American Indian Culture and Research Journal

The occupation of Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay on 14 November 1969 was one of the most significant events for American Indians in contemporary history. It spawned a movement that has touched the lives of many in the indigenous community and has resulted in many dramatic changes. The occupation has been called a defining moment in American Indian protest, heralding the beginning of the Red Power movement, but I personally believe it was more than that. It set the stage for the spiritual rebirth of the original peoples of this land, and it was the beginning of the reclaiming of pride and dignity for all Indian nations in the Western Hemisphere. Twenty-five years later, this movement has proven to be the catalyst that released the voices of indigenous people. My spiritual journey to Alcatraz began three years before the occupation, when I was a student athlete at Window Rock High School in Fort Defiance, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation. One of the high points of my youth was an invitation to participate in a major league baseball tryout camp conducted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in July 1966 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I was given very good ratings as a prospect to play professional baseball. For the next two years, 1967–69, I was a member of the Arizona Western College baseball team in Yuma and played in one of the toughest junior college baseball conferences in the country.