Alcatraz’s American Indian past refreshed

Four American Indians spent the morning Wednesday helping to repaint a faded sign on Alcatraz, the grim prison island.

Just to be sure the message was clear, the four added a drawing of crossed tomahawks.

The National Park Service, which owns Alcatraz, calls the signs “historic graffiti,” painted on the wall in 1970 during a 19-month Indian occupation of the island.

More than 1.3 million visitors come to the Rock every year, drawn by its legendary reputation.

The prison will always be No. 1,” Martinez said, “Everybody wants to see Al Capone’s cell.

[...] Alcatraz is also an important symbol, he said, to American Indians who occupied the island late in 1969 to draw attention to harsh federal policies toward native people.

Martinez landed on the island soon after the occupation started and remembers the symbolism of it, and how people of various tribes came together.

The sign, painted a bright yellow, is on the East Bay side of Alcatraz, on the Quartermaster’s Building, which is being restored.

The “INDIAN LAND” sign will be visible from the Sausalito ferry and from tour boats that circle the island every day of the year.

The occupation brought tribes together, she said, and helped produce an American Indian consciousness.

“Alcatraz tied all those different communities together, and people started to see what was going on in Indian country, so I made a commitment to myself to keep the story alive,” said Longorra, who is of Caddo Shoshone descent, and was born and raised in San Francisco.