Editor's Note: The Longest Walk 3 - Reversing Diabetes will conclude in Washington on Friday, July 8. The message the Longest Walk is a powerful one: American Indians are suffering from diabetes at epidemic rates.

During the upcoming week, the Native News Network will feature special articles on the Longest Walk and the devastating impact diabetes has in Indian Country and to all Americans.

Today's feature is from an excerpt from "Thinking in Indian: A John Mohawk Reader"(Fulcrum Publishing - 2010). The feature was written by Mr. Mohawk during the summer of 1978 after he participated in a portion of the Longest Walk

Thinking in Indian

The Longest Walk: Vignettes of the Day* PART 4

Levi Rickert, editor-in-chief in Longest Walk 3. Discussion »

Part 4

Thinking in Indian:
A John Mohawk Reader

It was late and we had invited the people who had walked the entire distance into our camp to share a meal. Afterward, one of the mean men took a guitar and he sat down near the fire. "I want to sing you a song," He said.

He played his guitar, and he talked and dang. He said, "We camp through the mountains in the wintertime, and it was cold up there. Fifteen below, maybe colder. And some nights there was no place to sleep, except in the snow. And one night, one of our men, he stayed up all night in his truck, way up on the mountains, because he was carrying the pipe. He wasn't going to bring that Pipe down into that town, because he knew the Pipe was sacred, and he didn't want to bring a scared thing into that town. He could have come down and slept where it was warm, but he didn't. He didn't. So I want to sing this song for my brother, because he stayed strong."

"Walk on, long walkers, we got many miles to walk on!"

"Walk on, long walkers, we got many miles to walk on!"

He sang for nearly an hour, and we heard that he didn't sing all of the song. "The Longest Walk," which is the name of the song, is also the longest song.

"I learned the right way on this walk. At least, the right way for me. I fell in love while I was on this walk. I fell in love with my Mother Earth. And I'll never forget it. I have tried many things-booze, marijuana, heroin, religion-you name it, I've tried it. But I have never known anything like Mother Earth.

"And I know now that the Pipe is sacred. I know what that means. My brothers taught me about that on the walk. That Pipe is powerful. It is so powerful, because we are powerful.

"You know, I believe the Spirit was with us on this walk. And we saw, we saw. The Spirit, he doesn't care for money. A lot of people came on this walk with money, and while we walked, they rode. But you know what? None of them made it, because money is not what the Spirit is all about. I saw that. The Spirit doesn't care for money. What he cares about is what you are made of."

He spoke articulately and with feeling. "You know, this walk has brought so much to me. Now I know what Mother Earth means to mea! And you know what? When my grandmother from the Diné in the Southwest says she needs my help, because the man has come to rip off her land, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to go down there and help her!"

"Now I'm going home and I'm going to tell my brothers and sisters about the power of the Pipe. Everywhere I go, I'm going to tell about this thing. I have seen it, on this walk," he said.

It was an extremely powerful speech. He is one of the Native people from the south of the imaginary line, in the land know of the map as Mexico.

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We sat in the shade near one of the camp cooking areas, talking with one of the chiefs of the Six Nations delegations. "One of the younger men was telling," he said, "of some of the things that happened at the beginning of the trip, when they came through the mountains."

"I guess it was a miracle that they survived. He told that it was very cold, and he was carrying a pipe, and running down the mountain. He said that although it was very cold, he had his shirt off and he was swearing. Later, when he stopped, he found that his hair was frozen."

"Anyway, as he was running, he said that one of those mountain goats came down off the mountain and ran alongside him, but it stayed off the road. Then an elk joined in, and a deer. Pretty soon, an eagle came down and flew above him."

Later, a group of people was riding in one of the vans, talking about the events of the trip. "Did you see the animals as we walked into town?" a young woman asked. "All the way, the horses and even a bull ran up to the fence, and then walked along the fence with the walkers. All the animals were acting funny. Did you?" the others nodded. They had seen.

The End

*In summer 1978, in response to legislation that would abrogate treaties, thousands of Native people marched from California to Washington DC -Ed.

The Native News Network was granted permission to publish this excerpt and will do so in four parts.

posted July 7, 2011 10:32 am et