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Our Work

THE ATTICA INTERVIEW PROJECT

The Attica Interview Project was initiated by Critical Resistance to support prison closure organizing in New York. Through oral history and organizing we seek to document the continued legacy of repression, survival, and resistance at Attica. By producing media as a resource for building movement, we strive to highlight the experiences of formerly imprisoned people and their visions for transformation.

atticaPhoto: Bob Schutz, September 10,1971

Critical Resistance would like this project to contribute to the broad struggle to end the violence of imprisonment, policing, surveillance, and political repression. More specifically, the Attica Interview Project works to connect people who lived through imprisonment at Attica before, during, and after the 1971 rebellion, and build their leadership in the fight to close it.

For these interviews, we will use a combination of video, recorded audio, and still images. Our documentation is grounded in a philosophy of self-representation – that people who participate determine how and when they are photographed and recorded. We strive to represent interview participants not as victims, but as agents of social change struggling individually and collectively to improve their lives and conditions.

PRISONER MAIL

Critical Resistance New York City hosts a monthly volunteer night to help us maintain connections with people imprisoned in New York and Pennsylvania, share information and resources, and develop abolitionist vision and strategy beyond prison walls. Join us on the third Tuesday of every month to volunteer and learn more about our work in New York and nationally.
WHEN: Every third Tuesday, every month, 7-9pm
WHERE: Families for Freedom, 35 W. 31st Street, Suite 702
TRANSIT: B/D/F/M/N/Q/R Herald Square or 1/2/3 Penn Station
ACCESS: No ID is required for building entry. This office is accessible by elevator, private bathrooms are available on the same floor as the FFF office.

 

PARTICIPATION IN BEYOND ATTICA COALITION

CR NYC is a strong organizational participant in the Beyond Attica Coalition, working to close Attica Prison, depopulate NY’s prison system, end the violence of prisons, and build up alternative resources to strengthen New York’s communities.  Visit the Beyond Attica website or check out the below video to see some of our recent work.