Longest Walk II Starts Off

Activists' national trek takes first steps in Yolo
American Indian group to lead 4,000-mile walk for environmental cause.
By Stephen Magagnini -
Published 12:00 am PST Saturday, February 9, 2008
Story appeared in METRO section, Page B2

"Sacramento Bee-DENNIS BANKS AND BUDDHISTS AMONG THE WALKERS "

Activists from four continents – led by American Indians and Japanese Buddhist monks – will gather in Yolo County on Monday to launch a walk across America dedicated to protecting the environment.

Led by American Indian Movement co-founder Dennis Banks, they will embark on a five-month, 4,000-mile spiritual trek to Washington, D.C., calling for an end to the degradation of the planet.

"We want to raise the issues of global warming and clean air, water and soil," said Banks. "Many native elders believe Mother Earth is being hurt by all this and it's going to cause some very serious climate change."

Banks, a well-known indigenous activist, said he didn't want future generations to look back and say, " 'What did they do to stop it?' "

The trek – dubbed "Longest Walk II" – begins on the 30th anniversary of the first "Longest Walk," another transcontinental journey led by American Indians. Like this second walk, the trek set off from D-Q University, a tribal community college seven miles west of Davis.

The two-year tribal college, founded in 1971 as a symbol of native empowerment, is named after Deganawidah, peacemaker of the Iroquois Confederacy, and the Aztec prophet Quetzalcoatl. Today, the school is fighting for survival after losing its accreditation and federal funding in 2005 over financial and enrollment problems.

"I'm happy they included D-Q because we're trying to get back on our feet and straighten things out," said D-Q chairman Calvin Hedrick, a Mountain Maidu from Plumas County. "Somebody just called and asked is D-Q even around any more – it will be great for people to see we're still trying and not letting things go."

The 1978 Longest Walk was undertaken to protest legislation that activists say would have wiped out Indian treaties and taken away tribal hunting and fishing rights. The legislation ultimately failed.

"Last time, we started with 60 people," Banks said, "and it just kept getting bigger until about 3,000 people walked into D.C., and we collected over 1.5 million signatures along the way."

The 1978 walk "was very much a walk for survival, and this walk, too, is very much about cultural survival," said Morning Star Gali, 28, an organizer from the Achumawi Band of Pitt River Indians near Burney.

"This is a call to action for our elders and youth to bring attention to what's going on in our homeland and the environment in general," Gali said.

The walkers plan to cover 15 miles a day, said Banks, who will lead a southern cross-country route.

A second contingent will follow the footsteps of the 1978 walk through Placerville and Lake Tahoe, Banks said.

Walkers of all ages are coming from 30 Indian nations and about a dozen foreign countries, including Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Russia and Australia, "and a walking order of 20 Japanese Buddhist monks," Gali said.

The walkers plan to to sleep under the stars, though organizers are hoping churches along the way will provide lodging. The Rumsey Tribe of Yolo County, which runs Cache Creek Casino, and other tribes will provide food, and the Sacramento Central Labor Council and Pollock Pines Community Center are helping with water and lodging, said co-organizer Ricardo Tapia of Woodland.

Longest Walk II will launch at 4:30 a.m. Monday with a ceremony at Alcatraz Island. Banks and thousands of other activists occupied Alcatraz from 1969 to 1971 to fight for American Indian rights.

Activists also occupied the land that became D-Q in 1971.

The walkers will caravan to D-Q Monday, where they'll sleep in dorms or camp out, said Hedrick. They'll meet a handful of students living at D-Q and running their own gardening class.

For more information on Longest Walk II, go to www.longestwalk.org or call Gali at (510) 827-6719.

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