How The Black Power And The Attica Prison Uprising

On June 17th, 1966, Stokely Carmichael cried out “What we gonna start saying now is Black Power!” (Reader p 281) introducing the phrase into the Civil Rights Movement and unleashing a transformation of black identity and culture. On Thursday, September 9th, 1971 a group of inmates at Attica prison in New York rose up against the injustices they faced and took over the facility, demanding humane treatment and livable conditions. Both the Black Power movement and the Attica prison uprising represented changes in consciousness and attitude toward racism and the peaceful protests that had been the standard for over a decade, and both the movement and the prison uprising triggered violent, cruel responses from the government and law officials. The

Founded in October of 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, the Black Panthers called for ten specific courses of action that they called the ten-point program. Among these points were “an end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of Black people” and “freedom for all Black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails.” (Reader p 346). At the time of this declaration, Huey Newton was enrolled in law school. His knowledge of the law helped the Black Panther Party keep control of the guns they would carry around. About a year after forming the party, Huey Newton was charged with the murder of a police officer. He claimed he was framed. In the fall of 1968, Newton was convicted with manslaughter, which was later overturned. Government surveillance of the Black Panther Party increased as chapters sprung up across the country in twenty-five cities and membership grew into the thousands. (Screening

This came to fruition on December 4th, 1969 in a raid on the apartment of BPP chairman Fred Hampton. He was killed along with fellow Panther Mark Clark. While it is not known for certain, it is highly likely that the FBI drugged Hampton with secobarbital prior to the raid. Findings by an autopsy showed secobarbital in his system, but findings by the FBI showed no drugs. (Reader p 525). Investigations later found that the FBI had fired 89 out of 90 shots during the raid, a stark contrast to the FBI’s original stance that the Black Panther Party fired first and kept firing at officers throughout the raid. The FBI effectively destroyed the Black Panther Party not only with this raid, but with attacks on all chapters. Akua Njere, Hampton’s fiancée at the time of his death, stated that “They were constantly in our offices piling up our breakfast donations and our medical supplies and setting them on fire in the office. They were raiding our offices all over the country.” (Reader p.