From the Badlands to Alcatraz

"Nobody ever really escapes from Alcatraz. Once you swim it, it stays in you forever." True enough for the ever-increasing numbers who do this swim in extreme sports and triathlon circles but irrefutable for the group of swimmers heading out to Alcatraz Island at the start of the film From the Badlands to Alcatraz. The five Lakota have come from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota to take part in a weeklong San Francisco-based wellness program that culminates in a swim from Alcatraz to the San Francisco shore. These youth are swimming for lives—theirs, their families, and friends--- swimming on a mission for their tribe, reminding themselves why they are doing this: Oyate kin nipi kte: So that the people will live...

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• ALCATRAZ chapter
• pathstar.org
• Nancy Iverson