Some Native Americans hope for ‘Peace Center’ on The Rock
Some of the most notorious criminals of the 20th Century were
housed in Alcatraz during the 29 years the rock in San Francisco
Bay served as a federal prison. Before that, it served as a fort,
and home to the first lighthouse on the West Coast. The first
inhabitants of the island were Native Americans, according to a Web
site from Golden Gate Park Conservancy, a nonprofit.
Some Native Americans hope for ‘Peace Center’ on The Rock
Some of the most notorious criminals of the 20th Century were housed in Alcatraz during the 29 years the rock in San Francisco Bay served as a federal prison. Before that, it served as a fort, and home to the first lighthouse on the West Coast. The first inhabitants of the island were Native Americans, according to a Web site from Golden Gate Park Conservancy, a nonprofit.
Today, the island serves as a popular tourist attraction. Almost 1.5 million people visit the island annually, according to a Web site from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Now a group of people wants to tear down the prison and turn it into a peace center.
San Juan Bautista resident Elayne Reyna and Hollister resident Sonne Reyna are founding supporters of the project.
Sonne Reyna says he is a member of the Yaqui Nation.
“In these days of strife, we have to believe in something,” he said. “A physical thing like that would be amazing.”
Elayne Reyna, the founder of a nonprofit that is dedicated to peace, One Earth, One People, Peace Vision, agreed.
“The idea is to get their attention,” she said, referring to people everywhere, “and tell them the dream is alive.
The Global Peace Foundation, a nonprofit, has sponsored a February 2008 ballot initiative in San Francisco to make the island into a peace center.
Proposition C asks voters if it should be, “the policy of the city of San Francisco to support and facilitate the acquisition of Alcatraz Island,” so that it can be turned into the Global Peace Center, according to a Web site from the Global Peace Foundation.
Currently, the island is managed by the National Parks Service.
It would require an act of congress to change the park to a peace center, said Holly Bundock, a spokesperson for the National Park Service.
“I’m quite certain that the National Park Service would oppose that,” Bundock said. “My guess is that it would be a long road.”
The initiative is a start, Sonne said.
“At least it will get the ball rolling,” he said.
The project has a long history.
Da Vid Ornstein, director of the Global Peace Foundaiton, gave birth to the idea more than 30 years ago. It came to him after supporters of the American Indian Movement took control of the Island to bring attention to the plight of Native Americans. He has been networking over the project ever since.
With a representative from San Francisco, Nancy Pelosi, now speaker of the House of Representatives, Ornstein thinks now is the right time to move the project along.
He needs to popularize the idea in San Francisco, he said.
“We’ve got two months to get the word out,” Ornstein said. “The main thing is we have to show grassroots support.”
He thinks Mayor Gavin Newsom will support the project if there is strong grassroots support.
“It’s moving faster now,” Elayne said. “It takes time and it takes perseverance and it takes people in high places who can make these changes.”
Supporters of the project said that the conversion is a way to achieve peace.
“The key to letting go of the past is forgiveness,” Ornstein said. “All the world’s teachers say the same thing.”
There is still a lot of bitterness and hatred among Native Americans due to the genocide of Native American tribes, Ornstein said. Also, they see Alcatraz as a sacred site, he said.
For those reasons, converting the prison would serve as a powerful symbol of reconciliation, Sonne said. It would help bring European society and Native American society together.
Ornstein said he thinks San Francisco voters will support the initiative.
“I’m operating from the idea that there are a lot of very high-minded people in San Francisco,” Ornstein said. “We see it as a great possibility, but I don’t know. We’ll see what the vote is.”
For now, Ornstein will do whatever it takes to move the project along.
“Unless it really bombs at the polls,” Orenstein said. “I’ll have to rethink the whole thing. But I really don’t think that’s going to happen.”
