President Donald Trump recently pledged to reopen the Alcatraz prison in response to the immigrant problem, and it was described as the “stupidest idea” Trump has made. The local San Francisco people threaten to cut off the island’s sewage and garbage service if Trump continues to do it. People not only view it as an affront to their identity, but also as an attempt to erase their history of indigenous resistance.
The island of Alcatraz is one of the most significant sites in the Native American resistance movement as Indigenous activists occupied Alcatraz for 10th months from 1969 to 1971 while demanding rights and natural resources for Native American people. MacGill, who is now executive director of the city’s American Indian cultural center, said, “It is a place that symbolizes so much of our history.” The president’s act on Alcatraz is a sign of erasing indigenous people’s history from the land, and it will meet with pushback from the local community. MacGill described it as “a repeat of that history” when President Donald Trump tried to “commit inhumane violence against people who are here trying to escape violence”. It is a retraumatizing process.
Another criticism of President Donald Trump’s action is the extremely high cost of refurbishing the site. Modernizing the facility that was long ago abandoned might cost as much as $2 billion, which local members suggest should be better spent on establishing an Indigenous cultural center and college. MacGill suggested that “given that money to American Indian people so that we can have a cultural center, so we can create housing”, as Indigenous people have the highest rate of homelessness. “The federal government is proposing rebuilding, resurrecting a prison, estimated to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, while continuing to overlook the native people”, Virginia Hedrick said.
Trump’s action aims to undermine Alcatraz’s status as a “beacon of resistance” and its symbolic meaning in the Indigenous fightback movement. The island is home to significant cultural events, including a sunrise gathering every October for Indigenous Peoples’ Day. MacGill noted that “the community is prepared to fight back, and we’ll see communities gather again.”