The Occupation of Alcatraz was a 19-month long protest occupation (1969 - 1971) when 89 indigenous Americans and their supporters occupied Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, USA. This group lived on the island together until the protest was forcibly ended by the U.S. government.
Background
Since the creation of the USA, its government had acted in an extremely oppressive manner towards the indigenous population. Violating treaties made, subjecting them to brutal racism and stealing their lands.
In the 1960s, the success of the civil rights movement kicked off a global wave of unrest as women, workers, ethnic minorities, environmentalists, indigenous people and the LGBT community demanded greater rights and power. In the USA, the indigenous movement became fairly big.
Alcatraz, a former prison island, had been abandoned by the federal government and in 1964, a small group of indigenous protesters occupied Alcatraz Island for four hours and offered to buy the island for $9.40, the price that it was sold to the US government with the provision that the US got to continue to use the island's lighthouse for coast guard activities.
After the loss of the San Francisco Indian Center, which provided indigenous people with jobs, healthcare, legal aid and social opportunities there was an increased amount of tension with the government.
Events
In the early morning of the 20th of November, 1969, 89 indigenous Americans, including more than 30 women, students, married couples and 6 children attempted to land on the island. The coast guard intercepted 75 of the protesters, but 14 managed to slip through and landed on the island. The island's lone guard, who had been warned of the impending occupation, sent out a message on his radio. "Mayday! Mayday!" he called. "The Indians have landed!"
Indigenous and non-indigenous people supported the occupation, supplies were delivered secretly by canoes which avoided coast guard patrols. Additionally, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union supported the occupation, threatening to shut down California's major ports if the protesters were evicted. Protesters also set up a radio station called "Radio Free Alcatraz" which made 39 30-minute broadcasts of which some can be listened to here. The host, Isani Sioux John Trudell (considered by the FBI to be very dangerous, despite being completely nonviolent) spoke about issues facing the indigenous communities in the USA, including the forcible loss of ancestral lands, matters of spirituality, seriously contaminated water supply on Native reservations, sharp inequalities in infant mortality and life expectancy among indigenous americans compared to the majority white US public. At the height of the occupation more than 400 protesters lived on the island and support groups made consistent contact with the media and government.
The demands listed by the protesters included:
- Complete control of Alcatraz by indigenous people
- Construction of a cultural centre that included indigenous studies
- Construction of an indigenous spiritual centre
- Construction of an ecology centre
- Construction of an indigenous american museum
The ILWU helped supply the occupation and several celebrities came out in support. Electrical generators, water barge and an ambulance service were provided to the island by supporters.
Collapse
On the 3rd of January, 1970, a 13-year old girl fell to her death on the island, prompting her family to leave. In addition, drug addiction and burnout led to many people leaving the island, and soon non-indigenous people were banned from staying on the island overnight. Electricity and telephones to the island was cut by the government, destroying Radio Free Alcatraz and the occupations reputation began to worsen. Internal divisions among protesters also began to heighten tensions, including accusations of co-optation by celebrity supporters. Faced with internal divisions, lack of fresh water and electricity, decreasing public support, people began leaving the occupation until just 15 people remained who were removed by a large police raid on the 11th of June, 1971.
Results
Along with the Wounded Knee Occupation, this became one of the most notable actions of the indigenous movement in the USA and the protests of the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1975, the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 was passed by Congress, leading to greater equality and empowerment of indigenous communities in the USA, although it was still not enough. The Alcatraz Occupation led to an annual celebration of the rights of indigenous people, Unthanksgiving Day. The occupation also inspired over 200 incidents of indigenous civil disobedience across the USA in the following years.