28 Days of Black Liberation 2025 series
Over the course of the last week we’ve been looking at the Long Attica Revolt and Orisanmi Burton’s book Tip of the Spear. We’ve tried to give a glimpse of the story – but we’ve barely broke the surface. Tip of the Spear is an amazingly rich and detailed look at the history, ideas, participants, and the aftermath of the Attica rebellion. We encourage everyone to read the book.
Some takeaways/lessons from our reading.
- Our incarcerated comrades continue to be the the Tip of the Spear – captured behind enemy lines, physically engaged in day to day survival and revolutionary struggle. They aren’t passive victims simply in need of support – but are a dynamic and critical part of the revolutionary struggle, capable of envisioning the world we should fight for and contribute (even lead the way) to developing the strategy to get us there.
- For most Black folks in the United States “freedom” is a form of low intensity repression – that can be taken away at any moment at the hands of any pig for any reason. Incarceration is the high intensity version of repression. What we’ve seen from many of the Long Attica Revolt leaders and participants was an understanding of this reality and commitment to engaging in consistent and disciplined revolutionary struggle regardless of the terrain. Something that is very rare today.
- Prisons and the carceral system in general are a laboratory of repression. Behind the walls pig bureaucrats and co’s test methods of repression and counterinsurgency. Orisanmi Burton details the ways “prison reform” was tied to the massive increase in the genocidal war on Black people in the United States. And these new methods of repression and counterinsurgency are used against any of us who attempt to struggle against white supremacy and imperialism – for a better world.
- Our movements inside and outside are stronger when we build them together – across the walls. Any revolutionary movement that fails to support their political prisoners and prisoners of war are not revolutionary at all!
