Press In the News Longest Walk to Reach Southeast May 15 | Longest Walk to Reach Southeast May 15 |
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Tansani Journal | Link to Original On Thursday, May 15, the Longest Walk will travel from Dekalb TX to Texarkana AR. The walkers, traveling along two routes, are covering a combined distance of 8,000 to carry a message to Washington DC: All life is sacred. Save Mother Earth. On Tuesday, February 12th, representatives from hundreds of Native American nations participated in a ceremonial and cultural commencement for the Longest Walk 2, the 30-year anniversary of the historic 1978 Longest Walk. More than two hundred participants of the Longest Walk 2 have embarked on a five-month long trans-continental journey on foot from San Francisco. The walk will arrive in Washington, D.C. on July 11, 2008, bringing attention to issues of environmental injustice, protection of sacred sites, cultural survival, youth empowerment, and eroding Native American rights. While plans have fluctuated on the Southern Route due to emergent issues, the current itinerary takes the Walk from Arkansas into Louisiana and through Mississippi in the second half of May, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina in June, and Virginia in late June and early July. The History 1978: Eleven legislative bills introduced in the 95th U.S. Congress would have abrogated Native Treaties that protect remaining Native sovereignty. The Longest Walk of 1978 was a peaceful, spiritual effort to educate the public about Native American rights and the Native way of life. Native American Treaty Rights under the U.S. Constitution are to be honored as the supreme law of the land. The 3,600 mile walk was successful in its purpose: to gather enough support to halt proposed legislation abrogating Indian treaties with the U.S. government. On July 15, 1978, The Longest Walk arrived in Washington, D.C with hundreds of supporters including Muhammed Ali, Senator Ted Kennedy and Marlon Brando. The eleven legislative bills that threatened Native sovereignty were defeated protecting the remaining Treaty rights Native Americans possessed. The extraordinarily successful grassroots effort is now being commemorated with a 30 year anniversary walk across America. 2008: Jimbo Simmons, a representative of the International Indian Treaty Council, original walker, and an organizer of the Longest Walk 2 addressed a crowd of more than 200 people from the steps of California's Capitol in Sacramento. "Thirty years ago we marched from this capital and that's what we're going to do today. We are walking for our land and our people." "As Indigenous Peoples in the United States the environment and our cultural survival are directly correlated and are still imperiled today. This is why we must walk once again." "We started at Alcatraz and went to the University of Berkeley where over 12,000 remains of Indigenous Ancestors are stored in boxes; Oak Grove where tree-sitters are protecting a sacred Ohlone burial site; Glen Cove a very sacred burial site for our people; and Pena Adobe where burials were desecrated for Highway 80 and the ancestors bones put into a mass grave. This is the kind of disrespect we go through. We recognize that all life is sacred!" stated Simmons. Dennis Banks, co-founder of the American Indian Movement and organizer and participant of the Longest Walk 2 stated, "We will always remember who we are. We will never forget our cultural duties. We won't forget that, America. We will never forget. We are coming to you America and we will have and have always had the answers." "Along both routes we will listen to Native peoples concerns, document and deliver them to US officials in DC, our call of action will have an impact." Banks said. The South Route's Journey through the Southeast Though specific details of events and activities planned at the stopping and rest points along the portion of the Longest Walk route passing through the Southeast were not available at time of writing, the current planned itinerary for the South Route is: Louisiana: The Walk participants will travel from Texarkana to Baton Rouge Louisiana along Highway 71 between May 16 and May 21, and along Highway 1 from Baton Rouge to Houma/New Orleans May 22 and 23, where they will rest until May 27. May 28 to 29, they will travel from Baton Rouge to Hattiesburg along Highway 11, and from Hattiesburg to Philadelphia along Highways 11 and 15 May 30 and 31 with a day of rest in Philadelphia, MS, on June 1. Alabama: June 2, the participants will enter Alabama on Highway 16/AL 30 as they travel from Philadelphia to Gainesville. June 3 they'll stop in Talledega National Forest, then on to Brent on June 4, Calera June 5, Childersburg June 6, and Oxford June 7-9. On June 10, they will travel from Oxford to Fort Payne along Highway 9. Tennessee: Leaving Fort Payne on June 11, the Walk heads up Highway 58 into Tennessee at Chattanooga and continues along 58 to Athens June 12. From Athens, they will head into Knoxville on the 13th and Newport on the 14th. North Carolina: The North Carolina route and schedule is still tentative. Participants are scheduled to travel from Newport TN to Asheville on June 15, and to spend May 16-18 resting in Asheville before heading on to Statesville (June 19), Winston-Salem (June 20), Greensboro (June 21-23), Durham (June 24), Roxboro (June 25), and Henderson (June 26). Virginia: June 27 through July 3, the participants will be following Highway 1 from Henderson, NC, to Frederichsburg, VA. July 4 and 5 they will travel along Highway 17 to Delaplane, where they will rest until July 8. Maryland and DC: The North and South Routes will rejoin one another in Greenbelt, MD, July 8 through 11, with the final march into Washington DC scheduled for July 11, followed by two days of celebration on the National Mall July 12-13. They will deliver their manifesto to congressional representatives July 14-16. |
