Both prisons loom large in the national consciousness, and he may have been referencing the Clint Eastwood Escape from Alcatraz film. ‘It’s right now a museum, believe it or not. A lot of people go there. It housed the most violent criminals in the world, and nobody ever escaped. One person almost got there. But they, as you know the story, they found his clothing rather badly ripped up. And it was a lot of shark bites – a lot of problems.’ It wasn’t immediately clear what swimming attempt he was referring to.
In a dramatic twist of history, Alcatraz became a stage for Indigenous activism. On November 20, 1969, a group of Native American activists, calling themselves “Indians of All Tribes,” occupied the abandoned island. Their message was bold and symbolic: they claimed Alcatraz under the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868), which stated that unused federal land should be returned to Native people. The occupation lasted 19 months, drawing global attention to Native American rights and marking a turning point in Indigenous activism.
