary.
1226
01:15:18,790 --> 01:15:21,130
These were prominent people.
1227
01:15:23,090 --> 01:15:27,970
People
that you would think Rockefeller respected
1228
01:15:28,430 --> 01:15:33,050
making a sincere pitch come up here,
you don't have to go in.
1229
01:15:33,510 --> 01:15:37,270
You don't have to agree to anything
your presence will have mean.
1230
01:15:38,190 --> 01:15:41,310
Maybe if he came, that would be an opening
1231
01:15:41,310 --> 01:15:45,030
that would have allowed us to negotiate.
1232
01:15:45,030 --> 01:15:45,690
Maybe.
1233
01:15:47,030 --> 01:15:47,900
Some other
1234
01:15:47,900 --> 01:15:52,410
negotiators could be brought in
who would help the negotiation,
1235
01:15:52,410 --> 01:15:55,080
maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe.
1236
01:15:55,740 --> 01:15:58,960
But no known donor or man.
1237
01:15:59,000 --> 01:16:01,040
Death, death, death, death.
1238
01:16:01,790 --> 01:16:05,130
Prisoners had been demanding from the very
beginning that I come into the yard,
1239
01:16:05,710 --> 01:16:09,090
and I frankly felt
that the idea of governors
1240
01:16:10,090 --> 01:16:14,010
any time there was an uprising
or any time there was a prisoner
1241
01:16:14,010 --> 01:16:18,640
taken on a prisoner, but a hostage
taking being involved in the negotiation,
1242
01:16:18,640 --> 01:16:21,140
the next thing would be, we don't want
the governor, we want the president,
1243
01:16:21,850 --> 01:16:24,900
and we get to a situation
with an impossible one for this country.
1244
01:16:24,980 --> 01:16:28,190
By the time they spoke to him,
he had made up his mind.
1245
01:16:29,190 --> 01:16:31,990
He listened carefully,
he listened politely.
1246
01:16:32,950 --> 01:16:35,120
But by then, he had made up his mind.
1247
01:16:37,160 --> 01:16:39,750
We didn't understand the background of us
1248
01:16:39,750 --> 01:16:44,960
having consulted on an ongoing basis
during those days with the White House,
1249
01:16:45,630 --> 01:16:49,170
the administration in Washington
encouraged Rockey
1250
01:16:49,170 --> 01:16:51,590
to take a strong hard line position,
1251
01:16:52,340 --> 01:16:54,550
which was unfortunate.
1252
01:16:54,640 --> 01:16:58,220
It was all a part of President Nixon's
law and order agenda.
1253
01:16:58,810 --> 01:17:01,480
They were putting the pressure
yesterday on me all day
1254
01:17:01,480 --> 01:17:05,270
to go up there and it up
because everything else had failed.
1255
01:17:05,270 --> 01:17:06,480
And did you go?
1256
01:17:06,480 --> 01:17:08,530
Of course not. Of course not.
1257
01:17:08,530 --> 01:17:09,480
But I had the time.
1258
01:17:09,480 --> 01:17:11,860
Rockefeller wasn't calling the shots.
1259
01:17:12,900 --> 01:17:14,950
Because he was on the phone.
1260
01:17:16,410 --> 01:17:19,290
With Richard Nixon.
1261
01:17:20,750 --> 01:17:24,290
Rockefeller wanted to be president.
1262
01:17:24,290 --> 01:17:26,130
But the word on him was that
1263
01:17:26,130 --> 01:17:28,300
he was too soft on crime.
1264
01:17:29,590 --> 01:17:31,420
Where was he recommending amnesty?
1265
01:17:31,420 --> 01:17:32,090
Oh, yes.
1266
01:17:32,130 --> 01:17:35,760
Oh God, I tell you, is
1267
01:17:35,760 --> 01:17:38,970
this was the great this is separated
the sheep from the goats.
1268
01:17:39,430 --> 01:17:46,310
And if he wanted the support of Nixon
and the Republican Party, then
1269
01:17:47,610 --> 01:17:49,820
he needs to go along.
1270
01:17:49,900 --> 01:17:52,440
And so he wouldn't come.
1271
01:17:57,780 --> 01:17:59,120
You know, not that Rockefeller
1272
01:17:59,120 --> 01:18:01,330
wasn't coming in.
1273
01:18:03,290 --> 01:18:05,080
It's like slamming the door on you.
1274
01:18:05,080 --> 01:18:08,790
You know, I slammed the door
and we were locked in this room
1275
01:18:08,790 --> 01:18:10,800
and we didn't know what to do.
1276
01:18:11,960 --> 01:18:13,720
You were to a great degree,
1277
01:18:13,720 --> 01:18:17,550
despondent
that we had no solution to this.
1278
01:18:17,590 --> 01:18:20,310
We didn't know what to do.
1279
01:18:20,310 --> 01:18:23,640
Made one last chance
to convince the inmates
1280
01:18:23,640 --> 01:18:25,350
to surrender.
1281
01:18:30,610 --> 01:18:33,070
That last night, Cell Block D.
1282
01:18:35,200 --> 01:18:37,200
As we were trying to negotiate.
1283
01:18:38,870 --> 01:18:41,490
Demands that we thought.
1284
01:18:42,410 --> 01:18:44,200
But realistic.
1285
01:18:47,080 --> 01:18:50,960
Was. A come to Jesus moment.
1286
01:18:53,000 --> 01:18:55,300
This is what you wanted the demands.
1287
01:18:56,130 --> 01:18:58,550
This is what we were able to achieve.
1288
01:18:58,550 --> 01:19:01,300
This is where we stand now.
1289
01:19:03,890 --> 01:19:06,390
I'm not going to mislead you.
1290
01:19:06,390 --> 01:19:08,600
And believe
that you can get anything better.
1291
01:19:09,650 --> 01:19:11,560
I do not believe you can get
1292
01:19:11,560 --> 01:19:13,150
anything better.
1293
01:19:14,980 --> 01:19:16,280
I think we have to make
1294
01:19:16,280 --> 01:19:18,820
a peaceful accommodation.
1295
01:19:20,740 --> 01:19:24,490
Ready to be shot down like dogs.
1296
01:19:25,250 --> 01:19:28,540
I said this is what we achieved. OK.
1297
01:19:30,250 --> 01:19:32,420
And turn around, look,
1298
01:19:32,420 --> 01:19:36,550
cellblock, then you see all those guns
there, just waiting to kill us.
1299
01:19:36,550 --> 01:19:38,050
They want to kill us.
1300
01:19:38,050 --> 01:19:41,050
Do you understand that they want to show
1301
01:19:41,220 --> 01:19:44,010
that they have the power
from the barrel of a gun?
1302
01:19:44,060 --> 01:19:45,520
That's what they want to do.
1303
01:19:45,520 --> 01:19:48,270
Oh God, I don't know
what's happening to me.
1304
01:19:48,520 --> 01:19:51,310
We were warned by the observers
1305
01:19:51,310 --> 01:19:55,230
that if we didn't settle,
even without the amnesty,
1306
01:19:55,780 --> 01:19:59,200
they were going to come in
and it could get very bad.
1307
01:20:00,990 --> 01:20:05,660
And of course, we talked among ourselves,
and we just couldn't
1308
01:20:06,410 --> 01:20:09,460
go without the amnesty
because it would have been literally
1309
01:20:10,250 --> 01:20:11,670
sending all our leaders.
1310
01:20:13,540 --> 01:20:15,960
To the dogs to be
1311
01:20:15,960 --> 01:20:18,720
tortured, murdered.
1312
01:20:19,550 --> 01:20:21,930
Convicted of crimes and
1313
01:20:21,930 --> 01:20:23,970
who knows what else, we had observed
1314
01:20:24,550 --> 01:20:28,850
the organization
and preparation of the troopers to enter.
1315
01:20:29,020 --> 01:20:31,850
Hundreds of them with their shotguns
1316
01:20:31,850 --> 01:20:35,610
just outside the immediate
area of the yard.
1317
01:20:36,190 --> 01:20:40,820
We witness the stationing of sharpshooters
on one of the ledges
1318
01:20:41,320 --> 01:20:44,320
looking down into DAAD.
1319
01:20:44,320 --> 01:20:47,740
Fear overtook the observers committee.
1320
01:20:51,790 --> 01:20:54,170
It seemed like they felt
something was going to happen.
1321
01:20:54,830 --> 01:20:56,340
They were more.
1322
01:20:57,500 --> 01:21:00,300
Hesitant to leave,
they left with a solemn mood.
1323
01:21:00,340 --> 01:21:02,510
He left us with a solemn like.
1324
01:21:04,180 --> 01:21:07,600
But is this better, just take care.
1325
01:21:10,140 --> 01:21:12,480
I remember seeing them leave, and,
1326
01:21:12,480 --> 01:21:16,400
you know,
it was a scary moment to see them leaving,
1327
01:21:16,770 --> 01:21:18,980
you know,
knowing that there wasn't coming back.
1328
01:21:22,570 --> 01:21:23,400
I remember
1329
01:21:23,400 --> 01:21:27,910
Big Black saying, I want to thank you
for what you guys tried to do.
1330
01:21:27,950 --> 01:21:30,790
We really appreciate it.
So there was a lot of that.
1331
01:21:32,080 --> 01:21:33,290
When we went out of
1332
01:21:33,290 --> 01:21:36,670
that yard that night.
1333
01:21:37,090 --> 01:21:38,500
There were tears.
1334
01:21:39,300 --> 01:21:40,420
Tears.
1335
01:21:42,470 --> 01:21:45,010
And I think all of us were hoping
1336
01:21:45,010 --> 01:21:47,140
that something happened
at the last minute.
1337
01:21:48,430 --> 01:21:49,430
Stop it.
1338
01:21:51,720 --> 01:21:55,270
I felt complete failure,
1339
01:21:55,270 --> 01:21:57,650
a failure that I had let them down.
1340
01:21:59,730 --> 01:22:03,110
one of the most painful things.
1341
01:22:03,190 --> 01:22:06,160
As inmates begin to.
1342
01:22:06,160 --> 01:22:09,450
Hand me
written notes, the telephone number.
1343
01:22:10,910 --> 01:22:14,080
Of their of their
1344
01:22:14,080 --> 01:22:15,540
next of kin.
1345
01:22:16,460 --> 01:22:18,790
In case they didn't make it OK.
1346
01:22:19,380 --> 01:22:21,090
They wanted me.
1347
01:22:21,090 --> 01:22:24,050
They they I mean, a couple of them
looked me in the eye with tears
1348
01:22:25,300 --> 01:22:27,300
for the Jones, but I don't make it.
1349
01:22:28,050 --> 01:22:28,930
You're going to call right.
1350
01:22:28,930 --> 01:22:31,260
I said, You have my word.
1351
01:22:31,970 --> 01:22:34,350
I will call you
1352
01:22:35,390 --> 01:22:38,690
any way optimistic that this thing
could be settled by tomorrow.
1353
01:22:38,980 --> 01:22:42,530
I think I'm much too tired to be either
optimistic or pessimistic at this moment.
1354
01:22:42,530 --> 01:22:44,860
I'm kind of just freaked out.
1355
01:22:56,540 --> 01:22:58,290
Randall, I know
1356
01:22:58,370 --> 01:23:00,920
it didn't stop ran until about
1357
01:23:00,920 --> 01:23:02,960
six in the morning.
1358
01:23:03,500 --> 01:23:06,760
Cold Mountain, right?
1359
01:23:06,800 --> 01:23:12,390
And we were not prepared
for those little hunches that we had the
1360
01:23:13,060 --> 01:23:15,600
that people had built a yard up
1361
01:23:15,600 --> 01:23:18,020
in every day,
all alone started collapsing.
1362
01:23:18,900 --> 01:23:21,060
And you had to get on
1363
01:23:21,730 --> 01:23:25,820
solid ground concrete and huddled together
1364
01:23:26,110 --> 01:23:29,200
because everybody was shivering
and everything else.
1365
01:23:29,700 --> 01:23:32,830
It was a miserable night,
one of the miserable nights
1366
01:23:32,830 --> 01:23:35,040
I ever spent in my life.
1367
01:23:37,620 --> 01:23:40,920
I could feel the tension in the air,
the tension was so strong
1368
01:23:41,170 --> 01:23:43,880
that I could just basically grab it
and hold on to it
1369
01:23:45,050 --> 01:23:46,170
. Am I going to make it?
1370
01:23:46,170 --> 01:23:48,630
Am I going to to this?
1371
01:23:48,630 --> 01:23:53,760
And that tension was so strong I could touch it, I could cut improperly in my hand.
1372
01:23:56,850 --> 01:23:59,310
There was an air.
1373
01:24:03,770 --> 01:24:06,110
We've been out there for about four days.
1374
01:24:06,110 --> 01:24:08,610
Wake up that morning and it's
1375
01:24:08,610 --> 01:24:11,070
wet and dreary out there,
1376
01:24:11,070 --> 01:24:14,450
and you could always smell the fumes
1377
01:24:15,200 --> 01:24:18,200
of Guy's body
in that trench that we dug in the yard.
1378
01:24:18,410 --> 01:24:20,250
You use the bathroom.
1379
01:24:20,870 --> 01:24:22,960
Right there in front of You
Breathe initiative nowadays,
1380
01:24:22,960 --> 01:24:25,960
so you want out.
1381
01:24:28,380 --> 01:24:30,260
What was really bad?
1382
01:24:30,260 --> 01:24:33,260
People's moods was that way, and
1383
01:24:33,720 --> 01:24:34,510
it was crowded.
1384
01:24:34,510 --> 01:24:37,020
It started to rain a little bit.
1385
01:24:37,020 --> 01:24:38,140
You know, it was dog.
1386
01:24:38,140 --> 01:24:40,850
The sky was dark gray.
1387
01:24:44,020 --> 01:24:44,650
We heard that
1388
01:24:44,650 --> 01:24:46,770
we would be part of a medical evacuation.
1389
01:24:48,440 --> 01:24:50,530
And early on Monday morning,
1390
01:24:50,530 --> 01:24:52,950
we loaded into trucks
and headed for Attica prison.
1391
01:24:56,370 --> 01:24:58,450
In the three years
that I was in the National Guard,
1392
01:24:58,450 --> 01:25:02,580
I had not seen any kind of action
in which violence was involved.
1393
01:25:03,540 --> 01:25:05,500
But we had a sense of dread,
1394
01:25:05,500 --> 01:25:08,210
and we had a wish
that we could kind of not go.
1395
01:25:09,460 --> 01:25:12,760
And there was the hope,
even at the last minute, that
1396
01:25:13,470 --> 01:25:15,970
by some miracle, maybe
1397
01:25:16,300 --> 01:25:19,390
Rockefeller would intervene.
1398
01:25:20,560 --> 01:25:21,730
His refusal to come
1399
01:25:21,730 --> 01:25:25,860
here is a monstrosity, because what he is
saying is kill these men.
1400
01:25:26,110 --> 01:25:27,940
I have no concern.
1401
01:25:27,940 --> 01:25:31,240
All I want to do
is assault, law and order,
1402
01:25:31,280 --> 01:25:33,990
and I think that's a rotten
in exchange for life.
1403
01:25:35,570 --> 01:25:37,580
And we got to the prison
1404
01:25:37,580 --> 01:25:41,830
and saw the lines of state troopers
and deputies
1405
01:25:41,830 --> 01:25:45,540
with their raincoats
on and their weapons in hand.
1406
01:25:46,880 --> 01:25:47,920
They looked exhausted.
1407
01:25:47,920 --> 01:25:51,300
They had been there, many of them
for a couple of days at least,
1408
01:25:51,960 --> 01:25:55,260
and they really didn't look up to the
task that was given to them.
1409
01:26:03,310 --> 01:26:05,350
He was coming in, you could tell.
1410
01:26:05,350 --> 01:26:08,270
You can see them starting to get
more people I wasn't able to count on.
1411
01:26:10,480 --> 01:26:11,730
What I saw was.
1412
01:26:15,820 --> 01:26:18,870
We got another matches
to put up on that table committee, there's
1413
01:26:18,870 --> 01:26:22,750
going to be rubber bullets
and I say that's what that's
1414
01:26:22,750 --> 01:26:24,960
what the word was.
1415
01:26:27,460 --> 01:26:29,960
I thought they were going to be
a real old fashioned game for you.
1416
01:26:29,960 --> 01:26:32,380
David, you want to call it,
you know them versus us.
1417
01:26:32,630 --> 01:26:33,800
They've got the crowd.
1418
01:26:33,800 --> 01:26:36,680
We've got a few bats and stuff in here,
so we're going to
1419
01:26:37,760 --> 01:26:39,640
best guy win.
1420
01:26:41,760 --> 01:26:44,350
We started making preparations
1421
01:26:44,350 --> 01:26:47,350
and putting Vaseline
on every part of our body
1422
01:26:47,350 --> 01:26:50,570
that could be exposed to gas
and get burnt and stuff like that
1423
01:26:51,730 --> 01:26:53,900
padding ourselves with clothes.
1424
01:26:57,820 --> 01:26:58,780
Somebody saying
1425
01:26:58,780 --> 01:27:01,410
if they come in here,
then that's good because I know my sheik.
1426
01:27:04,040 --> 01:27:06,120
It became apparent to me
1427
01:27:06,120 --> 01:27:08,540
that the situation
was seriously deteriorating
1428
01:27:09,380 --> 01:27:13,250
and that the inmates,
many of whom are confined to this maximum
1429
01:27:13,250 --> 01:27:17,220
security facility
under light and long sentences.
1430
01:27:18,050 --> 01:27:21,640
We're not going to participate
in a reasonable negotiation.
1431
01:27:22,720 --> 01:27:24,770
Tensions within the walls
1432
01:27:24,770 --> 01:27:27,230
have steadily increased.
1433
01:27:27,230 --> 01:27:29,480
The action now underway
1434
01:27:29,480 --> 01:27:31,770
was initiated with extreme reluctance
1435
01:27:32,900 --> 01:27:36,240
only after all, attempts to achieve
1436
01:27:36,940 --> 01:27:40,820
a peaceful solution failed.
1437
01:27:40,990 --> 01:27:43,240
We were told that our mission
was protection
1438
01:27:43,240 --> 01:27:47,120
for the medical battalion
during the commander's briefing.
1439
01:27:47,330 --> 01:27:49,460
We were told that to our knowledge,
1440
01:27:50,170 --> 01:27:52,840
the inmates had no guns.
1441
01:27:52,840 --> 01:27:54,090
They had Spears.
1442
01:27:54,090 --> 01:27:56,340
They had some knives.
1443
01:27:56,340 --> 01:27:59,380
They had pipes
that they were using as clubs.
1444
01:28:00,010 --> 01:28:02,390
But that was the extent of the threat.
1445
01:28:02,850 --> 01:28:05,390
So we knew that going in for,
1446
01:28:06,720 --> 01:28:07,930
you know, 5:00 a.m.
1447
01:28:07,930 --> 01:28:11,440
September 13, we're on the roof of a block
1448
01:28:12,100 --> 01:28:14,980
waiting for the assault to begin.
1449
01:28:14,980 --> 01:28:17,360
This is a team of 270 rifle shooters.
1450
01:28:18,900 --> 01:28:22,530
The center of our pictures, men
distributing
1451
01:28:22,530 --> 01:28:24,830
baseball bats to the other prisoners.
1452
01:28:25,490 --> 01:28:28,250
We had no guns. We had no real weapons.
1453
01:28:28,250 --> 01:28:32,630
We had bullshit pieces of stick
or a piece of iron
1454
01:28:33,040 --> 01:28:37,210
or shank
that somebody made up on the sidewalk.
1455
01:28:37,630 --> 01:28:40,380
It was. It was pathetic.
1456
01:28:40,380 --> 01:28:45,100
Just four days, almost to the minute
after the convict insurrection started,
1457
01:28:45,430 --> 01:28:49,060
state police reinforced by sheriff's
deputies, National Guardsmen
1458
01:28:49,310 --> 01:28:54,610
and correctional officers moving in on
the prison time is 150 5:00 p.m.
1459
01:28:54,610 --> 01:29:00,070
We're on the roof of C Block
looking at a detail of 270 marksmen
1460
01:29:00,610 --> 01:29:03,860
with instructions
to clear the catwalks upon command.
1461
01:29:05,700 --> 01:29:06,660
They took some of the
1462
01:29:06,660 --> 01:29:12,120
hostages on top of the catwalks,
which is on top of the hallways,
1463
01:29:12,620 --> 01:29:17,670
and some of the inmates held knives to the
to their neck as a result.
1464
01:29:18,000 --> 01:29:20,800
In an effort to try to stop the assault,
1465
01:29:21,420 --> 01:29:25,220
the hostages are armed with knives
with their throats.
1466
01:29:25,800 --> 01:29:28,680
It was all just to show.
1467
01:29:28,720 --> 01:29:32,350
The try to get them to say, Oh,
wait a minute, it's my cousin, my brother.
1468
01:29:32,690 --> 01:29:34,100
All he's got.
1469
01:29:35,060 --> 01:29:38,150
We were hopeful that if they saw this,
they would back off
1470
01:29:39,280 --> 01:29:42,610
and try to renegotiate
so they could protect their own people.
1471
01:29:45,410 --> 01:29:47,660
The notion of sending
1472
01:29:47,660 --> 01:29:49,990
in correctional officers
1473
01:29:50,910 --> 01:29:53,000
who didn't love the prisoners
to begin with
1474
01:29:53,790 --> 01:29:58,420
and state police who were stressed
out was a serious miscalculation,
1475
01:29:58,420 --> 01:30:02,210
somebody should have said, wait a second,
wait a second, these people are on edge.
1476
01:30:03,800 --> 01:30:07,430
There is hostility
1477
01:30:07,510 --> 01:30:11,520
and it's going to get out of control.
1478
01:30:12,730 --> 01:30:15,480
We know that now, did we know that
1479
01:30:16,020 --> 01:30:17,940
in real time?
1480
01:30:19,690 --> 01:30:21,480
I guess not.
1481
01:30:24,110 --> 01:30:27,110
I seen this as a glorious fight.
1482
01:30:28,410 --> 01:30:30,660
They would come in with batons
1483
01:30:30,660 --> 01:30:35,580
and stuff like that,
and we would be fighting the brave battle
1484
01:30:35,580 --> 01:30:39,090
with baseball bats and stuff like that, I.
1485
01:30:51,180 --> 01:30:52,010
I did.
1486
01:30:57,730 --> 01:31:00,440
I just never expected.
1487
01:31:01,020 --> 01:31:03,650
The the coverage through
what actually happened,
1488
01:31:03,650 --> 01:31:04,990
I'm sorry.
1489
01:31:20,210 --> 01:31:23,840
Helicopter, two helicopters and a.
1490
01:31:28,720 --> 01:31:30,260
We're talking now going overhead
1491
01:31:30,260 --> 01:31:33,260
and over the wall into the prison.
1492
01:31:34,350 --> 01:31:37,350
It just disquieted,
and Sky was getting dark,
1493
01:31:37,850 --> 01:31:40,100
and then we heard
the helicopters does a dance.
1494
01:31:40,810 --> 01:31:43,230
This is fucking strange.
1495
01:31:46,440 --> 01:31:48,780
The helicopter comes up over the wall
1496
01:31:49,200 --> 01:31:51,820
and it's hovering over the yard.
1497
01:31:54,740 --> 01:31:56,120
I seen this.
1498
01:31:56,120 --> 01:31:57,960
I thought it was a monster.
1499
01:31:57,960 --> 01:32:00,290
It was a helicopter, a green helicopter.
1500
01:32:00,750 --> 01:32:02,000
It was flying low.
1501
01:32:07,720 --> 01:32:09,630
You see this.
1502
01:32:09,630 --> 01:32:12,760
It's like a sickly green gas with.
1503
01:32:13,470 --> 01:32:15,640
Sparkly stuff, minute coming down.
1504
01:32:16,470 --> 01:32:18,810
It tightens your chest.
1505
01:32:18,810 --> 01:32:21,440
Where you can hardly breathe.
1506
01:32:21,440 --> 01:32:23,650
That gas knocked me down.
1507
01:32:24,190 --> 01:32:26,730
Oh, what that was.
1508
01:32:27,030 --> 01:32:29,110
And they had me so weak I could not.
1509
01:32:29,860 --> 01:32:32,990
Your eyes are just all burning,
1510
01:32:32,990 --> 01:32:35,450
your nose is burning,
your mouth is burning.
1511
01:32:42,540 --> 01:32:43,830
I mean,
1512
01:32:44,290 --> 01:32:45,420
we are.
1513
01:32:48,800 --> 01:32:52,220
And you got on the microphone,
everybody in D-Block, yeah.
1514
01:32:52,260 --> 01:32:54,760
Put your hands in the air.
1515
01:32:54,760 --> 01:32:56,390
And you are not behind.
1516
01:32:56,390 --> 01:33:01,020
Go to the nearest police officer
and you will not be home.
1517
01:33:01,270 --> 01:33:04,440
You would not be home. We will not be.
1518
01:33:04,440 --> 01:33:06,690
You would not be here for that was.
1519
01:33:16,240 --> 01:33:17,160
Do just ended up
1520
01:33:17,160 --> 01:33:19,500
doing this to get blown away.
1521
01:33:20,700 --> 01:33:24,210
They blew his head off and then.
1522
01:33:24,210 --> 01:33:28,170
Has all of a sudden
there was all this popping all around us
1523
01:33:29,510 --> 01:33:31,130
and all these little pops
1524
01:33:31,130 --> 01:33:34,930
all around us were actually bullets.
1525
01:33:35,890 --> 01:33:40,560
Oh, and you could really see
because the CO2 public first heard
1526
01:33:40,560 --> 01:33:43,730
you blah, that you can hear the boom
going by your ear.
1527
01:33:49,150 --> 01:33:52,320
The hostages can't be seen in any.
1528
01:33:54,950 --> 01:33:57,320
I'm trying to stay on the ground
as long as possible,
1529
01:33:58,490 --> 01:34:00,660
just like
they were shooting down the barrel
1530
01:34:00,660 --> 01:34:04,500
and they started shooting
point blank range, blowing guys away .
1531
01:34:04,500 --> 01:34:08,090
I got shot in the arm up there right
through the back macroeconomist on.
1532
01:34:11,840 --> 01:34:15,680
I I felt something.
1533
01:34:16,640 --> 01:34:20,310
Go to my head,
it must go, and it was burning,
1534
01:34:21,390 --> 01:34:22,770
no was shot.
1535
01:34:22,770 --> 01:34:26,190
I felt something hit my arm
1536
01:34:26,190 --> 01:34:28,810
and we're all numb and realized needed.
1537
01:34:28,810 --> 01:34:31,940
I got shot in the arm
about two inches from my heart
1538
01:34:32,070 --> 01:34:36,360
and also a one to a football helmet
on Spanish food.
1539
01:34:37,200 --> 01:34:39,700
Now the guard is up on the catwalk.
1540
01:34:39,700 --> 01:34:44,120
He jumps out with a hammer
and throws it up and it hits the catwalk.
1541
01:34:44,660 --> 01:34:49,040
And you can hear the sound clip
and all of them turn looked at him,
1542
01:34:49,130 --> 01:34:53,590
and all of them turn their guns
on a brutal dashboard body.
1543
01:34:53,760 --> 01:34:55,260
I'm assuming that you guys got anywhere
1544
01:34:55,260 --> 01:34:59,180
from 20 to 50 shots
because his body was doing like that.
1545
01:34:59,180 --> 01:35:00,640
I'd never seen no shit like that.
1546
01:35:00,640 --> 01:35:02,640
Not as a nasty shoot in the street.
1547
01:35:02,640 --> 01:35:03,560
I'd never seen them. I did.
1548
01:35:04,600 --> 01:35:06,020
I mean.
1549
01:35:10,810 --> 01:35:12,940
This was a holiday for the.
1550
01:35:12,940 --> 01:35:16,070
We got no guns to shoot back.
1551
01:35:16,070 --> 01:35:16,650
You know what?
1552
01:35:16,650 --> 01:35:21,030
It is a shoe store man and it's a shoe,
but that's just a holiday
1553
01:35:21,780 --> 01:35:24,040
slow motion and all it was
1554
01:35:24,040 --> 01:35:27,620
that was save money.
1555
01:35:27,620 --> 01:35:30,170
That's what
they will follow to each other.
1556
01:35:30,500 --> 01:35:32,130
I was scared.
1557
01:35:33,550 --> 01:35:35,760
I've done bad things,
but I never did this bad.
1558
01:35:36,170 --> 01:35:37,260
As no.
1559
01:35:37,260 --> 01:35:40,640
These guys are real fucking cold blooded
1560
01:35:40,640 --> 01:35:42,260
killers and shit.
1561
01:35:43,930 --> 01:35:47,480
Until that moment came,
1562
01:35:47,560 --> 01:35:51,110
what is killing really started,
and I realize that
1563
01:35:52,150 --> 01:35:55,610
you're not that fucking bad guy, no more,
man, there's more power with his words
1564
01:35:55,610 --> 01:35:58,780
new, every bullet that missed by me,
1565
01:35:59,610 --> 01:36:01,160
if he could move.
1566
01:36:02,570 --> 01:36:05,410
Close to me, I winced,
1567
01:36:07,580 --> 01:36:09,160
then all of a sudden, it just stopped.
1568
01:36:25,180 --> 01:36:25,430
There are
1569
01:36:25,430 --> 01:36:28,680
people throwing off their smoke gear.
1570
01:36:29,230 --> 01:36:31,440
They ran out
screaming niggers, niggers, niggers
1571
01:36:33,060 --> 01:36:36,400
and two of them pointed their guns at me.
1572
01:36:37,030 --> 01:36:38,190
Negative niggers.
1573
01:36:38,190 --> 01:36:40,280
And I said, Don't shoot, don't shoot.
1574
01:36:40,320 --> 01:36:41,320
Don't shoot.
1575
01:36:41,320 --> 01:36:44,200
Well, I'm coughing with all the gas.
1576
01:36:45,160 --> 01:36:46,790
I've been gassed.
1577
01:36:46,790 --> 01:36:48,750
It's an awful thing.
1578
01:36:48,750 --> 01:36:50,540
William Kunstler
1579
01:36:51,540 --> 01:36:54,380
has said that people are dying in there.
1580
01:36:54,630 --> 01:36:58,550
And I agree with that.
1581
01:36:59,050 --> 01:37:03,390
But that people are dying
and then a shooting went on forever
1582
01:37:03,970 --> 01:37:07,220
and then it was like the shooting subsided
1583
01:37:07,680 --> 01:37:09,890
and then I heard some.
1584
01:37:10,310 --> 01:37:15,400
After the shooting subsided,
I heard some single shot
1585
01:37:15,480 --> 01:37:18,650
bang and bang.
1586
01:37:27,830 --> 01:37:30,040
After they took over the prison,
1587
01:37:30,040 --> 01:37:32,660
all those books
that had been speaking to the cameras
1588
01:37:34,170 --> 01:37:37,170
were all targeted and tortured.
1589
01:37:37,920 --> 01:37:40,840
So yes, yes, yes, yes, they were targeted.
1590
01:37:43,130 --> 01:37:45,050
Andy Barclay.
1591
01:37:45,180 --> 01:37:48,220
They were calling his name.
1592
01:37:48,260 --> 01:37:50,600
Going to that, Bob, looking for him
1593
01:37:51,310 --> 01:37:54,100
and threatening him
with what they were going to do to him.
1594
01:37:55,520 --> 01:37:58,320
When they when they found him
and they found him,
1595
01:37:59,190 --> 01:38:00,860
he was yelling.
1596
01:38:01,530 --> 01:38:03,990
No, no, but it's too fucking late.
1597
01:38:04,030 --> 01:38:07,070
They had him do acting, actually
dragging him towards a
1598
01:38:07,120 --> 01:38:10,370
block far yard over there.
1599
01:38:10,370 --> 01:38:13,080
He's Holland new agreement and the acuity.
1600
01:38:24,970 --> 01:38:27,590
You can see because the gas is so thick,
1601
01:38:28,390 --> 01:38:31,220
but all of a sudden a puff of wind comes
1602
01:38:32,560 --> 01:38:35,390
and disperses the gas.
1603
01:38:35,390 --> 01:38:37,560
And then I could see.
1604
01:38:37,560 --> 01:38:40,650
And what I saw was fright.
1605
01:38:41,190 --> 01:38:44,150
Hundreds of bodies just laying there.
1606
01:38:45,740 --> 01:38:47,950
Some were moaning, some wasn't moving.
1607
01:38:48,240 --> 01:38:50,740
Blood was everywhere.
1608
01:38:55,710 --> 01:39:00,040
We were given stretchers
and told to go into the prison.
1609
01:39:01,170 --> 01:39:03,260
It was really an unthinkable scene.
1610
01:39:03,260 --> 01:39:06,130
It was dead and wounded and simply
1611
01:39:06,130 --> 01:39:08,890
starting to carry them out.
1612
01:39:09,510 --> 01:39:12,140
It was far beyond anything
1613
01:39:12,140 --> 01:39:15,310
I had imagined when they said
we would be doing medical evacuation.
1614
01:39:16,230 --> 01:39:18,980
We were basically civilians
1615
01:39:18,980 --> 01:39:22,110
put into a situation where state troopers
1616
01:39:22,110 --> 01:39:24,530
and correctional officers
had created a war zone.
1617
01:39:26,990 --> 01:39:31,120
There was a pile of bodies,
maybe eight or ten people,
1618
01:39:31,120 --> 01:39:34,160
and the man on top,
it had his eyes shot out.
1619
01:39:56,930 --> 01:39:57,600
Right below us,
1620
01:39:57,600 --> 01:40:00,230
there was a huge pool of rainwater
1621
01:40:01,060 --> 01:40:03,400
and it was blood red.
1622
01:40:03,570 --> 01:40:07,070
And I looked down on down at it
1623
01:40:07,070 --> 01:40:10,070
and they said, Those are false
teeth down there, aren't they?
1624
01:40:10,820 --> 01:40:13,910
And somebody said, Yeah.
1625
01:40:16,540 --> 01:40:18,710
The attitude of the people
1626
01:40:18,710 --> 01:40:20,830
who should have been concerned
1627
01:40:21,750 --> 01:40:24,420
about what had happened
was simply that they were
1628
01:40:25,750 --> 01:40:28,010
pleased with what had happened
1629
01:40:28,010 --> 01:40:31,220
and had no qualms or second thoughts
1630
01:40:31,640 --> 01:40:34,470
or anything but satisfaction
1631
01:40:34,470 --> 01:40:37,640
with Walker wants to go back to.
1632
01:40:42,810 --> 01:40:45,230
Why white power weight,
1633
01:40:46,360 --> 01:40:48,400
right, right?
1634
01:40:53,820 --> 01:40:56,120
They had control.
1635
01:40:56,120 --> 01:40:58,410
And once they had control, you would think
1636
01:40:58,410 --> 01:41:00,830
that things would have stopped.
1637
01:41:01,620 --> 01:41:03,250
They didn't.
1638
01:41:06,380 --> 01:41:09,590
It was clear that at that point
it was all about revenge.
1639
01:41:10,130 --> 01:41:12,930
It was all about reestablishing
who was in charge.
1640
01:41:13,340 --> 01:41:16,680
And the most violent ways possible.
1641
01:41:24,270 --> 01:41:26,940
Everybody had to crawl through shit,
1642
01:41:26,940 --> 01:41:29,230
human waste.
1643
01:41:32,780 --> 01:41:33,660
But what do you do?
1644
01:41:33,660 --> 01:41:37,120
Do you live to tell your story
1645
01:41:37,280 --> 01:41:39,450
like I'm doing today
or do you fucking die?
1646
01:41:40,410 --> 01:41:41,200
I made a choice.
1647
01:41:41,200 --> 01:41:42,540
I want to live.
1648
01:41:46,380 --> 01:41:48,460
Chrome nickel chrome
1649
01:41:48,460 --> 01:41:50,550
for like a dog.
1650
01:41:55,140 --> 01:41:58,720
If you look up, nigga,
I'll blow your motherfucking brains out.
1651
01:42:00,600 --> 01:42:03,270
What the
fuck they care about calling you a nigger?
1652
01:42:03,890 --> 01:42:06,310
That was your name.
1653
01:42:07,150 --> 01:42:08,440
They had us marching
1654
01:42:08,440 --> 01:42:10,820
around the yard with our with our hands
1655
01:42:11,940 --> 01:42:13,900
interlocked like this on top of our heads,
1656
01:42:13,900 --> 01:42:16,110
abject surrender.
1657
01:42:28,250 --> 01:42:30,420
When I saw these naked bodies
1658
01:42:31,050 --> 01:42:35,300
lined up, snaked around the area,
it reminded me
1659
01:42:35,840 --> 01:42:40,970
of portrayals of of African-Americans
being heard it on the slave ships.
1660
01:42:41,720 --> 01:42:44,390
That was just horrendous, just horrible,
1661
01:42:44,560 --> 01:42:45,520
horrible.
1662
01:42:55,780 --> 01:42:58,280
We're next in the middle of fucking yard.
1663
01:42:59,200 --> 01:43:02,160
God's going around with like baby bats.
1664
01:43:02,200 --> 01:43:06,120
It was seven remote guys
as I'm laying here and I'm hoping
1665
01:43:06,120 --> 01:43:08,420
they don't come my way.
1666
01:43:21,010 --> 01:43:24,020
Frank Schmidt,
Big Black, was put on a table
1667
01:43:24,350 --> 01:43:27,690
with the football under his throat.
1668
01:43:30,810 --> 01:43:33,190
People stood up above him on the catwalk,
1669
01:43:33,230 --> 01:43:37,450
aiming their guns down at him,
throwing cigars and cigaret butts on him
1670
01:43:39,070 --> 01:43:39,740
. And
1671
01:43:39,740 --> 01:43:43,080
it said, Do said football falls, nigger,
we're going to shoot you.
1672
01:43:46,830 --> 01:43:49,170
He was told to get to his feet.
1673
01:43:49,170 --> 01:43:52,130
He tried, he stumbled, he fell.
1674
01:43:52,130 --> 01:43:54,170
He was hit with clubs
1675
01:43:54,380 --> 01:43:56,670
on his back between his legs.
1676
01:43:57,800 --> 01:44:00,260
And he was crying out.
1677
01:44:00,890 --> 01:44:03,050
You know, don't do this. Don't do this.
1678
01:44:03,640 --> 01:44:06,600
And then you could hear him screaming as
1679
01:44:06,600 --> 01:44:08,600
he went up to the prison.
1680
01:44:14,110 --> 01:44:16,570
It felt good
that I had survived this shit.
1681
01:44:17,570 --> 01:44:19,990
And now I got a look out
1682
01:44:20,610 --> 01:44:24,200
because some motion is coming.
1683
01:44:28,870 --> 01:44:30,170
The inmates were entering
1684
01:44:30,170 --> 01:44:32,710
these corridors off of the yard
1685
01:44:33,750 --> 01:44:36,380
and the guards were like
1686
01:44:36,380 --> 01:44:38,840
five or six feet apart with their clubs
1687
01:44:39,590 --> 01:44:43,640
and they would hit them against the wall
and there was just this
1688
01:44:44,680 --> 01:44:46,770
dull drum like sound.
1689
01:44:46,770 --> 01:44:50,310
And then they were hitting the inmates
as they ran a gantlet.
1690
01:44:55,070 --> 01:44:57,400
We could hear the screams coming out
1691
01:44:57,400 --> 01:45:00,990
so that we knew they were being tortured
1692
01:45:00,990 --> 01:45:05,330
and that we were somehow
part of this unthinkable scene
1693
01:45:05,530 --> 01:45:09,080
that there was no escaping from
but was completely wrong.
1694
01:45:12,960 --> 01:45:16,090
They had guards on both sides,
and they would be hitting you
1695
01:45:16,340 --> 01:45:17,840
as you were running through beating you
1696
01:45:17,840 --> 01:45:21,800
with hoses and batons
and whatever they had in their hands.
1697
01:45:22,010 --> 01:45:24,140
I'm ducking, trying to get through,
1698
01:45:24,140 --> 01:45:27,760
protecting my head,
so I hit all of my all the elbows.
1699
01:45:27,760 --> 01:45:32,140
My knees still hurt, beating you
and they're making you run
1700
01:45:32,140 --> 01:45:33,230
through the gantlet with it,
1701
01:45:33,230 --> 01:45:36,190
took all the glass out the fucking windows
and put it in the middle of the floor.
1702
01:45:36,520 --> 01:45:38,480
So you had to run through grass
with bare feet.
1703
01:45:38,480 --> 01:45:40,940
Nobody came out of that yard.
1704
01:45:40,940 --> 01:45:46,030
What with picking without having to pick
a shot of your feet for four weeks?
1705
01:45:47,910 --> 01:45:51,370
Couldn't walk, nobody could walk anymore.
1706
01:45:51,370 --> 01:45:53,460
But we had to run
because if you didn't run,
1707
01:45:53,920 --> 01:45:57,500
they just kept beating you
with these clubs.
1708
01:46:05,930 --> 01:46:08,810
The families of the hostages,
a lot of them waited
1709
01:46:08,810 --> 01:46:12,560
just outside the prison wall.
1710
01:46:14,980 --> 01:46:17,360
Then news began to filter out of Attica.
1711
01:46:17,690 --> 01:46:20,900
Names of freed hostages
were called out to the loved one
1712
01:46:21,070 --> 01:46:23,990
by Curtis Lieutenant Colonel
1713
01:46:24,280 --> 01:46:25,160
Robert
1714
01:46:26,110 --> 01:46:26,740
Elder.
1715
01:46:29,950 --> 01:46:31,750
Some didn't see their men come out.
1716
01:46:31,750 --> 01:46:33,580
All they learned
was the name of the hospital
1717
01:46:33,580 --> 01:46:35,370
where the survivors were being treated.
1718
01:46:35,370 --> 01:46:36,790
There were no time to wait.
1719
01:46:36,790 --> 01:46:40,210
They ran off to see their man.
1720
01:46:42,630 --> 01:46:44,670
People couldn't seem to run fast enough.
1721
01:46:49,430 --> 01:46:51,510
My mom came home
and she was with her sister,
1722
01:46:51,510 --> 01:46:53,730
and my mom was crying, obviously upset.
1723
01:46:57,150 --> 01:46:59,110
I was outside sitting on the front porch,
1724
01:46:59,110 --> 01:47:02,230
you know, praying and worrying,
and where's dad?
1725
01:47:02,400 --> 01:47:05,070
I respect him to show up, you know, and.
1726
01:47:06,490 --> 01:47:09,070
I again, my mom was dead.
1727
01:47:09,780 --> 01:47:11,870
What's what's
why are you crying, what's going on?
1728
01:47:11,910 --> 01:47:15,830
Well, my mother came back in the house
and, you know, he
1729
01:47:15,870 --> 01:47:19,210
she said, nobody to play with me
now, are you?
1730
01:47:19,210 --> 01:47:22,500
I mean, you know,
because I didn't want to believe it.
1731
01:47:22,840 --> 01:47:26,630
And she finally said, I saw him.
1732
01:47:26,930 --> 01:47:29,090
I saw him.
1733
01:47:33,060 --> 01:47:33,520
Finally,
1734
01:47:33,520 --> 01:47:37,480
she blurted out, Your father's dead.
1735
01:47:37,810 --> 01:47:39,270
So it ran.
1736
01:47:42,320 --> 01:47:44,610
We're in for a while, and I came back
1737
01:47:45,490 --> 01:47:49,910
and I was sitting on the front porch
trying to be strong and not cry.
1738
01:47:49,950 --> 01:47:53,030
And I could hear everybody in the house
crying
1739
01:47:53,030 --> 01:47:55,620
and I was trying to be so tough and.
1740
01:48:03,750 --> 01:48:04,880
All right.
1741
01:48:05,960 --> 01:48:06,630
Yeah, right.
1742
01:48:21,900 --> 01:48:24,690
The National Guardsmen
were told to get back in their trucks,
1743
01:48:25,150 --> 01:48:28,110
and we did that
and were taken out to the parking area.
1744
01:48:28,860 --> 01:48:33,660
And the colonel then addressed
the battalion, maybe several hundred men,
1745
01:48:34,280 --> 01:48:37,370
and he said, essentially you saw things
1746
01:48:37,370 --> 01:48:40,080
that were excessive and wrong today.
1747
01:48:40,960 --> 01:48:44,250
And I have to ask you
not to speak of this to anyone
1748
01:48:44,790 --> 01:48:48,630
because the world will not understand
what happened here today.
1749
01:48:51,300 --> 01:48:54,550
The most violent
rebellion in modern American penal history
1750
01:48:54,550 --> 01:48:58,020
came to an end today at the maximum
security prison in New York.
1751
01:48:58,310 --> 01:49:01,310
In the final hours of the revolt,
led primarily by blacks,
1752
01:49:01,600 --> 01:49:04,110
the inmates murdered
nine of their white hostages.
1753
01:49:04,480 --> 01:49:05,860
28 convicts were killed
1754
01:49:05,860 --> 01:49:09,150
by state troopers, and sheriff's deputies
will regain control of the prison.
1755
01:49:09,780 --> 01:49:12,820
The storming of the prison had the full
approval of New York's governor,
1756
01:49:12,820 --> 01:49:17,370
Rockefeller, who earlier had rejected
a prisoner demand for complete clemency.
1757
01:49:17,700 --> 01:49:22,080
The White House said that after the prison
was retaken, President Nixon telephoned
1758
01:49:22,080 --> 01:49:25,340
the governor to express his approval
of Rockefeller's action.
1759
01:49:26,920 --> 01:49:29,920
We went in we couldn't tell whether all 39
1760
01:49:29,920 --> 01:49:33,090
hostages would be killed
and maybe two or 300 prisoners.
1761
01:49:33,590 --> 01:49:35,970
So we were able to pick off
1762
01:49:36,640 --> 01:49:39,640
either
from the wall or as our men went in.
1763
01:49:41,100 --> 01:49:41,940
The man who had the
1764
01:49:41,940 --> 01:49:44,400
knives at the throat of the hostages
1765
01:49:45,020 --> 01:49:48,320
and they did a fabulous job.
1766
01:49:48,610 --> 01:49:50,740
I mean, this is this
1767
01:49:50,740 --> 01:49:53,950
are these primarily blacks?
1768
01:49:53,950 --> 01:49:56,820
Know, and the whole thing
was led by the black cabinet,
1769
01:49:56,950 --> 01:49:59,080
are all the All Blacks?
1770
01:50:00,660 --> 01:50:04,870
I haven't got that report,
but I have to admit I just out.
1771
01:50:05,040 --> 01:50:07,290
Yeah, yeah, we've got to have any.
1772
01:50:07,710 --> 01:50:10,420
We just not tolerate this kind of
1773
01:50:11,630 --> 01:50:12,590
anarchy.
1774
01:50:18,300 --> 01:50:20,640
Yesterday, officials at the prison said
1775
01:50:20,640 --> 01:50:23,560
eight of the hostages
had had their throats cut.
1776
01:50:23,980 --> 01:50:26,730
But today,
the Monroe County medical examiner,
1777
01:50:26,730 --> 01:50:30,280
having looked at the bodies, said no
throats were cut at all.
1778
01:50:30,860 --> 01:50:35,530
The medical examiner says the hostages
were apparently killed by a large caliber
1779
01:50:35,530 --> 01:50:38,620
ammunition
and shotgun blasts from a distance,
1780
01:50:38,990 --> 01:50:42,660
which immediately raised the possibility
that some of the hostages may
1781
01:50:42,660 --> 01:50:46,540
in fact have been shot down
by the lawmen who broke in to rescue them.
1782
01:50:47,790 --> 01:50:50,590
Some of the hostages were actually shot
1783
01:50:51,090 --> 01:50:53,920
running towards the state troopers
thinking,
1784
01:50:54,130 --> 01:50:57,140
I'm saved, I'm saved.
1785
01:50:57,140 --> 01:50:59,220
And the hostages were dressed
1786
01:50:59,220 --> 01:51:01,970
the same way the inmates were.
1787
01:51:02,310 --> 01:51:05,140
Anything that inmate garb on it.
1788
01:51:05,140 --> 01:51:07,980
They just started shooting at.
1789
01:51:10,020 --> 01:51:14,110
What Rockefeller had done was treat.
1790
01:51:15,190 --> 01:51:17,360
The hostages
1791
01:51:17,950 --> 01:51:21,370
as no more real live
1792
01:51:21,370 --> 01:51:26,290
human beings who deserve to be respected
than the prisoners.
1793
01:51:26,870 --> 01:51:30,540
And so you kill them all
and you restore order
1794
01:51:31,090 --> 01:51:35,170
and you make me into a major
1795
01:51:35,340 --> 01:51:38,510
figure who believes in law and order
1796
01:51:39,010 --> 01:51:43,260
at a time when that concept is beginning
1797
01:51:43,260 --> 01:51:46,890
to really take hold.
1798
01:52:08,670 --> 01:52:09,370
We should have entered
1799
01:52:09,370 --> 01:52:11,960
in a negotiated settlement.
1800
01:52:12,460 --> 01:52:14,880
No, they were they were interested
in that, they were interested in showing.
1801
01:52:16,300 --> 01:52:19,380
The naked fist of power law and order.
1802
01:52:21,050 --> 01:52:24,140
The national mindset of the nation
was law and order.
1803
01:52:25,060 --> 01:52:27,640
And law and order does not permit.
1804
01:52:29,230 --> 01:52:32,190
Any challenge?
1805
01:52:32,190 --> 01:52:35,150
To his authority whatsoever.
1806
01:52:35,150 --> 01:52:38,070
God willing, a few more months in
January will be 90 years old.
1807
01:52:39,490 --> 01:52:42,200
I will never, ever, ever, ever,
1808
01:52:42,660 --> 01:52:44,830
ever, ever, ever.
1809
01:52:45,830 --> 01:52:47,330
We get Atika.
1810
01:52:47,620 --> 01:52:48,290
Ever.
1811
01:52:51,370 --> 01:52:54,710
It didn't have to be that way.
1812
01:53:38,630 --> 01:53:41,130
All eight cases.
1813
01:53:41,220 --> 01:53:45,140
Died of gunshot wounds.
1814
01:53:45,260 --> 01:53:48,180
There was no evidence of slash throats.
1815
01:53:49,930 --> 01:53:53,140
We're sure
1816
01:53:54,350 --> 01:53:58,900
your. The.
1817
01:54:09,540 --> 01:54:11,910
I have never received an apology.
1818
01:54:13,790 --> 01:54:15,670
I've never received an apology,
and for me,
1819
01:54:15,670 --> 01:54:17,670
that's a pretty big deal.
1820
01:54:25,340 --> 01:54:26,140
What is money
1821
01:54:26,140 --> 01:54:29,140
do when you don't have your dad
1822
01:54:29,140 --> 01:54:31,970
or your brother or your uncle who?
1823
01:54:34,690 --> 01:54:37,310
How does that replace anything?
1824
01:54:37,650 --> 01:54:40,440
And I think it was the state's
way of saying,
1825
01:54:41,730 --> 01:54:45,820
we're going to give you this money
and we want you to go away and.
1826
01:54:49,580 --> 01:54:52,910
This is my.
1827
01:54:53,660 --> 01:54:55,710
True.
1828
01:54:57,330 --> 01:54:58,540
Well, she.
1829
01:55:00,960 --> 01:55:02,880
He threw
1830
01:55:02,880 --> 01:55:06,930
for nearly 30 years, former Attica
inmates have waited for justice.
1831
01:55:07,680 --> 01:55:10,350
Today, it finally came in the form of a 12
1832
01:55:10,350 --> 01:55:12,970
million dollar settlement.
1833
01:55:14,350 --> 01:55:18,940
Be. There's no justice.
1834
01:55:20,860 --> 01:55:22,900
All we got was money
1835
01:55:22,900 --> 01:55:25,360
and money wasn't enough.
1836
01:55:25,360 --> 01:55:28,070
Then you can't justify all the killings
that happened in Attica.
1837
01:55:28,700 --> 01:55:30,410
You can't justify that.
1838
01:55:30,410 --> 01:55:31,450
So there's no justice.
1839
01:55:31,450 --> 01:55:34,000
There is no justice.
1840
01:55:36,120 --> 01:55:39,040
We shall.
1841
01:55:40,130 --> 01:55:43,630
Be. And.
1842
01:55:47,720 --> 01:55:50,300
They might.
1843
01:55:51,470 --> 01:55:53,430
True.
1844
01:55:55,060 --> 01:55:57,640
Well, I'm sure.
1845
01:55:58,770 --> 01:56:01,980
Me, too,
1846
01:56:01,980 --> 01:56:04,530
do so.
1847
01:56:10,740 --> 01:56:12,910
And. Be.
1848
01:56:21,210 --> 01:56:27,090
You. Some
1849
01:56:27,090 --> 01:56:45,860
foolish. Oh.