Heather Ann Thompson is an author, historian, and professor at the University of Michigan. She came to Cornell to speak about her newly published book “Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy” in Golden Smith Hall. I had the pleasure of attending this talk. Although I had no idea what to expect from it, I came out with so much more than I could’ve asked for.

At first, I thought the speaker was going to discuss her journey and specifically how she became interested in the prison system and chose that as her life long research topic. However, Thompson really delved into what Attica is and a very brief oversight of the injustice that occurred. On September 13, 1971, prisoners at Attica Prison had a revolt and held hostages in order to negotiate with the government to improve conditions within the Prison. The police came and surrounded the prison, while a helicopter hovering the prison courtyard sprayed toxic gas onto everyone and began shooting at all prisoners and hostages.

The account we all learn about in the news, online and in books have been heavily twisted to the side of the government Although I hadn’t heard of the story before, I could only imagine what the media said. Thompson told us the barriers she pushed through to listen to the real life accounts from family or persons in Attica Prison at the time. She really opened my eyes not only to what injustices this world has, but also how the media sways the public’s opinion. I have definitely learned that even if every single media outlet is publishing the same story, it may still not be all the truth.