Article Excerpts - Extremely Eloquent, Therefore Extremely Dangerous

Alcatraz Indians Flatly Refuse Government Proposal: Tribe Rejects Being Museum Pieces or Tourist Attractions | August 4, 1970

“We will no longer be museum pieces, tourist attractions and politicians’ playthings. There will be no park on this island because it changes the whole meaning of what we are here for. Our answer at this time, and at any other time, is an emphatic no.”

“Government officials were doing what they have done in the past, which is to do our thinking for us and run things their way.”

“Our dead never die.”

“We feel it is our obligation as Indians of All Tribes, Inc., and to the Indian people to ask the government to submit a counterproposal to the proposal we gave them. We will give them until May 11th to do this. We will negotiate on money and the time and the day that they will turn over the deed to this island. That is all that is negotiable.” ~

SOURCE: Desert Sun, p. 3. Volume 43, Number 210

Tribes Rally In San Francisco As Oakes Remains Critical | July 6, 1970

“We on Alcatraz are asking for possession of that island and we’re not going to settle for less, because we’re right. Indians are not buying the talk that America has an Indian problem. The problem is a white-oriented society geared to meet white needs.” ~

SOURCE: Daily Independent Journal (San Rafael, California)

Alcatraz Becomes a Mecca for Most American Indians | May 12, 1970

“It is the government’s aim to break down our families and break down our resistance. A lot of reservation Indian children spend their young lives separated from their parents in boarding schools. They separate children from parents with schools that do not teach. We have seen them trying to turn us into white people called Indians, stereotype us, suppress the history of our heritage and culture in the books. All this has produced a militancy. A non-violent militancy. But we’re not going to be put down by the Bureau of Indian Affairs anymore.” – John Trudell

SOURCE: Akwesasne Notes, May 1970.

Alcatraz Indians Reject Park Plan | April 9, 1970

“A center for Native American studies aimed at imparting skills and knowledge to improve the lives and spirits of all Indians. A spiritual center, which would practice ancient tribal religious and healing ceremonies. A center of ecology, to train young people to restore lands and waters to their natural state. A training school. A museum that would depict Indian food and cultural contributions and show the noble and tragic events of Indian history, including the broken treaties, the documentary of the Trail of Tears, the massacre of Wounded Knee, as well as the victory over yellow hair Custer and his army.” – John Trudell on the complex proposed by the Indians. ~

SOURCE: https://www.nytimes.com/1970/04/09/archives/alcatraz-indians-reject-park-plan-insist-government-consider-their.html

“Valley College Speaker Seeks Aid for Indians” [excerpts]| January 8, 1970

“We want the Island for Indian purposes. We haven’t got a single thing left in this country that the white society hasn’t trampled somehow. They’ve taken our land, our fishing rights, they’ve polluted our air, our water, they’ve swept us under their dirty little rugs. But we’ve got Alcatraz, and they’re not getting it back.”

“We’re gaining some, but [Secretary of the Interior Walter J.] Hickle still says he won’t negotiate with us until we leave the island, and that’s absurd. Because if we leave the island, we lose all our bargaining power.”