Interviews - Extremely Eloquent, Therefore Extremely Dangerous

John Trudell speaks with Grace Thorpe | December 30, 1969

JOHN TRUDELL: Good evening, this is John Trudell from Radio Free Alcatraz welcoming you to Indian Land Alcatraz on behalf of the Indians of All Tribes. And tonight we have with us Grace Thorpe, who you may remember was with us the first evening that we were on, about a week ago. And Grace Thorpe will be working in public relations for the Alcatraz movement.

John Trudell speaks with Jonny Bearcub | December 29, 1969

John Trudell began by discussing problems with generating electricity on Alcatraz Island followed by an interview with Jonny Bearcub, a member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine Sioux Nation.

JOHN TRUDELL: Good evening and welcome to Radio Free Alcatraz. This is John Trudell welcoming you on behalf of the Indians of All Tribes to Indian Land Alcatraz Island. And tonight there’s a little background noise here. We had a problem and we’re running our generator inside the studio. And also, we’ve been having quite a bit of hassle lately with our electricity. We had a power failure on Friday and it lasted through Friday night into mealtime. That’s why we weren’t on Friday night, because we didn’t have any lights at all or any power of any type to use. And Saturday we were kind of stranded on the island because of bad weather. Sunday, not many boats running and so today we’re giving it an attempt. Tonight we have Jonny Bearcub with us from Wolf Point, Montana who is going to offer some thanks to the doctors that have helped us, and to everyone. Jonny go ahead. You got the list there.

John Trudell speaks with Vernon W. Conway prior to George Brown interview by Earl Livermore. | 1969

JOHN TRUDELL: Good evening and welcome to Indian Land Radio from Alcatraz Island. This is John Trudell welcoming you on behalf of the Indians of All Tribes. Tonight we’ve got quite a busy evening. At seven-thirty, Congressman George Brown, the Democrat from Los Angeles, we will be speaking with him. Earl Livermore, the coordinator for the Alcatraz Movement is here, and we will be speaking with Congressman Brown about the resolution that he and ten other Congressmen introduced into Congress urging Mr. Nixon to start negotiations with the people of Alcatraz so that they can turn the island over to us. And also, there have been no further reports on the accident that happened to Yvonne Oakes. There have been no further reports on this. She is still listed in a critical condition, I believe.

Alcatraz Panel with Indians from Various Tribes | December 23, 1969

JOHN TRUDELL: Good evening, this is John Trudell welcoming you to Radio Free Alcatraz and I’m speaking on behalf of the Indians of All Tribes. Tonight we’ll be speaking with Mrs. Stella Leech, Mr. Gabriel Sharp and Mr. Raymond Spang. Mrs. Leech is a member of the Colville Sioux Tribe. She’s a registered nurse and a council member on the island. She runs the clinic here on the island, and she took a three month leave of absence from her job at the Well Baby Clinic in San Francisco to work with the people on the island. She’s been here with Operation Alcatraz from the very beginning. Mr. Gabriel Sharp is a Mojave and a member of the Colorado River Tribes of Parker, Arizona. His occupation is counselor for Indian high school students and assistant director of the Indian Upward Bound program at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. He’s also chairman of education for the Arizona Indian Association.

Alcatraz Interview with Al Silbowitz | December, 1969

JOHN TRUDELL: I stayed on the reservation until I was about six. Five or six. Then my family moved. I went back in 1961. I was fifteen years old, I think. I stayed there until the summer of 1963, then I joined the Navy and I left. I stayed in the Navy for four years. After I got out I went to work as a shoe salesman. That lasted about four months and then I quit to go to school, which I was doing when the Alcatraz movement took place. So I dropped all my studies and moved up here so I could work with this.

AL SILBOWITZ: What were you studying at the time?

Radio and television. Programming and production.