You know you know What's your history how did Richard and his fellow native activist occupy Alcatraz Island with the goal to bring attention to their cause when we looked at that it was like breaking another treaty you know right in front of our face in this day in ancient and we hear about his untimely death at the 30 I became consciously aware of who I was as a person because of him this coming up on nothing to say. Stay with us nothing much less. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm nor Rahm President Trump made a brief unannounced visit to Afghanistan where he spent Thanksgiving with the troops getting a rousing welcome from a crowded bhagam airfield N.P.R.'s Frank or Downey as reports speaking in front of a large u.s. Flag 2 armored combat you know the president told u.s. Forces there was no where he'd rather spend Thanksgiving and that the American public was proud we flew 8331 miles to be here tonight for one simple reason to tell you in person that. This Thanksgiving is a special Thanksgiving we're doing so well the visit comes at a critical moment for the President Trump has had to defend his efforts to cut the size of us who are says in the region and holding controversial negotiations with the Taliban about Afghanistan the president made no mention of the House impeachment inquiry against Franco We're doing yes n.p.r. News traveling with the president on Air Force One with under 3 months to go until voting begins in Democratic primaries some presidential candidates are spending the holiday seeking support from voters N.P.R.'s want to Summers has more while most people are shifting their focus to food and family some Democratic presidential candidates are spending the Thanksgiving holiday on the campaign trail several are staying in Iowa where voters have the 1st say in the primary race California senator Kamel Harris as they are on runners in a Thanksgiving Day turkey trot and Des Moines spend time with seniors and she's having dinner in Iowa with her family Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar Shar is in Iowa too she and her family are participating in a service project before a holiday dinner with friends and staffers and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is marking the holiday by taking part in community Thanksgiving events in the Des Moines area I want to summer's n.p.r. News a powerful storm dropped heavy snow on southern California today forcing the closure of a major highway Interstate 5 for a time more snow is forecast tomorrow across much of the Western u.s. Before moving towards the Great Plains tomorrow night more than 50000 people in East Texas are still under a mandatory evacuation order as a chemical plant continues to burn 2 explosions 13 hours apart tore through the plant yesterday important h. As about 80 miles east of Houston 3 workers were injured Mayor Glen Johnson says he hopes people will be able to go home soon you know I. The hope is to lift that is quick as we can trust me we want everybody back in their homes as quick as they can get in there so you know where I'm very cautiously optimistic officials say they are not attempting to put out the fire to prevent more explosions they say they don't know yet what caused the blast or the extent of damage to surrounding neighborhoods this is n.p.r. News police and security sources in Iraq say security forces shot dead at least 40 protesters Thursday most of the deaths occurred in southern Iraq when troops fired live bullets and tear gas canisters to try to disperse demonstrators It was one of the bloodiest days since the anti-government protests began almost 2 months ago. In the Philippines organizers of the Southeast Asia Games known as the sea games are under attack for unfinished venue's uncertain accommodations and a shortage of food thousands of athletes from around the region are arriving amid a growing scandal over the lack of preparation from Manila N.P.R.'s Julie McCarthy has more soccer players sleeping on floors other athletes left at the wrong hotel still others stranded at the airport raising eyebrows too is the $1000000.00 price tag for the cauldron holding the flame to be lit Saturday netizens took to social media under hashtags such as sea games 2019 failed president Ridge Rigo do territory is fuming over the logistical lapses concern for the country's image as host of the biggest regional sporting event in Southeast Asia the president's office calls for an investigation into the aberrations and irregularities and a blame game has erupted over who was responsible for the poor preparation of the event that has cost a half a $1000000000.00 in public money Julie McCarthy n.p.r. News Manila in the n.f.l. Buffalo beat Dallas $26.00 to $15.00 Chicago beat Detroit $24.00 to $20.00 I'm sure Rahm n.p.r. News in Washington support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include the pajama gram company creators of matching holiday pajamas for the whole family including dogs and cats with Charlie Brown Star Wars and drenched games in its fleece and flannel available at pajama gram dot com. Welcome to Latino USA I might yet you know Hosa rather hard right there's an added bonus that yes I have a proclamation I'd like to read your it was 969 and 27 year old native student Richard Oakes was standing on Alcatraz Island the famous prison off the coast of San Francisco he did been standing empty for the last 6 years we the Native Americans reclaim this land known as Alcatraz Island and the name of all American Indians by right of discovery Wow that. Everybody can see it I want to the country you have the Statue of Liberty I just was it's just the opposite of a true reality of liberty for centuries conquerors in Sadler's stole the land from indigenous tribes and struck up treaties they never intended to follow and so years later in 1969 Richard and fellow native activists drew up their own deal for Alcatraz we wish to be fair amount on our dealings with the Caucasian inhabitants of this land and hereby offer the following treaty we'll purchase said Alcatraz Island for $24.00 glass beads and red cloth a precedent set by the white man's purchase of a similar I don't know about 300 years ago Richard had a sparkle in his eye he looked over Alcatraz with the dream of creating an indigenous Mecca Richard can you it is ground on the ground what it is you're going to build a goal a nation. In the late 1960 s. Organizations like the Black Panthers the Brown Berets and the Young Lords were starting a national conversation about equal rights and protection. At the same time an indigenous rights movement the power movement was also. Richard Mattick citizen of the Mohawk Nation was one of its founders and he advocated resistance through reclaiming land from the white man. Alcatraz would become a symbol of native resistance for indigenous people of all tribes and the Red Power movement would lay down the foundation for future movements like stand. Today. Of the life of Richard oaks from how he got involved in the red power movement and the occupation of Alcatraz to his untimely death when he was shot in the heart at the young age of only 30 producers Janice and. Tell us his story from the beginning. Early 1950 s. Back when the Dodgers were the Brooklyn Dodgers there lived a small family 2 brothers and there's. The eldest brother was named Richard. Richard and this brother had a typical childhood they played stickball in the streets walk their dog and watch the Perry Como Show at home. But their slice of Brooklyn was unique. The oaks family lived in a thriving Indigenous community of roughly 700 Mohawk people and many of these Mohawk people were iron workers in the 1930 s. Skyscrapers like the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building were filling New York City's skyline and it was often Mohawk ironworkers that assembled the steel skeletons beam by beam the majority of these Mohawk are in work or settled in the Go honest neighborhood in Brooklyn got a lot of gay and. Moved to the city from the reservations in Canada northern New York seeking opportunity but they often face discrimination applying for work since iron working was a job that not many wanted to do ever quired being 100 feet in the air without a safety harness many Mohawks filled these jobs there was even a bar in the neighborhood called the wigwam It's closed now but there used to be a sign posted over the door that read the greatest iron workers in the world pass through these doors. In the summers Richard's mother would send him and his brother talk with the reservation where Richard was born the boys were still very exposed to Mohawk traditions like lacrosse which has been whitewashed by white guys in college but is also a cultural tradition of many tribes including the Mohawk and Onan daga Nations Richard would wear in dark a look cross jacket on the streets of Brooklyn and some of the the kids in the other neighborhoods where you kind of pick on them a little bit that's can't plan set professor of Native American Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha he's also the author of a journey to freedom a biography of Richard oaks and he's native to. Richard grew into a strong young man over $200.00 pounds and over 6 feet tall he started hanging out with neighborhood native gangs and got into fights I thought he would win at 16 years old he dropped out of high school and joined the legacy of Mohawk ironworkers but he kept getting in trouble when Richard was about 20 he was charged with assault and robbery and served some time in prison I think he was very aware that that path of staying in the gangs that he was in in Brooklyn was not going to be a very good path to be within a year charges were reduced and he was out on parole and then he started looking for something else. It was $963.00 mm and the civil rights movement was in full gear. Richard started to travel for his job as an ironworker one of his projects took him to Rhode Island where he fell in love with a local Italian American woman and married her story was that Richard was not welcome by the father into this marriage. According to interviews with Richard's family Richard's father in law did not want his daughter to be in a mixed race marriage he said he was going to make sure that Richard had nothing to do with his daughter since. The father was a high ranking cop and Richard had a criminal background Richard felt threatened and didn't see any other choice but. Richard at that point I think had lost everything and he had a kind of rethink his life and in another way he quit his job that same year he said goodbye to everyone he knew and he decided to start over by driving his red Ford Mustang across the country to San Francisco Richard dropped out of the public school system when he was 16 but on his journey west he got a different sort of education he was creating his own Indian Studies course but he was learning history he began you know stopping at different reservations along the way to begin acting with a lot more native peoples and asking you know hey you know house terminations affecting your people how's relocation affecting you know you know what your history. From an Asian was a better all policy introduced in 1053 by Utah Senator Arthur Watkins basically and meant that government stopped recognizing 100 tribes essentially terminating them. At this point in history tribes were federally recognized by the government and in accordance with treaties those tribes received federal funding for services like health care and education but with the 1953 terminations act the government decided to stop recognizing tribes and pulled their funding this act was a continuation of the u.s. Government's longstanding push to quote Americanised the native people. And hence the majority have to. Change the habits customs. Such as. Nothing of help. Make. This time it was justified by rising McCarthyism and a fear that communism would spread and Reza. Patients So the government took away their basic social services and their special tax status which drove some tribes to go bankrupt the result schools on reservations were no longer funded so native children couldn't get an education your home and the act left many natives homeless because they weren't able to pay the new property taxes and there was another program at the same time called relocation which also paid people to go to big cities like Chicago Los Angeles and San Francisco they gave them a one way ticket the promise of housing a stipend and some kind of job training both these policies termination and relocation pushed indigenous people to leave their reservations and move to the cities. Back in 1988 Richard was driving across the country and seeing firsthand how these policies had affected native people. When he arrived in San Francisco he discovered it actually had a vibrant burgeoning Indigenous community. Richard quickly fell into life there met and married a woman named and Marouf she was a single mom with 6 kids from a previous marriage she was also native from the nation these kids became his life and they became part of another. Term which is founded out of the Mission District of San Francisco. The. Sixty's there were an estimated 10000 indigenous people from different tribes living in San Francisco one of those people was a u.c. Berkeley student named war Jack. That next generation the they were desperately trying to get us into the cities so that we would melt into the mountain pass to become assimilated living I had left the show me Banach Fort Hall reservation in Idaho in her twenty's but the job training she was offered felt very . Like going to cosmetology school to become a beautician and that's not what she wanted I just understood that after high school you go to college so that was always my intention and when I got out here the university making the loudest noise was at u.c. Berkeley and I said I want to go there Lenny doubt was the 1st native student to attend u.c. Berkeley there in the hotbed for groups like the Panthers and the Brown Berets she became a big time activist in the growing red power movement. Red Power was an inner tribal movement all about self-determination the right for needed communities to govern themselves and the movement for that right by reclaiming land restoring broken treaties and preserving needed. You know I met so many people at that time everything just excited but you know I just I can't remember when I 1st met Richard but you know I just knew. Like I always known him. She remembers Richard from social gatherings a local Palouse at the time 26 year old Richard Oakes was working as a bartender but also as a community organizer the bar you worked at had turned into a watering hole for activists and student politics eventually he was recruited to run the newly formed Native American Studies Department at San Francisco State even marching as a citizen of the Southern You nation and a friend of the oaks family remembers meeting Richard at a Vietnam war rally he was real friendly Yeah friendly but he was determined you know and he had talked about change and you could be done and you asked me should go and all that you kind of is going to realize that you're Indians and I says but the same time genius relates that we are sure that's how we get off either remembers that Richard was the kind of guy who got a lot of attention he was charismatic and tall over 6 feet with flowing black hair right can describe him but I could tell you when my wife said she hears a movie star good looking. One of the specific goals of the Red Power movement was to reclaim land the students including Richard and Lenny started to do some research to figure out how they could do that I'm planning my. Room. And. They developed a plan to take over Alcatraz. A citizen of the Lumbee nation and a junior at u.c. Berkeley remembers the 1st time he heard about this plan I met Richard when he came to u.c. Berkeley and he asked us to go help him take over Alcatraz Island it was very casually mentioned this was a year party at one of the students his apartments and I looked at him and said You're crazy I don't want that prison Alcatraz Island is a tourist attraction today but in 1969 it was a small abandoned island surrounded by turbulent water just north of stuff. Let's go back the only way to get there was by boat as a federal prison it once held some of the country's most notorious criminals like Al Capone and George Machine Gun Kelly but it close in 1983 because it was too expensive to keep running and it had been sitting empty for 6 years and Richard called me and he says Do you want to go out on the boat ride around Alcatraz and so I said Sure here's why this plan to take over Alcatraz actually made sense according to a treaty from the 1800s the u.s. Government is responsible for returning all abandoned and out of use federal lands to native people this treaty like so many others made with native people in the past have been broken by the us government but the students argued that the tree still applied and they could use it rightfully to reclaim their land and since Alcatraz was now abandoned and it was federal land they felt the island should be returned to the need of community but it was going around that Alcatraz was going to be sold and turned into a casino when we looked at that it was like they're breaking another treaty you know right in front of our face in this day and age and that was just like. Let's go take it. In the same treaty a group of activists had tried to take over the island in 19845 years earlier but that occupation had only lasted a couple of hours. This time Richard and the native activists were going to try and riskier they were going to move on to the island permanently. Support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations and from the George Lucas Educational Foundation creator of Edutopia and online resource dedicated to improving the learning experience for America's students with information and strategies about what works in k. Through 12 education learn more as Utopia dot org And the little market offering artisan made goods and home decor with a commitment to fair trade a nonprofit founded by women to empower female artists ends in marginalized communities around the world more at the Little Market dot com. Welcome back to let us say. When we left off the red power movement was going full force in the 1960 s. . And they were about to make a power play. Occupying the abandoned island of Alcatraz producer Janice and. Pick up the story. The students would make a total of 3 attempts to occupy Alcatraz Island the 1st time was on November 9th $1069.00 and it was set at the Century to be a publicity stunt. Media was there to capture the students Palau dancing and singing on the pier. Right at. The cameras were rolling and Richard was wearing a black heart again and a turquoise beaded headband wrapped around his head then he started reading from a collectively written document the Alcatraz proclamation the same one we heard at the beginning of the story we feel that the show called Alcatraz Island is more assured of before an Indian reservation by the white man's own standards by this remained at this place resembles most Indian reservations in that one it is isolated from modern facilities and without adequate means of transportation through it has no fresh running water. It has an adequate sanitation facilities for there are no oil for getting over to Alcatraz the activist have gotten hold of a boat called the Monte Cristo it was a boat that was used for reenactments and the activists chose it ironically because it looked like the kind of ship that Columbus would have sailed after the proclamation the group of activists some dressed in full regalia boarded and the captain of the ship fired off a blank cannon it wasn't enough for Richard that's Kent the buyer for we heard from earlier as the boat circled Alcatraz return and a few others jumped off and swam $250.00 yards to be Island. Crazy in this clip you can hear the reporter ask where is he referring to Richard I want to make you. Feel the Coast Guard pick them up right away and brought them back San Francisco but that night the activists were already plotting how to get back. For the 2nd attempt they got another boat to take them to Alcatraz secretly in the middle of the night here's Leonard again the Coast Guard helicopter people storming all over the island looking for us and we were just hiding out men a little secret locations giggling around. Because it was exciting new is there only when people were looking for us and they can find the activists the on the island until the next morning a local reporter found Richard and some occupiers hiding out in the main cell block Richard told the Press this morning it's about time his government starts recognizing that we are young people like to take over our own destiny the 2nd small takeover was a hit with local media the activists had last said overnight the end of an occupation was a short lived one and a peaceful one but they say they'll continue to press their claim for the island in the center they could build here by legal means deem the Berkeley student we heard from earlier remembers the moment he heard about the takeover Well I went to the Native American student office at 8 o'clock that Monday morning and there Paul place was going crazy and I said what's going on and one of the girls he says Well Richard in the leg and him swam over and to Alcatraz and occupied it last night that oh my god the activists were thrilled with all the publicity from these 2 trips to the island but they still wanted to take Alcatraz over for real so for the 3rd and final attempt the activists prepared for 2 weeks they wanted this one to be long term and in the 1st few hours of November 20th 1989 about 80 need of people including students but also families with children contra boats bound for the island got our sleeping bags out got to pots and pans get ready to go into the boats and go over. At dawn with tents and food and the boats of activists would dock on Alcatraz and as the occupiers set foot on the island the occupation of Al. Officially began. The next morning press began to gather and of course everybody was the reporters really said why why do you want to present why we're going to make it to university that's Richard's idea the activists didn't just want to move in they wanted to create an indigenous Macca they wanted to build a native studies program with the travelling university and they did a spiritual center and they did museum in the even wanted a restaurant fully run and operated by native people and this time the occupation grabbed the nation's attention including the White House here scant Nixon during this time had been proclaiming himself as the new kind of Indian president many indigenous activist at the time including one aide and Dean have actually said that Nixon was one of the best presidents to the Indigenous community President Nixon's football coach in college well this Newman was native and he was a man that Nixon said he admired only 2nd to his father according to Kant Nixon was very concerned about the well being of native students when the occupation began the last thing he could do or wanted to have happen is for the police or federal marshals or Coast Guard to raid the island have any native peoples or families get hurt because it wasn't just students that were there there were elders that were there there were families over there there was children that were there on the island and the federal government didn't seem to have a plan this is t. Hannan from the Government Services Administration which oversaw Alcatraz Island the ones who say that are you going to let the Indians remain there for. You know I am not. Then you must have a. Sort of deadline or. They can stay there and. That's what they told me. So the activists began to set up their operations of everyday life on this abandoned Island the prison had only 3 working toilets and barely anything water. For food they mostly lived off of donations Brad cakes sometimes takes Bologna a lot of bread and a lot of stuff like that hot dogs both would come and go with boxes of canned foods clothes whatever simple things they needed to survive the Fisherman's Wharf area or the sentence of Kobe has become sort of a ferry service one of Indians comes in from Alcatraz another one goes and it was freezing remember it was mid November I mean we're talking about 20 degrees above 30 above you know at night and no heating there's no eating we came from reservations were things were deplorable as that is. Being out there was was Ok They also to figure out where people are going to sleep many lived in empty cells of the huge prison that once held over $1500.00 prisoners but there was one song particular that people actually fought for the high spot for the people on the island was to sleep in the same cell as Al Capone. People did in the fight over I gotta say part of the policy. But let me just says that while many were sleeping in former jail cells there are also certain perks to living on the island I had a really nice room where I had a window when window I could see the Golden Gate Now the other window I could see the Bay Bridge so you know I thought wow this is really nice. A week after the occupation began Thanksgiving approached support for the occupation was strong pressure and sometime a disco donated turkeys and monetary donations flooded the mail room at the mainland headquarters needed people from across the country both young and old began making the pilgrimage to Alcatraz and on Thanksgiving Day More than 300 native people came to the island. By the end of December. The activists had started Radio Free Alcatraz and were broadcasting live in direct from the island. With radio. Well. The hosts of Santiago attending John used borrowed and donated radio equipment and talked about life on the island it was a way for others to hear all across the country is going on with their movement and people are raising money for the occupiers musicians put on rock and folk benefit shows including Buffy seigniory folk musician thinks we're going to war this but a. Celebrity started coming out to visit the island including Anthony Quinn and Ethel Kennedy Jane Fonda one of the biggest stars to visit the island even invited Lynn Ada what the time was limited means to speak on The Merv Griffin and Dick Cavett Show to introduce your Indian friend yes yes girl an Indian call means when it is. The occupation was getting all of this attention the late night shows the music shows and at the same time politically things were moving along a bills for sent it to the House of Representatives in December of 1969 to quote give Alcatraz back to the Indians it would give the occupiers full governance of the island worked its way through the bureaucratic mill but the bill failed last week the government said. It would make a profit on Alcatraz. Pretty bad all of. This very very old Murphy new railway. Tensions were starting to flare up Richard was getting a reputation for being a hothead and would often let these conflicts escalate into physical fights. A conference that was supposed to attract thousands to Alcatraz 2 days before Christmas had lower tendence news when the occupation started to wane as other issues and scandals took over the headlines like the Manson murders. Worked on the ranch. And 6 weeks into the occupation many occupiers who were students started to leave the island to resume their classes as the adults held meetings with politicians and plan their next steps the children remember whole families came on to the island were often left on their own Here's an Ada The kids were kind of their own little organization and group but we did have the Big Rock school there for a while where they you know went to school but after our teachers left then they just ran around the island in is pretty scary trying to think of a worship you know or in this just exciting for them they were having a great time and of course it was unfortunate what happened to Richard's daughter. Some of the children were running around and shop around including Richard's daughter Eve on. They had run up the steps to the very top Guard's corridors. When they got up there to have this thing where they thought they were really big. Over the rail. And they would get up there and then over the ridge. And she went and she leaned too far over and that's when she found. Richardson Leonard out was a young boy living on the island when it happened. I remember. Split her from one temple to. A fractured skull and brain injuries they had to take her off the island because there was no hospital or doctor that could attend to her and after 5 days she passed away at a hospital in San Francisco. Or. 'd Richard's children remember how painful this loss was for their mother. She came on. Air This is fun at the time and Richard's wife was pregnant with her arm was in her. Fun was born shortly after the accident and even though they called her fun her whole life her legal name is Yvonne and I'm named after. After the accident. Left the island and they. Coming up on that you know USA Richard tries to find meaning after the death of his daughter and the fate of the Alcatraz occupation. Stay with us. Support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations and from the Pew Charitable Trusts working with states to develop data driven nonpartisan solutions for complex issues more information is available at Pew Trust's dot org And the Charles Stuart foundation supporting efforts to promote a just equitable and sustainable society in its hometown of Flint Michigan and communities around the world more at Mach or. Welcome back to Latino USA. In the midst of the occupation of Alcatraz native activist Richard suffered a great personal tragedy and he decided to leave the island now he had to find a new way forward producers Geneseo Morgan and. Pick up the story. As Richard was grappling with the terrible death of his daughter the Red Power movement on Alcatraz and around the country was actually growing quickly there was movements were popping up all across the country and of course the press was having a field day in the sense of covering what is this new movement and trying to figure out what is red power. Indigenous occupations like out the traps were happening across the country from Ellis Island in New York to Pyramid Lake in Nevada only months after Bonds passing Richard was already planning on getting involved in another major protest Dean Richards friend came along Richard I took off in like March and went to Big River and stayed for 6 months so when Richard says we got to go up there and it helped those guys try to get some land back. While the occupation of Alcatraz was still ongoing Richard Lester Redding California the plan in reading was to help the Pit River nation reclaim traditional lands from the federal government needed activists decided they were going to trespass on the land and purposely get arrested in order to bring attention to their claim that the impression one comes away with here is one of other disbelief that a small band of Indians can really expect the federal government to sign all this land away and perhaps it will never happen but one thing seems certainly clear the Pit River Indians are not about to give up Pacific Gas and Electric also known as p. Genie currently occupied much of the land that the Pit River Tribe wanted to reclaim p.g. And e. Had also set up a camp for their employees to use as a vacation spot and so Richard and the other activists decided to occupy that summer camp in the middle of the night 3 o'clock this morning to our families. Woke up to some noise and at this point Richard informed them that worry about. This was. On their part it was a political move because the point of occupying wasn't just. A there like it wasn't Alcatraz but rather to purposefully get arrested for trespassing and then once arrested they would have to go to court they hope the trial would force the court to legally assess if they were trespassing or not if the land belonged to the Pit River Tribe according to law they weren't trespassing after all the activists actually won the case but a lot happened after the trial was over one night while they were in the midst of the Pit River occupation Richard fellow activists went out in San Francisco to a bar. That night Richard got into a bar fight and he ended up getting hit in the head with a pool cue. Rigidly unconscious and without medical attention for 10 hours that night. It was not until early the next morning and realized something was wrong she rushed into the hospital where they were perform brain surgery and for 13 days he was in a coma. Richard's condition made headlines and local news specially when in a last ditch effort to improve his health to indigenous medicine man came to the side of his hospital bed to see if they can help him heal where we administered certain herbs and together with prayers to the creator to the Great Spirit for the recovery of Richard. Richard was bedridden for all of July and the entire left side of his body was paralyzed and his face was still puffy from all the bruises. It had been 8 months since he left Alcatraz the occupation he helped start was still happening on the island but he was losing support and attention things are falling apart in the air they've been here the buildings seem to be burning down one by one the garbage just piling up the White House. Then while Richard was in the hospital he learned that President Nixon had released an unprecedented statement regarding Indigenous Affairs for the next all said they were the most deprived minority group in this country then he called for a new era of Indigenous affairs all around self-determination he reinstated federal recognition of individual tribes and he even gave some land back to the tallest Bible a tribe States for 700 years. Worshiped in this place and we restore this place of worship to them for all the years to come this was a very hopeful moment for the occupiers on Alcatraz for Leonida it was staggering to hear the president recognize the harm done to her community Nixon was champion all that and natives around the nation really perked up you know because we were. Similarly new to the mainstream of American society so to speak. And when that happened and it revived our culture again Richard however was wary that this was only lip service shortly after Nixon speech Richard was released from the hospital but he had to use a wheelchair Eloy Martinez a good friend of Richards that we heard from earlier some Richard speak at a Vietnam rally after he was released. After he left the hospital and I went to see him again another very down rally and a part of your brother Michael real sure you know you could hardly hear a man I really I don't know it was really really bad because he was such a vibrant person Richard eventually regained the ability to walk and participated in protests but things were not going well for the family he struggled to find work because of his physical condition but he continued over the next few months organizing with a Pit River nation and activists were still occupying Alcatraz until the tide turned round it started as a symbolic member of the 1969 and later turned into a bitter struggle but the. Rubber was ended here today after a year and a half of the occupation there were only 15 occupiers left on the island the government said that a few occupiers had stolen and sold copper wiring from the buildings on Alcatraz to get more money or attention this morning consisting of. Quoting. And using this as a justification u.s. Marshals on the Coast Guard went in and removed the remaining occupiers from Alcatraz the press interviewed Richard right away about Alcatraz to which he said what would become his most famous quote Alcatraz is not an island it's an idea. It's a movement and this movement began to kind of take over him. Alcatraz was much more than just reclaiming that particular piece of land it was about Awakening the American public to the issues that Indigenous people were facing including the stripping away of their land and culture and they hope to galvanize a new generation of indigenous people. Even though they were on the island when the occupation and it was still a difficult time Rich started working on a greenhouse farm the family was still struggling with money and his injuries left him walking with a limp. The family had moved onto the reservation but when Leonard Richardson remembers that time he doesn't remember his father as a b. In man one memory in particular stands out. And I remember we were standing in the middle of the road and he was holding my hand he has you want to race and I looked up at him and I go you know. Because you're hurt I told him No let's race so we raced and he and we raced down to the school and we raced back yeah he beat me. He beat me and you know I was there I was my little legs are moving as fast as they can but yeah he beat me and I remember that Richard spent a lot of time writing he was working on a manifesto he had always had a vision of himself traveling the country going to colleges and universities to help preserve Native history here's. A school was to get ready to take here and astronomy like you know traveling talking to young people all over what was going on you know. This is where Richard story comes to an abrupt end the way it happened is both upsetting and allusive Here are the things we know for sure. Richard's family started to frequent the nearby y.m.c.a. They had horses that the kids like to ride on and it was a community center that many families visit and here's Kent Richard's biographer once more there was an employee that started working there not too soon after Richard in any had moved back to his name was Michael Moore again he was a former military police officer who had been honorably discharged and he essentially was the director of this white camp Michel Martin was said to have been open in his disdain of native people apparently he once said it was quote open season on Indians and that Richard was a trouble maker and that the country would be better off without him Michael was also afraid of Richard it was known that Michael and Richard had had heated arguments about Indigenous land rights issues Morgan would kind of go after Richard he would go back to his house to go grab a gun thinking there. Was going to attack him in some capacity even though Richard still was suffering from some of the debilitating a fax of his is beating from years before. One day Michael Morgan Chase down 2 native young men who he suspected were trying to steal the horses Michael went after them with a rifle one of the boys escaped and the other was held at gunpoint until the sheriff came to arrest him Richard went to Michael's house to find out what happened to the rest of Richard was unarmed this is where the sequence of events is contested at the court case that followed Michael Morgan would take the stand and claim that Richard lunged at him and he shot him for fear of losing his own life which is lawyer argued that given his injuries Richard cannot have lunged at Michael like he described the bullet Michael shot when straight through Richard's chest Richard was 30 years old. Children were at home when it happened and happened. Down there we watched it on t.v. . That happens. At the trial Morgan was charged with manslaughter even though Richard's family believes the charge should have been murder after the jury deliberated for 3 days Michael Morgan was acquitted on March 16th 1973 even Martinez was called up to help the family plan for Richard's funeral. And just turned into a kind of Big Show senior everything wish. They had to scramble to prepare for his birthday all. Around Jack as you very very very jacket and. Part of the mortuary and embalming because they don't have any money so they revolving him and then they were released body to Earth you know who nobody had any money. And some people went into their mortuary and started complaining about the smell once the funeral finally did come together hundreds of people came to pay their respects. 600 people the largest group of Native people ever to gather in Washington came together for a protest called the Trail of Broken Treaties yesterday a caravan of cars began converging on Washington bearing leaders who represent a coalition of 3 quarters of our country's 300 American Indian tribes of protesters wanted to present the Nixon administration with a 20 point plan to establish Native sovereignty 500 angry. But after a confrontation between protesters and the police the Nixon administration refused to meet with them. Today Richard Oakes is remembered by his children his wife and passed in 2010 but for many years Richards family didn't talk a lot about him Leonard who's only 5 when his father died didn't know why maybe it was too painful to talk about but when he turned 12 he became curious about his father as a young boy I had the opportunity to go to read all of these paper clippings his mama collected all the newspaper clippings about his father in a box there were times when I have to go in there and just pull this stuff out just sit there and just read for like a whole day just read whatever equipment I was curious. I was just so I wanted to know I wanted to know what the heck this was about. Leonard learned not just about his father but about Indigenous history I didn't know that they were forbidden to wear their hair long or to speak their own language I don't know these things I became consciously aware of who I was as a person because of him. We think of Indigenous history as the 1st chapter in our history books there's always an oil painting with some European white man in fancy blue as handing a red cloth and some beads to an Indigenous man with a stern face but native history didn't stop there it was only 50 years ago that Richard Oaks reclaimed Alcatraz Island a native nation and fight over land and resources continue today just look at Standing Rock Richard Oaks stood up for native people at every turn and ultimately it cost him his life but while his indigenous Mecca on Alcatraz failed Richard in his fellow occupiers inspired a movement in which members of all tribes saw their fate as connected to each other . As Richard said Alcatraz is not an island it's an idea to get the feeling when I read these things this story is not over. This thing is not even completed. It's been 50 years since the occupation and since then an Indigenous Peoples Day And on Thanksgiving hundreds of people gather on Alcatraz for a Sun Rice ceremony a celebration of Indigenous history with prayers and traditional dancing that also . Piece tribute to the Alcatraz occupiers one of them was Richard Oaks. still going on meaning to me. And that's it for today you know USA is produced by me and my c.s. Until you see the Hugo Maggie freedom. And he says with help this week from Jena were edited by subpoena police a caught our senior editor to spin on the Coming up fact check invite mileage turn of Polly dinette special thanks to the folks family. Ryan Pettigrew will chase and Ken plants an author of a journey to freedom a biography of Richard. We had music in this episode from Buffy Samaria a p a pop Creek folk musician and activist. Try. A canadian 1st Nations teacher Our engineers are Stephanie and Julie Crusoe production manager. Our digital team includes. Our interns our. And. Our theme music was composed. If you like the music you heard on. Us aid and check out our weekly playlist I'm your host and executive producer. And in the meantime. All of your social media. Latino USA is made possible in part by the John d. And Catherine team MacArthur Foundation the Ford Foundation working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide and w k Kellogg Foundation a partner with communities where children come 1st. Picture Brooklyn in the early 19 fifties basically which it does support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations and from the Alfred p. Sloan Foundation committed to bridging science and the arts to develop a common language so that they can better understand and speak to one another more information is available I've Slone dot org and the Andrew w. Mellon foundation guided by the belief that the arts and humanities are essential to the well being of diverse and democratic societies learn more at Melun that org This is n.p.r. And this is k.q.e.d. Public radio tonight special from what we know USA will be on again tomorrow morning at 2 support for k.q.e.d. Comes from a sleep world a locally owned family run business that has helped promote healthy sleep in the Bay Area for 50 years with 33 locations and hundreds of mattresses to choose from. Has a mattress to fit any budget sleep World dot com and for American Wendy Schmidt whose fund for strategic innovation supports transformative ideas that benefit humanity while protecting the natural world recognizing through science the interdependence of all living systems news from the b.b.c. Is next. On the next coming of probably the program National Review editor Rich Lowry joins us for a discussion about nationalism this Friday pm on k.q.e.d. . San Francisco fam North Highlands It's 9 o'clock. At 5 am g.m.t. Welcome to the news removed from the b.b.c. World Service I'm Sean it's gonna get celebrations in Sudan as the ruling policy is formally dissolved and a law used to regulate the lives of women is scrapped We'll get reaction. One way or the other buyer. As the climate strikes continue here from demonstrations in Australia wasn't just a bushfire it was it was a strong idea how things have been lost in my community this is the planning process the prehistoric puppy that could give scientists vital information about the d.n.a. Of dogs and hear about the rugby team that's undergoing changes after the Christchurch attacks now it's with with helmets and swords and China and so on going around horses that was gone it is gone forever we won't see that again 1st the nice. Hello I'm Tom what's with the b.b.c. News people in the Sudanese capital Khartoum have been celebrating on the streets until well into the night after the transitional authorities announced they had formally dissolved the former ruling party the dismantling of the n.c.p. Was a key demand of the Sudanese professionals' Association the protest movement that toppled Bashir last April that spokeswoman summit here welcome to the new law banning the party this is the most important law for all it's very visionary balik because. Really. There is very little and here. And I think only and the dismantling of the. President's Trump has made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan telling us troops that the Taliban wanted to agree to a ceasefire Mr Trump thanked American and Afghan soldiers who he said were responsible for the Taliban's desire for an agreement Chris Buckley reports while officials insisted the trip was not connected to peace talks with the Taliban President Trump did confirm that the u.s. Had restarted negotiations the Us president also met Afghanistan's leader President Ashraf Ghani during what was his 2nd visit to an active conflict zone since taking office Mr Trump again emphasized his desire to remove troops from the Middle East he said that the u.s. Would be substantially reducing its presence in Afghanistan a louis didn't give numbers or details research by psychiatrists suggest there's nearly a quarter of young people a so dependent on their smartphones that it becomes like an addiction the study by King's College London says there is need for public awareness around phone use in young people Shawn Cochran reports the psychometrist warned of young people becoming panicky or upset if they were denied access to their smartphones and like many addictions the excessive use of smart phones could be detrimental to.