At Alcatraz Island, Haaland highlights Indigenous progress

SAN FRANCISCO – U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland connected Saturday said advancement has been made by Indigenous radical during a sojourn to Alcatraz Island, which became a awesome of the struggles of Native People for self-determination pursuing its takeover successful the 1960s, but much remains to beryllium done.

Haaland visited the land disconnected of San Francisco's seashore connected the 52nd day of the concern by Indigenous students who were demanding that the U.S. authorities admit longstanding agreements with tribes and crook implicit the deed to the island.

The radical was removed aft a 19-month concern but the takeover became a watershed infinitesimal successful Native American activism.

“Alcatraz was borne retired of desperation,” said Haaland, who was accompanied by immoderate of the dozens of radical who occupied the land successful 1969. “Out of this we gained a consciousness of assemblage and visibility successful the eyes of the national government. But much than that, our Indigenous identities were restored.”

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Haaland, who is from Laguna Pueblo successful New Mexico and the archetypal Native American to pb a Cabinet agency, said that acknowledgment to the actions of those activists, Native Americans nary longer person to edifice to utmost measures to beryllium heard.

“The information that I’m lasting present contiguous is simply a testament to that fact. I americium here. We are here. And we are not going anywhere,” she said.

Haaland highlighted the policies that came of retired this week's White House Tribal Nations Summit, which brought unneurotic President Joe Biden and leaders from much than 500 tribes successful the United States, arsenic an illustration of the advancement made betwixt tribes and the national government.

The tribal nations acme coincided with National Native American Heritage Month and for the archetypal clip was hosted by the White House. Biden ordered respective Cabinet departments to enactment unneurotic to combat quality trafficking and transgression connected Native American lands and announced imperishable protections for Bears Ears National Monument, which is ineffable to Native Americans.

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Haaland said that her section is besides taking enactment to support Chaco Canyon successful northwest New Mexico, different ineffable spot for Indigenous people.

"We are successful a caller era. An epoch successful which we tin clasp our identities arsenic Indigenous radical and beryllium arrogant of however overmuch we person accomplished," she said.

Native American tribes volition besides person billions of dollars from the $1 trillion infrastructure woody signed into instrumentality by Biden this week.

The funds “will bolster assemblage resilience, regenerate aging infrastructure, and supply enactment needed for climate-related relocation and adaptation,” she said.

But these actions unsocial won't lick the challenges faced by Native radical and tons remains to beryllium done, including gathering schools and infrastructure and addressing contamination and the effects of clime alteration connected Native American communities, Haaland said.

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“We person a agelong mode to spell to afloat heal from the traumas created by humanities oppression,” she said.

She added: “I cognize that removing racist names, investing successful broadband for Tribal communities, and protecting Native languages won’t alteration everything. But alteration – adjacent if incremental – is inactive change.”

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