Richard Oakes, born on this day in 1942, was a Mohawk indigenous activist and leader within the Red Power movement, playing a prominent role in the 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island from 1969 - 1971.

Oakes promoted Native American studies in university curricula and is credited for helping to change U.S. federal government "Termination" policies (policies regarding assimilation of indigenous people into the culture of the colonizer) of Native American peoples and culture.

In 1969, Oakes led a 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island with LaNada Means, approximately 50 California State University students, and 37 others. On January 5th, 1970, Oakes' 12-year-old daughter, Yvonne, fell to her death from concrete steps. After her funeral, Oakes left the island.

In 1972, Oakes was shot and killed in Sonoma, California, by Michael Morgan, a YMCA camp manager. Allegedly, Oakes violently confronted Morgan, and Morgan responded by drawing a handgun and fatally shooting Oakes.

Oakes was unarmed when he was shot. Morgan claimed he acted in self-defense, and was acquitted on charges of voluntary manslaughter.

"We do not fear your threat to charge us with crimes on our land. We and all other oppressed peoples would welcome spectacle of proof before the world of your title by genocide. Nevertheless, we seek peace."

Richard Oakes

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  • blakeus12 [they/them, he/him]
    ·
    4 个月前

    I hate to say this, but I'm going back to windows. All I use my computer for nowadays is hexbear-retro and the occasional video game, and sometimes I just want things to work. Especially finding resources for pirated games and linux is just too hard for my brain. I'm seriously not smart enough for linux.

    forgive me, linus. tux-shining torvalds-nvidia

    • keepcarrot [she/her]
      ·
      4 个月前

      Damn, I keep thinking of doing the opposite switch. The amount of advertising and privacy violation on windows is bonkers

      • blakeus12 [they/them, he/him]
        ·
        4 个月前

        yeah, i used a program called ameliorate to basically kick windows off, it uninstalls most of the intrusive shit including ads, thankfully. there's some data being harvested but at this point its negligible for my opsec purposes

        • keepcarrot [she/her]
          ·
          4 个月前

          I actually use the weather thing on Windows every now and again, but holy shit

      • blakeus12 [they/them, he/him]
        ·
        4 个月前

        also if you do make the switch to linux, i would still highly recommend it. if you don't do a ton of gaming linux is perfectly fine, and if you're willing to spend a good hunk of time troubleshooting then it's perfect for gaming as well. i just lost the patience to comb through wiki pages and forums looking for solutions to niche problems. but for 95% of people linux is fantastic, and i wish you the best in your linux journey!