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OCTOBER 1, 2019
11
Indians of All Tribes activists
targeted Alcatraz in 1969
TRIP continued
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Buena Gardens. The Grand Ronde
delegation will perform protocol
singing and dancing, as well as
deliver a short speech.
The event is being sponsored by
the Alcatraz Canoe Journey orga-
nizing committee, the Bay Area
Indigenous community and Inter-
national Indian Treaty Council.
The Grand Ronde delegation will
be mostly comprised of staff mem-
bers because of the tight timelines
occurring in the park.
“It will show our connection to
place and the history that we have
with that place,” Mercier said. “And
support the people that are there.”
When an October 1969 fi re de-
stroyed San Francisco’s American
Indian Center, an activist group
known as Indians of All Tribes tar-
geted the unused land of Alcatraz,
which had closed as a federal prison
in 1963. A handful of protestors
fi rst journeyed to the island on Nov.
9 under the leadership of Mohawk
college student Richard Oakes.
They stayed only one night before
authorities removed them.
Indians of All Tribes then seized
Alcatraz in the early morning of
Nov. 20 with an occupation force of
89 men, women and children. They
sailed through San Francisco Bay
under cover of darkness and land-
ed on the island, claiming it for all
North American Tribes.
Among those who participated in
the occupation were Grand Ronde
Tribal members Beryle Contreras,
who walked on in May 2017, and
Tribal Elder Carol Logan.
In their fi rst proclamation, the
occupation force stated their inten-
tions were to use the island for an
Indian school, cultural center and
museum.
The Nixon administration opted
not to attempt to remove the Native
Americans by force, fearing the bad
publicity that would occur.
During the 19-month occupation,
Native American college students
and activists fl ocked to the protest
and the population on the island
grew to more than 600 people. Ce-
lebrities, including actors Anthony
Quinn and Jane Fonda, visited
and lent their support. Rock band
Creedence Clearwater Revival even
gave occupiers a boat, which was
christened “Clearwater.”
However, by early 1970, the occu-
pation started to fi zzle as many of the
college students and organizers had
to return to school. Tragically, Oakes’
young stepdaughter fell to her death
from one of the prison stairwells in
January 1970, and he and his wife
left, leaving warring activists to fi ght
for control of the island.
Citing a need to restore the is-
land’s foghorn and lighthouse,
armed federal marshals ended the
occupation in June 1971 and moved
the last of the Native American
residents, which had dwindled to
only six men, fi ve women and four
children.
The 19-month occupation, how-
ever, was credited with galvanizing
Native American activitists and
rights organizations and federal
offi cials started listening to calls
for Native self-determination. The
U.S. government later returned
millions of acres of ancestral land
and passed more than 50 laws sup-
porting Tribal self-rule.
Mercier said the Grand Ronde
Tribe’s connection to Alcatraz dates
back to the 1850s when Athabas-
kan Chief ‘Tecumtum and his son,
Adam, were arrested on the Siletz
Indian Reservation for allegedly
threatening the Indian agent.
They were sent to a U.S. Army
jail at Fort Vancouver and then
sent to San Francisco to be held at
the Presidio. They were possibly
detained and processed at Alcatraz
and then permanently moved to the
Presidio across the bay.
The island was sold to the U.S.
government in 1849 and became
home to the U.S. Army in 1859. By
1861, it was holding Tribal mem-
bers from throughout the western
territories and states.
“They just scraped it and built
a prison on top of one of their old
burial sites that they had out there
in the middle of the water, which
they have done here to us,” Mercier
said about the cultural importance
of Alcatraz, which was originally
called Isla de los Alcatraces (Isle of
the Pelicans). “For the people that
were there, they were trying to get
back one of their sacred places. …
I just know that a lot of our people
just happened to be there at that
time.” n
Tribal Campus Chinuk Wawa Classes
Come check out our new learning material at the Chinuk Wawa class. This
class takes a pressure free and activity based teaching approach for fun and
useful language learning. It is open to tribal employees and Chinuk program
parents. No prior language experience required to come and enjoy the class.
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beginning September 3rd. Education Leave is available and based on supervisor
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