I had the distinct fortune of attending Professor Heather Ann Thompson’s talk about the Attica Uprising in 1970. I was stunned to learn that I, as someone who always thought of myself as well-versed in U.S. history, had never heard of this event, which resulted in the death of forty-three people amidst a bloody massacre. But what was most stunning was the cover-up story which Thompson described. The New York State government had falsely negotiated with the prisoners holding correctional officers hostage, when it had intended to use force the entire time. After the state police stormed the facility, gunning down forty-two individuals, the state had then proceeded to destroy evidence of its actions, pinning all blame on the prisoners. In the spin devised by the New York Justice Department after the conflict, and in the press conferences in the days after, the authorities even went so far as to claim one prisoner had castrated a correctional officer. In addition, the state give minimal settlements to the families of correctional officers without telling them that this precluded future action on their part. Not to mention that many prisoners were wrongly convicted of and incarcerated for homicide decades afterward. And perhaps most tragically, this event sharply turned the public against prison reform, leading to the incarceration nation that has risen up in this country in the last fifty years.

But what inspired me about the talk was the story of perseverance; Thompson worked tirelessly thirteen years to uncover the truth, while the victims and their families never stopped speaking out despite against all odds. And in the end, their efforts paid off. I remember looking at Attica survivors in the auditorium, fighting back tears near the end of the talk.  I think this is a valuable lesson, reminding us never to stop fighting for what we believe in, because if you are in the moral right, chances are that eventually the odds will turn in your favor. And slowly but surely, I think the tide is shifting in favor of humane conditions in our prisons.