The Occupation of Alcatraz that Sparked an American Revolution

[Music] what you're witnessing is a sunrise ceremony on Alcatraz Island a gathering of Native American tribes from across the country to honor a hidden piece of this islands history a history that is more relevant today than ever before [Music] my name is ledee Dewar Jack a member of the Shoshone Bannock tribes of Idaho Alcatraz wasn't always a notorious federal prison or tourist attraction long before that before European settlers even came to the United States this island belonged to the lani people but in the mid-1800s this sacred land was taken from the Ohlone during a time when the US military seized control of the San Francisco Bay the other thing you need to know about Alcatraz is that for nineteen months I lived here on November 20th 1969 I was one of the 89 students who sailed across the bay to reclaim Alcatraz for all native people we called ourselves Indians of All Tribes and we were there to take a stand to demand an answer to why more than five hundred treaties with the federal government promising to preserve Indian lands water and human rights had been dishonoured over and over again for over 500 years Native people have suffered through genocide and subsequent assimilation policies these were policies that sought to stifle Native American culture by making our languages and ceremonies illegal policies that forced our parents and grandparents into government and Christian boarding schools as children so that they would forget their culture and policies that divided our land in fact millions of acres were taken from us by congressional acts as resources like gold gas and oil were discovered on native territories and reservations [Music] Indians for all tribes occupied Alcatraz turning into a protest symbol for every native person across the country who wanted the centuries of ill treatment by the federal government to end we lived here without adequate food shelter water electricity or heat much like our people on reservations and in Native communities we painted political statements on the walls and told our stories to the local and international press so that our protest could not be ignored it was the first time all native people had United to have their voice heard and though the occupation ended after nineteen months our stand was not in vain in 1970 almost immediately after the Alcatraz occupation President Nixon announced new legislation in an effort to improve the lives of Native people in a White House ceremony today President Nixon signed a bill returning to the Indians some land seized in nineteen six including Blue Lake which is sacred to the Taos Pueblo over the next five years the government transferred millions of acres of ancestral lands back to native people and passed more than 50 legislative proposals supporting tribal sovereignty [Music] the impact of Alcatraz was like a rock hit eda Bay spending a thousand ripples across the water as nearly a thousand events in support of Native Americans happened as the result of our action despite that the treaties and laws created to protect native sovereignty continued to be ignored for the past forty seven years we have fought for our land life and water engaging in the legal and administrative process to no avail so here I stand again at the Shetty Sakhalin camp in Standing Rock North Dakota fighting the same fight for our inherent rights the land that surround you is the ancestral land of the Mandan and Standing Rock Sioux Nation which over time has been desecrated by corporations in search of gold gas and oil once again the federal government has not honored the laws and treaties they swore to uphold in spite of the harsh conditions thousands of people camp here to stop oil companies from building the Dakota access pipeline without our consent but why I came here was because I knew that our people needed our help and I knew that they were they needed more of us out there our people are strong so people will do whatever it takes to protect everybody to protect our water to protect our future children everything that's what they don't get too many of us the occupation of standing rock felt like history repeating itself it was an example of Alcatraz's legacy a resistance that ignited the spirit that brought us all together united in the fight to protect water in life and though the government shut down the Standing Rock camp in February 2017 our fight did not stop after Alcatraz and it won't be stopped now [Music] [Applause] Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Seeker VR

Views: 118,881

Rating: 4.5888567 out of 5

Keywords: Current Events, History, VR, Virtual Reality, 360, Standing Rock, Native American, Indian, Tribes, Prison, Civil Rights, LaNada War Jack, San Francisco, Activism, 8K, Alcatraz Island, Dakota Access Pipeline, President Trump, oil pipeline, US government, North Dakota, water rights, tribal sovereignty, Ohlone tribe, Oceti Sakowin camp, pipeline protest, Seeker, seeker daily, seeker stories, dnews, education, educational, discovery news, Sioux, treaties, occupation, land, Alcatraz

Id: TBjuhFOeitE

Length: 8min 2sec (482 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 15 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/Occupy_RULES6]

"In the mid-1800's, this sacred land was taken from the Ohlone people. During a time when the US military seized control of the San Francisco Bay"

Hold the fuck up! A bit of revisionist history going on here. It's not like the Ohlone people were sitting in their huts, shut out from the rest of the world and in 1850 and the US military came and kicked them out. You had at least 250 years of Spanish exploration, Missionary expansion, multiple european people using "Yerba Buena" as a trading post, and Mexican rule before the US came to control this area. Fucking by 1835 San Francisco was already being homesteaded and city planning had begun.

By the time the "US military seized control of the San Francisco Bay" the Ohlone people were not in control of the area and had mostly died out because of western diseases.

FUN FACT: None of the indians that occupied Alcatraz Island where from the lineage of the Ohlone people. They had as much right to take that island as the great grand children of the Russian fur trappers that actually might have used the island.

FUN FACT 2: Native Americans/Indians/First peoples aren't one homogenous group. They warned, they had different cultures, they were just like all tribal people. Why we treat them as a single entity is pretty foolish. The people that took over that island didn't speak for the Ohlone people. Maybe the Ohlone people would have been there too, maybe not. But the protesters had no grounds or authority to take it over nor should what they did be celebrated.

[u/pligg]

Thanks for sharing! Great use of VR in a documentary.