Left of Black | Dr. Orisanmi Burton on the Long Attica Revolt & Prisons as an Ongoing Site of War

Watch more Left of Black: https://fhi.duke.edu/engagement/left-... Living conditions for incarcerated people in upstate New York's Attica Correctional Facility were nothing short of dehumanizing. Black inmates were especially brutalized by the nearly all-white guard staff who were mostly from the rural town where the prison still stands today. In September 1971, when inmates revolted and took over the penitentiary to demand better living conditions, it gripped the nation and galvanized the call for prison reform. The uprising lasted four days, ending in state police storming the facility and shooting dead 29 inmates and 10 of the captive correctional staff members. How did the Attica uprising act as a crucible for Black radical thought to envision, both, defiant Black life and an abolition movement against our current carceral system? Dr. Orisanmi Burton, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at American University, joins host Mark Anthony Neal to discuss his new book, "Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt," published by University of California Press. Find his book here: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/97805203... Learn more about Dr. Burton here: https://www.american.edu/cas/faculty/... Left of Black is the Webby Award-nominated series featuring interviews with Black Studies scholars, created and hosted by the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of African and African American Studies Dr. Mark Anthony Neal. From 2010-2020, it was produced by the John Hope Franklin Center for International and Global Studies. In 2020, the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute took over production, with funding support from Trinity College of Arts & Sciences. Directed & edited by Eric Barstow, M.F.A. This episode co-produced by Alexis Ligon Holloway Camera & assistant editor, Jakiah Glass