Alcatraz Island - Extremely Eloquent, Therefore Extremely Dangerous

Alcatraz, Few Have Seen Your Beauty as the Indian Has | July 08, 1971

“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

Indians Charge Double-Talk | Early Summer (June) 1971

“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

Ranks of Indian Invaders Grow at Old Missile Base | June 15, 1971

“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.

American Indians Occupy Nike Missile Site In San Pablo | June 14, 1971

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.

Park Planned On Alcatraz | June 13, 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)

Ousted from Alcatraz and Nike Site, Indians Vow to Keep Plugging | Early Summer, (June) 1971

“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

Indians’ Bleak Winter | Early Spring, 1971

“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

Indians Fighting U.S. Cling to Alcatraz | January/February, 1971

“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

Press Conference/Speech with John Trudell And Lanada Means Reflecting on Native American Treatment and Protest | November 20, 1970

JOHN TRUDELL: November 20, 1969 we came with 89 people to Alcatraz for the purpose of taking the island for all Indian people to have a place we could call Indian land. This tiny island represents freedom for all Indian people living in the Americas known as Canada, the United States, Mexico and South America. These are all our great lands of the Indian peoples now held in bondage by alien governments. We have been here one year occupying this island which represents our fight to live as free people in our own country. Our fight for this island representing freedom for all Indian peoples is nonviolent. We came to this island unarmed prepared to give our lives if necessary.

John Trudell, by Denny Smithson | November 20, 1970

DENNY SMITHSON: I’m with John Trudell. John has been out here most of the year that the people have been on Alcatraz. John, when did you come to the island?

JOHN TRUDELL: I came out here November 29th. The anniversary of the occupation is today. My anniversary being here is still nine days away.

Indians on Alcatraz till U.S. Ousts ’em | November 19, 1970

“A national park is another part of the American fantasy. America doesn’t need another Disneyland. While tourists are looking at Indian statues, our people will still be living on reservations with inadequate food and clothing, poor educations and in poor health.” – The Department of the Interior’s park plan for the island.

“We’re just as determined as we were in the beginning, only we’re wiser now. We’ve got experience.” ~

SOURCE: The Central New Jersey Home News

Racism and Political Power | October 18, 1970

The program is The Associated Students of the University of Oregon Presents Racism. Taped at the University of Oregon by KBO-FM Portland, during the week of October 18th, 1970. This program includes the first part of a panel Wednesday morning during a week long symposium sponsored by the associated students, with the moderator, Art Jenkins, Gloria Gonzalez of the Chicano Student Union, Frank Martinez, of the Valley Migrant League, John Trudell, of Indians of All Tribes at Alcatraz Island, Kent Ford, from the Black Panther Party in Portland, Charles Evers, mayor of Fayette, Mississippi, and David Sanchez, Prime Minister of the Brown Berets from Los Angeles…The next speaker is John Trudell, from Indians of All Tribes on Alcatraz Island…

Alcatraz Indians Get Generator | September 29, 1970

“Alcatraz is to the Indians what the Montgomery bus boycott was to the blacks in their struggle for liberation.” ~

SOURCE: Santa Cruz Sentinel. Vol. 115, No. 230.

Alcatraz Glows Again: Indians Rekindle the Light | September, 1970

“For us on the island, and for Indians everywhere, it is a symbol of the rekindled hope that some day the just claims and rightful dignity of the American Indians will be recognized by our fellow citizens.”

“It was in peaceful search of this recognition that we came to the island last November. As long as the light glows, the search will go on.” ~

SOURCE: Raudebaugh, Charles. Akwesasne Notes Vol. 2 No. 5., P. 23.

Alcatraz Indians Short of Water | August 16, 1970

“And now we require only the return of our water. We will make do without electricity, but we must have water.” – On the US Government cutting of electricity to the island and removal of water barge for “repairs.”

“If something happens and we need water, we’re literally dead.” ~

SOURCE: https://www.nytimes.com/1970/08/16/archives/alcatraz-indians-short-of-water-declare-the-island-off-limits-to.html

Alcatraz Indians’ Arrow Halts Ferry Boat Wake | August 15, 1970

“We asked the ferry people to stop this, we asked the Coast Guard to take action, and finally we said we wanted it stopped, and yet it continued. With one 42-cent arrow, we stopped it.” – Trudell on the firing of an arrow at a ferry boat.

“We will not bow down or cater.”

“We don’t want another Wounded Knee, My Lai or Kent State here, but we will not back down when we’re right. We’ve had to take our lumps before” ~

SOURCE: Press Telegram

Interview with John Trudell at Fisherman’s Wharf | 1970

John Trudell: As long as it doesn’t get hot out there. See it’s, like the way it is right now with us with the water situation is we don’t have enough water to flush our toilets we have to haul seawater to do this, we don’t have enough water to keep the island as clean as we want to because we’ve got to ration it. Because we are hauling it and we have to ration the water because, because anything could happen and it’s like what if they come in and try to take us off and we want to barricade ourselves in a building we’ve got to have water to hold out with. But we’re not going to, and besides that, everybody should have water. I mean God gave it to the land and we have a right to it. He didn’t give it to the United States government.

John Trudell: Radio Free Alcatraz | August 11, 1970

Well, I guess there has been what you would call quite a bit of action going on concerning Alcatraz, a lot of activity somewhere. On the island itself, we are in good shape, we have quite a few people, morale is high, everyone is happy, so I guess we really couldn’t ask for much more than that. Well, we could, but we’ve got a working system going here and we are content with that. As far as the other side, now, we have been getting a lot of attacks, verbal attacks by Thomas Hannon, the GSA regional director, here in San Francisco. He is trying to paint a really ugly picture of us so that he can justify something that is going to happen to us, something that is not going to be too good for us I guess. I don’t know. We will see what happens.

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

John Trudell: Radio Free Alcatraz | August 4, 1970

Number one, everything on the island is in pretty good shape. Everyone out here is in good spirits, good mood, high morale, the baby is fine. Quite a few things are in the news today, I guess. The number one thing was in yesterday’s newspaper, I believe, or on the news yesterday, about the government, Congress, has authorized the Coast Guard, or someone, to restore power to the lighthouse because of the pressure put on them by the unions, the waterfront unions in San Francisco, the maritime union. And that is really pretty strange, you know. All of these unions in San Francisco can put pressure on the government to restore power. But Indian people can’t put enough pressure on the government to give Indian people title to the island.

John Trudell: Radio Free Alcatraz | July, 1970

It’s been kind of warm out here the last couple of days and the water has been bad in the late afternoon. Our boat is barely holding together at some times, but we make it. The situation is still the same as far as water and electricity with the government. We had a man come out and repair some of our generators, so our electrical situation isn’t as bad as it was last week. Buffy St. Marie bought us 400 gallons of water and sent it up, and we are working right now in any way possible to pick up some more, some way.

John Trudell: Radio Free Alcatraz | July, 1970

Well, I guess the biggest piece of news that has happened out here this past week is the birth of a new boy, Wovoka. My wife had the baby Monday evening. There are some really good feelings out here. The feelings were already here and they seem to have been strengthened. His name is Wovoka, no middle name, no last name, and he is about what I would call the first free Indian born in the past 500 years, because the government is not going to get him. We have somewhere around sixty or seventy people out here. We’re all hanging tough.

John Trudell: Radio Free Alcatraz | July, 1970

Everything out here is in good shape except for our water supply. We are running into a hassle on that. The government still hasn’t eased up on us and given us any water. But the morale is still high. Everyone is still behind what we are doing. We are making arrangements now to see what we can do, to see if we can get someone to intervene and maybe supply us with some water. The weather has been cold, except for the past couple of days the sun has been shining. The cold weather has been to our advantage, because, without enough water, if the heat were to come out here we would be in real trouble. But with God on our side, the weather has been cold, although it is kind of a hardship at times. We could use wood, I guess, things to burn. Another bit of good news is that we are expecting to have a birth out here on the island, sometime within the next forty-eight hours. It’s my wife who’s going to be having a son, maybe.

Source: Johnson, Troy R, The Occupation of Alcatraz Island. 1996

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)

John Trudell: Radio Free Alcatraz | June, 1970

Right now everything on the island is fine. We are in good shape morally. Morale is high and we are still in the same position as far as electricity goes. We had our lighthouse burned out, we blew some bulbs a couple of nights ago when we went without a lighthouse for a night, but things are running all right again. But our biggest problem we have now is running into this deal about water. We are out of water. I think we have fifty gallons of water left and that is it. So now our biggest worry is getting water. We need water because we have children out here. We need the water for them. We need the water for ourselves.

John Trudell: Radio Free Alcatraz | June 2, 1970

Here is what happened last night, June 1, 1970. We had a fire that burnt down the warden’s home, the old clinic, and the old lighthouse building. All that is left of the lighthouse building or the lighthouse is a long skinny thing with a light on the end that sticks up in the air. That is all that was burned. The next question was how did the fire start, do you know? No, we don’t know that. All we know was that at about 10:30 last night that it started and that it finally died out this morning. We tried to keep the lighthouse from going, but it went, and there was nothing we could do about it. We didn’t have any water to fight it with and by the time the Coast Guard came it was too late for them to do anything, so we didn’t let them come on the island. They asked if they could land. We told them no and they stayed off, away from the shore. They couldn’t save the buildings, they were already too far gone to be saved.

John Trudell: Radio Free Alcatraz | May 27, 1970

T. E. Hannon made a statement yesterday that they had met with us over thirty times. That’s kind of weird, because I’ve never seen him around, except for about three times. I can actually name things that were said. Yeah, well, anyway, we told the government, no, we don’t plan on leaving. Well, the situation was, they said that it’s [Alcatraz] going to be a national park with an Indian flavor and that they were removing their officials from the lighthouse. They encouraged us to leave too. So today they cut off the electricity, and yesterday they took our water barge. We were told we’d get it back by today, so we would have plenty of water for the weekend. This is the story we were told, then they ripped us off. They took off with that water barge. Took the GSA personnel off the island. There are only Indians here now.

John Trudell: Radio Free Alcatraz | April 30, 1970

As far as the island, we’re holding up pretty well. We have been working pretty closely with the [Bay Area Native American Council] organization here. BANAC was formed by the Indian groups and the service organizations in the Bay Area to deal with the Alcatraz situation, and Alcatraz is a part of BANAC. BANAC has helped us to establish a refrigerator over at the depot, on Pier 40, and things can be brought there, contributions, whatever you feel that we deserve, and we will try to liberate ourselves from the federal government and gain some kind of self-determination.

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

Interview of John Trudell by Johnny YesNo | January 20, 1970

Johnny YesNo: This is Johnny YesNo, the host of a radio program here in Canada. First let me begin by asking you a few questions. What is the population of Alcatraz?

John Trudell: I would say roughly around seventy-five people at this time. We lost quite a few of the younger people who had to go back to school at the beginning of the quarter or the new semester, and especially some of the young men who are of draft age and their draft status is kind of uncertain, so they had to go back to school.

What are some of the Tribes that are represented at Alcatraz?

John Trudell Shares “The Art Of Stealing Human Rights,” And NARP’s Eight-Point Program for the Betterment of Canadian Indians | January 13, 1970

John Trudell opens by sharing articles from the Native Alliance for Red Power newsletter from Vancouver, British Columbia, to show similarities between Native People in the United States and Canada. The article is entitled, “The art of stealing human rights,” taken from a speech given by Gerry Gambill given at a conference on human rights at a Tobique reserve in New Brunswick in August 1968. Trudell then shares NARP’s eight-point program for the betterment of Canadian Indians. Trudell concludes this episode expressing United States Indians’ support of Canadian Indians and their struggle, and promotes next Tuesday’s program with Canadians Jonny Yesno and Shirley Daniels.

John Trudell speaks with Grace Thorpe | December 30, 1969

JOHN TRUDELL: Good evening, this is John Trudell from Radio Free Alcatraz welcoming you to Indian Land Alcatraz on behalf of the Indians of All Tribes. And tonight we have with us Grace Thorpe, who you may remember was with us the first evening that we were on, about a week ago. And Grace Thorpe will be working in public relations for the Alcatraz movement.

John Trudell speaks with Vernon W. Conway prior to George Brown interview by Earl Livermore. | 1969

JOHN TRUDELL: Good evening and welcome to Indian Land Radio from Alcatraz Island. This is John Trudell welcoming you on behalf of the Indians of All Tribes. Tonight we’ve got quite a busy evening. At seven-thirty, Congressman George Brown, the Democrat from Los Angeles, we will be speaking with him. Earl Livermore, the coordinator for the Alcatraz Movement is here, and we will be speaking with Congressman Brown about the resolution that he and ten other Congressmen introduced into Congress urging Mr. Nixon to start negotiations with the people of Alcatraz so that they can turn the island over to us. And also, there have been no further reports on the accident that happened to Yvonne Oakes. There have been no further reports on this. She is still listed in a critical condition, I believe.

Alcatraz Panel with Indians from Various Tribes | December 23, 1969

JOHN TRUDELL: Good evening, this is John Trudell welcoming you to Radio Free Alcatraz and I’m speaking on behalf of the Indians of All Tribes. Tonight we’ll be speaking with Mrs. Stella Leech, Mr. Gabriel Sharp and Mr. Raymond Spang. Mrs. Leech is a member of the Colville Sioux Tribe. She’s a registered nurse and a council member on the island. She runs the clinic here on the island, and she took a three month leave of absence from her job at the Well Baby Clinic in San Francisco to work with the people on the island. She’s been here with Operation Alcatraz from the very beginning. Mr. Gabriel Sharp is a Mojave and a member of the Colorado River Tribes of Parker, Arizona. His occupation is counselor for Indian high school students and assistant director of the Indian Upward Bound program at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. He’s also chairman of education for the Arizona Indian Association.

Alcatraz Interview with Al Silbowitz | December, 1969

JOHN TRUDELL: I stayed on the reservation until I was about six. Five or six. Then my family moved. I went back in 1961. I was fifteen years old, I think. I stayed there until the summer of 1963, then I joined the Navy and I left. I stayed in the Navy for four years. After I got out I went to work as a shoe salesman. That lasted about four months and then I quit to go to school, which I was doing when the Alcatraz movement took place. So I dropped all my studies and moved up here so I could work with this.

AL SILBOWITZ: What were you studying at the time?

Radio and television. Programming and production.

Alcatraz Radio to Go on the Air | December 21, 1969

Radio Free Alcatraz will start broadcasting 15 minutes a day on Monday from the former penitentiary over a Berkeley radio station. Al Silbowitz, manager of listener-owned station KPFA-FM, said Thursday. “We’re just offering them the outlet. We don’t want to crowd them and we’re not telling them what do; we want it to be their thing. John Trudell, a Santee Sioux from Nebraska who is among the American Indians who have seized the island in San Francisco Bay, will direct the program. It will include Native American culture, current events, and lessons on Indian history. The program is tentatively scheduled for 8 pm.” Silbowitz said it would also be heard over KPFA’s sister station in Los Angeles, KPFK.

SOURCE: https://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/recording/bb545701-bb545738

How it All Got Started | November, 1969

From November 20, 1969, the Indians of All Tribes occupied Alcatraz Island off the coast of San Francisco, California. The Alcatraz takeover was done to protest federal laws that contradicted historic land treaties with the Indians and aimed to destroy American Indian cultures, including the right of tribes to self-govern. This occupation was the first of its kind and inspired Native Americans to fight for their civil rights, as well as expose their issues to the North American public.

Radio Free Alcatraz was conceived to give a voice to the voiceless minority of Native Americans. On December 22, 1969, KPFA began its first live broadcast from Alcatraz under the direction of John Trudell with borrowed and donated radio equipment. The programs originated from the main cell block building on Alcatraz and were carried live by the Pacifica Network, which consisted, at the time, of KPFA, Berkeley; KPFK, Los Angeles; and WBAI, New York, weekday evenings at 7:15 p.m. PST.

SOURCE: https://www.pacificaradioarchives.org/recording/bb545701-bb545738