Alcatraz: A Good Idea But A Failure

The occupation of Alcatraz island by Native Americans starting in March of 1964, was a strong statement, but it failed in my opinion.  The problem with the Alcatraz occupation was not that it wasn't a powerful message and a good idea, but it was ill timed, and by no fault of their own was widely unknown.  The United States as a whole was focused mainly on the war in Vietnam, not much else received media attention at this point in time, this is the first reason why it was a "failure".  The main reason to no fault of the Native American people, and one that I still don't understand, is how no one has heard of this event!  I was in honors and AP history classes all throughout my middle school and high school days, as well as a few college American history classes, and this class is the first time I have ever heard of this event!  Never once did I know that Alcatraz island was anything other than a prison, and a famous one at that.  This occupation should have been a great victory for the Native Americans of the time because it used the United States Government against itself.  As Rader explains in our text "...knew of a little used provision in the Sioux treaty of 1868, which entitles the Sioux to claim surplus government land and facilities.".  This is an absolute genius protest in my opinion, they peacefully used a United States treaty that allowed the US to take land from the Sioux, to take land back from the government.  Talk about a perfect slap in the proverbial face of the government of the time, but it was never prominently spoken about.  I bet during 1964 it didn't even get a story in the San Francisco paper of the time, and for what reason is the longest occupation of a government facility in history, not spoken about in any American history class I've ever taken?  For one reason or another, this protest has been deleted from the history books, when it should've been a huge victory for the Native American people.  Perhaps the Native American culture is still being repressed more than we realize and the ommittance of this event from history books, other than Native American history books, is an example of this.  If anyone knows why so many of us had never once heard about this event I would love to hear why.

Why do I only know this about Alcatraz?