Alcatraz Is Not an Island and It Shouldn’t Be a Distraction

Alcatraz marks a pivotal turning point in Native American history. Its 1969 occupation by a group known as Indians of All Tribes made an indelible mark on Indigenous activism, inspiring the Red Power Movement to flourish for years to come. Lumbee tribal member Dean Chavers was a part of that 19-month occupation which drew international attention. A lifelong advocate for Indigenous education, Chavers wrote, “The Alcatraz slogan ‘Alcatraz Is Not an Island’ came to mean that the occupation was about much more than the simple occupation of an island. It was about justice and a better life for Indian people, the poorest people in the United States. It was about Indian self-government and self-determination. It was about Indian pride, preserving Indian heritage, preserving Indian languages, and preserving Indian religions.”

The Alcatraz site is now a national park showcasing its history to millions of people who visit it every year. The site is back in the news due to diatribes that people “in our country illegally” should inspire the United States to reopen the former prison “to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders [sic].” While those assertions have drawn the ire of Native and non-Native humanitarians and historians alike, tribal educators can’t let unrealistic demands distract us from protecting the future the Alcatraz occupiers envisioned for our students.

There were many reasons for the Alcatraz occupation, each of which had deep historical antecedents, but the occupiers’ collective demands were entirely forward looking. Historians have highlighted the inspiration for the 1969 protest, including the abrogation of treaty rights, a fire at the San Francisco Indian Center, the failed Indian termination policy, and the influx of Native people to the cities due to the Indian Relocation Act. While there were many leaders of the protest, one whose name is synonymous with its calls for change is Santee Dakota tribal member John Trudell who broadcasted his Radio Free Alcatraz show nightly, spreading the message of Red Power across Turtle Island. A review of those broadcasts reveals the repeated desire to turn the island into a cultural and educational center for Native people. The occupiers sought a place that celebrated Native cultures and languages, taught traditional arts, and examined current and historical issues from a Native perspective. What Trudell and others were describing was a disruption of the destructive reach of colonization. What they were seeking was a tribal college or university (TCU).  

In the book, Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism, Eve L. Ewing lays bare the myth that education was propagated for the public good. All schools are immersion schools, and what Black and Native people are immersed in is too often tainted by bigotry, cultural superiority, and the fiction that one’s race determined their intelligence, potential, and ambitions for their future. Ewing not only illustrates the physical and psychological wounds inflicted by schools; she shows how it was intentionally enacted by powerbrokers who saw the world in terms of predetermined hierarchies. The details from reductive publications, surveys, and coursework are infuriating, yet Ewing’s book is not merely a report but also a call to action. She concludes, “We can, and must, build schools for us . . . we have each other, and we have all the pieces we need. We just need to braid them together.” This book will galvanize the search for culturally affirming pedagogy.

Tribal narratives are especially needed in our classrooms. Last month saw the publication of Red Cliff Band of Wisconsin Ojibwe tribal member Mary Annette Pember’s book, Medicine River: A Story of Survival and the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools. In it, Pember details the national and personal trauma inflicted on both students and their descendants. A decorated journalist, Pember reexamines her late mother’s educational experiences to critique the policies, institutions, and ramifications of failed federal education policy enacted by misguided Christian schoolmasters. Pember traces specific and general acts of violence, rhetorical symbols, and the shortcomings of previous apologies meant to cover a multitude of sins. She is astute in highlighting that healing cannot be a one-sided initiative, insisting that “framing resilience as only on personal agency, the bootstrap American exceptionalism myth, ignores the institutionalized violence created by the U.S. government and white settler social infrastructures.” Yet what resonates is her call to “Jingle Dress Healing” through traditional cultural practices held in culturally affirming spaces.

The literature supports that diverse places which honor cultural teachings are needed for people to heal, be fortified, and to thrive. Alcatraz will never be recommissioned to house humans, but it can be co-opted to distract us from our mission to offer a tribally centered education to anyone who walks through the doors of a TCU. While the costs to renovate the aging prison turned national park are not fiscally feasible, devastating cuts to minority education are a daily reality. The physical site of Alcatraz Island does not need our protecting. The ideas voiced by the occupiers do. Alcatraz is not an island, and we can’t let calls to the contrary distract us from the work we do to support our students.

Ryan Winn, PhD, teaches in the Liberal Studies Department at College of Menominee Nation.  

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in the Inquisitive Academic or any other opinion columns published by the Tribal College Journal (TCJ) do not necessarily reflect the opinions of TCJ or the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. 

References

Chavers, D. (2019). “Alcatraz Is Not an Island.” World Literature Today. Retrieved from https://worldliteraturetoday.org/2019/autumn/alcatraz-not-island-dean-chavers

Ewing, E.L. (2025). Original Sins: The (Mis)Education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism. New York: One World.

Jeyaretnam, M. (2025, May 6). “What to Know About Trump’s Plan to Reopen Alcatraz.” Time. Retrieved from https://time.com/7282551/alcatraz-trump-rebuild-open-prison-island-judges-immigration-costs-history/

Pember, M.A. (2025). Medicine River: A Story of Survival and the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools. New York: Pantheon.