Extremely Eloquent, Therefore Extremely Dangerous
John Trudell: In His Own Words
“We are going to keep plugging away until we have freedom and control of our lives. We are looking for an honorable government. We would be happy if all of a sudden the American way would turn into a way of honor.”
“The Great White Father? That Dude’s dead.” ~
SOURCE: Akwesasne Notes, p. 6
“When the Europeans came to this country, they claimed it and ripped off the natural resources. Why is it alright when they do it and a crime when we do it?”
“Take the newsmen to all the poverty pockets throughout the country. Conditions are the same in poor areas and ghettos.”
“Alcatraz was 19 months of temporariness. Indians are used to temporariness. We are always permanently nowhere and temporarily somewhere.”
“The Indians do not want money but the right to determine the destiny of their community. It doesn’t matter what the sum of money is because these programs don’t aid the Indians. Half the money gets lost in red tape anyway.”
“This area suited our purpose. It’s a good land base and it’s been totally abandoned. We don’t want to kick anyone out of their house just like we don’t like to be kicked out of ours. The houses look pretty sound. It’s some of the best housing we have ever had. Also, it’s not any more of a hardship to haul food and water up here than it was on Alcatraz.” ~
SOURCE: The Martlet, vol. 11, no. 01
JIM RUSSELL: About 100 policemen from the San Francisco suburban town of Richmond stormed an abandoned Nike missile site there this morning. The missile site had been occupied by the Indians who earlier were evicted from Alcatraz. The Indians were unarmed and did not resist the officers. A dozen of them were arrested for trespassing, but they were immediately released. Reporter Jeff Kamen spoke to the Alcatraz Indians and the members of the All Tribes organization who had occupied the missile site at the time of the police storming.
JEFF KAMEN: John Trudell is official spokesman for the Alcatraz Indian movement.
JOHN TRUDELL: Local authorities, they came in this morning, I guess real early this morning, and everything went pretty well. We cooperated up and to the point of where they read us the statement saying that we were trespassing and that if we didn’t leave, we would be arrested. And at that time there were 15 of us, I believe, that said if they wanted to take us off, they would have to arrest us. And some people just – and so, like, the only way we resisted them was there were people that just went stiff or sat down, you know, or wouldn’t take their arms and put them behind their back – people just hanging on to themselves.
Continue reading “Alcatraz Indians: Demonstration for Land | June 17, 1971”“The harder they are on us, the more determined we will become. We will stay forever, or until somebody throws us off.” ~
“The first guarantee they made when the negotiations started was that nobody on the island would be arrested or taken off the island.”
“Browning wanted to settle the issue some way. He told us they wanted to give us the island and still look good. But word one was that no one – no one – would be arrested or taken off the island while the negotiations were underway.” ~
SOURCE: Akwesasne Notes, Vol. 3 No. 5. P.4
“We’re not the stoic red man any more who can be counted on to sit and turn the other cheek.” ~
“This is good land. This would be a nice place to put a little cultural center and a free Indian University.”
“This is totally senseless. They have good housing here, good land. Yet there are Indians in this country who have no place to live.”
“I don’t see us peacefully walking away from here. We’re not afraid. When you get down to it, what can they do to us that they haven’t already done in the past.” ~
“We haven’t got the other piece of land now, and we needed a place to live, a place to go.” ~
SOURCE: San Bernardino Sun p. 4
“This is good land. This would be a nice place to put a little cultural center and a free Indian university.” – re: East Bay Missile Base occupation
“This is totally senseless. They have good housing here. Good land. Yet there are Indians in this country who have no place to live.” re: East Bay Missile Base occupation
“They broke their agreement with us. We decided that if the government did take back Alcatraz from us we weren’t going to go quietly. We’re not quitters.”
“I don’t see us peacefully walking away from here. We’re not afraid. When you get down to it, what can they do to us that they haven’t already done in the past?” ~
SOURCE: The Press Democrat.
JOHN TRUDELL: Kinda had to find us a new place to live so we figured this would be as good a spot as any. It’s a military base. Belongs to the Federal Government they say. They’re not using it. We could use it. We need it, so we’re here. To put it mildly, we’re pretty upset about the way the government handled the Alcatraz situation.
Continue reading “American Indians Occupy Nike Missile Site In San Pablo | June 14, 1971”“A dozen parks won’t solve the basic issue of why we took Alcatraz in the first place.”~
SOURCE: The Times Standard (Eureka, CA)
“But we’re not going to quit. We’ve been moved twice and we’re tired, but we are going to keep on plugging because we want someone to listen to us.”
“We’re talking about our right to live, our right to be people and this is how they respond. It shows that their attitude toward us has not changed.”
“We’re not statistics and not that passive Indian who keeps turning the other cheek. We’re not going to be the forgotten Americans any longer, either. We’re going to be Indian-Americans and we’re going to let the whole world know that we’re going to be people.”
“They’ve responded with shows of force. They’re trying to intimidate us, but we’re not going to be intimidated. They’ve always dealt with us with a show of force. We don’t want to get hurt but we’re not afraid of that. We’ll be back. America hasn’t heard the last of its Indians and that’s definite until some active, positive steps have been taken to relieve the conditions we’re talking about.”
“We claimed the island as our own, just as they claimed this country.” ~
SOURCE: Akwesasne Notes, Vol. 3 No. 5. P.7
“It has become home. We have lived there and survived, nobody can deny that. If they want to give us the deed fine, but now we will take the initiative to perhaps challenge the legal system or the lack of education that faces the American Indian. You can be certain we will not leave Alcatraz. We have come too far and through too much to start giving land back to the white man.”
“Alcatraz, the idea, is deeply set. And I have found that the idea is not here alone, not on the island, but wherever there is any Indian in this country.”
“We will not leave.” ~
SOURCE: Akwesasne Notes, p10
“It’s not too hard. If you have lived on a reservation you have experienced these same hardships.” – John Trudell’s response regarding harsh living conditions on Alcatraz Island. ~
SOURCE: Akwesasne Notes, Vol. 3 No. 1, p. 16