Amber Narmore
4/20/12
Paper #2
California History
The Occupation of Alcatraz
In the late 1960’s, a group of American Indians from California came together and started
to discuss the first plans of action towards self-determination. These plans resulted in the
eventual occupation of Alcatraz Island, and the American-Indians persistent refusal to give in
without receiving their natural born rights. These people of perseverance, determination, and
angst, were striving to remind America who they were, what they stood for, and how they felt
about being mistreated for decades. This event was one that changed the state of California
forever, yet it’s a story that is unheard of to many Californians and Americans alike. Not only
did this occupation start to change the circumstances for Native Americans, but it also had a
lasting effect on the country as a whole. Many other events that happened within the nation were
tied into this occurrence, and its through reflection and consideration that we can start to see the
implications of other events on this particular incident and how it affected local and national
change.
The 1960’s was a time of political awareness, political activity and sweeping change as
people started to become aware of the issues around them. During the mid 1960’s a surge of
radicalness came to the stage as many youth were striving to see change happen within their
communities. The SNCC was created during this time, which then sparked other movements to
take place. One being the Free Speech Movement, which came out of this era of radicalness and
caused a lot of uproar on college campuses across the nation. The main contributors to these
movements were young college students who wanted to cultivate their own individual
participation within the future of America. It is, essentially, from this type of environment and
thought that the idea for the occupation of Alcatraz sprung forth from. The majority of the
American-Indians involved were fired up college students who implemented this type of
radicalness and rebellion that eventually would impact the Occupation of Alcatraz as a whole.
On college campuses across the nation, students were protesting against the war and
calling out for the civil rights of those who were seen to be minorities. It was during this time
that people from all genders, races, economic statuses, and sexuality started to band together to
fight for their rights and for the rights of others. American Indians across the nation saw these
demonstrations occurring and were inspired by them to fight for their own civil rights. This
national issue that was ever increasingly growing around the world especially captured the eye of
Richard Oakes and many other American Indians within the Bay Area that were sick and tired of
being mistreated and undervalued. It was eventually these men who thought up and created the
plans for the eventual occupation of Alcatraz. In many ways it was the characteristics of the
“Free Speech Movement”, and all the other forms of demonstrations that were happening across
college campuses, that influenced the occupation of Alcatraz as a whole. “The movement”
period was a time unlike any other in America. People from different classes, races, cultures,
and ages were banding together to fight for what they thought they deserved, and this is exactly
what we see happening in the occupation of Alcatraz as well. The American Indians banded
together and formed what was called the Indians of All Tribes, the first time American Indians
from different tribes would ban together and fight side by side. This specific characteristic of
unison amongst the American Indians is essentially what made the occupation of Alcatraz so
strong and unmovable. Thus creating more unity among other Native American groups as well,
which pushed forward more movements for self-determination and civil rights within the 70’s
and the 80’s. The occupation of Alcatraz was also apart of the bigger picture of the 60’s in that
the Vietnam War, and the other controversial happenings of this time, contributed to the
foundations and longevity of the occupational movement. Their were many anti-war protests,
demonstrations, and comments by individuals and communities that made it clear that the
Vietnam War was something the people of California and America were not happy about,
especially after the My Lai Massacre that happened in November of 1969. Adding to this
distaste of the American people towards the federal government was the incident that took place
on the campus of Kent State University. Non-violent protestors of the Vietnam War were shot
and killed by National guards, and it was this event that upset the nation even more. The
occupation of Alcatraz was directly affected by both these occurrences in that the federal
government would not forcefully remove the Indians because they would not, and could not, risk
upsetting the people of America even more then they already had. Bradley H. Patterson Jr.,
executive assistant to Leonard Garment, gives a statement of how the government was thinking
to respond to the occupation at hand:
“In a word…our policy was restraint. Kent State had just happened that spring in 1970,
and it could very easily happen again. Jackson State happened right after that. You
could have the law enforcement in such a way that you could have a Kent State out there
in Alcatraz, and we just didn’t think people would stand for that, with killing Indians.
We’d done enough killing of Indians in the last two hundred years and we weren’t about
to do any more. Our policy was restraint and negotiation and talk and try to work out
some alternatives, and so forth” (Johnson p.173).
From this quote, it is clearly evident that the Vietnam War and the Kent State incident had a
direct effect on the American-Indians protests. It allowed the Indians to stay for the full duration
of their occupation, creating increased unity among the Indian people. It also allowed the
Indians to make higher and better demands from the federal government. Similarly, the longevity
of the occupation permitted knowledge about the mistreatment of the Indians to spread around
the state of California, creating awareness and support for the Indian people that would
essentially carry them through the duration of their stay on the Island.
Eventually the occupation of Alcatraz Island is terminated, and the people of the Indian
tribes do not claim control over the Island. Even though the American Indians immediate goals
were not met, this occupation accomplishes the goal of unifying the American Indian people.
This unification sparks many people’s interests in the terrible issues that were present between
the government and the American Indians. From this awareness also comes positive sentiment
for the efforts of the American Indians, as the nation starts to embrace the quest for civil rights.
Not only did the occupation of Alcatraz spark people’s interests in the civil rights
movement, but it also affected the coming years of the 70’s dramatically. One example of this is
seen with Cesar Chavez and the grape boycott. Cesar Chavez was an activist in California who
saw, and experienced first hand, the many problems that Mexican-American farmworkers were
going through at this time. Because of this Chavez created the UFW, or the United Farm
Workers, to educate people on what was happening and to get the Mexican-American population
fired up to fight for their rights. The creation of the UFW was Chavez’s way of creating unity
among the Mexican-American farm workers, and thus making a strong foundation for their
movement. The occupation of Alcatraz thus seems to have had a lot of impact on the movements
of the 70’s and on Chavez’s case in particular. The united front that Chavez created, and the
goal of making people aware of their circumstances, are both characteristics that the occupation
of Alcatraz Island held. Chavez was also non-violent and recognized the power of his words
instead of his fists. Which also reflects the occupation of Alcatraz in that the Indians did not use
violence within their protests either. It seems that the unity of the occupation of Alcatraz sparked
unity to occur within other minority groups as well. The nation saw what happened when a
group of common people united, and they sought after that to achieve their own goals. The
occupation at Alcatraz acted as an inspiration to the nation, and caused many other minority
groups to seek after their own rights through unity and non-violent terms. What made the
difference in both these cases was the fact that they people came together to fight for their rights.
Unification was the backbone of the movements, and it’s through the occupation of Alcatraz that
this method of fighting takes flight.
Works Cited
Johnson, Troy R. The American Indian Occupation of Alcatraz Island. Urbana: University of
Illinois Press, 1996. Print.