All life is sacred. Protect Mother Earth

by Sharlene Irete

People Editor

Two young men from Carson Valley were part of a cross country walk for Native American rights during the 2008 Longest Walk, which started on Feb. 11 in San Francisco and ended in Washington, D.C. 175 days later.

Danny Wyatt, 23, and Nate Pahe, 16, from the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, walked part of the route of this year's Longest Walk commemorating 30 years since the original. The 1978 Longest Walk raised awareness to Native American issues and led to the defeat of 11 anti-Native American bills and to the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act.

"A big part of the Longest Walk was about our sacred sites " like rock climbers on Cave Rock," said Wyatt. "I thought this walk was something good and I wanted to be part of it. I have traditional ways and values which helped me on the walk.

"I started in Colorado and went all the way and Nate started in Utah," he said. "I walked about five miles a day and did a lot of the cooking. I just did what I could to help and cooking was a big thing."

Walkers representing more than 100 Native American nations traveled two routes through 24 states to bring a list of demands to Congress having to do with recognition of environmental issues, sacred sites and Native American sovereignty.

Pahe took the northern route of the Longest Walk from Utah to Kansas, then took the southern route to Louisiana, Tennessee and Alabama. He said his group was walking 20 miles a day by the end.

"We'd wake up at 3 a.m. after going to sleep at 11 p.m. and get up and start walking," he said. "There was something different every day and every day I was meeting new people. There was a lot of humble good people who walked each day."

Wyatt said the Longest Walk was a prayerful, rather than a militant, walk.

"We prayed before walking and eating," he said. "We had sacred staffs and people walked with them. I would smooth the feathers and repair them. People would add something, like feathers, to the staffs at each community. The individual feathers represented somebody's prayer that we were taking with us.

"The Kickapoo people of Kansas had their only source of water run dry. That was their issue so they gave us a wood carving to take as their message to Washington that they want to have water in the winter," Wyatt said.

Pahe said he was glad he was able to experience the Longest Walk.

"Everything fell into place for me to just go," he said. "On the walk I gained and learned what some people go through life not ever knowing. I believed in the people's prayers. They prayed every day and hoped their prayers would be answered."

Wyatt said people carried personal prayers, but there were collective purposes for commemorating the 1978 Longest Walk.

"A lady prayed for people from her reservation who were in the war," said Wyatt. "And 30 years later, look at the state of the world. Look at the river, it's almost running dry. Our native people are hurting. Our earth is hurting."

Both Wyatt and Pahe said the walk opened their eyes to issues including being respectful of native dead at historical sites, recognizing the effects of global warming and respecting the earth.

"The earth is being destroyed and we're not doing anything," Pahe said. "All native people have are their prayers."

"Mining is destroying our country," said Wyatt. "They're digging up the land. 'Progress' is destroying our country."

Pahe said his perspective changed the longer he got into his five-month journey.

"I was sad when I saw our own people and how they were treated. It's hard to sit back and see people get pushed around," he said. "I see ways to help but don't necessarily see myself as the one to change things.

"Don't let anyone break your beliefs. Stick to your morals," was Pahe's advice on getting young people to promote change. "Tradition is about prayer. It's not a duty, it's a part of everyday life."

Wyatt has been involved in Washoe language projects including taking two years to create a workbook of Washoe/English translations.

"I was getting burned out before the walk," he said. "But when I came back, I was more interested in our Washoe language. Now I'm refreshed and want to work on it again.

"You've got to know where you came from to know where you're going."

Wyatt said there were about 2,500 people in Washington, D.C., at the end of the Longest Walk.

"Walking in I could feel why we were here," he said. "My hope is something is going to happen because of that walk. Maybe it will be a kid who saw the walk who will bring about a change. But it's not going to happen overnight."

From www.longestwalk.org

The Longest Walk was a 8,200 mile Native American prayer walk for indigenous people's rights that began on Alcatraz Island and arrived in Washington, D.C., on July 11. Over 800 walkers from Indian country and international allies survived forceful winds, rain, snow and a tornado in their journey to raise awareness about sacred sites protection, cultural survival, youth empowerment and Native American rights. The successful journey traversed 24 states and 35 reservations. Each community shared with the walkers their stories of environmental destruction and threats to sacred sites. The walkers arrived in Washington, D.C., with the message, "All Life is Sacred. Protect Mother Earth."