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- By Nanette Deetz
SAN FRANCISCO — The Veterans for Peace boat Golden Rule set sail around the San Francisco Bay earlier this month to bring attention to the organization’s opposition to the proposed transformation of Alcatraz Island into an ICE detention center.
However, the anti-nuclear sailboat was unable to get close to Alcatraz Island due to choppy waters. For over 50 years, Native Americans have held sunrise rallies on Alcatraz Island on Indigehous Peoples Day and Thanksgiving.
The voyage was part of a flotilla of Bay Area boats also advocating for peace in Gaza and environmental protection.
Veterans for Peace were allies of tribal nations who protested at Standing Rock against big oil. The group sent a contingent to support veterans during the first weekend of December 2016. Morrisette also traveled to Standing Rock.
"I cried when I remembered my time there. I traveled to Standing Rock with my cousin James Atucker. When I realized the Veterans for Peace, and Ren Jacobs had been there, I knew I needed to work with Veterans for Peace Golden Rule," said Michelle Kanoelehua Morrisette, the project manager of the Golden Rule.
The 34-foot ketch sailed from Humboldt Bay, California, to the San Francisco Bay and plans to remain until the end of August 2025. The Golden Rule, a national project of Veterans for Peace, has visited 150 ports and traveled 22,000 miles throughout the U.S., Hawai‘i, Canada, Mexico, and Cuba.
The Veterans for Peace projects aim to raise awareness about environmental degradation, nuclear proliferation, the ongoing war in Gaza, social justice, and U.S. plans to build an ICE prison on Alcatraz. The U.S. government currently plans to spend $2 trillion to modernize its nuclear arsenal—funds that, advocates argue, could be better used for housing, education, health care, and social services.
The Golden Rule Peace Boat has already been welcomed in Berkeley, Oakland, and Richmond, and will travel next to San Carlos before continuing on to other California cities. While in Berkeley, the boat was greeted by the Center for Biodiversity; Earth Island Institute Associate Director and International Marine Mammal Project representative Mark J. Palmer; Salvatore Harkins, District Representative for Senator Jesse Arreguín (7th Senate District); and his press secretary, Stefan Elgstrand.
The Center for Biodiversity, based in Marin, and this author were invited aboard to sail into the San Francisco Bay on the Golden Rule. The Center has been researching the unusually high number of gray whale deaths expected in the Bay Area in 2025. As part of the welcome, this author offered a greeting in both Lakota and Cherokee and presented a poem/song in honor of my late grandfather, who was always a Veteran for Peace.
After sinking in a gale in Humboldt Bay in 2010, the Golden Rule was raised and restored by a coalition of veterans, Quakers, and other supporters, and re-launched in 2015 as a national project of Veterans for Peace. The project is overseen by a committee including Board President Gerry Condon, Project Manager and Committee Secretary Michelle Kanoelehua Morrisette, Captain Steve Buck, Ren Jacobs, and various crew members. Eraldo Souza dos Santos, an Assistant Professor at UC Irvine, plans to write a book about the boat’s history, based on documents archived at Swarthmore College.
While in Oakland, two documentary films were screened at the New Parkway Theater: Golden Rule: The Journey for Peace, directed by Nolan Anderson, and Passionate Living: Powerful Journey of the Golden Rule Boat, directed by Cat Miller. A panel discussion followed, led by the Livermore-based Tri-Valley Anti-Nuclear Coalition and featuring Captain Steve Buck, Michelle Kanoelehua Morrisette, and Ren Jacobs. The event included time for audience questions and showcased dramatic, historical footage of the Golden Rule Peace Boat.
On August 19, 2025, the City of Richmond presented a proclamation during its City Hall meeting, honoring the work of the Golden Rule. It was signed by Mayor Eduardo Martinez, who, along with his wife, was invited to sail aboard the Golden Rule, the Hoka Hey, and several other boats as they participated in a protest action against Chevron.
articles have appeared in Native News Online, Native Business Journal, Indian Country Today, and the Bay Area News Group (Alameda Journal, Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, East Bay Times), as well as in Bon Appétit Magazine (The COVID Issue). Her work has also been featured in numerous newspapers across the U.S. in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Occupation of Alcatraz by Indians of All Tribes, first published by Indian Country Today and the Associated Press.
Nanette Deetz is Lakota, Dakota, and Cherokee. Her poetry has appeared in Native American Poetry from California (Scarlet Tanager Books), Turning a Train of Thought Upside Down (Scarlet Tanager Books), Indigenous Peoples Day (curated by John Curl), Handbook for Activists & Documentary History, and numerous other poetry anthologies.
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