Alcatraz Island the prison that closed in 1963 lay Idle for 6-7 years.
Side note Charles Mac Niel worked at the prison.
Side note 2
I remember when the Escape from the prison.
Anglin Brothers .
OK
American Indian Movement.
Circa Spring 1969 New York City
John Trudell
I met John at a forum talk held by the Socialist workers party. He spoke about the struggles of and injustices towards the Native Americans.
These forum talks were fairly informal usually about 100 people more or less.
I introduced myself and became acquainted enough so that when a year later I wanted to visit Alcatraz while it was occupied I was able to get access by referring to John as my friend.
There was a fear and caution about who the Natives would allow on the island Fear of government agents who wanted to end the occupation. My motives were twofold. I wanted to help in anyway I could and I also wanted to make a film with an 8mm camera which I hoped to use for my High school film project. (Diane Black Piedmont High school)
The Island had no power or other utilities. these had been disconnected/ disabled by the government when the Prison was closed down. The Natives were renting portable diesel generators to provide basic power. I had recently gotten a Job at the Telegraph Repertory cinema theater. My Boss Frank Nimz was an electrical engineer Ex Lockheed MSC (Arc Labs) I asked him if he would come out to the Island if I could arrange it and look at the existing Steam / generation plant and determine if it could be restored to operation. Frank agreed and I began reconnecting with John Trudell. he remembered me and was grateful that I might be able to help. Frank and me went over to San Francisco (Fisherman's wharf) and I talked our way onto one of the small power boats which took us to the Island. When we landed there was a brief verification of my references. Are you Native? "I'm brown and said I probably had some Native blood) Enough I explained our mission and goals and we were allowed on. Frank and Me went to the steam generator plant to assess what the condition was. We looked for any documentation on how it operated. we looked for connections and we looked for fuel. How does it work and is their fuel to Run it? and can we reconnect it to the local grid.? So re connection was going to require a replacement of a section of the output power lines since a 2 foot piece of the cables had been cut and removed . Operators manuals and documentation. We found most of the operations documentation had been vandalized and scattered all over the inside floors in the operating areas.This was an obstacle. Finally the Fuel. We found th eFuel bunker north east side of the island . we looked into the main opening and it was full of fuel probably 50.000 gallons. However it also had a lot of the documentation and some furniture floating in it. Frank's opinion was that the cost to restore it to operation would be pretty high and that without the documentation safe operation would be problematic (Remember there was no Internet or other references available) I did Make that film and I did show it and got a great grade in Film class. I am not sure what happened to the film over the years. I Am always hoping it will show up . To place my Visits in Time . I went the first time when the Wardens house was still intact and the second time after it was burned. The Rumors I hears were that someone had built a fire there to keep warm and it got out of control. Donations. I remember there was an area near the docks in one of the first buildings that was packed floor to ceiling with donated warm clothes. It seemed like enough clothes fo the entire native population in the USA . This made me sure we had a lot of popular support for the movement. I believe this overall event helped surface the history of Injustices towards the Natives and helped motivate real change in the government relations with the Native population.
I was an active member of the YSA Young Socialist Alliance at the time . (A whole wide world of noble causes)
