Walking to Make a Difference

The Native American 'Longest Walk 2'

When a relative passes away, part of the mourning process is ensuring their body is properly cared for, often with a viewing and burial followed by the possessions of the loved one being handed down as heirlooms or sacred artifacts for family members to cherish.           

Unfortunately, many Native Americans have lost such treasured artifacts to universities across the nation that display them in museums and use them in archaeological studies. 

“Tennessee has the third highest number of unreturned Native American remains in the nation,” says Valerie Ohle, chair of the Tennessee Commission of Indian Affairs, adding that more than 11,000 native ancestors are still being kept from a proper ceremony due to science and politics, causing them spiritual unrest.

Native Americans are not only losing cultural relics and family possessions, but funding to tribes, essential human rights, proper living conditions and many aspects of the environment that sustain a way of life allowing reliance on the land and a respectful relationship with nature.

To raise awareness of these and other injustices still faced by Native Americans today, hundreds are gathering this year to re-enact the “Longest Walk” of 1978 in an attempt to right some of these wrongs. Jerry Williams, Lead Horse of the Oklahoma-Mississippi Choctaw tribe, joined the walk in Oklahoma. “My chief of the Choctaw nation gave me the flag to carry and I’m also carrying the Mississippi flag and the Iowa nation flag,” he says.

The flags he and many others carry represent the sovereign nations of the native tribes, of which there are more than 500 across the country whose members have dual citizenship with the United States.

Williams joined the walk to advocate for human rights, but is also on a personal mission.

“Our Chief Pushmata was buried in Washington D.C. I’ve got to go up there and take pictures. I promised I would do that,” says Williams.

The walkers passed through Knoxville June 12 to June 14 near the culmination of the five-month walk that began Feb. 11, 2008, in San Francisco. A northern and southern route are bringing hundreds to the roads with the common goals of raising awareness of environmental issues, expressing concerns of native people and cleaning the country as they cross it, spreading the message “all life is sacred, save Mother Earth” with chants and banners.

This walk commemorates the 30th anniversary of the original "Longest Walk." Dennis Banks, co-founder of the American Indian Movement, says he organized the second walk to allow the younger generation to walk in their ancestors’ footsteps and address some of the issues threatening their livelihood.

In 1978, more than 100 Native American tribes came together for similar reasons. Eleven bills were before Congress that would have destroyed tribal sovereignty by altering existing treaties. The American Indian Movement organized the walk, which gathered people together from San Francisco to Washington D.C., where they delivered a manifesto to Congress July 15, 1978, seeking protection of Native Treaties. After walking across the nation, the manifesto was delivered and each of the bills failed.

Participants in the “Longest Walk 2” hope their journey has similar success when they present a manifesto to Congress July 11. The manifesto is a work in progress as walkers compile concerns and grievances of Native Americans they meet along the path from San Francisco to Washington D.C. Tribal leaders on the walk also meet with local tribe leaders and government officials along the way to discuss issues they feel should be included in the manifesto. All the information gathered along both routes will be collected and presented to Congress members.

Knoxville volunteers supporting these goals gathered June 12 at the Mountain View United Methodist Church to prepare for the arrival of the southern route’s walkers on Maryville Pike. Tables and chairs were arranged for a meal the next day that would allow Knoxvillians to meet the walkers and learn about the issues facing Native Americans across the country. Rooms were prepared for sleeping quarters and food was prepared for the guests. Everyone expressed excited anticipation of the walkers’ arrival the next day: