Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20160909

U. S. Government over the 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. We will get an update from north dakota will stop then who is profiting off of the pipelinine . We will follow the money in t 4 45th niveversy of attica, one of the largest prison u uprisings in u. S. History. Morning,rs ago this nearly 1300 prisoners took over the attica state correctional facility asking for more human conditions. Their struggle matters. Today, prisoners are also calling for action, calling to stand up for better treatment and calng dehumanize ameris cocorrtionalalacilities across the country. Amamy wwillll sak with heather thomonon, americ histori, thor of e explose new book, bod in thwater the atti prison rising of 1971 and its legacy. We will also be joined by david rothenberg, a m member of t the attitica oervevers committttee,e of 35 people broughght into atta to negotiate on behalf of the prisoners. He is founder of the fortune society. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. North korea said today it successfully tested a Nuclear Weapon in whats believed to be the countrys most powerful Nuclear Blast to date. In a statement, the north claimed todays underground test proved it had a weapon standardized to fit on a ballistic missile. A news reader with staterun television krt made the announcement. Andre scientists technicians of the Nuclear Weapons institute carried out a Nuclear Explosion test at the Northern Nuclear test to check the power of a Nuclear Warhead which is newly studied and manufactured. It was confirmed that there was not a leak of radioactee subsbstances during the tesest. Therefore, it did not have a negative affect the ecological environment of the surroundings. Amy the u. S. Geological survey says it monitored an artificial earthquake of magnitude 5. 3 at north Koreas Nuclear test site. South korean officials said the blast appeared to be twice as powerful as a test in january, but much too small to be a hydrogen bomb. Japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe called the nuclear test a grave threat and promised action atat the u. N. Security council. And d south koreas military issued a warning to the north. This is leem hoyoyoung of south koreas joint chiefs of staff. Our military will not tolerate north korea conducting a nuclear test again, as we warned of before, we will tatake all available measures to make north korea abandon its nuclear program. Amy the white house says president barack obama spoke with his counterparts in japan and south korea about the nuclear test. Spokesman josh earnest said provocative actions by north korea would be met with serious consequences. In north dakota, governor Jack Dalrymple has activated the National Guard ahead of fridays ruling on the Standing Rock sioux tribes lawsuit against the u. S. Government over the 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. The move comes as u. S. District judge James Boasberg is set to rule today on an injunction in the lawsuit, which is challenging the army corps of engineers decision to issue permits for the pipeline, arguing it violates the National Historic preservation act. Thousands of people representing more than 100 native american tribes have traveled to the Standing Rock sioux reservation to resist the pipelines construction. On saturday, september 3, the Dakota Access Pipeline Company unleashed dogs and pepper spray on native americans as they attempted to stop the company from destroying a sacred tribal burial site. The bulldozers and Company Security guards were forced to retreat. On thursday, governor Jack Dalrymple said the National Guard will be deployed friday to a checkpoint along highway 1808. Ive also placed additional guarardsmen on s standby a alern the event they y ar needed to assist with response efffforts. The guard members s will provide viable p personnel, resources, d equipment necessary to supppport local, trtribal, and d state officials. Public safety has alalways beenn and continues to be paramount. Amy protests against the Dakota Access pipeline continue to grow nationwide. In denver, hundreds marched thursday evening in a protest in solidarity with the Standing Rock sioux tribe. The rally was led by native americans who converged onto the steps of the State Capitol building from four directions. This is shawnee and White Mountain apache activist sky rooseveltmorris. There were a lot of people in the last week, we can i have, that wanted to do something in support of Standing Rock because tomorrow, there is going to be court decisions. Depending on how thosese go, we could see a continuation of what we have already seen going on at Standing Rock with private security, the use of dogs, pepper spray, or, hopefully, their permits will be revoked and we will win this battle. Amy in San Francisco, meanwhile, scores of demonstrators marched on the offices of citibank to protest the banks role in financing the Dakota Access pipeline. At least two activivists were arrested after they used pvc pipe to lock their arms together to block an intersection. Large demonstrations were also held in tulsa, oklahoma and omaha, nebraska. And more celebrities are calling for a halt to the pipeline, including actor and comedian chris rock, who posted an instagram message in support of the Standing Rock protests with the message, this is no joke. We will go to north dakota for more of the pipeline after headlines. Officials in florida say hundreds of prisoners took part in an uprising that saw damage to virtually every part of the Holmes Correctional Institution overnight on wednesday. The miami herald reports that 400 of the facilitys 1100 prisoners took part in the uprising, stuffing blankets and sheets over windows and smashing surveillance cameras. Prison officials said riot squads and guards from five other prisons were called in. Used canisters of gas to quell the uprising. Prisoners at holmes say theyve been confined to their dorms in recent weeks, denied recreation and allowed out only for meals, because the prison is woefully understaffed. The florida uprising came ahead of todays launch of a National Prison strike. Organizers with the incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee Say prisoners in at least 40 prisons in 24 states will participate in a series of Hunger Strikes, sitins and work stoppages to protest prison conditions. The prison strike comes on the 45th anniversary of the uprising at attica state prison near buffalo, new york. It was september 9, 1971, when state pocece raid ththe tica ison, ding a protest against ininhuma conondions atathe facility. For fo d days e ununard prisoners held 39 Prison Guards hosta. Sepeptember 13,3, thennew york governor Nelson Rockefeller orded armed state troopers to raid thehe prison. Troopers then shot indiscriminately more than 2000 rounds of ammunition. In the end, 39 men would die, including 29 p prisoners and 100 guarards. On thursday, dozens of activists held a protest outside the Manhattan Office of new york governor andrew cuomo, calling for the closure of attica prison. Scott paltrowitz of the Correctional Association of new york said conditions at attica havent improved in more than four decades. The brutality, the torture, the abuse happening at attica continues to this day. I have interviewed people at attica this year. We get correspondence of the Correctional Association all the time from people incarcerated in the atrocities are still occurring. This is a needs to be closed down. Not only to end the abuses at attica, but to send a clelear message that this kind of abuse will not be tolerated at any of new york states prisons. Amy well have more on the attica prison uprising of 1971 and its legacy later in the broadcast. In argentina, a court has convicted the former head of the countrys air force on charges of kidnapping and torture committed during the u. S. Backed dirty wars. 90yearold Omar Graffigna received a 25year prison sentence for the disappearance of activists Jose Manuel Perez rojo and patricia roisinblit. Two other officials were sentenced, including francisco gomez, who raised the couples infant son after abducting and torturing the boys parents. Patricia roisinblits mother, rosa, is Vice President of the group mothers of the plaza de mayo. She said the ruling provides a measure of justice. You already know that i am quite old, but i never thought i would lived to see this moment come. I cannot say it is a triumph, but he gives me satisfaction. That is all. Amy an estimated 30,000 activists were tortured and disappeared in the late 1970s and early by argentinas 1980s rightwing dictatorship. In syria, fighting raged around aleppo as Government Forces recaptured part of the besieged city. The Syrian Military says the victory restores key supply lines linking governmentheld parts of aleppo. Doctors in the city said this week more than 120 were sickened when Government Forces deployed chlorine gas. In the u. S. President ial race libertarian candidate gary , johnson stumbled on National Television when asked about the war in syria. The gaffe came as johnson appeared on msnbcs morning joe on thursday. Johnson was questioned by host mike barnicle. What would you do if you were elected about aleppo . About aleppo. And what is aleppo . You are kidding. No. Aleppo is in syria. It is the epicenter of the refugee crisis ok, got it. Got it. With regard to syria, i do think that it is a mess. I think the only way that we deal with syria is to join hands with russia to diplomatically bring that at an end. Amy he is that the only public figure to show confusion over aleppo. Christopher hill, former u. S. Ambassador to erect, called aleppo the capital of isis. There is a significant presence of isis in the city. Donald Trumps Campaign has doubled down on the republican president ial candidates support for Vladimir Putin. On thursday, trumps running mate, governor mike pence, echoed trumps comment that the russian president was doing a better job than his u. S. Counterpart, barack obama. Pence was speaking with h cnns dana bash. I think it is s an arguable that Vladimir Putin has been a stronger leadeder in his cououny that barack obama has been in this country. And that is going to change the day that donald trump becomes president of the United States of america. Amy pences comments follow similar remarks made by trump at a National Security forum on wednesday night. Speaking from north carolina, democratic president ial candidate Hillary Clinton called those remarks scary. Meanwhile, in geneva, secretary of state john kerry is discussing a proposed ceasefire agreement in syria with Russian Foreign minister sergei lavrov. Wells fargo will pay 185 million in fines after it was caught illegally manipulating Customers Bank accounts in order to rack up feeees and othr charges. The e consumerer Financial Protection Bureau found wells fargo employees secretly opened phony Bank Accounts and issued credit cards to customers who did not want them. These practices led to overdraft charges, late fees, and other penalties. The bank has fired at least 5300 employees involved in the illegal activity. Police in st. Louis say theyre investigating the death of ferguson, missouri, protest leader darren seals as a homicide. Seals charred body was found in the wreckage of his car on tuesday. Investigators say he had been shot at least once. Theres no known motive in the killing. Seals led protests against the killing of unarmed African American teenager Michael Brown after brown was fatally shot by white Police Officer Darren Wilson in august 2014. And more pro Football Players are joining a protest against Racial Injustice and police brutality. The protest began in august, when San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the anthem ahead of a preseason game, saying i am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. On thursday, Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall became the latest to join, when he took a knee during the singing of the National Anthem ahead of a victory over the carolina panthers. He told denver station cbs4 he immediately received hateful comments on social media. Im against social injustice. Im not against the military, the police, or america at all. Im against social injustice. I feel like this was the right thing to do. I feel like this is the right platform this is our only platform to really be heard. I feel like a lot of times people want us to j just come yu know, shut up and entertain them. Shut up and play football. But we have voices as well. Werere actually indicate educated individuals that went to college. Amy other athletes, including womens soccer star megan rapinoe, have joined the protest. And members of the Seattle Seahawks say the entire team may join in a protest ahead of their game against miami on sunday. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan and im juan gonzalez. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We begin todays show in north dakota, where governor Jack Dalrymple has activated the National Guard ahead of todays ruling on the Standing Rock sioux tribes lawsuit against the u. S. Government over the 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. Dalrymple said the National Guard will be deployed to a checkpoint along highway 1806. As many as 100 additional guardsmen from the 191st military Police Company will be on standby and could be deployed at any moment. The governor madede the announcecement at a prprs conference on thursday. B because of the increaeasd prolonged neneed for law enforcemement resosources, i hae asked geneneral norman toto make available some nororth dakota National Guard p personnel to supporort Law Enforcement and augment the Public Safety efforts. Amy u. S. District judge James Boasberg is set to rule today on an injunction in a lawsuit challenging the army corps of engineers decision to issue permits for the pipeline, arguing it violates the National Historic preservation act. This comes as over a thousand people representing more than a to native american 200 tribes are gathered along the Cannonball River by the Standing Rock sioux reservation to resist the pipelines construction. Its been described as the largest unification of native american tribes in decades. This past weekend, the Dakota Access Pipeline Company attacked native americans with dogs and pepper spray as they resisted the construction of the pipeline on a sacred tribal burial site. This guy maced me in the face. Look, it is all over my sunglasses. Maced me in my face. These people are threatening all of us with these dogs. That woman over there, she was charging them. Right in the face. Amy the dog has blood in its nose and mouth. Still standing here threatening us. And make a wire you letting her dog go after the protesters . Amy why are you letting her dog go after the protesters . Without any warning. Look at this. I got bit. Look at this. T tsee our live report onon the ground in north dakota, go to democracynow. Org. For more we go directly to north dakota for an update from tara houska, National Campaigns director for honor the earth. Toa, welcome back democracy now can you explain what is happening with the governor calling out the National Guard today . These cents on n the grououns one of, you know, we know thiss is happepening, we know the governor has called in the National Guard, that theheyre waiting for the coururt decision dodoes like e we are. I think we arare still very hopeful l and resilient and jt last nightht there was a c conct hundreds and hunundreds turnd out for thatat. We are still here and still fighting. At the same titime, while the National Guardrd announcement ws made, we also o saw that Bernie Sanders wanted to stop the pipeline from happening by calling for an Environmental Impact statement. He is chosen to throw in and show his support for the Standing Rock sioux reservation and Indigenous People generally. Juan the protesters have gotten much more attention this week than earlier in the week. Big stories on the cbs evening news and other National News and the New York Times has a frontpage story today about how the army corps of engineers basically removed hundreds of members of the Standing Rock damon when they built the in that area. Your sense of how the attention now is focused in t terms of possibly winning your fight . A histotoric moment for Indigenous People. They have come from m all over e country to stand herere with the Standing Rock sisioux reservatin and to sayay no more, enough is enough. So to see this moment, i think that people are aware that Indigenous People are still here. Ththey are a aware we e ha treay rights. That we are no longer accepting anany type o of envnvironmental injustice of the pipeline being sent through drinking water. This is a moment in which we are standing up together. Amy i want to ask you, you mentioned Bernie Sanders. What about president ial candidate jill stein, the green president ial candidate, along with her running mate ajamu b araka . The county sheriff just issued misdemeanor charges against them. The pictures showing in video chill stein jill stein spray painted i approve of this message on a bulldozer. So you have the coununty sheriff issuing charges against the president ial and Vice President ial candidate of the green party, but what about not clear who the security was on the ground on that are day, who unleashed dogs who bit native americans, who had come to honor the tribal burial grground. Have there been n y chchars issued against anyf f thes attackerers . I have not seen any charges issueded as the north Dakota Police were actually standing there are not doing anything while these horrible attacks were occurring. This is deadly force, Excessive Force used against people that were there to protect their sacred sites. To protect instead an easement for a pipeline and nothing has been filed against them . You know, weve seen the sheriff who is continuing to paint native americans as violent, as dangerous, as needing Excessive Police force and all of these different all of these different aspects that are brought out, essentially, to silence our voices. That doesnt seem to be working well for them. Amy tara houska, thank you. We will continue to follow this. National campaigns director for honor the earth. When we come back, who is profofiting from the pipelines . Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman and juan gonzalez. Juan come in a moment we are going to be talking about the attica prison uprising. But right now were going to be looking at the banks and who is billionthe 3. 8 pipeline, the Dakota Access pipeline. Juan we will continue on wednesday in minneapolis we want to continue to coverage of the standoff at Standing Rock over the 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. We will look at who is profiting off of it. On wednesday in minneapolis, dozens protested at u. S. Bank plaza, demanding us bank stop funding the pipeline. According to an investigation published by little sis, u. S. Bank has extended a 175 million credit line to Energy Transfer partners, the Company Behind the pipeline. Amy meanwhile, saturday was the first day of a twoweek call for actions against the Financial Institutions that are bankrolling the Dakota Access pipeline project. We turn now to part two of our conversation with hugh macmillan, a Senior Researcher with food water watch, whos new investigation reveals the dozens of Financial Institutions that are bankrolling the Dakota Access pipeline. I began by asking hugh whats most important to understand about the Corporate Structure of the Dakota Access Pipeline Company. Dakota access llc, the joint venture of phillips 66 and a joint venture of two members of the Energy Transfer family, Energy Transfer partners and Sunoco Logistics partners enbridge and marathon oil have bought into this joint venture together they now have about a 37 stake in the pipeline, and the Dakota Access pipeline. Amy how are the banks involved . Well, they are banking on this company and banking on and frack to drill and for the oil to send through the pipeline for the coming decades. Theyre providing the capital for the construction of this pipeline. Amy and explain what the banks are. Which banks are they and how are they involved . Well, ive got a list of the 17 banks that are specifically providing financing for this coupled and it is also, togegether w with an energy trar Energy Transfer partners convert an existing pipeline that would connect to the sosouth end of the Dakota Access pipeline and run oil all the way down to the gulf coast where there are refineries and also export infrastructure. Amy can you tell us the list of 17 banks . I can. Citibank is the bank that has been running the books on the books on the project. That is the bank that beat the bushes and get other banks to join in. We have wewells fargo, the np pr boss, suntrust, royal bank of scotland, bank of tokyo mitsubishi, mizuho bank, tdd securities, abn capital, first bank, and that is actually a bank based in philly, not the bank based in norway which is actually provided several hundred million to the Energy Transfer family separately. Andicbc london, msnbc securities, and societe generale. Amy it is citibank that is running the books as a report points over Energy Transfers and Sunoco Logistics which only Dakota Access pipeline . That is right. That the largest share and have spearheaded the effort so what were published in little sis banks that have provided general financing for Sunoco Logistics and Energy Transfer partners through working with the action network, we were able to has access to bloomberg terminal, we were able to determine the 17 banks that i listed who are providing the direct financing for the Dakota Access project. In addition for the Energy Transfer partners project to extend this pipeline on down to texas and. Collectively, this pipeline would run from near the Canadian Border on down to the gulf coast of texas over 1800 miles. Amy i was just talking to an oil trucker in the airplane back from north dakota. And he trucks from the bakken fields locally. He said it is stunning to see the drop in demand for oil just in this past year. He is been trucking for four years. What about this decline in demand and what this will mean . Ask morgan stanley, they said a year ago that the Oil Producers are getting into prison shape. Without irony. You is a longterm know, a longterm investment from the banks. The unitedexpect states to maximize its production of oil and gas through widespread tracking. Amy what do you mean prison shape . Here,l, i have a note they explained that some prisoners and i quote can drive cleverly goodman and workouts that result in fitness levels that surpass the traditional gym shape. Drawing aning analogy to prisoners getting in good shape, drawing an analogy from that to oil and gas companies, Fracking Companies learning how to do things more cheaply and more efficiently. Amy hugh macmillan, as we wrap up, what do you think is most important for people to understand about the Corporate Structure of the company Dakota Access pipeline that is building the Dakota Access pipeline . Important think it is to see the forces behind this particular pipeline as the same forces behind numerous other pipelines across the country, fracking forrt tied oil as well as fracking for shell gas all toward maximizingg production of oil and gas when the science is clear that we need to maximize what we keep in the ground. Has not madeolicy that switch. If you look at the department of energys quadrennial technology , youw published a year ago will see under Clean Energy Tech knowledge hes permeability and maninipulation is included along with improved understanding of will integrity and improved injections andf how they are causing earthquakes such has occurred over the weekend. Am and oklahahoma. Thats s right, in okoklah. Futureiew speaks of a mastery y of the subsurfacace td maximizing production. Amy hugh macmillan, Senior Researcher with food and water watch, whos new investigation reveals the dozens of Financial Institutions that t are bankrolling the Dakota Access pipeline. We will link to it at democracynow. Org. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman and juan gonzalez. Juan today, prisoners in at least 24 states are set to paparticipate in a nationallyy coordinated strike that comes on the 45th anniversary of the prison uprising at attica. Much like the prisoners who took over new yorks infamous correctional facility in 1971, todays prisoners are protesting longterm isolation, inadequate healthcare, overcrowding, violent attacks, and slave labor. Todays action follows similar protests earlier this year. In march, thousands in michigan prisons launched a Hunger Strike after private vendor Aramark Correctional Services served them unrefrigerated meat, and then the Company Called trinity that was brought in to replace them served small portions of watery food. The same company prompted protests in georgia when it underfed prisoners to the point that one resorted to eating toothpaste. Amy in may, men in several alabama prisons began a 10day strike on International Worker day over unpaid labor and poor conditions. Organizers said guards retaliated by serving meals that are significantly smaller than usual, a practice they call bird feeding, and by putting the facilities on lockdown, partially to allow guards to perform jobs normally carried out by prisoners. During the strike, democracy now spoke with kinetik justice, who joined us by phone from solitary confinement in holman correctional facility. He is cofounder of the free alabama movement, one of the organizers of todays strike as well. He was serving his 28th month in solitary for organizing a similar protest in 2014. Methods. Strikes have we understand the prison system is a continuation of the slave system, which in all entities is an economical system. Therefore, with reform and changes that we have been fighting for in alabama, we have tried gently through the courts, we have tried to get in touch with legislators and so forth, and we have not had any recourse. Therefore, we understood that our incarceration was pretty much about our labor in the money that w was being generated in the prison system, therefore, we began organizing around our labor and used it as a means and a method in order to bring about reform in alabama prison systems. Juan that was kinetik justice, speaking by phone from solitary confinement in holman correctional facility in alabama in may. Well, prisoners striking today say conditions are not much different from those at that prompted the largest prison rebellion in history, 45 y years ago at attica. It was september 9, 1971 whehen state police raided the upstate new york prison, ending a protest against racism, officer beatings, rancid food, no rehabitatation programs an , forced labor. For four days the unarmed prisoners held 39 Prison Guards as hostages. On september 13, thennew york governor Nelson Rockefeller ordered armed state troopers to raid the prison. Troopershehen sh indiscmiminate morore an 20000 roundsds. Inhehe end39 m m would d d, includin29 prisosors and 1 guar. Amy i want tourn tottica a blasmith wh diedt the agof 70. Big blac ase was known became chiefpokespern of thprisonerduring t upsing. 2000, hand other isoners won a 12illion agrment from the ste of nework. Ring the uising, hwas rced to e on a tle while office beat anburned h. Heas alsohreatened th casttionnd dea. Thiss the ne up fr the fi ghostsf attic made cour t thafeatures fnk a blk smi in thleague uncil fothe former attitica prisosoner. Bloody end step. Now that itdy knonows is real, that this is the. They are here now. There in the yard. They got control. State troopers to their clubs and be them down the stairs. Broke peoples legs, broke tibias. On their back, under head d come in her genitals, on their front post if y you know, wherever thy could hit them, that is where they beat them. Im being told, get up, dick black. He is buzzing me with a nigger stick. I get up and he hits my site and my back and made me run with my hand on my head over to the side. Before i got over there, too or officersee correctional with them and evereryone is sitting me. Kidding me. Amy that was frank big black smith. For more, were joined by two guests, david rothenberg, member of the Attica Observers Committee, one of the 35 people who brought was brought into attica to negotiate on behalf of the prisoners. He when on to found the fortune society. And Heather Ann Thompson is an american historian, author, and activist. She is written in explosive new book called blood in the water , the attica prison uprising of 1971 and its legacy. She is professor of history at the university of michigan in ann arbor. Her book opens with an epigraph from attica correction officer Edward Cunningham who says you have read in the paper all of these e years of them massasacr. That was only 17070 ive men. Were going t to and up w with 0 men here if things dongogo right. At least 1500. Heather ann thompson, explain why you begin with that. It is important for folks to realize this rebellion of nearly 1300 men for basic human rights and brutally when the state of new york retetakes the prison ad even the hostages were at the and of this rebellion backing the governor not to come in with force and to do the right thing, improve conditions in the prison and that quote and several others in the beginning of the book reflectct a desire all participants to come to a peaceful resololution and finaly do something about the terrible conditions in attica. Amy for 30 years, 39 men dead, that 39 number, the state authorities said that the prisoners slit the throats of their hostages. That turned out not to be true. And even one case. They were all killed by the state troopers. Yes, every death was at the hands of trooper or correction officer bullets. The state stood out and told the entire world the prisoners in fact kill the hostages. That story had a devastating effect on the longterm on the future of criminal Justice Policy in this country. It really fueled the engine of punitiveve policy. To this day, citizens will telll you the prisoners killed the hohostages at attica. Period in was at a American History when racial conflict was perhaps at its strongest, but yet attttica rerepresented an interracial rebellion. There were white inmates and latino inmates and africanamerican inmates who band together. You tell the story of sam underground number who is in attica at the time and participated in the rebellion. There were many latinos. In fact, when we were in the young lords, we had a young lords group in attica prison and who weref our members part of the negotiating committee. This is an example of racial solidarity. And that is why it was so threatening to this day. Somehow, you 1300 men who are otherwise divided by language or political persuasion or ethnicity or race and they come together over the basic fundamental desire to be treated as humans. Amy david rothenberg, you were called in by the prisoners, one of 35 people along with william koestler and others, the late great lawyer. Talk about what your involvement was, whether prisoners wanted you there, and what you found. Fortune society had just started and we were a volunteer organizatition at ththe time bui was incarcerated with two of the men who emerged as leaders. With a simple newsletter that was banned and we went to court and won the federal courts ruled the commissioner that they had no right to censor the inmate reading material. So i think they thought we were this powerful organization that could make changes. Did they took over and they not trust the state and the negotiation on the divans, they asked for a list of people to come in and access observers and my name was on the list. I got a call from innocent women from buffalo saying, wilyoyou come up tottica . I said, t alone. Two other gs from ftune, we flew up into the yard. Juan in the importance of having a group their . Theret prison uprisings, are no outside witnesses. But here you have this group of people and not just a consular and not just a consular in you, but there were elected officials, tom look at of the New York Times and a large group of people that went up there and then had a different version of events in the official version. This was a politically Sophisticated Group of inmates. Which is why the outside revolutionaries were igniting the trouble. In fact, caused the trouble is you cannot put 2000 people in cages come and treat them brutally, and i think and not think theres going to be repercussions. Amy can you describe some of these pictures you have brought in . Speak for our radio audience, described in detail. That is commissioner Russell Oswald meeting with some of the leaders. Recognize a few. I think that is flip crowley. Amy and another picture is prisoners naked in the yard. This was horrible. They stripped everybody. When they brought them inside, they smacked them in their ankles and knees and testicles. It was brutal. It over byhave taken gassing. They did not have to fire able of. Amy frank big blacksmith when he was laid out. They made him hold a football with his chin laid out naked on a table as they beat him. Why the football . There and he was one of the players on the Football Team and he is been targeted because the s state accused him of having castrated a garden. So they tortured him to say if you dropped that football, they were going to shoot him. He had every reason to believe it since he had just witnessed over the course of 15 minutes another massacre. Juan not only was the scandal of the actual massacre that occurred there at 3 billion itself, but name the coverup afterward. If you would talk about your quest to find out what actually happened. For 45 years, the majority of the records for attica remained sealed by the state Attorney Generals Office or at least very difficult to get. And the reason is for all of the debt that attica, no member of Law Enforcement was ever held responsible. The book was the journey to figure out who had created so muchch trauma, what had happened and the Governors Office to lead to the retaking, who were the members of Law Enforcement that not only shshot their weaps but indeed the highest levels of the state police who worked very hard to tamper with evidence, to conceal evidence, and to protect their own . And that was a key journey for finding out juan and you traced the chain all aware of two washington, d. C. , the white house . Indeed. The story of attica resonates nationally and interernationall, bothth because i it was televevd anand people cared what happened there, but also at every level for the next 45 years from the lowest level workmens comp. Eurocrats to the presidency of the United States, the supreme court, the jusustice department, everyone turned a blind eye to the torture that continue to go on behind the walls of attica in the wake of the rebellion. The story is very important. There are here is in her book and one is malcolm dell, conservative republican who was hired by the state to be in investigator and he could not remain quiet because he saw the corup. He emergeses from the book i isa really h heroic figure. It changeded his life because he discovered the truth. There are a few heroes and they really stand out. The corner he went public at great expense to himself to tell the world that, no, in fact the prisoners had not kill the hostages, that it was trooper bullets. Now come belle is a hero because he blew w a whistle on the insie of the attic investigation that they were not goining to go aftr the police that all of the deaths were a police hands. One poll was about the call you receive from a clerk and buffalo about this trove of documents . Ive been n looking and lookingg fofor attitica d documents, comp state new york and happen upon a hold series of documents that happened to just be an a random room in a courthouse. Frankly, i dont think they knew what was there. It was a wall full of attica documents. In the most important in those wewere evidencnce from the stas own investigation. Its own records about who had done what at attica. Amy were going to talk about who did what after this right. Who wroteaking with the book, blood in the water the attica prison uprising of 1971 and its legacy. David rothenberg is with us who is a fixture in new york, a producer here in new york. At the time in 1971, he was a member of the Attica Observers Committee, one of 35 people brought into attica to negotiate on behalf of the prisoners. He is founder o of the fortune society. Stay with us. Music break] amy attica blues by archie shepp. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman and juan gonzalez. It is the 45th anniversary of the attica uprising am a one of in largest peasant uprisings u. S. Historyry. It began september 9, 1971 over prison conditions. September 13, five days later, four days later, the new york governor Nelson Rockefeller calleded out the s state troopo. They o opened fire, killiling 39 men, p prisoners a and guards, crcritically woundining scores f othehers and injnjuring hundndrs momore. Our guest t is the woman who has written the definitive book on this just out, blood in the water the attica prison uprising of 1971 and its legacy. Heather ann thompson, professor and historian. David rothenberg in 1971 was a member of the Attica Observers Committee one of the 35 people , brought into attica to negotiate on behalf of the prisoners. Fortune society for people coming out of prison to help them transition. The muslim prisoners, david . In your book for me validate what we witnessed. It was the muslim brothers that protected the guards that were the hostages. They surrounded them. They knew they had to be protected and saved. Indeed. Organized in no small measure to the muslim brothers in the yard, the attica brothehers who w were insistentt the hostages were important and that the man sitting there in that circle without mattresses to sleep on and food to eat. And that was crucial because at the end the, that is why the guards a are asking rockefellero try and help these guys and do the right thing, rather than gun them down which of course, is what happened. Juan you also right in your one of the men the prisoners asas to negotiate declined to do so because the leader of islam had told him not to. That was evidence that i found, but it was interesting because a lot of people were asked to come in for variety of reasons they could notot be the. Anand yet there are so manyy theyvers such as david and played a remarkable role. They kept insisting again and again that they stick to the negotiations, that the state negotiate in good faith. At t t very end,d, or calling rockefeller insisting that he at least come to attica, at least assure these guys that if they surrendered, they would not be harmed. And he refused to do it. Amy why . For multiple reasons, but not the least of which was his political omissions. He wanted to i impress thehe republblican party thahat he was tougugh on crimeme. It w was also rebellilion i im rereading the book andi just threw i it down whehen shes descriribing the plannin stratey cleararly intent t on going in with h force fromom the veryy beginnnning. Ththe only reaeason incidentatay ththey did notot go in eararlies becausee of the obsererver team there. When they dodo go in, i discover they still of rereally do not tl the prisoners that it is goining to be a bloodbath if they dont gigive up. Theyey do not give them anan ululmatum. Whilile is hahaening, rockefler visiti a scrabed on infast witbrea his mansn andeing ngratulad by rhard nixon for ndling ts so autifully. Juanwhat abo oald, the wharto his role . He waa trag figure. He w a liber pririsor former itas at his sistencehat negotiations continu as long as theid wh his ow people in the departmenent of corrections. But at the end of the day, he proved very ineffective in halting what has been decided above his pay grade that there was going to be retaking. Ios said he was a good man a field history. He became commission of correction because of his progressive position as parole head. He was considered a leader. The fact he went up there was unprecedented. One of the pictures of him he wentnt in the yard, but he did t understand them. He was i dont know how you describe it. The progressive academic. I dont do blame the academics. Amy the n negotiating team yet that if you had stayed in the yard, with the state troopers have opened fire . At when were you told the leave . We were in and out. Eventually, it was reduced to five people. Somelt we were to come are they felt we were too cumbersome of the group. We would meet after the takeover for months and months. The feeling was we would have been killed had we s stayed the. One of the most important things in the book i discovered the air was amyth for years was a mistake,es accidental, should not have happened. It is clear the state knew the hostages were going to die. They discussed it before they went and. In their own state employees were dispensable. I think it is pretty clear that have the observers been in there,e, was no controlling this once it was unleashed. These prisoners were at the mercy of people for four days have been passing out weapons indiscriminately. When they went in, these troopers took off their identifying badges so they would not be held accountable for what ththen happened. Juan some of them used their personal guns as well . Absolutely. Juan talk about this question of when some of the prisoners were killed. Was it all in the initial shooting or were some deliberately killed by the guards afterwards . I think the evidence is pretty clear, as david has said, elsewhere, Law Enforcement have control of this present elsewhere from the moment they dropped the gas. The gas is a powder that clung to their nasal passages and incapacitated everyone in the yard. In the shooting begins. For 15 minutes a continues. What is significant is all of the observers reported later they could still hear gunfire many hours later that day and many of the prisoners reported that not onlyy had people being killed after the retaking, but the very specific men had been targeted by Law Enforcement. Berkeley and melville, people have told me they had seseen thm alive after the takeover. Barkley, who is a eloquent and whose voice was heard National Television during the protest, was targeted, as was same melville, who was present perceived as a traitor to his race because he was white. Amy the second epigraph is from the National Guardsman james oday who describes an incident at attica. This is National Guardsman the officer pulled out a phillips screwdriver and told the naked inmate to get on his feet or hed stab the screwdriver into his rectum. Then he just started stabbing him. The aftermath is when the real brutality begins. The doctors are trying to help prisoners while guards are dumping them off of stretchers, kicking them, urinating into wounds, makingng the most horric scene unfold. And dude, this National Guardsman, among many, was trying to tell people outside what was happening. This particular man tried to get the Justice Department to look into this. He called the fbi. He called the Justice Department. Again, a at every level, people abandodod these g guys. Why the book is so careful, a lot of the stories are heard over the years one by one from individuals as they came out. Toto see it collected at one tie gigives thahat erwhelelng sense of whahat the statate did and dd not have to do. Juan you also say thehere were some of the records you found, investigators concluded the particular guards killed together prisoners, but never pursued any attempts to charge them. Thats right. There are many more records we have yet to see, but the records i did see indicated that despite the attempts of the state police to tamper with evidence and conceal evidence, there was evidence. And d that evidence e not only indicated specific troopers that had killed specific inmates, but also specific troopers who had killed specific hostages. And those people could have been indicted. Instead, the state chose to indict 62 prisoners for all that had gone wrong at attica. Again, sending the message to the world that attica was about prisoner barbarism and those sorts of people do not desererve basic human rights. Amy and the names you name have never been named publicly before. Thats right. Amy was surprised you most . What surprised me most was not the lowerlevel troopers who i name, but actually the highest level troopers, the head of the new York State Police who people who would literally stepped in to make a lowlevel trooper resign rather than face prosecution. Top Police Officers who are tampering with photographs. Again, the responsibility still lies with the state of new york. They are the ones that sent these guys in and then afterwards, allowed these guys to investigate the retaking that they had just carried out. Amy in the settlement . The settlement amy against the prisoners . It took determination on the part of these men such as frank big black smith to stick with it. I think the nation was also feeling like they finally got justice. No brother feels like they got justice. It was a pittance for some people it was 6,500. Was still there has still notate admitted responsibility, still denies anything happen at attica. Amy a common on the prison strike today . We are back here and in a ballpark because the nation failed to learn the lessons of attica. We created one of the most brutal prison societies in the world. As was the case in attica, when you treat people as aninimals ad their human beings, they will resist. And were seeing that across the country can today. Amy Heather Ann Thompson, thank you for being with us, author of blood in the water the attica prison uprising of 1971 and its legacy. David rothenberg, member of the Attica Observers Committee and cofounder of the fortune society. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or mail them to democracy now p. O. Box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] hello, im john cleese, and i hope you will join me for a unique experience global spirit, the first internal travel series, with fantastic conversations and film segments exploring the most urgent,t, exisistential, philosophical, and spipiritual issuess of the 21st century. So, settle back, take a slow, deep breath, as we join oour trusted guide and host, phil coususineau, on n this fascinating episode of global spirit, the first internal travel series