Tim McGovern interview of John Trudell | January 11, 1976

John Trudell is the national chairman of the American Indian Movement, the highest elected official in AIM. In this interview he talks about the Wounded Knee Uprising of 1971, its aftermath, and media coverage of that event and others. In addition, Trudell tells how he thinks institutions in America, like the Catholic Church, the educational system, and the FBI are used as repressive tools. Before the interview I asked Trudell how long he’d been with AIM. His response was, “all my life. We just weren’t organized yet.”

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The present state of the American Indian Movement: An interview with John Trudell by Red Sun | September 27, 1973

RED SUN: We’re talking to John Trudell here, co-Chairman of AIM. We’re gonna ask him a few questions about the incident at Rosebud with Carter and Clyde Bellecourt.

JOHN TRUDELL: Well, our official stand on the whole incident is, its a governmental conspiracy. And we’re talking about being a conspiracy from looking at past government actions and treatment toward Indian peoples. We’re talking about it being conspiracy in the sense that American Indian Movement has been talking about Indian peoples treaty rights, and more basic than that, we’ve been talking about Indian People’s human rights. Our human right to dignity, self respect, our right to respect from other people. Talking about our rights to raise our children, our own way.

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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.

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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

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.

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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.

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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