JOHN TRUDELL: Good evening, this is John Trudell welcoming you to Radio Free Alcatraz. We had a little difficulty with the transmitter, but it’s all been taken care of. Tonight we have with us Mister Bernell Blindman, who is a Sioux from Pine Ridge, South Dakota. And I believe you’re a student at Berkeley, right?
BERNELL BLINDMAN: Yes.
How long have you been at Berkeley?
For two quarters now.
What are you majoring in?
Social welfare.
Why social welfare?
Well, I like to help the Indians as much as possible. And I figure this might be one way of doing it.
You’re from the Pine Ridge reservation. You have lived there right?
Yes.
How long did you live there?
For about four years.
How long ago did you leave?
In June [1969].
You’re majoring in social welfare. I imagine that part of this is because of what you saw on the reservation in Pine Ridge?
Yes
Now, I heard at one time the Pine Ridge Sioux was the poorest tribe of Indians in the United States. I believe at the time they were worth nineteen dollars and twenty two cents, or something like that, per person. I’ve never been to Pine Ridge. I’ve been to the Rosebud reservation and my reservation, Sioux reservations in Nebraska, and I know how conditions are there. How are the work opportunities at Pine Ridge for Indian people?
There isn’t any work on the reservation.
Here’s one thing I’d like to clear up. I know this used to happen to me. People would find out I’m Indian and they would tell me how lucky I was because I had the government to take care of me. Somewhere along the line they believed that I used to get these fantastic checks of great amounts of money to just do with as I pleased. This isn’t true is it?
No, not on the reservation.
I know at home on our reservation the older people live on social security and government commodities.
That’s about all they live on on the [Pine Ridge] reservation too. Most people. Except the people who work for the welfare.
In Pine Ridge, didn’t the government set up new housing there several years back? Three or four years ago?
Yes, but most of them are set up for the people who work for the government. Because they could afford to pay for it.
I was under the impression that this was set up for the benefit of the Indian people. This was free housing for the people of the reservation.
Well, that’s what they said, but they still have to pay for it.
It’s like that gun factory in Montana. What do they charge for housing? This new housing?
I think it’s from twenty to thirty thousand dollars.
To buy the house?
Yes.
Where are we gonna get that kind of money?
That’s what bothers the Indian.
Yeah, I heard that there were several of the older people wouldn’t move into the houses. They didn’t want to be shut up in a cage or something. I’m not really familiar with it. Alright then, why did you leave the reservation?
Well I thought coming out here would be better. Learning more about the white people’s way, then going back and helping the Indians.
Then basically, if you’re going to compete in the white man’s world you’ve got to learn the white man’s ways.
Yes.
That’s very true. Now, on the Alcatraz deal. How long have you been on Alcatraz?
Ever since they first landed.
And how long do you plan on staying?
Till they get it.
Do you think that the government will give it to us?
Yes, I do. With all the support and everything we’re getting, I think that we’ll get it.
What does this Alcatraz movement mean to you? What possible opportunities do you see for us by having Alcatraz?
I feel that the Indians should have it because of what the proposal stands for. And the Indians need something. And I think Alcatraz is the thing they need.
It has been said many times before that this is an opportunity for us to unite, so that that is good. As a matter of fact, with this Radio Free Alcatraz thing here, we’re going to be linking up with the reservations in the United States and also with the Indians in the urban areas so that we can work together. Because like right now we’ve got the arrow. Now we bring the people from the reservations and from the urban areas together and we put a point on the arrow. And then we can start getting some work done.
This is the end of new a decade and we’ve spent seventy years now; all of this century kind of being ignored. Do you see a lot of hope for us in the seventies?
Yes, I do.
Well, I think I shouldn’t have even asked that question because just by what we are doing here now, it shows that we have got hope and that there are things that we can work for in the seventies, and that we’ve got a means to do it.
Indians have always been pushed around and this is the first time that they ever tried something for themselves. And I think this is good for them.
It’s a very good experience. We’re learning how to work together. We haven’t had this experience in the past. I know a lot of people, when this first happened, a lot of people were under the impression that it had a romantic meaning to them. They looked at it very romantically. You know, how neat the Indians going out and camping on the island of Alcatraz and taking it over and trying to take it away from the government. But what many of them fail to really realize is the fact that living on this island is just like living on a reservation as far as the modern conveniences and the luxuries of life go. How many Indians on your reservation own these thirty-thousand dollar homes?
Not very many of them.
What type of work is there?
There isn’t any except ranching, and that only pays about five dollars a day.
And that’s just seasonal work, right?
Yes.
I know we had the same thing, we could hire out as a farmhands. There aren’t many ranches in Nebraska, in the area that my reservation is, but they would hire us as farmhands and we would work from sun up till sundown for six dollars a day and the noon meal. And although they didn’t take any tax deductions from it, but still, forty two dollars at the end of a seven day week or something like this, you know, it’s not much bread. Gets very hard to support a family on that kind of money.
Yeah.
Let me see. This happened at the Pine Ride reservation, I believe, this deal about young Thomas Whitehawk. The guy that got sentenced to the gas chamber in South Dakota?
Electric Chair.
Sentenced to the electric chair for killing a man in a Vermilion. A robbery in a jewelry store, wasn’t it?
Yes.
And while at the same time, a white man, an ex-governor’s son, killed an Indian with no witnesses around. And the jury deliberated what, ninety minutes, something like this, and acquitted the white man. Then another jury sentenced Thomas Whitehawk to death. And I know that there’s been controversy over this about the double standards of justice for Indians and whites in South Dakota.
It’s been twenty years I think since the last person died in the electric chair there.
Well, I just read the other day that the Governor of South Dakota went and he commuted the death sentence. I guess Thomas Whitehawk’s status right now is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, which strikes me as being a little bit unfair also. I guess the governor had quite a hassle. He had people that were claiming he was Pro-Indian and people that were claiming he was anti-Indian. And you know, I’d like to know what pro-Indian means if you’ve got a man on death row. It seems to me that things aren’t all kosher back in the land of Black Hills. Now also on this deal, I heard that some of the Indians in South Dakota were trying to get together and were possibly discussing withholding leases from the white ranchers, because a lot of Indian land is leased to white people in South Dakota. And if the Indians withhold these leases the ranchers or farmers will go bankrupt. You know, it’s a small weapon, but it’s a weapon, and I think maybe if we did this on a larger scale, we might get some of that respect that we deserve. Well, it’s a just about time to sign off.
Everyone out there. I mentioned it last night and I’ll mention it again. If there are any questions that you would like to ask us, being as we can’t get in touch with you individually, we’d appreciate it if you would write to KPFA-FM 2207 Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley, California. Zip code 94704. We’ll be glad to answer any questions that you may have. And in the future, with our programming, we will be getting into discussions with people from the California Indian Legal Services about Indian legal entanglements in the State of California. And we will be getting in touch with people from the reservations and from the urban areas. We will be branching out into all these different fields and have quite a bit of really interesting information to hand out. That’s what we’ got to look forward to in the seventies, and at the same time we will have tried to get Indian poetry and music on the air. Some of the old stories. That’s kind of our outlook for the seventies. So I’m going to wish every one a happy new year and may it be better than the last. And on behalf the people of Alcatraz, I’d like to wish you good night. Also, this program was brought to you through the courtesy of the Pacifica Networks and have a happy new year.~
SOURCE: https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-28-q23qv3cj2p