It was 41 years ago today that the Attica Prison Uprising began…

I have written quite a bit about the Attica Prison Uprising on this blog. You can find a short post about the events here.

I (and some of my friends) also created a primer about the Attica Prison rebellion along with a zine. You can access those resources here.

Lilly Pepper reviews our Attica Zine here.

Below is a great overview about Attica from a documentary about William Kunstler titled “Disturbing the Universe.” It is well-worth your 10 minutes.

I’ve written several times on this blog about the increase in the elderly who are in prison. This increase is related to longer sentences and a curbing of parole in several states. You can read some of my posts about this issue here, here, and here. Colorlines also created a terrific infographic that visually depicts the problem of an aging prison population.

Now comes an amazingly moving music video by Brandi Carlile for a song titled “That Wasn’t Me” featuring Kris Kristofferson (who I just love). In the video, Kristofferson plays an elderly man who is paroled from prison and cannot find a way to fit into society. Please take a moment to watch the video. You won’t be sorry.

This is an image from a zine created by my friends at Camp Firebelly for our upcoming Black/Inside exhibition opening in October. The image is based on a photograph from my collection which we will be on display in the exhibition.

Disrupting the Relationship between the Anti-Violence Movement and the PIC

by Chez Rumpf, Chicago PIC Teaching Collective

Two weeks ago, more than 1200 people attended the National Sexual Assault Conference (NSAC) in Chicago. I attended all three days of the conference and had the privilege to co-facilitate a workshop with my friend and fellow Chicago PIC Teaching Collective member Jane Hereth. Jane and I both have worked in the sexual assault and domestic violence fields, respectively, and we saw the NSAC as an opportunity to bridge our anti-violence work with our work to disrupt the PIC. Drawing on the groundbreaking work of groups like INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, Communities Against Rape and Abuse (CARA), and Creative Interventions, we developed a workshop to explore alternatives to the PIC for sexual assault survivors.

Overall, our workshop was very well received. It was incredibly thrilling to spend one and a half hours with a group of about 50 advocates and activists passionately critiquing the PIC. We examined the various ways the criminal legal system fails sexual assault survivors and does not ensure safety, justice, and empowerment for those who turn to it. We explored how the PIC is rooted in a deep history of oppression and systematically targets marginalized communities and individuals, while privileged groups profit. In short, we articulated how the PIC is part of the problem and how severely broken it is as a solution to violence.

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The Don’t Die Code

The Neighborhood Writing Alliance (NWA), a community-based writing nonprofit in Chicago committed to creating and continuing conversation around neighborhood issues including violence, oppression, and social injustice, is excited to be featured today on the Prison Culture blog. NWA exists to provoke dialogue, build community, and promote change by creating opportunities for adults in Chicago’s underserved neighborhoods to write, publish, and perform works about their lives. NWA envisions a society where adults connect through creative communities in which writing, discussing, and publishing personal narrative leads to civic engagement, neighborhood vitality, and social transformation. In neighborhoods throughout the city in public libraries and community centers, adults meet in weekly workshops to write and share stories about their lives and discuss relevant community issues such as education, politics, transportation, and violence.

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“You think that man who killed Trayvon gonna be guilty?”

I’m taken aback by the question because we are talking about getting him signed up for a GED class.

“Where did that come from?” I ask.

“I just be thinkin’ bout him sometimes.”

The young man who asks the question is 18. He’s been arrested several times and has been locked in juvenile detention twice. He’s never been to prison but I can’t guarantee that he won’t end up there eventually. I think about how to answer his question. I find it strangely heartbreaking that he is so familiar with a dead boy. He calls him “Trayvon” as though he knew him. Perhaps he did in a cosmic way. They are around the same age, black, suspect, and unfortunately eminently killable in our society.

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Click on the image to enlarge it for easier reading.

This is another excerpt from my Resistance to Police Violence in Harlem pamphlet that was published in May. This time, I focus on the 1943 Harlem Riots.

** All references can be found in the pamphlet.

If Margie Polite
Had of been white
She might not’ve cussed
Out the cop that night…
She started the riots!
Harlemites say
August 1st is
MARGIE’S DAY.

– Langston Hughes

We don’t know for sure how or why Marjorie (Margie) Polite came to be at the Hotel Braddock on August 1, 1943. We only know for sure that she was there and that she was causing a fuss. The reasons for her ill temper are in dispute.

In some accounts, Margie Polite checked into the Hotel Braddock on West 126th street in Harlem. She complained about her assigned room and was moved to another one. She was still not satisfied with the amenities in her new room so she asked for a refund and checked out. Before she left the hotel though, she asked that the elevator operator return a dollar tip that she had given him. The man denied receiving a tip from her and Ms. Polite became incensed. She was belligerent.

In other versions of the story, Margie Polite was at the Hotel Braddock attending “a raucous drinking party in one of the hotel’s rooms.” She was drunk and loud.

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