“Un-Thanksgiving Day,” also known as the Indigenous Peoples Sunrise Ceremony, has sold out its advance boat tickets. But a “limited amount” will go on sale at 3 a.m. Thursday at Pier 33, and KPFA will stream the audio online.
We marked the 50th anniversary of the occupation of Alcatraz by Native American activists last week, and the annual Indigenous Peoples Thanksgiving Sunrise Gathering has its 41st iteration early on Thursday morning. But if you’re trying to buy tickets online, you can’t. While the event is free, boat tickets to Alcatraz are not. Those tickets are only available through Alcatraz Cruises, and they’re currently sold out. But according to an event press release just issued Wednesday morning, “a limited amount of tickets will be available for purchase at the dock beginning at 3:00 a.m.” Thursday morning (SFist confirmed with organizers that those tickets will be released). You can also try the Facebook event page discussion for boat ride tickets, but there are certainly more people asking than offering there. Better find your own boat!
International Indian Treaty Council to Host Indigenous Peoples Thanksgiving Sunrise Gathering Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Alcatraz Occupation https://t.co/aEpQdmhaMh
— Native news (@nabresource) November 27, 2019
Fortunately, the event will be simulcast live (6 a.m.-9 a.m.) on Berkeley’s KPFA website, as well as on their old-time radio frequency at 94.1 FM. But KPFA being a radio station, this will be an audio-only simulcast, with no video feed.
The event generally draws around 5,000 people, so you’ll want to show up well before 3 a.m. if you still need a boat ticket. The ceremony is hosted by the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), as it has been since its first observance in 1975, in addition to a similar observance they always do on Indigenous Peoples Day.
“It’s very important that we continue to carry out these gatherings twice a year on this sacred and historic place to tell the truth about our histories, share our cultures and commemorate and give thanks to all those who have gone before us and who left us these ways,” IITC executive director Andrea Carmen said in a statement. “We also give thanks for the lives of our children and future generations and recommit ourselves to do whatever is needed to protect Mother Earth and our ways of life so that they can survive and thrive.”
Today, I was on Alcatraz Island at the Indigenous People’s Sunrise Gathering, in solidarity with those celebrating their culture and paying respects to those that participated in the 19 month occupation of Alcatraz in an effort to force 🇺🇸 to honor the Treaty of Fort Laramie. pic.twitter.com/KdNtY3dp72
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) November 24, 2017
Colin Kaepernick showed up for the observance in 2017, while Spearhead’s Michael Franti showed to jam the year before, along with Nahko of Nahko And Medicine for the People. If you still want to try for a ticket, you’ll want to show up at Pier 33 (the one at the eastern end of Bay Street) well before 3 a.m. Thursday morning.
Related: 'Unthanksgiving': Scenes From The Annual Native American Ceremony On Alcatraz (SFist)
Image: reverendlukewarm via Flickr
