20 Navajos join trek with Longest Walk 2
By Marley Shebala
Navajo Times
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(Courtesy photo)
Among the Navajos participating in the Longest Walk 2 are, left to right, back row, Renaldo Nelson, Low Mountain, Ariz.; Rihanna "Ray Ray" Bahee; Raymond Jack Gene Jr., Smoke Signal, Ariz.; Delphine "Del" Clark, Shiprock; Orlando D. Nez, Teesto, Ariz.; Karl Redhouse, White Cone, Ariz.; and Elouise Brown, Chaco Rio, N.M.; and, front row, from left, Ululaine Hardy, Tuba City; Stanley Yazzie, Tuba City; Leland Silversmith, Tse si ani, Ariz.; Urvin Yazzie, Whippoorwill, Ariz.; Jacey Brown, Chaco Rio; Autumn Chino, Dilkon, Ariz., and Shane Garnenez, Shiprock. They are shown May 16 at the fairgrounds in Texarkana, Ark.
About 20 Navajos are headed to Washington, D.C., but they're not driving vehicles, riding motorcycles or sitting in an airplane.
They are walking.
So far they and a group of 70 other individuals have walked through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
They are currently in Alabama and are expected to arrive in Washington on July 11.
But before that, they'll walk through Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia.
Some of the Navajos started walking from Flagstaff and others from Leupp, Ariz., and Window Rock in late March and early April, when the Longest Walk 2 passed through Dinétah.
The Longest Walk 2, which began Feb. 11 with hundreds of walkers in San Francisco, commemorates the 30-year anniversary of the first Longest Walk.
On Feb. 8, 1978, the first walk began in San Francisco with hundreds of walkers. On July 15, 1978, it ended in Washington with thousands.
The first walk focused on defeating 11 bills then before Congress that proposed to terminate treaties between tribes and the U.S., and shut down schools and hospitals serving Native Americans.
Once Congress and the American public heard from the Longest Walk, none of the bills passed.
Organizers say this second walk is for the future generation, for peace and justice, the healing of Mother Earth and all life, especially those suffering from diabetes, heart conditions, alcoholism, drug addiction and other diseases, and the protection of sacred sites.
Cleanup campaign
The Longest Walk 2 is taking two routes. The northern route traces the original walk, crossing 11 states and 3,600 miles.
The southern route traverses 13 states and over 4,400 miles. It includes the Clean Up Mother Earth Campaign, in which walkers pick up trash as they walk along highways and roads.
Leland Silversmith of Tsé si'‡n’ (Where the Rock Is), Ariz., in Lupton Chapter, said recently that the walkers collect about 15 to 20 large garbage bags of trash each day.
Most of the litter is liquor containers — beer cans, whiskey bottles and the like, he said.
Silversmith said he joined the walkers in Flagstaff to protect Dook'o'oosl’’d (Shining on Top), known in English as the San Francisco Peaks, from "poison water."
He was referring to the proposal by operators of the Snowbowl ski area to use treated sewage effluent to make artificial snow during dry years. The U.S. Forest Service liked the idea but a consortium of tribes, including the Navajo Nation, sued to prevent it.
Dook'o'oosl’’d is one of the six sacred mountains of the Diné, and is also used as a place of prayer by 13 other tribes.
In December, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on the question after a three-judge appeals panel agreed with the tribes, overturning a lower court's approval of the Snowbowl proposal. The full court's decision is pending.
The Longest Walk 2 arrived in Flagstaff on March 21 and spent about a week there collecting signatures of support to protect Dook'o'oosl’’d. When they left, Silversmith went with them.
Silversmith, who is Naakaii Dine'é (Mexican People Clan), born for Naasht'ézh’ Dine'é (Zuni People Clan), said the walk is physically demanding but the learning experience far outweighs the hardship.
Warm welcome
By design, both routes wind through Indian Country, where the local tribes have welcomed them with food, shelter, and prayers, he said.
The Muskogee Cherokee Iowa Nation of Oklahoma even butchered a buffalo.
Silversmith said as the group walked through Oklahoma and stopped at the various reservations, he learned that only a couple of the 45 tribes in Oklahoma call it home.
"Most of the tribes were herded to Oklahoma from the eastern part of the U.S.," he noted.
Unlike the Navajo, who returned from Hwééldi and reclaimed their homeland, most of the eastern tribes could not return because non-Native settlers had taken their land.
Besides recounting history, their Native hosts share current concerns, too.
"Everybody's in turmoil because their leaders - politicians - are not listening to their people," Silversmith said. "People are being exploited and the land is being raped.
"Everywhere we go people are concerned about the land," he said, "especially that sacred sites are being desecrated and Indian religious rights violated by companies in the name of money."
He said tribal people also reported unfair treatment by state and county courts because they can't afford private attorneys and must rely on public defenders.
Silversmith said non-Native communities also want to talk with the walkers, and hold town hall meetings, urging them to take concerns about global warming, high gas and food prices, and the future of their grandchildren to D.C.
"Everywhere we've been, the people are very open and kind," he said. "Of course, there are a few people that yell and show us that we're number one (give a middle-finger salute)."
But most are sympathetic.
In Clayton, N.M., an Anglo lady asked why they were walking and after they explained, she told them she wished she could walk because she's feeling the impacts of global warming and rising costs.
She explained that she had children and a job and couldn't join the walk but she wanted to thank them for walking for her and her grandchildren and she donated a sleeping bag and bottled water.
And in Amarillo, Texas, the community donated walking shoes and sun lotion and arranged for the walkers to camp in the local museum.
As he recalled camping in the museum, Silversmith started laughing.
"There were glass cases of Indian stuff - relics, headdresses, artwork, everything. And here we were, 80 real Indians, laying around. It was ironic but that's how much that community wanted to help."
When the group walked through Louisiana, they camped on the Houma Reservation for about a week to help tribal members rebuild their community, which was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Silversmith is being sponsored on the walk by his parents, George and Fannie Silversmith of Lupton, and former President Milton Bluehouse and his wife Irma, of Ganado, Ariz.
But many of the Navajo walkers are not so lucky, and need the financial support of their fellow Navajos and others, he said.
"We're not just walking for the Diné or other tribes," Silversmith noted. "We're walking for the whole world and the whole world should join us."
People interested in supporting the walkers can make donations through the Longest Walk 2 Web site, he added. All donations are tax-deductible.
Information: www.longestwalk.org.