Northern Arizona, May 2008 – Thirty years ago, during the Longest Walk 1978 (LW78) from S.F., CA to Washington, D.C., there were still many great wise indigenous elders around. Many came to the Longest Walk to show their support and some made ceremonies. This writing will reflect back on that era and the idea of the University of the Red Peoples which was a name applied to the Longest Walk of 1978. Now, 30 years after, many of us who were inspired by that spiritual and educational walk are continuing to live up to the Manifesto of LW78. However, our efforts as “aging” warriors are being limited by the over-whelming changed lifestyles and the globalized market-economy, and that which has been largely adapted by the majority of our indigenous peoples.
An Occurrence at Sand Creek
The battle and massacre ground at Sand Creek in Colorado was another one of my powerful experience in 1978 when the Longest Walk made camp there. Prior to the Walk making it to the Sand Creek site, I and a few others made our way there to camp before the Walk got there. I decided to do a fast and with that I prayed, offered cedar smoke, used Indian tobacco, and sang prayer chants. A couple of evenings into my fast and while expecting the Walkers, we all went to bed in a little spot and in the tall bushes on the hillside overlooking the area of the 1864 massacre. Our sleeping area was tight where about six of us slept side-by-side because the vibe there really felt unsettled, others have heard a drumbeat down the creek, and a couple have felt the presence of people but when they looked the air was empty.
Rarely, certain individuals would tell me that they have psychic capability or that they’ve seen visions and are able to interpret them. In all my 30 plus years of (trying) to live as a wild Indian on Big Mountain, I have never had a vision or was able to tell about the future. Actually, I remember a Sun Dance Chief instructing the dancers in Dakota country that a vision will only belong to that individual that has seen it and it should be nobody else’s business. So, now that I established my personal disclaimer, that one evening at Sand Creek we all fell asleep in that imaginary, hillside haven. Sometime after, I had awoken to nearby voices in an unfamiliar language.
I am very certain I was awake –I think, and I peeked out of my covers and noticed that the campfire light was illuminating the tall bushes. I thought to myself, “Oh, the Walkers must have arrived and some have relit our campfire.” I turned to look towards the fire and there were some men standing around the fire wearing blankets and fur hats with some feathers. They immediately looked towards me as I looked at them for a couple of seconds. Chills went up my spine as I turned away to cover my head and my heart was racing as I didn’t know what to do. I must have been frightened back to sleep because I woke up again but to the quietness of night. I peeked out of the covers as I was laying on my back now and noticed only the bright starry sky. Then I remembered what (I thought) I saw, I sat up to look toward the fireplace where not a single ember showed signs of life. There was however a feeling of calm and a sense of peace all around. I didn’t have that nightmarish type of feeling anymore about those hazy figures that visited us earlier that night.
Elders and spiritual leaders in 1978 arrived at Sand Creek and there were many ceremonies held. The Longest Walk camp of that year had a lot of joy, people looked after each other, family and tribal camps were always welcoming, and there were much singing and laughter. That was how it was at Sand Creek after all the walkers and crew arrived. My brother, Chief Laughs A Loud, recalls that Medicine people had forecasted that “particular Spirits would guide the LW78 to Sand Creek and after that, other Spirits would take over.” It did feel that way to me personally because the LW78 faced more challenges after Sand Creek like: staying united, encountering white supremacists’ threats, federal police monitoring of our rallies, and those internal ‘political’ rumors. I think as youths at the time, youths who were hungry for wisdom and ancient knowledge, we begin to pray harder, made more tobacco-ties, and fasted more.
Beyond the Great Mississippi River
I being from the arid southwest the humidity and the heat struck me as being in a constant sweat bath. The young men warriors that carried the staffs and pipes removed their shirts but they kept wearing their feathers proudly. The walk was so large that there was never time to meet everyone and our early morning circles were bigger. I have never seen such green country where there were flowing creeks and lakes everywhere. The only negative aspects of these green lust territories were there was no Indian country and big American towns linked major cities together. Endless highways and freeways crisscrossed each other in the midst of tangled networks of power lines which made me feel like I was trapped in some artificial, spider monster’s den.
We all made our way down towards Marion Penitentiary in Missouri. It was a ‘state of the art – high tech’ federal prison at that time. Prisoner of war and warrior brother, Leonard Peltier, was being held there. We held daily prayer vigils at the front entrance gate to the prison. I believe that everyone there that brought spiritual support for Leonard felt the presence of the colonial aggressors’ lair. The penitentiary facility looked like both a giant laboratory and a space colony on some far-distanced planet. We sang songs for our warrior brother, Leonard, and at the main LW78 camp, we had more ceremonies. The nations have come to visit their captured, warrior leader who has sacrificed his freedom for all the Red Nations. But the evil powers of the colonialist police state would not allow them to see one another. We just hope that somewhere inside Leonard would have been able to hear the drum and the war cries of the women and men warriors.
Will Nations Hear Those Voices Again before It Vanishes?
Again, the nations are under siege. The institutions of the dominant white culture continue to perceive us as Red Niggers. “Put up or shut up!” are the responses of the states and its judicial systems. What “rights” do we intend to put up? Those “rights” that (they) give to us on polystyrene platters from Wal-Mart? Yankton Rez is under attack. Our brothers and sisters are harassed at D.Q. University. There are the continuing stand-offs in Mohawk country and at Desert Rock and Big Mountain in Dineh (Navajo) country. The U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples has just informed the indigenous peoples of the world that “they will have to live with climate change and with more mineral resource extraction in their territories.”
Thus, what would be the meaning of “rights” according to those few, wise traditional elders that are still left? Would those of us, aging long-walkers of 1978, still remember what our traditional elders of 1978 have told us about how we belonged to Earth Mother? Those times when we sat in the big circles at the LW78 camps and when elders from many nations spoke. Chief Frank Fools Crow once said, “Red peoples must have strong hearts like the buffalos in order to maintain the generations to come.” Muskogee elder, Phillip Deere, truly believed in the efforts of the LW78 and was one of the Presidents of the University of the Red Nations. Hopi elders, David Monongye and matriarch Mina Lansa, had given decisive guidance about the future of humanity. Nellie Red Owl was one of the Lakota matriarchs at Wounded Knee 1973 and she has given many inspirations to LW78 and those inspirations must continue.
Lakota elder and wise man, Mathew King, once stated, “The struggle of the red people can only be strong if its warrior nation understands that the struggle is like the Sun Dance. Humbleness is key if you make a vow to such a Sun Dance because all the filth of divisiveness, greed and false accusation will be wiped clean on You! You will be the door mat. Why do I speak to you when you are having your rest from your Sun Dance? Well, because Tunkacula and God want you to worry just like the Sun Dance songs that are supposed to make you worry so that, you will become stronger and maintain your spirit to overcome the pain of hunger and fatigue.”
Grandfather Wallace Black Elk told the LW78 in Kansas, “Someday I hope the red peoples will make the victory to save what is left of our country, our sacred places, our ancestral burial grounds, our traditional foods and medicines, and all our relations. This kind of victory is only possible by understanding that we are all One People from South America to North America. I want you all to remember this and pray for all these things as you walk across this Turtle Island (North America).”
Artificial Political Agendas Distracts and So, Why Do We Need Wise Teachings of Turtle Island?
Why did those ghostly images appeared to my consciousness thirty years ago? I only have ‘maybe’ answers, and now you see I truly believe I am not gifted with some super power. All I can say is that those four men have always looked down upon me, and I try my best to this day to be vigilant. Real spoken words that I have heard back then has held, for me, very deep understanding about what my job is today which is reaffirming why we all need to choose the Road of Creator: the Red Road, the Corn Pollen Trail or the Path of Balance & Peace.
Thirty years after LW78 and when wise-elders gave guidance, we are now guided by the mass media even if we try to boycott FOX or CNN interpretations, or other similar media. I do appreciate and respect printed literatures of Guru Gandhi or Dr. King and what wise teachings that they have provided. Furthermore, besides how certain quotes from such leaders are used by social-green peoples’ movements, could part of the problem of failed alliances and lack of trust among movements be stemming from: not knowing about or appreciating the spiritual-sacred policies passed down by Turtle Island aborigines and that only apply to Turtle Island?
A small portion of the non-artificial, spiritual agendas are today being carried by the Longest Walk 2 and especially with the northern route walkers. They are undergoing tests brought on by the weather, the climate, the fumes from automobile traffic, the misunderstanding/uneducated/ignorance of American society, and by God, Creator / Great Spirit. Soon it will be July and then these Walk routes will join together in Washington, D.C. As people of all colors from many different origins who call Turtle Island home, it is time for us to take up the other alternative besides the voting booth, and that is to join or support this spiritual Walk that is taking place on behalf of all of Us.
Together we have to bring about sustainable lifestyles, limit our dependency on fossil fuel energy which basically causes genocide, and we must initiate true, global peace-building efforts. How does one get away from addictions? Well, certainly not by trying out some therapy that is based on books or artificial imaginations. But we need to make our hearts strong like the buffalo, re-learn prophecies related to Turtle Island, learn more about indigenous matriarchs that have stood their (ancestral) grounds, willing to be door mats of our community, become skilled in analyzing conflict (worrying) and come up with better collective approaches (overcome the pain), and when we all come to realize that we are One People then will we have better relations with All Our Relations.
To All My Relations
©Sheep Dog Nation Rocks, 2008
