Cal Honors Dr. LaNada War Jack At Raising the B.A.R Invitational

BERKELEY – At halftime of the Cal women's basketball game against Furman, the Golden Bears and the athletics department honored Dr. LaNada War Jack, UC Berkeley Alumni, in recognition of Native American Heritage Month.
 
Dr. War Jack was the first Native American student to be accepted at UC Berkeley through the Economic Opportunity Program in 1968, one hundred years since the opening of University of California at Berkeley. She is a member of the Shoshone and Bannock Tribes whose reservation is located in Fort Hall, Idaho.
 
LaNada recruited more Native American students and set up the Native American Student Association on campus and collaborated with the Black, Chicano and Asian student organizations to form the Third World Liberation Strike which became the first Interdisciplinary Department of Ethnic Studies in the nation.
 
Then LaNada partnered with the Native students at San Francisco State University and California students throughout the state of California to liberate Alcatraz Island. They began a 19 month occupation against the broken treaties, unjust policies and poverty on reservations and in the urban areas where the government sent young people through the Relocation program.
 
Last week, Secretary of the Interior Deb Harland visited Alcatraz Island in Commemoration of the 52nd Anniversary of the Native Student Occupation. This action for social justice became the benchmark from the Termination Era to the Self Determination Era for Native People.
 
Friday's contests mark the beginning of Cal's legendary tournament which is in its 41st year. Earlier this month, the tournament underwent an official rebrand and mission, "Raising the B.A.R. Invitational powered by Cal." B.A.R. stands for Basketball, Activism and Representation. The Raising the B.A.R Invitational will be used to elevate the voices, stories and people in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging space.
 
The Bears defeated visiting Furman 82-73 Friday afternoon, they will return to action tomorrow when they play Ole Miss/SDSU at 3 p.m. in the Raising the B.A.R. Invitational powered by Cal Championship game.