First what I would like to do is welcome you to Ohlone territory.
We wanted the federal government to know that
we wanted them to follow their laws.
That's right.
We have every right to reclaim our land and our heritage and our culture.
We had 500 broken treaties.
We were looking for a place to be together
that would be our own place in the city.
Women were such a strong impact.
Alcatraz was a catalyst that made me do some self searching
and I found my spirituality in that time.
I think that the most important lesson
that I learned from Alcatraz is that
if you don't have a place for family and community,
then you make one.
It inspired me to seek out other Native people
and to want to make a positive change in our communities.
If you don't have an education that suits them,
then you make one.
So, educate them.
Educate them on the whole mascot issue,
educate them about Leonard Peltier.
It inspired me to work with education of young people.
If you don't have health care that suits your people,
then you make it.
At Native American Health Center,
I am in a leadership role.
I'm a woman.
We are still here.
My mother has always said that
and her grand mother has always said that.
We're not gone.
We are still here.
That does have to be honored.
That's our urban res is Alcatraz.
We should be able to represent
our own stories on this island.
It's an extra responsibility to be a woman.
Care-taker.
Maybe I'm being a role model.
Somebody can look at me
recognizing an indian woman in the leadership position.
Maybe I'm going to, you know, do what I can in my time
so that my descendants can say the same thing.
Alcatraz was the rock that hit the water
that sent off many ripples
Once you tasted a real freedom,
there is no going back.
We had a lot of great activist women
that came out of that movement.
I've benefited from that,
my children have benefited from that,
and my grand children someday will benefit from that.
not only to our own people to inspire us
to stand up and to fight for ourselves
I'm still doing the same thing.
but for people worldwide
who had similar struggles against oppression.
More truth in history
