Independent Coast Observer from Gualala, California • 6

NOVEMBER 5, 1999 PAGE 6 INDEPENDENT COAST OBSERVER i 7 rr 7 i HI We0L i ij js 4 Wr- 1 1 LL 7 7 Over 5,000 paopla cam to Alcatraz Island on October 23 to commemorate the 19 month Indian Occupation 30 years ago. The day long event honored Alcatraz Occupation Warriors and featured Dennis Banks and Wilma Manklller along with performances by John Trudell, Charlie Hill and Ulall. Kathryn Gleason photo. Natives commemorate Alcatraz Occupation these wonderful people' working to fight breast cancer all year long, the lives of our loved ones are in capable hands all year, i Carolyn Wenbom Lane North Coast Breast Cancer Early Detection Program Not surprised Editor: Regarding the razor blades received by animal experimenters: If these threatening letters were indeed sent by animal rights advocates, perhaps we shouldnt be too surprised. After over 100 years of writing polite letters and demonstrating peacefully, and despite all we have learned about our fellow primates, monkeys used in experiments are still denied all recognition of their intelligence, family structure and basic interests.

With no more than a sense of superiority as their justification, experimenters, like the reigning primates in Planet of the Apes, separate their research subjects from family and friends. Without a thought for the feelings they share with our own species, they are locked in barren metal cages, handled by aliens in white coats and masks, have electrodes sunkinto their heads, have their eyelids sewn shut, are strapped into restraint chairs, addicted to alcohol and drugs, and subjected to other anxieties and painful procedures too numerous to mention. Having personally spent 20 years entreating, cajoling and reasoning on this issue, I can only wonder if the Justice Department will succeed where I have failed. If experimenters feel afrai now, that is still nothing compared to the fear, harm and death they themselves have inflicted on their victims. Ingrid Newkirk President, PETA perhaps to remind us who ran up the four-trillion-dol-lar national debt in the first place.

The Democrats proposal was more modest. The Republican congressional leadership would have given the lions share of the tax cuts to their natural constituency, the wealthy. The Democrats would have targeted the lower and middle classes. We owe the reform party a debt of gratitude for livening up the political process. With Pat Buchanan, The Donald, Jesse Ventura and Ross Perot all performing in one big tent, even a chimpanzee would feel at home.

On the other hand, would you want one of them to run your country? Francis Willmarth Point Arena In capable hands Editor: As Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, we have time to reflect on the heightened awareness each October brings. So many womens lives have been saved because of the call to action sent out around the country reminding women to do breast self exams, get annual breast exams and mammograms. Mammograms: the delicate procedure that is so often responsible for the early detection of breast cancer and, as with all delicate procedures, it takes a very trained, dedicated technician to administer a mammogram. We would like to thank all the mammographers in our region for their compassion, their dedication to the fight against breast cancer, and for their commitment for continued excellence in health care for women. We know that more women are willing to get annual mammograms because of the trust they' have in their mammographers.

October may be Breast Cancer Awareness Month but, with Letters From Page 4 it can be. And one we can ALL be very, very proud of. Bob Day President, Gualala Community Center Retain 707 area code Editor: The following letter was addressed to the Public Utilities Commission in San Francisco: The Mendocino County Employers Council Directors, at their regular October meeting, unanimously adopted the position supporting the staff report regarding future allocation of the 707 area code. The recommendation which supports the continuance of the 707 number Jn Mendocino County and areas north makes eminent sense since growth in the northern area will be limited and continuation of the 707 number maintained for years to come. This does not appear to be the situation in Sonoma and Napa counties.

We, therefore, urge you and your Commissioners to adopt the staff recommendation regarding future 707 area code allocation. A1 Beltrami Executive Director MCEC Livening up politics Editor: In announcing his change from the Republican to the Reform party, Pat Buchanan informed us that there was no difference between the Republican and the Democratic parties. The twomajor parties are probably the same on 98 of the issues. To the best of my knowledge, both hold the same position on cannibalism and chattel slavery. Both believe in the Constitution and the rule of law.

It is this general agreement on fundamental issues'that makes democracy possible. On the other hand, there is a 98 similarity in the genetic makeup of humans and chimpanzees. No one (or at least no one outside the Reform party) wouldcontend that these small differences dont matter. To cite one small difference, the Republican congressional leadership has voted a trillion-dollar tax cut, 11 movement. Blackfoot Betty Cooper, a substance abuse treatment development officer, said The Alcatraz Occupation was based on treaties.

If the American government takes land and doesnt use it, the Natives can take it eventhad worldwide ramifications. The spirit of the people had really moved. According to Porno Luwana Harrison, who stayed on Alcatraz during the occupation, there was an omnipresent fear every day that a fleet of ships would show up. We didnt know if they were going to shoot us, or take us to jail or what. We presented a problem for them, if they took us to jail, they would have to take us through court, and then they would have to legally face their broken treaties.

Harrison said that the work for Native reclamation must continue, The problems are the same as they were 20 years ago. Indian kids are still going to summer school for classes they missed. Alcoholism and drugaddictions are getting worse. We need to organize and bring attention to conditions that Indians are in today. By Kathryn Gleason Thousands of Native Americans from all over the nation gathered Saturday October 23 on Alcatraz Island to commemorate the historic 19 month Indian occupation of Alcatraz that began in November of 1969.

Historians have identified the Alcatraz Occupation as the spark that ignited the Red Power movement of the 1970s. According to author and professor Troy Johnson, Following Alcatraz, theres the occupation of over 50 other federal facilities (by Indian people) for a total, in the seventies, of some 72 occupations that would take place. The Alcatraz Occupation marked more than just a political movement, as it started a renaissance of Indian culture, traditions, identity and spirituality. LaNada Boyer, a student organizer and occupier of Alcatraz, said Alcatraz was symbolic in the rebirth oflndian people to be recognized as a people, as human beings, whereas before, we were not. We were not recognized, we were not legitimate but we were able to raise, not only the consciousness of other American people, but our own people as well, to reestablish our identity as Indian people, as a culture, as political entities.

Citing that Alcatraz was built on the Muwekma Ohlone ancestral burial ground, Rosemary Cambra has been fighting for years to get her tribe -reinstated on the federal roll books. You are sitting on the aboriginal land of my ancestors, said Cambra, whose Ohlone tribe was administratively removed from the federal register in 1927. The government is very, very afraid to empower Native Americans, said Cambra, The only time they recognize us no is on April 15. This government does not care to give any Indian any land willfully. I am a homeless, landless Indian, andlhave children and grandchildren.

Will you help me in my struggle to regain my land? Cambra was one of five speakers in a panel designed to give a historical overview of the Alcatraz Occupation and what has happened in the last thirty years in the Red Power a year and never miss but on any of our local news! Subscribe to the Independent Coast Observer and stay up to date with the South Coast! IJMhlns jOTilrifai Coast Observer P.O.Box 1200 Gualala, CA 95445 Please Enter my Subscription For: 1 Year 6 Months' Enclosed is a check for Name Address City State Zip.