Spotted in San Francisco part II: Indians Welcome

As part of my recent trip to San Francisco I visited the infamous Alcatraz Island. I was afraid it would be a cheesy tourist destination, but instead the designated National Park was fascinating on many levels. Aside from its history as a military and federal prison I was surprised the island was also an integral part of the Native American rights movement. A documentary on the island explained the graffiti we spotted right after we got off the boat (shown left). In 1969, several years after the Alcatraz prison was closed for good, the island, which had been left dormant, was seized by Native American activists and claimed once again as "Indian Land". The occupation lasted until 1972 at which point in fighting and fatigue had dwindled their numbers from the 100+ that were initially there to just a handful, who were ousted by a variety of law enforcement officials. The occupation is now considered one of the key moments in the fight for Native American self-determination.

A detailed account of this history can be found HERE.

Story Corps Follow-Up

As mentioned previously I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in StoryCorps with my mother at the mobile booth in Richmond, VA. This morning an excerpt was broadcast on our local Public Radio station. They did a marvelous job of synthesizing our conversation about my grandfather down to a few poignant minutes. You can listen to it (and others) here.