Post by blackcrowheart on Jul 3, 2008 13:03:51 GMT -5
American-Indian group walks the US to press causes
Photo Participants in the Longest Walk 2 from San Francisco to
Washington D.C. walk along a highway in Richmond, Va., Tuesday, July 1,
2008. The walk is a journey to help protect the environment and Native
American sacred sites.
RICHMOND, Va. --With hopscotch speed, Shanawa Littlebow leapt to the
side of the road, scooped up a plastic bottle cap and fell back into
line with his fellow walkers, passing trailer homes and gas stations
along Jefferson-Davis Highway.
Sweat beaded at his temples and dampened the seat of his cargo shorts.
The Tigua Indian man walked and searched for litter - a feathered staff
in the crook of his right arm - in honor of Mother Earth.
"There may be a lot of people who don't even care," he said. "But at
least we're out here, and we're speaking out."
The 100-person caravan passed through Virginia Tuesday in the final
stretch of the Longest Walk 2, an 8,300-mile trek from San Francisco to
Washington, D.C. to draw attention to the effects of environmental
devastation on American Indians and all people.
The walk began Feb. 11, and is expected to end July 11, when organizers
plan to present a 30-page manifesto of American-Indian environmental
concerns to Rep. John Conyers, a Detroit Democrat who advocates on a
wide range of minority issues, on the U.S. Capitol steps.
The walk marks the 30th anniversary of the first Longest Walk, a
3,600-mile effort that gathered support to successfully halt bills
before Congress that Native Americans said threatened their sovereignty.
This year's walk was longer by demand, said national organizer Dennis
Banks, 76, who founded the first walk in 1978.
"A great number of tribes in the Southwest insisted that we come
through," he said.
Banks said two groups of walkers set out from San Francisco and split up
- the southern delegation passing through states like Texas, Alabama and
Tennessee, while the northern group has walked through Pennsylvania and
surrounding states.
They'll all meet in Maryland and continue to Washington.
Along the way, Banks said they've picked up 3,800 bags of trash.
They've also gathered a running list of American-Indian worries -
everything from concern about burial grounds under threat in Kentucky to
fears about the future of Arizona mountains threatened by ski resort
development.
There are 11.9 million American Indians across the nation, according to
the Census. Their concerns gained renewed attention in May as Democratic
presidential hopeful Barack Obama visited Montana's Crow Indian
reservation and was adopted into the nation during a private ceremony.
American Indians have been mixed on their reaction to Obama's attention,
with some questioning his intentions as the election shifts into high
gear.
"I just hopes he sticks to his words," Karl Red Horse, a Navajo man said
Tuesday, as he marched. "At least we (will) have somebody in there other
than Caucasian."
He said he'd done 1,000 miles of the walk, which was expected to spend
several days passing through central Virginia.
Some skeptics, even in black America, where marches for social change
are historic, have begun to question the impact a group of people on
foot can have.
Shanawa Littlebow isn't among the doubters. He marched beneath a rainbow
of fluttering flags, to the tum of drums.
To say it doesn't work, "it's to say a wheel doesn't work when it's
turning. We're turning. We're walking. It's working," he said.
Photo Participants in the Longest Walk 2 from San Francisco to
Washington D.C. walk along a highway in Richmond, Va., Tuesday, July 1,
2008. The walk is a journey to help protect the environment and Native
American sacred sites.
RICHMOND, Va. --With hopscotch speed, Shanawa Littlebow leapt to the
side of the road, scooped up a plastic bottle cap and fell back into
line with his fellow walkers, passing trailer homes and gas stations
along Jefferson-Davis Highway.
Sweat beaded at his temples and dampened the seat of his cargo shorts.
The Tigua Indian man walked and searched for litter - a feathered staff
in the crook of his right arm - in honor of Mother Earth.
"There may be a lot of people who don't even care," he said. "But at
least we're out here, and we're speaking out."
The 100-person caravan passed through Virginia Tuesday in the final
stretch of the Longest Walk 2, an 8,300-mile trek from San Francisco to
Washington, D.C. to draw attention to the effects of environmental
devastation on American Indians and all people.
The walk began Feb. 11, and is expected to end July 11, when organizers
plan to present a 30-page manifesto of American-Indian environmental
concerns to Rep. John Conyers, a Detroit Democrat who advocates on a
wide range of minority issues, on the U.S. Capitol steps.
The walk marks the 30th anniversary of the first Longest Walk, a
3,600-mile effort that gathered support to successfully halt bills
before Congress that Native Americans said threatened their sovereignty.
This year's walk was longer by demand, said national organizer Dennis
Banks, 76, who founded the first walk in 1978.
"A great number of tribes in the Southwest insisted that we come
through," he said.
Banks said two groups of walkers set out from San Francisco and split up
- the southern delegation passing through states like Texas, Alabama and
Tennessee, while the northern group has walked through Pennsylvania and
surrounding states.
They'll all meet in Maryland and continue to Washington.
Along the way, Banks said they've picked up 3,800 bags of trash.
They've also gathered a running list of American-Indian worries -
everything from concern about burial grounds under threat in Kentucky to
fears about the future of Arizona mountains threatened by ski resort
development.
There are 11.9 million American Indians across the nation, according to
the Census. Their concerns gained renewed attention in May as Democratic
presidential hopeful Barack Obama visited Montana's Crow Indian
reservation and was adopted into the nation during a private ceremony.
American Indians have been mixed on their reaction to Obama's attention,
with some questioning his intentions as the election shifts into high
gear.
"I just hopes he sticks to his words," Karl Red Horse, a Navajo man said
Tuesday, as he marched. "At least we (will) have somebody in there other
than Caucasian."
He said he'd done 1,000 miles of the walk, which was expected to spend
several days passing through central Virginia.
Some skeptics, even in black America, where marches for social change
are historic, have begun to question the impact a group of people on
foot can have.
Shanawa Littlebow isn't among the doubters. He marched beneath a rainbow
of fluttering flags, to the tum of drums.
To say it doesn't work, "it's to say a wheel doesn't work when it's
turning. We're turning. We're walking. It's working," he said.