The Spokesman-Review from Spokane, Washington • a7

THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW NOVEMBER 20, 2019 WEDNESDAY NEWS 7 NATION FROM THE FRONT PAGE students, board president Carmen Green said Tuesday afternoon. this does is pos- ition us to have enough room at our elementary le- vel for 10 Green said. in a position to be able to handle growth and not be behind it like we have been for also will allow kids to attend their neighborhood Green said. Scheduled for completion by fall 2021, the new school will share a 67-acre site where Highland Middle School is being constructed. Funding for the $20 mil- lion project comes from un- expected money through the stu- funding formula.

Those funds are restric- ted to capital projects and be used to cover day- to-day, general operating costs of the district. However, the district must come up with approxi- mately $650,000 per year to cover nonteacher costs, such as administrative staff, custodians, kitchen workers and maintenance and utili- ties. not an insignifi- cant amount of money, but we will be cutting $4.5 mil- lion as a result of the levy Green said. That rebuff the levy re- ceived only 44.4% approval has led to some regrouping by the district. think we told our story very well (ahead of the Green said.

what we will be fo- cusing on in the future get- ting the facts out that will be understandable by the aver- age To that end, Superintend- ent Shawn Woodward re- cently sent a survey to dis- trict staff, parents and guardians and senior stu- dents at Mead and Mt. Spo- kane high schools. In the 2020-25 Mead Dis- trict Strategic Plan Survey are several questions de- signed to gain public feed- back on academic priorities, requirements for student success and challenges fac- ing the district. More than 1,000 re- sponses already have been received, Green said. And while unclear when and if the district will seek another supplemental levy, Green said district staff is working to examine areas to save mo- ney.

In that vein, the decision to go ahead with a 10th el- ementary school made long- term fiscal sense. The decision to build an- other school was made ea- sier by a two-part presen- tation from the boundary committee. Before the meeting, the committee studied the impact of a nine- school elementary configur- ation. That would have moved more than 300 students off the Five Mile area, resulting in a ripple effect that would have moved about 1,400 el- ementary students district- wide. Moreover, a delay would increase future construc- tion costs, possibly forcing a need for more taxpayer-ap- proved funds.

CONTACT THE WRITER: (509) 459-5437 Continued from 1 MEAD FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. On a chilly November night 50 years ago, a 7-year-old Peter Bratt, his four siblings and their single mother left their San Francisco home for the pier. From there, they joined a group of indigenous acti- vists on a small boat, bobbing in fog and rolling over what felt like tidal waves. They eventually landed at their destination Alcatraz Island. At first, all the young boy could see was a vast, playground.

He and other children roamed the beaches, literally blazing their own trails. They ex- plored buildings that once housed prisoners, including Native Americans incarcer- ated there nearly a century earlier. Despite his age, Bratt quickly comprehended that the adventure was the start of a movement. The adults banded together to take back a body of land that they felt belong to the U.S. government to begin with.

remember seeing these young Indian people from all over the country shouting to the world, Power! on Indian said Bratt, 57, and the older brother of actor Benjamin Bratt. that was a game changer. I felt like I was finally The 19-month occupation of Alcatraz, which started Nov. 20, 1969, is widely seen as a seminal event that re- invigorated tribes to organ- ize in the face of a U.S. government steamrolling over their land, their rights and their identities.

Many Native American activists to- day say they are still strug- gling to have their voices not only heard but respected. They point to recent exam- ples like their ongoing fight against a proposed oil pipe- line near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota that they argued would contaminate water. President Donald administration approved a fi- nal permit for it early in his term. Alcatraz was the begin- ning of something, according to Bratt. His mother, who is indigenous to Peru, was among those keeping the momentum going.

Their San Francisco home became a haven for Native American activists who were fighting for issues including sover- eignty and treaty recog- nition. It also provided he- roes for younger Natives be- yond figures in history books. think movements and events like Alcatraz and the Wounded Knee standoff, I think they gave us new role models and new warriors to look up said Bratt, who visited Alcatraz earlier this month. The 21-acre rock in the middle of San Francisco Bay was a military prison before it served as a maximum-se- curity federal penitentiary. Some of its earlier prisoners included 19 Hopi men incar- cerated in 1895 after resisting cultural assimilation, ac- cording to the National Park Service.

Occupiers argued they had a right to Alcatraz under an 1868 treaty the U.S. govern- ment signed with the Sioux that said abandoned govern- ment land would be returned to indigenous people. After the federal prison there closed in 1963, it was de- clared surplus property, a necessary step in selling it or transferring ownership. Donations came in from around the world, and the occupiers set up a clinic, a live broadcast and a school system for children on the is- land. But the coalition of tribes knew it likely get what it wanted: the deed to Alcatraz, a museum, cultural center and university built there, sustained federal funding and a seat at the table in administering national parks.

Over time, the occupiers dwindled. Students returned to college. One of the main organizers, the late Richard Oakes, left after a few weeks when his daughter was killed in an accidental fall from a stairwell. Infighting among demonstrators created fac- tions, and Alcatraz eventu- ally became more of a place for transients looking for food and shelter. Armed fed- eral officials removed the last of the occupiers in June 1971.

Still, the occupation marked a pivotal moment the start of Indian activism during the civil rights move- ment, said John Echohawk, founder of the Native Amer- ican Rights Fund. really kind of showed what the focus of Native American people was and, basically, our rights as sover- eign he said. ty rights as opposed to civil rights, equal rights that the other minorities were push- It was to be a continuous push that exists today through protests and court battles centered on treaty rights. Under a list of things to do while on Alcatraz, the occupiers wrote: stage for next action! (Win one battle first then move After the occupation, American Indian Movement members asserted treaty rights in the takeover of a U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs building in the capi- tal, at the site of an 1890 mass- acre on a South Dakota reser- vation, and on the road as hundreds of tribes cara- vanned across the U.S.

in what was called the of Broken The Alcatraz occupation also helped spur a shift in federal policy toward self- determination, allowing tribes to take over federal programs on their land and a shift away from policies that sought to rid them of their culture, language and traditions. Although then-President Richard Nixon increased the budget for the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, under- funded today. The agency that oversees schools, police forces and road maintenance on reservations meet the needs of the more than 2 million Native Americans across the country. Its fund- ing also shielded during government shutdowns, and neither is the Indian Health Service, responsible for pri- mary health care for Native Americans.

Those services are sup- posed to be guaranteed through various treaties, tribes say. LaNada War Jack, a mem- ber of the Shoshone-Ban- nock Tribes, was in her 20s when she helped plan the Al- catraz takeover. She points to recent decisions by the federal government to relax environmental laws and policies that fully allow Native Americans to oversee public safety on their reser- vations as signs these battles are ongoing, and much work remains to be done. really digressing rapidly, and we need to speak up and say something again and try to get some unity and some support and wake up the people in she said. Robert Free also partici- pated in the occupation, leading the raising of a teepee that became a demon- meeting spot.

He re- visited the island over Vet- erans Day weekend. Just like 50 years ago, Pe- ter Bratt helped Free put up a tepee with the help of several Native teens. It will remain there until early January. But Free wants it to be a perma- nent monument to the bea- con it became for subsequent protests. Alcatraz occupation drew people from across the country and inspired people across the north continent and south continent and cen- tral said Free, now 70.

these people came and gave us lost souls direc- tion. We were rediscovering Drive behind occupation of Alcatraz lingers 50 years later Event, which lasted 19 months, reinvigorated Native American tribes ASSOCIATED PRESS Sioux Indian John Trudell stands next to the tepee he set up for himself Nov. 18, 1970, during the Native American occupation of Alcatraz Island. By Felicia Fonseca and Terry Tang ASSOCIATED PRESS A 7 Main.