In the Occupation of Alcatraz (1969-1971), Native Americans took over the island of Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay, its infamous prison having been closed down some years before.
The Alcatraz Proclamation to the Great White Father and his People, 1969:
“We, the native Americans, reclaim the land known as Alcatraz Island in the name of all American Indians by right of discovery. …
“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 300 years ago. …
“We will give to the inhabitants of this island a portion of the land of their own to be held in trust . . . by the Bureau of Caucasian Affairs . . . in perpetuity — for as long as the sun shall rise and the rivers go down in the sea. We will further guide the inhabitants in the proper way of living. We will offer them our religion, our education, our way of life — ways in order to help them achieve our level of civilization and thus raise them and all their white brothers up from their savage and unhappy state. …
“Further, it would be fitting and symbolic that ships from all over the world, entering the Golden Gate, would first see Indian land, and thus be reminded of the true history of this nation. This tiny island would be a symbol of the great lands once ruled by free and noble Indians. …”
On the island they wanted to set up:
- A Center for Native American Studies
- An American Indian Spiritual Center
- An Indian Center of Ecology
- A Great Indian Training School
- An American Indian museum
At first the press loved it. Tons of people gave donations. Native Americans from all over the continent came. Maybe as many as 15,000 were there at some point. Some came to show their support. Some came to stay, bringing even their children.
It was the beginning of the Red Power movement. This was in the wake of the civil rights movement and at the height of the protests against the Vietnam War.
President Nixon wanted to avoid an ugly showdown: the Indians were unarmed. He waited them out.
In time the press grew bored, the donations became fewer, and so did the Natives who remained on the island.
By June 1971, only 15 remained. The US government negotiated in bad faith and unexpectedly sent in US marshalls to remove them from the island.
That left a bitter taste, but the occupation had some lasting effects:
- Many Natives took interest and pride in their cultures again.
- It stopped the US government’s Termination policy of ending the remaining Indian reservations, the bits of land Indians still have.
- It led to the founding of D-Q University, a Native American university near Davis, California.
- Unthanksgiving Day (pictured below), still celebrated every year on Alcatraz by hundreds of Natives on the same day as Thanksgiving.
Happy Unthanksgiving!
– Abagond, 2015.
See also:
- Welcome to Native American Heritage Month 2015
- Some who took part in the occupation
- Thanksgiving
- “Manhattan was sold for $24”
- Doctrine of Discovery
- Black Power
- internalized racism
- Angel Island – another infamous island in San Francisco Bay
Just curious, does anybody live on Alcatraz today? I mean, after the prison closed, it was unoccupied until the Native American activists went there right? I don’t really know why the government had any issues with them being there.
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Yep.
Happy Unthanksgiving Day
Anyone seen where they moved my mule and 40 acres to??
The US doesn’t SHARE. The US TAKES!
(a lesson we must always remember.. if they SHARE anything, it almost always come with a tremendous cost)
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Just trying to imagine the reverse scenario.
Say, if an American Indian tribe negotiated in bad faith with a group of white squatters, and if a group of men from the tribe came in to remove the white squatters from the land they were occupying. Would they send the calvary army out?
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Reblogged this on Boycott.
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@ Benjamin
There were people there, but probably not more than a dozen. I believe it had a functioning lighthouse. It was the Coast Guard more than anyone who wanted them off the island.
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@ Lord of Mirkwood
The only comment I made, before this one, was to Benjamin about the lighthouse. Do you see that one?
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The sidebar has been acting up. I have seen comments from Abagond on the sidebar, but actually non-existent.
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Not sure what is going on with the sidebar. Must be a WordPress “feature”.
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The hyperlinks are not working for a few days now.
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I noticed it yesterday. I thought my phone wasn’t loading right. I signed in and out, turned my phone on and off lol
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@ vanishingpoint @MJB
Which links? Can you give examples?
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@ Jefe @ Lord of Mirkwood
How long has the sidebar been acting up?
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What I’m noticing is that when you post it is showing up in a different place on the thread. In this thread for example the post you just did is behind my first post.
Also the side bar will show that you posted but when you follow it to the thread their is no post.
I haven’t tried the hyper links.
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@abagond when I try to read a comment link it just reverts to the original post so I thought there was something wrong with Safari on my phone but when I googled it to see if I could fix it the result came back as hyper links not set right on word press but I thought it was just my phone but it must be the word press settings.
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Idk chrome on windows/android isnt giving me any trouble like that
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This is probably going to spur some controversy, but I wonder how many of those people in the photos are actually Hispanic,Chicano/Mexian,Latino (Mesoamericans) posing as Native Americans (Northern). I think like this, I’m sorry….
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Many if not most of Mexican or Latino Americans are part Native American. Does that count as posing?
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@jefe
The ones that identify with being Spanish or part Spanish and hate on blacks, asians and other indigenous looking Latinos or whatever the case is are posers looking for a free ride.
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“This is probably going to spur some controversy, but I wonder how many of those people in the photos are actually Hispanic,Chicano/Mexian,Latino (Mesoamericans) posing as Native Americans (Northern). I think like this, I’m sorry….”
.
I’ve got to ask you TeddyBearDaddy,
While you seem inclined towards finding and seeing the worst in others, are you as keen on looking at your group and your own personal shortcomings as well?
Or do you only think like this when it comes to OTHER people?
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@Fan
I look at the struggles of most groups on this planet. I see that, in most cases, it comes from trying to bid to the hateful standard of the Master Race when it doesn’t have to be like that.
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