OUR MISSION:
We walk with the message: All Life is Sacred, Save Mother Earth.
We shall walk for the Seventh Generation, for our youth, for peace, for justice, for healing of Mother Earth, for the healing of our people suffering from diabetes, heart conditions, alcoholism, drug addiction, and other diseases.
Through the elements of the seasons, we shall walk through the rain, snow, over mountains, high winds, through the heat and cold, nothing shall deter us from completing our mission: All Life is Sacred, Protect Sacred Sites.
Let those who doubt, hear our pledge. Let those who believe, join our ranks. As we walk the final miles, by our side will be elders, families, children, people of all races, from many walks of life, the old and the new America. All Life is Sacred, Clean Up Mother Earth.
OUR GOAL:
The Clean Up America Campaign is an effort to clean up our country�s highways and roads by collecting debris found along the Longest Walk route. This monumental task will engage Walkers in a global effort at a grassroots level to promote harmony with our delicate environment.
Longest Walk participants will carry specially marked trash bags to separate the collected refuse into trash bins and recycling bins. A rotating team of walkers will pick up trash along the way with trash pokers leaving a health trail of earth in their path.
Credit Brenda Norrell
On February 11, 2008, in San Francisco, California, American Indian tribes from all over North America along with supporters began the Longest Walk 2 to commemorate the first Longest Walk held in 1978. The purpose of the walk in 1978, which ended in Washington, D.C. on July 11, was to bring attention to 11 congressional bills that would abrogate Native American treaties by the United States government. The 1978 Longest Walk defeated the bills and one month later, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 was passed.
In the following video, you will see, hear, and learn the significance of the Longest Walk 2.
credit Skipthomassedona - youtube
Thirty years later, on July 11, Longest Walk 2, a grassroots effort to bring attention to environmental disharmony and also intended to bring attention to the health and well being of Mother Earth, human life, all communities, and the preservation of national Native American sacred sites, will commence in Washington, D.C. The mission of LW2 is a parallel mission with the Alliance Community Media that convenes from July 9 to July 12, 2008 in Washington, D.C.
Events while in Pennsylvania
The Walkers arrived in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area after holding a Pow Wow in Farmington, PA on June 21 and on June 28, a prayer vigil in Lewisburg, PA for Leonard Peltier, a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) who was wrongly arrested in the mid 1970s for shooting 2 FBI agents and is incarcerated at the Lewisburg Federal Prison.
On June 29, Dan and I had the opportunity to attend a benefit performance by two of the bands, One Tribe and Earth Vision Weavers, at Your Daily Grind in Mechanicsburg, a suburb of Harrisburg.
In Harrisburg, the Walkers held a rally on the capitol steps June 30. Video below:
credit Cinzano1000-Roxbury News
On July 1, the Walkers held a prayer vigil at the Carlisle Indian School Cemetery where 190 children are buried. The children were students of the Indian school whose deaths were caused by tuberculosis, smallpox, and stress (broken heart). After leaving Carlisle the Walkers traveled to Codorus State Park where they stayed until July 6.
Washington, D.C. Bound
There are two groups of Walkers, the northern Walkers, and the southern Walkers. Each group has its own itinerary with the southern group traveling through the southern part of the United States and the northern group traveling the northern part of the United States.
On July 7, the two groups merged at Greenbelt Park, Maryland, 13 miles from Washington, D.C. The following schedule lists the events that will take place beginning Friday, July 11. Dan and I plan to be in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, July 12 for the Pow Wow that will take place at the National Museum of the American Indian.
(below the schedule are links to various websites that includes photos and stories during the walk)
Highlights of Schedule:
Friday, July 117 am Converge at Malcolm X Park and walk to White House1:30 pm: Walk to Capitol steps, Constitution Ave NE and Independence Ave SW6 pm: Walk to Sylvan Theater: Washington Monument, 15th St and Independence Ave SW7:30 pm Honoring walker; film tribute to Floyd Westerman and Vernon BellecourtSaturday, July 129:30 am: Water ceremony at Lincoln MemorialNoon: Powwow at National Museum of the American Indian (4th St on DC Mall)Sunday, July 1310 am: Powwow at National Museum of American Indian2 to 6 pm: Concert
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
The Longest Walk 2
While reading about John Dillinger and his gang, Colleen (aka Osh), who posts on the Public Enemies Blog, found an interesting flaw. In Bryan Burrough's book, Public Enemies, Burrough states that Anna Patzke was the bank teller Dillinger took hostage during the 1933 Racine bank heist. In several other books and newspaper clippings Ursula Patzke is referred to as the bank teller taken hostage. Anna Patzke was the significant other of Dillinger's plastic surgeon. After I researched and compared notes with Colleen, I agree, Ursula Patzke was the bank teller taken hostage by the Dillinger gang. As a historian, researcher, and a writer getting the facts straight is very important, however, taking into account the amount of research that goes into a book like Public Enemies is intense and understandable how an error can be made.
Please don't get me wrong and think I approve of making historical errors, because I don't. Accuracy in research is VERY, VERY important, which leads to the importance of documentation. I am a skeptic when it comes to research, which makes me an obsessive researcher ~ you know, leaves no stone unturned. Mr. Burrough has, overall, written a splendid book. He attempted to put together a list of characters and to tell their story in a way that no other has. The book has drawn interests from Michael Mann, who is now making it into a major motion picture with outstanding actors and the book has provoked readers to look further into Dillinger and his "bad" habits. I have nothing but respect for Mr. Burrough and admire the fact that he took on such a difficult task of putting the crime spree of the early 1930s into a time line with its players so we all can learn about that period in American history.
If you want to read the conversation Colleen and I had and to see the actual documentation we found please check out the history forum.
