Author
Aries
test - please ignore
Thousands Demand "Shut it Down"
NEW YORK -- (IMC) Activists from as far away as
California assembled in Columbia University's Miller Theatre
yesterday evening, the site of Critical Resistance East's opening
events. So many showed up, in fact, that organizers of Critical
Resistance, an organization founded in 1998 to increase
public awareness and activism around the Prison-Industrial
Complex, began turning people away thirty minutes after the
doors opened.
That should not discourage others from attending the rest of
the event however, as there are over 100 workshops, plenaries and
caucuses scheduled, an interfaith breakfast, as well as an action
in a Bronx Youth Detention facility. The event, which was
free for everyone to attend, concluded a few hours ago. It
began with a screening for a powerful film made by New
York-based filmmaker Ashley Hunt and Brad Lichenstein
specifically for Critical Resistance East about the Attica
Uprising; The evening continued with a spectacular jazz
presentation by Fred Ho, a noted composer and musical innovator
in the activist community, David Bindman and Salim Washington.
They performed Charles Mingus' "Remember Rockefeller at
Attica" and Fred Ho's "The Underground Railroad to My
Heart" which Fred described as "an anti-bourgeosy
Boogie Woogie," to a standing ovation.
Kai Lumumba Barrow kicked off the Conference, which was a
celebration of the spirit of the Attica Rebellion, and
the unity and self-determination of the Attica brothers, by
asking political prisoners to stand up; She then asked everyone
who has been in jail to stand; Then, she asked everyone who has
ever been harassed or threatened by a police officer to stand. To
the delight of the crowd, she asked everyone who has ever had a
traffic ticket or watched a cop show to stand. In the end, there
was not one left sitting. Daughter of Attica survivor Jomo Davis, Emani
Davis, who was overwhelmed with emotion, gave the crowd
a message from her father. Jomo Davis called on youth to carry on
the Resistance. Manny, a young father of 2 from Boston,
Massachusetts, who was formerly incarcerated, spoke about the
need to change the Prison system, and how it unfairly targets the
youth and minorities.
George Che Nieves, who organized for the Young Lords, an
organization of Puerto Rican revolutionaries who was part of a
Rainbow coalition during the 70s with the Black Panthers, and the
Young Patriots Organization, a former street gang of white
youths-turned political, also spoke. He and other speakers like
Danny Meyers, the attorney for the Attica brothers, and David
Johnson of the San Quentin 6, cited startling statistics about
the Prison-Industrial Complex. Approximately 30 years ago, there
were 12 prison facilities in New York City. Today there are 72.
They equated Corrections with corruption, they called for an end
to sensory deprivation; They argued that impeding a prisoner from
touching their loved one, which they termed "sensory
deprivation," was an atrocious act. They placed blame of the
39 deaths attributed to the Attica Rebellion, some of which
included state employees, to former New York Mayor John D.
Rockefeller.
More performances continued, as the IMPACT Repertory Group,
which boasts a membership of 80 youths based in Harlem, "not
Morningside Heights," they emphasized. They sang songs about
self-empowerment, the disenfranchisement of young people, and
about their feelings on the Central Park Puerto Rican Day parade
"wilding" incidents.
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