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Great Wall Institute: The Process of the Great Wall of Los Angeles

1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Richard Oakes Interview 3

Graffiti from the occupation of Alcatraz reading: “Peace and Freedom-Welcome, Home of the Free Indian Land”. “yes sir, we will further guide the inhabitants [white people] in a proper way of living, we will offer them our religion our education our life ways in order to help them achieve our level of civilization and thus raise them and all our white brothers up from their savage and unhappy state, we offer this treaty in good faith and wish to be fair and honorable in our dealings with all white men, this tiny island would be a symbol of the great land once ruled by free and noble Indians and to this, we are on the island so we know this is all the true and the uses to be made of this Alcatraz Island, since the San Francisco Indian Center burned down there is no place for Indians to assemble and carry on our tribal life right here in the right white man’s city therefore we plan to develop on this island several Indian Institutes; one a Center for Native American Studies will be developed which will train on documents of the Trail of Tears, the massacre at Wounded Knee, as well as a victory over yellow-haired Custer and his army, in the name of all Indians therefore we reclaim this land for our Indian nations, for all these reasons we feel this claim is just and proper and that this land should rightfully be granted to us for as long as the river shall run in the Sun shall shine, signed Indians of All Tribes November 1969, San Francisco, California.”-Richard Oakes Interview, November 1969.

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1. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Richard Oakes Interview 1 Richard Oakes talking to the press during the occupation of Alcatraz, November 1969. “Mr. Harmon…hi I have a proclamation I'd like to read you; We the Native Americans reclaim this land known as Alcatraz Island in the name of all American Indians by right of discovery, we wish to be fair and honorable in our dealings with the Caucasian inhabitants of this land and hereby offer the following treaty; we will purchase said Alcatraz Island for twenty four dollars in glass beads and red cloth a precedent set by the white man's purchase of a similar island about 300 years ago, we know that twenty four dollars in trade goods for these 16 acres is more than was paid when Manhattan was sold, but we know that land values have risen over the years, our offer of a dollar and twenty four cents per acre is greater than this 47 cents per acre the white man is now paying the California Indians for their land”.-Richard Oakes Interview, November 1969.
2. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Richard Oakes Interview 2 Graffiti from the occupation of Alcatraz, featuring a rain cloud and the Navajo greeting, "Yata Hey". Will you file a formal claim on the island? “Yes we will” one way to go to the board “well at this time I believe there's already been a letter somewhat similar to this their Proclamation that's already been issued to the present United States one to the United Nations” originally you're going to the Board of Supervisors how soon will you be going to the board “and just as soon as we get back” what's this nation you want to establish out here “an American Indian nation of comprising of all all the tribes including the Alaskans” why Alcatraz? “everybody can see it, on one end of the country you have the Statue of Liberty and this is it's a just the opposite you have a true reality of Liberty.”-Richard Oakes Interview, November 1969.
3. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Richard Oakes Interview 3 Graffiti from the occupation of Alcatraz reading: “Peace and Freedom-Welcome, Home of the Free Indian Land”. “yes sir, we will further guide the inhabitants [white people] in a proper way of living, we will offer them our religion our education our life ways in order to help them achieve our level of civilization and thus raise them and all our white brothers up from their savage and unhappy state, we offer this treaty in good faith and wish to be fair and honorable in our dealings with all white men, this tiny island would be a symbol of the great land once ruled by free and noble Indians and to this, we are on the island so we know this is all the true and the uses to be made of this Alcatraz Island, since the San Francisco Indian Center burned down there is no place for Indians to assemble and carry on our tribal life right here in the right white man’s city therefore we plan to develop on this island several Indian Institutes; one a Center for Native American Studies will be developed which will train on documents of the Trail of Tears, the massacre at Wounded Knee, as well as a victory over yellow-haired Custer and his army, in the name of all Indians therefore we reclaim this land for our Indian nations, for all these reasons we feel this claim is just and proper and that this land should rightfully be granted to us for as long as the river shall run in the Sun shall shine, signed Indians of All Tribes November 1969, San Francisco, California.”-Richard Oakes Interview, November 1969.
4. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Richard Oakes Richard Oakes, seen in November 1970. Soon after Alcatraz, Oakes was shot and killed in Sonoma, California, by Michael Morgan, a YMCA camp manager. Oakes reportedly confronted him, and Morgan alleged he was in fear for his life, and responded by drawing a handgun and fatally shooting Oakes. Oakes was unarmed when he was shot. Morgan was charged with voluntary manslaughter, but was acquitted by a jury that agreed with Morgan that the killing was an act of self-defense. Oakes supporters contend the shooting was an act of murder, and that Morgan received support from a racially motivated jury and district attorney. Oakes was 30 years old.
5. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Proclamation On Nov. 26, 1969, just before Thanksgiving Day Indians of All Tribes, issued the following press release indicating the seizure of Alcatraz Island. The 4-page press release reprinted by the Journal of American Indian Education in 1970 indicates that Alcatraz Island will be used for several Indian institutions including: 1. A Center for Native American Studies 2. An American Indian Spiritual Center 3. An Indian Center of Ecology 4. A Great Indian Training School 5. Creation of an American Indian Museum
6. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Group by playground
7. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Indian American Land A Native American girl paints a sign that reads "Indian American Land" on a wall of Alcataz Island in San Francisco Bay. In 1969, dozens of Native activists took over the former federal prison site in protest of U.S. policies, claiming it as a cultural and spiritual center. In response, a growing movement of young Native Americans sought to reclaim their sovereignty through what they called the Red Power movement. Media savvy and galvanized by the protest movements of the 1960s, they staged high-profile protests to raise awareness of Native issues. (Native Americans are telling their own stories to counter stereotypes of Indigenous life.) One of the first was the occupation of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, home to a decommissioned prison where Hopi men and other Native Americans had once been held. In November 1969, a group calling itself “Indians of All Tribes” took over the island and proclaimed it a cultural and spiritual center in the name of all Native Americans. The occupation lasted until June 1971, when it disintegrated due to organizational issues, infighting, and worsening conditions as the U.S. government cut off power and water to the island.
8. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Occupiers standing on the dock at Alcatraz On November 20, 1969, a group of Native students landed on an uninhabited Alcatraz and reclaimed it as Indian Land, beginning nineteen months of occupation. Leaders included Richard Oakes, an Akwesasne Mohawk and Chair of the Native American student group from San Francisco State College and LaNada War Jack, a member of the Shoshone Bannock Tribes and Chair of the Native American students from UC Berkeley. Thousands of Native people from across the country joined the original group of 80 occupiers. The Indians of All Tribes demanded that the federal government recognize treaties with Indian tribes, they demanded a Native American cultural center, and they demanded that land be returned. As the Occupiers discussed their plans, they wrote messages of peace and freedom around the island as well as submitting formal proposals and architectural plans. You can see several of their messages and symbols recently restored here at the dock.
10. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Playing basketball near main entrance
11. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Kids on bikes with lighthouse in background This is a photograph of Native American children playing on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. On November 20, 1969, 79 Native Americans, including six children, set out to occupy Alcatraz Island. The intention of the occupation was to gain Indian control over the island for the purpose of building a center for Native American Studies, an American Indian spiritual center, an ecology center, and an American Indian Museum.
13. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Belvia Cottier, Sioux, and a young friend on Alcatraz A group of 78 Indians calling themselves Indians of All Tribes lands on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay and begins to occupy it in a demonstration for the rights of American Indians. Indians of All Tribes draws on powerful historic precedents of Native peoples taking a stand for the return of illegally taken lands, and they also usher in a new activist movement that draws attention with its mix of radicalism and American Indian traditionalism. “We moved onto Alcatraz Island because we feel that Indian people need a cultural center of their own. For several decades, Indian people have not had enough control of training their young people. And without a cultural center of their own, we are afraid that the old Indian ways may be lost. We believe that the only way to keep them alive is for Indian people to do it themselves.” —Letter from Indians of All Tribes, December 16, 1969
14. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Coast Gaurd ward off supporters in boats as they circle Alcatraz Islamd
15. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: A young brave from New Mexico at a Thanksgiving feast on Alcatraz Island A young brave from Nogales, New Mexico, at a Thanksgiving feast on Alcatraz Island on November 27, 1969. For Native American students at San Francisco State University and other schools around the Bay Area, the protests and strikes at University of California, Berkeley during the 1960s, were a glimpse into how political activism could begin to address the injustices Native people had long suffered. In meetings at San Francisco’s American Indian Center and Warren’s, a bar in the Mission District’s “Little Res,” a plan was hatched to take over Alcatraz Island, whose world-famous prison had recently been decommissioned and its land declared “surplus.” The siege of Alcatraz officially began on November 20, 1969, with two major goals — to agitate for Native American self-determination and sovereignty and to establish a Native American cultural center, museum and college on the island. In the 1960s, War Jack says, “just to identify yourself as a Native person would bring immediate discrimination and racism. [Alcatraz] helped us re-establish our self-identification as Native people. People developed pride.”
16. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Two activist walking through a cell block
17. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Celebration Occupants on Alcatraz Island, gather in front of the main cell block with the island's water tower in the background, during the occupation of Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay, California, 11th November 1970. The occupation was a 19-month long protest when 89 Native Americans and their supporters occupied Alcatraz Island from 20th November 1969 to 11th June 1971 when the United States Government forcibly ended the protest.
18. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Three men and a dog inside the cell block of Alcatraz
19. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: LaNada Means poses with a proposed cultural center Native American activist LaNada Means poses with an architect's model of a proposed cultural center on the first anniversary of their occupation of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, 20th November 1970. The occupation was a 19-month long protest when 89 Native Americans and their supporters occupied Alcatraz Island from 20th November 1969 to 11th June 1971 when the United States Government forcibly ended the protest.
20. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: LaNada Means presents a proposed cultural center
21. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: LaNada with her son
22. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Woodcut print by Elvin Willie
23. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Sioux woman with a drink in cell
24. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Leaders of the American Indian Movement hold a press conference
25. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: John Trudell on Alcatraz
26. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Native and Indigenous elders from throughout the country joined the young occupiers of Alcatraz Island for a meeting Native and Indigenous elders from throughout the country joined the young occupiers of Alcatraz Island for a meeting they said was the most important since the ‘Ghost Dance’ days of the 1880s. When, in 1956, the Bureau of Indian Affairs launched yet another assimilationist policy, the Indian Relocation Act, the intention was to further undermine Native communities by moving youth from Indian Reservations to urban centers throughout the West. Instead, the opposite occurred. Native people began, for the first time, to find support across tribal lines among the more than 100,000 relocated Indigenous people who shared similar histories of Indigenous identity and cultural survival… For Native American students at San Francisco State University and other schools around the Bay Area, the protests and strikes at University of California, Berkeley during the 1960s, were a glimpse into how political activism could begin to address the injustices Native people had long suffered. In meetings at San Francisco’s American Indian Center and Warren’s, a bar in the Mission District’s “Little Res,” a plan was hatched to take over Alcatraz Island, whose world-famous prison had recently been decommissioned and its land declared “surplus.” The siege of Alcatraz officially began on November 20, 1969, with two major goals — to agitate for Native American self-determination and sovereignty and to establish a Native American cultural center, museum and college on the island. In the 1960s, War Jack says, “just to identify yourself as a Native person would bring immediate discrimination and racism. [Alcatraz] helped us re-establish our self-identification as Native people. People developed pride.”
27. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: View of the fire which burned most of the night on Alcatraz Island
29. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Posed Photo
30. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: 12 Alcatraz protestors voluntarily surrender
31. 1969-1971 Occupation of Alcatraz: Occupiers moments after being removed from Alcatraz Island
33. Dennis Hastings interviewed about occupation of Alcatraz (1971) Reporter Cecilia Pedroza interviews a Native American man named Dennis Hastings about the group of Native Americans occupying an abandoned Nike missile base in northern California. The group began their occupation on Alcatraz and moved to the base after U.S. Marshals took control of Alcatraz. Pedroza asks about the reasons for the protest and how life on the base is different from life on Alcatraz. Hastings gives a variety of reasons for the protest, including proving their case to the government that they own the land (Alcatraz Island), and wanting to bring back their religion and spiritual ways. Learn more about this UCLA Film & Television Archive project: ucla.in/1SONCuw © 2016 The Regents of the University of California