Louise Benally speaks out on Navajos' Long Walk on Earthcycles

By Brenda Norrell

GREEN RIVER, Utah -- Louise Benally of Big Mountain described the Navajos' Long Walk and the atrocities that followed, including the destruction of the land for coal mining on Black Mesa, during an interview with live and uncensored Longest Walk radio on Earthcycles.
Benally said her grandfathers returned to their homeland after the Long Walk in 1870s.
The Navajo Nation government was created to sign energy leases. "We have been victimized by that." In her home community, the "land swindle" was created by the politicians and corporations. The result was the relocation of more than 10,000 Navajos and destruction of sacred Mother Earth.
Listen to Louise Benally:
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Louise Benally Uncensored

Earlier, the following comments by Louise Benally of Big Mountain, comparing the Long Walk and imprisonment in Bosque Redondo to the war in Iraq, were censored by a national Indian newspaper. Pressed to publish a correction to the published article by this reporter, the newspaper refused.

Navajos at Big Mountain resisting forced relocation view the 19th Century prison camp of Bosque Redondo and the war in Iraq as a continuum of U.S. government sponsored terror.
Louise Benally of Big Mountain remembered her great-grandfather and other Navajos driven from their beloved homeland by the U.S. Army on foot for hundreds of miles while witnessing the murder, rape and starvation of their family and friends.
“I think these poor children had gone through so much, but, yet they had the will to go on and live their lives. If it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t be here today.
“It makes me feel very sad and I apply this to the situation in Iraq. I wonder how the Native Americans in the combat zone feel about killing innocent lives.”
Looking at the faces of the Navajo and Apache children in the Bosque Redondo photo, Benally said, “I think the children in the picture look concerned and maybe confused. It makes me think of what the children in Iraq must be going through right now.
“The U.S. military first murders your people and destroys your way of life while stealing your culture, then forces you to learn their evil ways of lying and cheating,” Benally said.

--Brenda Norrell

Photo: Imprisoned Navajo and Apache children at Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

Longest Walk crossing Colorado state line

Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Aislyn Colgan
(831) 295-2555
Ricardo Tapia
(510) 520-6096
Jimbo Simmons
(415) 568-0826

Longest Walk 2– A SPIRITUAL WALK FOR SURVIVAL FROM ALCATRAZ to D.C. CROSSES COLORADO STATE LINE/ ARRIVES IN FRUITA MARCH 14^th

FRUITA, CO- On February 11, 2008 Longest Walk 2 participants embarked on a five month journey from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. The Longest Walk 2 is a grassroots effort on a national level to bring attention to the environmental disharmony of Mother Earth and the effects of environmental destruction on Native American people; as well as the need for the protection and preservation of Sacred Sites as a means for cultural survival. It is a spiritual and historic walk and Native Americans and their allies from across the nation and worldwide walk behind the banner, “All Life is Sacred; Save Mother Earth”. Northern route walkers carry this mission with them as well: “Renewing the Spirit by Walking in the Footsteps of our Ancestors”, as they cover the original route walked 30 years ago in the first Longest Walk. A southern route is walking simultaneously, with both routes covering over 8000 miles on foot.

On March 14^th the walkers will arrive in Fruita, Colorado and reach Grand Junction March 15^th to a welcoming community of local progressive groups and individuals that support the group’s mission, such as the Uncompahgre Unitarians and Grand Valley Peace and Justice. On the Western slope they will also be supported by the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose, and many Ute Mountain Ute individuals, and native and non-native supporters,

They will be visiting communities along Highway 50 across Colorado sharing their message about issues impacting our world environment, protection of Sacred Sites and the need to care for Mother Earth. The walkers invite communities to share their stories of the issues they are facing, such as the 13 plus sacred sites Native American activists are fighting to protect in lower Colorado and the case of the Leadville super fund site being watched for leakage threatening the town’s entire aquifer. These and other issues will be brought to the capital upon arrival in D.C.

A special memorial will be held April 5^th for the ancestors of the Sand Creek Massacre and their descendants, whom inhabited this region until the “Indian Wars” brought the 1864 ambush on already surrendered Cheyenne and Arapahoe peoples as they camped on their journey to Oklahoma reservations.

The Longest Walk 2 is also a commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the 1978 Longest Walk, which resulted in historic changes for Native America. The original Longest Walk was conducted in response to proposed legislation in Congress abrogating Native American Treaties that protected Native American sovereignty. In July 1978 walkers arrived in D.C. with 30,000 supporters and the 11 bills were defeated, and the way was paved for the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) of 1978. As a result of The 1978 Longest Walk, Indigenous people were granted the federal legislative right to freedom of religion, a fundamental right guaranteed to all Americans under the U.S. Constitution.

Today many places sacred to Native Americans are threatened with development and desecration. Native Americans across the country continue to resist environmental devastation in their communities.

"As Indigenous Peoples in the United States our environment and our cultural survival are directly correlated and are still imperiled today. This is why we must walk once again,” states Jimbo Simmons of the International Indian Treaty Council and coordinator for The Longest Walk 2’s Northern Route.

For more information about the walk including itinerary visit www.longestwalk.org.