40th Anniversary - occupation of Alcatraz Island and the birth of contemporary Activism.

The Bay Area and San Francisco has always been the center of change. No one will ever forget the take over of Alcatraz Island some forty years ago. Yearly, some of us make this pilgrimage to Alcatraz Island on "Un-thanksgiving Day" before sun rise and give honor to the Great Spirit. Will you all join us - this year and make a BIG difference for all humanity - November 26, 2009 - much before five in the morning at Pier 33 at Fishermens' Wharf in San Francisco.

The American Indian Movement (AIM) as it was known has sown the seed of much good and millions have made gains from the sweat, the blood and death of those that stood for what was - right. The movement has faded some what - but in recent years there has been a revival of sorts.

Just recently on November 20, 2009 a Mural was unveiled at San Francisco State University. The last permanent MURAL to adorn the walls of the Cesar Chavez Student Center - West Plaza, honoring the First People and connecting the dots. Reference was made to the 40th year anniversary of the take over of Alcatraz Island by AIM.

History has not been kind to the First People and one area that I am interested in and involved with is incarceration of our First People - this land all of it - belongs to them and was stolen from them. The Stranger does not like to hear that - but it is a fact of LIFE.

Here is California to be factual over sixty percent of the First People Tribes are not Federally Recognized. And so in their own Mother Land the many noble Tribes are treated like second class citizens. Others enjoy better rights and this is not right.

In California 18 treaties were signed by the United States government and the indigenous people of California - I call the First People - NONE of them were ratified.

Up until 1924 the Strangers could kill a Native American, no questions asked and what is more fetch a measly $5 for their scalp. Nothing much has changed. Edicts were sent by the Governor of California - today other evil edicts still make innocent people and mostly poor people - suffer.

The United States Interior Department and the Bureau of Indian Affairs - still treat the First People with disdain. Trillions of dollars in Trust Money, belonging to the First People - is NOT accounted for by the Department of Interior. The crooks say - a flood came and destroyed the documents but no one stores money in the basement but the BANKS - controlled by these EVIL people. When will they tell the TRUTH?

In California our women jails in Chowchilla and the neighboring women jails incarcerate thousands - over four thousand to be precise. Over forty eight percent of the women jailed population are First People. If this is not a crying shame - I do not know what is. I will be going to visit the Chowchilla Valley Women Jail - December 7, 2009 and speak the TRUTH.

It is the same with our First People and the men population - even though the First People constitute just one percent of the general population - a very high percentage of incarceration is linked to the First People. This must change - now.

There is FREEDOM and there is LICENSE - and abuse of FREEDOM is LICENSE.

In the early 1950's it was not uncommon for the First People from other States in this Nation to be sent to California. A sister could be given a one way ticket to Oakland. The brother could be sent to Los Angeles. With some little money and no connection the sister and brother had to fend for themselves. Many resorted to drinking and other evil vices that the Stranger has in store for them.

This Nation and the authorities have NOT been kind to the First People. Today, many in the general population do not like to talk about the atrocities but the matter of fact is that many have blood on their hands. There must be an APOLOGY - much like the Governments of Canada and Australia have offered to the indigenous people - of those two nations.

Why is the United States so slow to speak the truth - it is because there is much TRUTH in the saying the strangers speak with fork tongues? Much like a poisonous snake that can spring up and kill you with its fangs and venom?

The American Indian Movement spurred many to fight for what is right. I have had the fortune to meet many of the leaders and what is more those that learned from them and are alive today - doing some noble work.

I admire the work done at the Indian Friendship House in Oakland and the one in San Francisco. I am more connected with the one in Oakland. Once it was on the verge of closing down - but the Great Grandfather saw to it that we came together - and saved it from permanent - closure.

The American Indian Movement declined in the 1970s infiltrated by the CONTELPRO linked to the Federal Bureau of Investigation that sought actively to neutralize any activists organization. Suffice it to say hundred of the members of the American Red-Indian Movement died on Reservations and other places - targeted by the ENEMY. Nothing much has changed and even today the same tactics are used - a little sugar coated with poisonous saccharin.

The Trial of Tears, the Longest Walk, our yearly walks from Shellmound to Shellmound keep the faith alive and the memory of our ancestors like a burning fire. There is a crisis at Glen Cove the strangers want to defile a Shellmound. There is a Crisis at Medicine Lake and there are serious issues at San Bruno Mountain - the largest intact Shellmound.

The Shellmounds stood intact for thousands of years - like acupuncture needles - healing Mother Earth. The desecration of Shellmounds at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, Crissy Field, Emeryville, San Bruno Mountain, Glen Cove - will not go unnoticed. These are our trails and tribulations that we have to deal with - daily.

The Strangers are strange - and they want all the land they can control for free - they are never satisfied with the millions of acres they have stolen. They raped our women and killed our children. Grabbed innocent children and put them in boarding schools tried to brain-wash them.

Much before the Strangers knew to read and write and called themselves civilized - for thousands of years the Six Nations had an organization and order in place. Many European Countries copied the government and governance of the Six Nations and the Iroquois Confederacy.

Our so called Founding Fathers stole large sections of the governance and documentation and incorporated it in a half-way, messy, convoluted manner into the Constitution of the United States of America.

The Six Nations for example treated all human beings equally. Not so the Constitution of the United States. Women and Blacks for example could not vote until very recently. Blacks were treated as sub-human and so were the First People. This, what I write are facts of life - but the strangers will have none of that.

The prophets from the Hopi Nation and the Shamans of old - saw it all and what they said about the strangers was not good. They have spoken to me and what I write - I have no fear about.

Brothers, Sisters, and children of the many Nations linked to the First People - people of color and more indigenous people - the Polynesians, the Latinos, the many others that share my thoughts - we must preserve the culture of our ancestors and stay away from the mundane habits, greed, and poison meted-out every day in the media by those that cannot think with the heart.

The Great Spirit warned us - but few of us pay heed.

There is much good in fasting, walking freely, thinking with heart, and breathing and feeling the throb of the drum beat. Respect Mother Earth and walk this Earth - tall, proud, and never, ever succumb to the EVIL stranger and their sordid ways. Aho.

See you all on Alcatraz - I will be there with my Sisters and Brothers and children. The first boat leaves Pier 33 - before 5 am - much before sunrise. Walk in peace and with no fear - together we can make a difference and what is more - bring about drastic change. We can go to a better place - we must fine tune our conscience and moral values.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/franciscodacosta/sets/72157622845113254/


Francisco Da Costa
Director
Environmental Justice Advocacy


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