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Remembering Richard Oakes, a legendary Indigenous leader cut down at the age of 30. Murdered #OTD, Sept. 20, 1972. Oakes led the 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island, an action that inspired Indigenous takeovers of contested land throughout the Northwest.

He participated in the occupation of the abandoned Fort Lawton military base in Seattle, of a corporate retreat center operated by Pacific Gas & Electric, of sacred burial grounds slated for development by Boise Cascade, and several others.

He sought to bring Indigenous nations together for reparations and cultural revival. He protested the California Highway Department’s seizure of Indigenous land to widen a road in Sonoma County, and got into a dispute with the manager of a YMCA camp.