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ATTICA By
Larry Schwartz President,
District III I sit here with bitter
feelings coursing through me on this Thursday, September 13th as I
sit to write about the Attica Memorial Ride.
Two days ago, our world was shattered and our security destroyed by
moronic, idiotic, but dedicated religious extremists.
Thousands have lost their lives and thousands more will be paying the
price of grief for the rest of theirs. When
the World Trade Center towers came down, snuffing out countless lives, it also
brought down that curtain of safety that we’ve been living behind for so many
years. What couldn’t happen here,
did . Many were those, who before
this tragic day, had forecast that something like this would happen in the
United States. Books have been
written about it, but no one ever acted upon it. Those who wrote those books were called “extremists”.
They had called upon the United States to build up its anti-terrorism
forces; to do something about a threat that was going to change our way of life.
It couldn’t happen here, those critics said…but it did…didn’t it? The thousands who were
trapped in the World Trade Center after the towers were struck by those
airliners became hostages to forces they didn’t know about and had nothing to
do with. However, they were
hostages, nonetheless. Those on the doomed airliners were obviously hostages
aimed at death. For them, destiny
was certain. The pain will never go
away. As so many have reported
already, this country is changed forever. The
United States has always been a country that runs by crisis. We never do anything until it’s almost too late.
This last weekend,
September 8th and 9th,
I was honored to be part of a Memorial Ride to Attica prison.
There were hostages there, too. Yes,
it was so different an event than New York City, but hostages are hostages, no
matter where they may be. Eleven of
those people never made it out of Attica alive.
Do you remember what Attica was? Probably
there are a lot of you who don’t. It was thirty years ago,
September 9, 1971. Some 1300
inmates at the prison rioted and took 38 people hostage; corrections officers
and civilian workers. Ten of the hostages died
from bullet wounds as did 29 inmates. The arguments over whether invading state
police had to shoot as they did will go on forever and it is not what I would
debate here. The police did not
start the riot and the inmates interests have already gotten a settlement from
the state of New York to the tune of twelve million dollars, four of that to the
lawyers who represented them. This is about
a ride to memorialize the loss of those eleven hostages, whose lives
would have gone on, if not for the riot. Here
are their names: Edward T. Cunningham, John J. D’Arcangelo, Jr., Elmer G.
Hardie, Herbert W. Jones, Jr., Richard J. Lewis, John G. Monteleone, William E.
Quinn, Carl W. Valone, Elon F. Werner, Ronald D. Werner, Harrison W. Whalen. While the inmates have
gotten what they consider a modicum of justice through a money settlement, what
have the families of the hostages gotten. These
were people working to protect your way of life. These were people who worked in
prisons to make sure that the bad guys didn’t get their way with you. How did
the state treat their own employees and their families? Was there an apology to
the widows and children of those hostages who died?
NO! Was there counseling for
them after such a trauma to help them back to some state of normalcy?
NO! Did the state ignore the
hostage families? YES!!..to its everlasting disgrace.
Has anything been done since then to ameliorate this miscarriage of
justice? NO!
The families had to do with workmen’s compensation to begin with and
received beggarly funds so that widows were forced to bring their families up in
near poverty conditions. The abuse
of those victims’ families continues to this very day.
There has been an effort on
the part of the hostage victims to get justice and both the Governor and the
Legislature are being asked to do something about it. A task force is investigating it. Will the state do the right thing and finally bring a just
closure for the families? Who
knows? One thing is for sure.
The ride this last weekend was important for me.
I had been discussing it, on and off, for months, with people like Blue
Knight leader Larry Moyer who was one of the originators of the ride, three
years ago. We began in Colonie on
Saturday morning, September 8th.
We were blessed with good weather as we departed Spitzie’s Motorcycle
Center on Central Avenue. Two of
the State Police Motorcycle Detail headed the column. They were to be our escort to Cazenovia where two other state
police motorcyclists would take over to bring us to Batavia.
Behind them were the ride marshals, Blue Knights who had volunteered to
take on the responsibility of blocking off intersections as the ride passed
through the many towns and villages we would encounter on the way.
Our route took us to Duanesburg where we picked up route 20.
We would stay on route 20, all the way to Batavia.
Many were the communities we traveled through. From Duanesburg we went
on through the following: Esperance, Sloansville, Carlisle, Sharon
Springs, Springfield Center, East Springfield, Warren, Richfield Springs,
Winfield, Bridgewater, Sangerfield, Madison, Bouckville, Morrisville, Nelson and
then Cazenovia. It was here at Cazenovia
that, for me, the most emotional part of the ride occurred.
As we headed into Cazenovia, the second two man state police motorcycle
detail picked up the head of the line. The
original pair speeded ahead and then parked their bikes.
As the long line of bikes approached them, they stood at attention,
smartly saluted and kept the salute as the entire line passed by.
I don’t mind admitting, there were tears in my eyes as they honored the
purpose of our motorized parade. From there it was on to
Pompey Center, Pompey, Cardiff and then Auburn. Then on to Seneca Falls, Waterloo, Geneva, Canandaigua, East
Bloomfield, West Bloomfield, Lima, East Avon, Avon, Bethany, Alexander and our
final stop in Batavia. It was a trip to be
remembered, with our bikes spread back for at least a mile, headlights glowing
and engines making those sounds only motorcycles can make.
As we headed into the Day’s Inn off route 98, I was thinking about how
frail we really are and how that fatal day in 1971 had changed so many
peoples’ lives. Little did I know
that literally just days later, the lives of everyone in the entire world would
be changed. The ride was a marvel of
coordination, thanks to organizations like the State Police and the Blue Knights
Law Enforcement motorcycle organization which sponsors the ride.
After checking in and a
shower I went down to the hospitality room where a lot of riders and their
spouses had gathered. There is
nothing quite like the camaraderie between motorcyclists and especially here
because of the close knit ties among the law enforcement community that added to
the special atmosphere there. When
all had gathered, Tony Strollo and Larry Moyer m-c’d an informal party
and gave away an awesome number of door prizes. I won an FBI pin, something you
won’t find hanging around the stores. I’m
proud to wear it, too, with the work they’ve been doing on the World Trade
Center Towers tragedy. They let me make a small
speech about the AMA-PAC, the mechanism by which we make ourselves felt at the
legislature and we started to collect money for the cause as well.
But the focus was on the Attica hostage
families, the remaining victims of that terrible day.
Some hostage family members were there and thanked us all for remembering
their plight and for being with them at this time on the anniversary of the
tragedy. That Saturday night was a
time for friendship and the bonds of fellowship. Sunday would be a much more
somber day. We had a good time,
Saturday night and readied ourselves for Sunday and the ride to the prison. Sunday morning, after
breakfast and packing up, we all lined up in the front parking lot of the hotel.
We had picked up another 53 riders who had signed in, so we had about one
hundred motorcycles for the eleven mile trip to the prison.
Beforehand, while we waited, I took the AMA-PAC jug around, explaining
what it was for and almost everyone was generous. We ended up with $165 for the PAC and my grateful thanks go
to everyone for that. At 11:30 am, engines roared
to life and our state police escort moved us out toward the prison.
The ride was stately and slow, befitting the mood.
As we pulled into the prison, we saw many people there, already for the
memorial service. You could see by
the looks on their faces that they were glad to see this outstanding
demonstration of support from motorcyclists for the families of the hostages. The memorial service was befittingly solemn and
pictures of all the hostages who died that day were displayed on the lawn
in front of us. Family members were
urged to take a flower. One of the striking moments
was Tony Strollo’s remarks during which he asked people not to forget what
happened here and what’s happened to the hostage families. Another
was from Assemblyman Dan Burling who rode to Albany just to take the Memorial
ride. He was with us all the way.
At the memorial service, he reminded all of the injustice done to the
families of the hostages and that New York State owed them and has owed them for
so many years. It was
announced that after the service, our entire motorcycle fleet would make a trip
around the forbidding 32-foot tall concrete walls of Attica State Prison. While everyone from the top official on down knows this is
not permitted, it has been done since the beginning and I daresay no official
will ever stop that as long as this ride lasts.
No matter what your opinion of the Attica uprising and how it was handled
and its consequences, no one can doubt that New York State has treated the
hostage families in a despicable manner and needs to address that right away.
I was proud to be a member
of this ride and proud to be associated with the law enforcement people who have
made it possible. My thanks to the
State Police for escorting the ride in such a professional and efficient manner
and to the many ride-off marshals who helped get us through the hundreds of
miles of road and the many communities through which we passed.
As we consider Attica, it
should strike us that the disaster at the World Trade Center, as well as the
Attica prison tragedy are proof that humankind has a long way to go to make a
peaceful world. This latest
disaster in New York City, with its thousands of deaths caused by extremist
religious zealots makes us realize how fragile our lives really are. We must grasp our freedom tightly, love our country, America,
for all its good things and its faults as well.
I am dedicated for the rest of what’s left of my life, to making sure
my country and its freedoms will endure for my children, your children and on
into the future, forever. |
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