The Indians’ first official proclamation to the public followed shortly thereafter in a manifesto addressed to “The Great White Father and All His People.” In it, the activists stated their intentions to use the island for an Indian school, cultural center and museum. Graffiti from the Indian occupation of Alcatraz Island. Home of the Free Indian Land.” Other buildings were tagged with slogans like “Red Power” and “ Custer Had It Coming.” A message appeared on the water tower reading: “Peace and Freedom. Ignoring warnings that their occupation was illegal, they moved into the old warden’s house and guards’ quarters and began personalizing the island with graffiti. After sailing through San Francisco Bay under cover of darkness, the Indians landed at Alcatraz and claimed the island for all the tribes of North America. Indians of All Tribes made a final attempt to seize Alcatraz in the early morning hours of November 20, 1969-this time with an occupation force of 89 men, women and children. “If a one-day occupation by white men on Indian land years ago established squatter’s rights,” he told The San Francisco Chronicle, “then the one-day occupation of Alcatraz should establish Indian rights to the island.” They only stayed for a night before the authorities removed them, but Oakes stressed that the landing had been a symbolic act. A handful of protestors first journeyed to the island on November 9, 1969, under the leadership of Mohawk college student Richard Oakes. When an October 1969 fire destroyed San Francisco’s American Indian Center, an activist group known as “Indians of All Tribes” set their sights on the unused land at Alcatraz.
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