John Trudell began by discussing problems with generating electricity on Alcatraz Island followed by an interview with Jonny Bearcub, a member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine Sioux Nation.
JOHN TRUDELL: Good evening and welcome to Radio Free Alcatraz. This is John Trudell welcoming you on behalf of the Indians of All Tribes to Indian Land Alcatraz Island. And tonight there’s a little background noise here. We had a problem and we’re running our generator inside the studio. And also, we’ve been having quite a bit of hassle lately with our electricity. We had a power failure on Friday and it lasted through Friday night into mealtime. That’s why we weren’t on Friday night, because we didn’t have any lights at all or any power of any type to use. And Saturday we were kind of stranded on the island because of bad weather. Sunday, not many boats running and so today we’re giving it an attempt. Tonight we have Jonny Bearcub with us from Wolf Point, Montana who is going to offer some thanks to the doctors that have helped us, and to everyone. Jonny go ahead. You got the list there.
JONNY BEARCUB: We on Alcatraz would like to thank Dr. Rapport from Montview, California, Dr. Uricheck from the Stanford Medical Center, Dr. David J. Tepper from Oakland, Dr. Venman from Ft. Miley Veteran Hospital, Dr. Larry Brillion from the Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. [Richard] Fine and Dr. Stern from Ft Miley. We would also like to thank Dr. Charles the coordinator for our medical help here on Alcatraz, And Dr. Gilmir from the Stanford Medical Center. And to all of you, a hearty thanks and you’re welcome to come and eat buffalo meat from my teepee anytime. Thank you.
That was Jonny Bearcub. Being as Jonny’s around we may have a little discussion with her. Jonny how old are you?
I’m 18 years old.
And, you’re out of high school, right?
Yes.
And you were offered a scholarship to Brigham Young University, correct?
Yes I have.
Are you going to use it?
No I don’t think I will.
Would you care to tell me why?
I think I would rather go to a school out here that would offer more about the Indian culture. I think one of the universities here have more.
Yes, well with the Indian on the west coast you can get Indian culture. The Native American Studies through the colleges at Berkeley and San Francisco, and I believe UCLA, and I’m not sure about USC. Whereas at Brigham Young, they’ll offer us money, but kind of got to sell our souls to get it.
Right.
Yes I think your best bet would be out here somewhere. When did you come out to Alcatraz?
About three weeks ago.
And how long do you plan on staying?
I plan on staying until we get the island or until at least get some word from the government.
Jonny did you ever attend a Bureau of Indian Affairs school?
No I haven’t.
Have you ever attended any kind of school for Indians that’s run by the federal government?
No I haven’t.
That kinda shoots down my next question. Well, I have a real gripe against the Bureau of Indian Affairs and just about everything that they do concerning Indians. Because they don’t give a lot of help to us. How are things on your reservation? Would you explain what reservation yours is? What tribe? And where it’s at?
I’m Assiniboine Sioux.
From where?
From the northeastern part of Montana, it’s Fort Peck Indian Reservation.
How big is the Reservation?
It’s pretty big.
I mean, population wise.
I don’t know.
What are the conditions? I mean, what’s it like on the reservation?
Now at home on the reservation, everyone’s getting these houses. These houses that the federal government builds. And your house is just like everybody else’s house, I mean you can’t tell any difference. They’re getting better housing but they all look just alike.
Well you know that’s kind of senseless to give us these prefabricated houses on the reservation. Take’em, stick’em way out in the middle of the reservation, but they don’t give us any jobs…
Right.
…or any education so that we can get in tune with these houses. To give you a new house and no way to keep it up. No means. How are the people accepting these houses though? What’s the general reaction to the houses?
Well, they like the houses and stuff.
I know it happened at one of the Sioux Reservations in South Dakota. And a lot of the people wouldn’t live in the houses because they didn’t like what it stood for. I mean, you know, the general idea was well we’re not like white people. You put us in a lot of rooms together, you know, and we’re supposed to be happy. Indians got to have our freedom. And for many of the people on the reservation that’s why they stay there. There are millions of reasons why people don’t leave the reservations or why they go back. You’re leaving Alcatraz when?
Maybe this Spring, probably.
You’re going back to Montana right?
I probably will.
What is this you were telling me this afternoon about the rodeos? What are you gonna do this summer in Montana?
I’m gonna rodeo. I mean go barrel race.
What’s that? I mean, see a lot of people don’t know what that is.
Well you go on this horse and you go on a clover leaf pattern around it and the one that makes the fastest time on the horse around wins. And you make pretty good money on it.
What do you win? Cash prizes?
Cash prize.
How much money is available? About how much money can you make during the summer?
During the Summer, if you’re a good girl racer and can make most the rodeos up in Canada and in northeastern Montana you can make about $400 dollars a month.
What do you use this money for? To go to school later on or what?
Yes.
And how long have you done this?
I barrel raced for three years.
Last three years?
Yes.
And you’re gonna do it again? Got a lot of money there. This barrel racing that you do in Montana, do a lot of the reservation kids compete in this? Do a lot of kids try to make money this way?
In most of the Indian rodeos they do. In a lot of the Indian rodeos. Mostly the kids participate. But in the other rodeos such as RCA you can’t do it unless you’re an affiliated member of RCA.
What else is available to you for employment in the summer, for school kids? They want to make money to go back to school?
If you’re not out of high school you can work on NYC, or if you’re going to school you can work on work study. Or if not that, we have a gun factory on our reservation. You can go there and make guns.
What kind of guns?
M-16. They use them in Vietnam.
Just out of curiosity, how does the government pay?
It pays a dollar sixty per hour.
Is this for men, women and children? For everyone?
For everyone. That’s your starting wage, is a dollar sixty.
A dollar sixty?
Yes.
That’s not exactly a lot of money to be paying people. What are the hours?
The hours is from eight till twelve and then from one till five.
It’s an eight hour day then? Forty hours a week. Dollar sixty an hour. And the heads of families, everyone works the same wages?
No. If your wife is working there, then the husband can’t work there.
Oh only one member of the family? Free society huh? Great American competitiveness.
Yeah.
So that’s a M-16 factory? And where’s this at in Montana? I wasn’t aware of this. Where is this factory at in Montana?
It’s in Poplar, Montana.
Poplar?
Yes, it’s on the reservation.
It is on the reservation? Did Indians give permission to build a gun factory on the reservation.
Yes they did. The government was the one that thought of it.
Well of course. Many Indians speak today about how we need industry on the reservations and we need jobs, but at a dollar-sixty an hour and only one member of the family can work there, that’s kind of limited. Is your reservation rich in things that would attract industry? Are there many natural resources, like water or grazing land?
We have a lot of water. We have a lot of grazing land and a lot of land that can be used for farming, but most of that is usually taken and is leased out to the white man. And the Indians don’t really benefit that much off of it.
Who leases this land out?
It goes through the tribal headquarters in Poplar. Through the agency there, they take and they lease it out to various white people.
These Indians do the leasing, or whites?
The whites do the leasing.
They lease out the Indian land?
No, the agency leases out the Indians land for them to the white people.
And then who gets the money? The Indians? Do the people on the reservation get the money?
Yes, but the agency holds it for them and they give them some, like little allowances.
I’ve heard of this story before. It happened with some in Palm Springs. The Caliente Indians in Palm Springs. At one time they were worth three hundred and twenty nine thousand dollars a person. Then the BIA stepped in and declared many of them incompetent to handle their affairs. And so they put this money in trust with white people and after about six years of complaints they found out that many of the people that were holding the money for the Indians had gotten fantastically wealthy using Indian money to do it. So, there’s a lot to be said against this trust bit.
I’m kind of in a dilemma here. My watch stopped at eighteen minutes after the hour so I’m not sure what time it is. I hate to cut this short but I don’t want to run over into someone else’s time. So, I want to thank you Jonny for all your information here, we’ll file it away. I want to check into that gun factory. I wasn’t aware of a gun factory. At a dollar-sixty an hour, that’s terrible. It’s disgusting.
Well anyway, this is John Trudell for Radio Free Alcatraz wishing you all a pleasant good evening and we’ll be back tomorrow evening at 7:15. Maybe we’ll have it a little quieter. Goodnight. ~
SOURCE: https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-28-pz51g0jc7r