"Right of Discovery" - Occupation of Alcatraz, Medicine Man

[PINNAZ]

Occupation of Alcatraz

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Alcatraz

The Occupation of Alcatraz was an occupation of Alcatraz Island by the group Indians of All Tribes (IAT). The Alcatraz Occupation lasted for nineteen months, from November 20, 1969, to June 11, 1971, and was forcibly ended by the U.S. government. Alcatraz Island was occupied by Native American activists for the first time on March 8, 1964. A small group of Sioux demonstrated by occupying the island for four hours. The entire party consisted of about 40 people, including photographers, reporters and Elliot Leighton, the lawyer representing those claiming land stakes.

According to the IAT, the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) between the U.S. and the Sioux returned all retired, abandoned or out-of-use federal land to the Native people from whom it was acquired. Since Alcatraz penitentiary had been closed on March 21, 1963, and the island had been declared surplus federal property in 1964, a number of Red Power activists felt the island qualified for a reclamation. Indians of All Tribes then claimed Alcatraz Island by the "Right of Discovery", as indigenous peoples knew it thousands of years before any Europeans had come to North America. Begun by urban Indians of San Francisco, the occupation attracted other Native Americans from across the country, including American Indian Movement (AIM) urban activists from Minneapolis.

In 1969, Adam Fortunate Eagle planned a symbolic occupation for November 9. Mohawk Richard Oakes and a larger group of student activists joined Fortunate Eagle and changed the course of events. After Adam Fortunate Eagle convinced the owner of the Monte Cristo, a three-masted yacht, to pass by the island when their own boats did not arrive, Oakes, Jim Vaughn (Cherokee), Joe Bill (Eskimo), Ross Harden (Ho-Chunk) and Jerry Hatch jumped overboard, swam to shore, and claimed the island by "Right of Discovery”. The Coast Guard quickly removed the men, but later that day, a larger group made their way to the island again, and fourteen stayed overnight. The following day, Oakes delivered a proclamation, written by Fortunate Eagle, to the General Services Administration (GSA) which claimed the island by "Right of Discovery”, after which the group left the island.

http://bayradical.blogspot.com.au/2007/11/alcatraz.html

We, the native Americans, reclaim the land known as Alcatraz Island in the name of all American Indians by Right of Discovery.

We wish to be fair and honorable in our dealings with the Caucasian inhabitants of this land, and hereby offer the following treaty:

     We will give to the inhabitants of this island a portion of the land for their own to then to be held in trust...by the Bureau of Caucasian Affairs...in perpetuity -- for as long as the sun shall rise and the rivers go down to the sea. We will further guide the inhabitants in the proper way of living. We will offer them our religion, our education, our life-ways in order to help them achieve our level of civilization and thus raise them and all their white brothers up from their savage and unhappy state. We offer this treaty in good faith and wish to be fair and honorable in our dealings with all white men.

     A Center for Native American Studies will be developed which will educate them to the skills and knowledge relevant to improve the lives and spirits of all Indian peoples. Attached to this center will be traveling universities, managed by Indians, which will go to the Indian Reservations, learning those necessary and relevant materials now about.

2.     An Indian Center of Ecology, which will train and support our young people in scientific research and practice to restore our lands and waters to their pure and natural state. We will work to de-pollute the air and waters of the Bay Area. We will seek to restore fish and animal life to the area and to revitalize sea-life which has been threatened by the white man's way. We will set up facilities to desalt sea water for human benefit.

4.     We invite the United States to acknowledge the justice of our claim. The choice now lies with the leaders of the American government - to use violence upon us as before to remove us from our Great Spirit's land, or to institute a real change in its dealing with the American Indian. We do not fear your threat to charge us with crimes on our land. We and all other oppressed peoples would welcome spectacle of proof before the world of your title by genocide. Nevertheless, we seek peace.

Collapse and Removal

On January 3, 1970, Yvonne Oakes, 13-year-old daughter of Annie and stepdaughter to Richard, fell to her death, prompting the Oakes family to leave the island, saying they just didn't have the heart for it anymore. Some of the original occupiers left to return to school, and some of the new occupiers had drug addictions. Some non-aboriginal members of San Francisco's drug and hippie scene also moved to the island, until non-Indians were prohibited from staying overnight.

By late May, the government had cut off all electrical power and all telephone service to the island. In June, a fire of disputed origin destroyed numerous buildings on the island. Left without power, fresh water, and in the face of diminishing public support and sympathy, the number of occupiers began to dwindle. On June 11, 1971, a large force of government officers removed the remaining 15 people from the island.

Though fraught with controversy and forcibly ended, the Occupation is hailed by many as a success for having attained international attention for the situation of native peoples in the United States, and for sparking more than 200 instances of civil disobedience among Native Americans.

Today, the Wardens house is a ruin, burned down during the AIM (American Indian Movement) Occupation of Alcatraz on June 1, 1970. Like many sites on the island, the house is reputed to be haunted. Several guards reported seeing the spectre of a man with mutton-chop sideburns during a party wearing a gray suit and brimmed cap, leaving the room icy cold and extinguishing the fire in the Ben Franklin stove.

Impact

The Occupation of Alcatraz had a direct effect on federal Indian policy and, with its visible results, established a precedent for Indian activism. While the Nixon administration did not accede to the demands of the protesters, it was aware of the delicate nature of the situation, and so could not forcibly remove them. In Nixon’s July 8, 1970, Indian message, he decried termination, proclaiming, “self-determination among Indian people can and must be encouraged without the threat of eventual termination.”

Much of the Indian rights activism of the period can be traced to the Occupation of Alcatraz. The Trail of Broken Treaties, the BIA occupation, the Wounded Knee incident, and the Longest Walk all have their roots in the occupation. The American Indian Movement noted from their visit to the occupation that the demonstration garnered national attention, while those involved faced no punitive action. When AIM members seized the Mayflower II on Thanksgiving, 1970, the Occupation of Alcatraz was noted as “the symbol of a newly awakened desire among Indians for unity and authority in a white world.”

Moreover, the Alcatraz Occupation greatly influenced the American government's decision to end its Indian termination policy and to pass the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975. The Alcatraz Occupation led to an annual celebration of the rights of indigenous people, Unthanksgiving day, welcoming all visitors to a dawn ceremony under permits by the National Park Service.

These 2 videos some up the first section of my post - both 10 mins

Debate on the Rock: The American Indian Occupation of Alcatraz

"The Mouse That Roared"- The 1969 Indian Occupation of Alcatraz

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“Right of Discovery” - Discovery Doctrine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_doctrine

http://ili.nativeweb.org/sdrm_art.html

The Discovery doctrine is a concept of public international law expounded by the United States Supreme Court in a series of decisions, most notably Johnson v. M'Intosh in 1823. Chief Justice John Marshall justified the way in which colonial powers laid claim to lands belonging to sovereign indigenous nations during the Age of Discovery. Under it, title to lands lay with the government whose subjects explored and occupied a territory whose inhabitants were not subjects of a European Christian monarch. The doctrine has been primarily used to support decisions invalidating or ignoring aboriginal possession of land in favor of colonial or post-colonial governments.

Colonial History

The origins of the doctrine can be traced to Pope Nicholas V's issuance of the papal bull Romanus Pontifex in 1455. The bull allowed Portugal to claim and conquer lands in West Africa. Pope Alexander VI extended to Spain the right to conquer newly-found lands in 1493, with the papal bull Inter caetera, after Christopher Columbus had already begun doing so. Arguments between Portugal and Spain led to the Treaty of Tordesillas which clarified that only non-Christian lands could thus be taken, as well as drawing a line of demarcation to allocate potential discoveries between the two powers.

United States Law

According to the United States Supreme Court's decision in Johnson v. M'Intosh, this theory of Christian expansion and possession of newly discovered lands, despite native presence, was one by which all colonial powers operated. Chief Justice Marshall, writing the decision, held that the United Kingdom had taken title to the lands which constituted the United States when the British discovered them. Marshall pointed to the exploration charters given to John Cabot as proof that the British had operated under the doctrine. The tribes which occupied the land were, at the moment of discovery, no longer completely sovereign and had no property rights but rather merely held a right of occupancy. Further, only the discovering nation or its successor could take possession of the land from the natives by conquest or purchase. Natives could not sell the land to private citizens but only to the discovering government.

The doctrine was used in numerous other cases as well. With Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, it supported the concept that tribes were not independent states but "domestic dependent nations". The decisions in Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe and Duro v. Reina used the doctrine to prohibit tribes from criminally prosecuting first non-Indians, then Indians who weren't a member of the prosecuting tribe.

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Some History of Alcatraz Island

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcatraz_Island

http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/mainpg.htm

Native Americans kept well away from the island, calling it "Evil Island" and believing it to be cursed. The first Spaniard to document the island was Juan Manuel de Ayala in 1775, who charted San Francisco Bay, and named one of the three islands he identified as the "La Isla de los Alcatraces," which translates as "The Island of the Pelicans," from the archaic Spanish alcatraz, "pelican", a word which was probably borrowed from Arabic القطرس al-qaṭrās, meaning sea eagle. Over the years, the English version ‘Alcatraz’ became popular and is now widely used.

In August 1827, French Captain Auguste Bernard Duhaut-Cilly wrote

...running past Alcatraces (Pelicans) Island...covered with a countless number of these birds. A gun fired over the feathered legions caused them to fly up in a great cloud and with a noise like a hurricane.

Military Garrison

The earliest recorded owner of the island of Alcatraz is Julian Workman, to whom it was given by Mexican governor Pio Pico in June, 1846, with the understanding that Workman would build a lighthouse on it.

In 1850, President Millard Fillmore ordered that Alcatraz Island be set aside specifically as a United States military reservation, for military purposes based upon the U.S. acquisition of California from Mexico following the Mexican-American War. Fremont had expected a large compensation for his initiative in purchasing and securing Alcatraz Island for the U.S. government, but the U.S. government later invalidated the sale and paid Fremont nothing. Fremont and his heirs sued for compensation during protracted but unsuccessful legal battles that extended into the 1890s.

Following the acquisition of California by the United States as a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) which ended the Mexican-American War, and the onset of the California Gold Rush the following year, the U.S. Army began studying the suitability of Alcatraz Island for the positioning of coastal batteries to protect the approaches to San Francisco Bay. In 1853, under the direction of Zealous B. Tower, the United States Army Corps of Engineers began fortifying the island, work which continued until 1858, eventuating in Fortress Alcatraz.

The island's first garrison at Camp Alcatraz, numbering about 200 soldiers and 11 cannon, arrived at the end of that year. When the American Civil War broke out in 1861 the island mounted 85 cannon (increased to 105 cannon by 1866) in casemates around its perimeter, though the small size of the garrison meant only a fraction of the guns could be used at one time. At this time it also served as the San Francisco Arsenal for storage of firearms to prevent them falling into the hands of Confederate sympathizers.

The island was also the site of the first operational lighthouse on the West Coast of the United States. Alcatraz never fired its guns offensively, though during the war it was used to imprison Confederate sympathizers and privateers on the west coast

Alcatraz Citadel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcatraz_Citadel

Native Americans, known as Ohlone (A Miwok Indian word), were the earliest known inhabitants of the Alcatraz island before it attained its niche in history as the most secure prison for notorious criminals. Even though they avoided the island as they believed that evil spirits resided there due to the bad atmosphere they got from the place, they were using it for deporting their criminals under the tribal law to live on the island in isolation. They also gathered eggs of birds and marine food from the island. Even after the Spanish discovered the Island in 1759, and started spreading Christianity, the natives who did not want to convert used the islands as their refuge.

Hopi Inmates of Alcatraz Citadel

During the Indian Wars that followed the civil war, Indians who went against the government were sent to the Alcatraz prison. On June 5, 1873, Paiute Tom was the first native American who was imprisoned there on transfer from Camp McDermit in Nebraska. In the 1870s, Major George Mendell ordered the prisoners, aided by mules, to assist in changing the natural landscape of the island and creating a top level, dumping debris into the coves and bay.

Between 1873 and 1895, 32 Native Americans were imprisoned at the citadel on Alcatraz, including 19 Hopi men held in captivity there between January and August 1895 after being transferred from Fort Defiance

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In-game References

Alcatraz has a Civil War Fort background before it turned into a Penitentiary, we had this backstory where the Warden would of collected Civil War Weaponry. One is a Blunderbuss crossed with a Gatling Gun

Michael Madsen is "Michael 'Finn' O'Leary" (on left) holding the a Tomahawk

Tomahawk retrieving 'Power Up'

The Purgatory/Afterlife Symbol

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Medicine Man's Eye

http://www.whats-your-sign.com/eye-of-the-medicine-man-symbol.html

http://www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/native-american-symbols/eye-medicine-man-symbol.htm

Native American Symbols, like the Eye of a Medicine Man symbol, can vary in meaning from one tribe to another and across the culture groups of North America.

The meaning of the Eye of a Medicine Man symbol is a very powerful symbol. A Medicine Man, or Shaman, was believed to have magical powers of Spiritual Healing and of seeing into the future. The outer lines of the symbol represents the four corners of the Universe - North, South, East and West of the physical world. The inner lines represent the Spirit world, which the Medicine Man had knowledge of. The centre circle represents the eye of the Medicine Man and his spiritual vision.

You can see the rhombus is concentric - with objects sharing the same center. The outer rhombus is symbolic of a larger (cosmic, universal, worldly) network.

For example: The "four corners" of the world, the four winds, the four initial tribes of humankind. The outer rhombus is the MACROcosm, and represents the four-sided structures of the large-scale universe/creation. The inner rhombus is a reflective feature. Because we are talking about BROAD VISION (namely, the eye of the medicine man symbol), we are dealing with themes of metaphysical sight.

A medicine man sees with far greater vision that with just his physical eyes. So, the inner rhombus is symbolic of the interaction between man and his environment. The inner rhombus is the MICROcosm, the inner world.

The dot in the center is the eye, all seeing, all knowing, and observing the play between man, spirit and environment. It's the objective sight of the macrocosm, microcosm and how each is influenced by their interactions. This is a lovely symbolic testiment to the devotion of the medicine man to see this world (and his/her role in it) with clarity and objectivity.

This eye of the medicine man symbol is a statement of spiritual vision - a kind of vision that recognizes the interconnectivity of all things.

Their religion was dominated by rituals and belief in a spiritual connection with nature and these beliefs were reflected in the various symbols they used such as the Eye of a Medicine Man symbol.

Medicine Man

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_man

Highly Detailed Articles, too big to post. Must Read -

HEALING: THE DIVINE ART - THE INDIAN MEDICINE CHIEF

PDF

Wichasha Wakan: Medicine Man (Lakota Sioux)

Native American Medicine and the Role of the Medicine Man

To be recognized as the one who performs this function of bridging between the natural world and the spiritual world for the benefit of the community, an individual must be validated in his role by that community.

"Medicine man" or "medicine woman" are English terms used to describe traditional healers and spiritual leaders among some Native American and other indigenous or aboriginal peoples. Anthropologists tend to prefer the generalization "shaman," which is a specific term for a spiritual mediator from the Tungusic peoples of Siberia, and is not used in any other traditional culture.

Role in native society

The primary function of these "medicine elders" is to secure the help of the spirit world, including the Great Spirit (Wakan Tanka in the language of the Lakota Sioux), for the benefit of the entire community.

Sometimes the help sought may be for the sake of healing disease, sometimes it may be for the sake of healing the psyche, sometimes the goal is to promote harmony between human groups or between humans & nature. So the term "medicine man/woman" is not entirely inappropriate, but it greatly oversimplifies and also skews the depiction of the people whose role in society complements that of the chief.

Cultural context

An Ojibwa Midew ("medicine man") preparing an herbal remedy.

The term "medicine people" is commonly used in Native American communities, for example, when Arwen Nuttall (Cherokee) of the National Museum of the American Indian writes, "The knowledge possessed by medicine people is privileged, and it often remains in particular families."

Native Americans tend to be quite reluctant to discuss issues about medicine or medicine people with non-Indians. In some cultures, the people will not even discuss these matters with Indians from other tribes. In most tribes medicine elders are not expected to advertise or introduce themselves as such. As Nuttall writes, "An inquiry to a Native person about religious beliefs or ceremonies is often viewed with suspicion. One example of this was the Apache medicine cord or Izze-kloth, whose purpose and use by Apache medicine elders was a mystery to nineteenth century ethnologists because "the Apache look upon these cords as so sacred that strangers are not allowed to see them, much less handle them or talk about them."

The 1954 version of Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, reflects the poorly grounded perceptions of the people whose use of the term effectively defined it for the people of that time: "a man supposed to have supernatural powers of curing disease and controlling spirits." In effect, such definitions were not explanations of what these "medicine people" were to their own communities, but instead reported on the consensus of socially and psychologically remote observers when they tried to categorize these individuals. The term "medicine man/woman," like the term "shaman", has been criticized by Native Americans, as well as other specialists in the fields of religion and anthropology.

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Further Reading

Great Spirit/Great Mystery

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Spirit

Spider Grandmother

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_Grandmother

Shamanism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism

Shamanism among the indigenous peoples of the Americas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism_among_the_indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas

[BriggzyJ97]

Some nice research here , and that part about the "ghost"warden could certainly be either the "boss" zombie or the screaming warden at the beginning of the video

[brando]

awesome post,im a native american myself and thats so awesome that they put the tomahawk in there BECAUSE of the natives that tried to reclaim the island. :D

[GRILL]

PINNAZ - you are a pillar of knowledge.

thank you for sharing this.

I did not even notice Michael Madson holding the tomahawk until you pointed it out, and I actually at first thought it was a boomerang that brought that nuke drop back (which would be right up your ally, mate)... but it's CLEARLY the tomahawk and that kicks ass!

The way you connected the "afterlife mode" symbol to the medicine man symbol?

Yeah, I pretty much felt like this vvvvvvvv after I read that:

YOU MADE MY F*****' MIND EXPLODE!

seriously man, nice job. I spent HOURS trying to look up symbols in an attempt to find that 'eye with electricity'. Never use "symbols.com", or I guess... never use "symbols.com" if you have no idea how to use it lol.

whenever WHENEVER you make a thread, I feel like I get a history lesson, a prediction of the future, and a kick ass conspiracy theory all rolled in one. THIS is the kind of information I come here for, THESE are the threads that keep bringing me back. Everyone's got an analysis thread (myself included), but here you are with this amazing unfound information. Thank you thank you thank you.

[InfestLithium]

Glad to see that this was posted up. Absolutely wonderful connections and research, friendo. The moment you showed me the Medicine Man symbol and how it was linked to the Afterlife symbol, I too went:

This provides a great deal of explanation to the backstory and where certain elements originated from. I love it. :)

[Undead]

Welp, I know who definitely deserves a theorist medal. ;)

[Lenne]

Welp, I know who definitely deserves a theorist medal.

Awwwwwwwwwwww yea.

I was not kidding.

We both know who should get one next.

Oh your post Pinnaz?

It was ... "okay".

And by "okay" I mean awesome.

[Shooter]

Welp, I know who definitely deserves a theorist medal.

Quite frankly, I don't know why PINNAZ didn't get it sooner.

Well done as always man. It's going to be interesting to see how much of a role the whole Native American aspect will actually have on MotD.

I'm praying that the first time I fire up MotD, the loading screen reads "Right of Discovery"

Identifying the Medicine Man symbol...brilliant.

Great job as always PINNAZ!

[EpicNES]

Keep up the great work PINNAZ, finally the symbol is identified