editorial: State must share more of Attica history
Democrat and Chronicle
Efforts to piece together the entire story of the Attica prison riots more than 40 years ago have taken another step backwards with a state decision to temporarily block public access to artifacts collected after the uprising. Along with continuing delays in even partially unsealing thousands of pages of riot-related records, the move prevents much-needed sunshine from illuminating shadowy events surrounding the most deadly prison riot in American history.
In fact, the Attica artifacts — letters, improvised weapons and the like — had only been accessible since 2010. The 2,000-plus items sat out of sight for decades before New York’s State Museum made them partly available to the public. Museum officials now say the cache wasn’t properly inventoried and that some personal items may need to be returned to survivors or families of victims. Public access has been restricted.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/opinion/editorials/2014/05/21/state-must-share-attica-history/9346577/
