Unity Run

Greetings Relatives!
Here is the update and finalized plans to begin the Peace and Dignity Journeys East Coast Tributary Route. All are invited and we need your support! Please forward widely to anyone you think can help and/or participate!
Gathering Ceremony, Preparation and Send off
FRIDAY JUNE 13TH 6:30-8:30 PM RIVERBANK PARK
(#9 train to 145th Street, walk one block West)

This event is an all nations event to receive and welcome the staffs, runners, and communities. There will be Danza with Cetiliztli Nauhcampa Quetzalcoatl and please bring your songs and offerings. We will have 2008 Peace and Dignity Shirts and other items for sale! Bring donations of money and supplies also!
Peace and Dignity Run Begins
SATURDAY JUNE 14TH 5 A.M. SUNRISE
Inwood Park

(Take the A train to the last stop 210 St. and exit through the Isham exit, once you go up stairs you will be facing North, turn around South and make a right on that corner, the entrance to Inwood Park is less than 2 blocks East.)
We will meet here at 5am sharp to walk together up the Mountain, a sacred site here in Manhattan by 5:30 am to greet the sunrise. From this point we will begin running together across the George Washington Bridge making our way to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to meet with the Longest Walk 2 and eventually to the Pamunkey Reservation in Virginia to meet with youth from the Haudenosaunee Nation and other Native relatives on the East Coast. Our tributary route will conclude in Tahlequah, Oklahoma where we will meet with runners from the Trail of Tears route. The staffs we will then make their way toward the Kuna Nation in Panama on the main route of Peace and Dignity Journeys. You are all invited to be part of this prayer and historical time as we continue our work towards restoring and preserving our sacred sites, ceremonial traditions and sovereignty as Indigenous Peoples of this hemisphere.
For more information: Jennie Luna 646.245.1216 lalunaxicana@yahoo.com
There are many ways you can participate:
#1: WE NEED VEHICLES. If anyone is willing to drive for a few days or loan us a vehicle, please let me know. The duration of the route will be for approximately 25 days. If there is any piece of the route, certain days or vehicle contacts in different areas that you have, that would be appreciated. If there is any organization or nation that has a vehicle (preferably a van) that would be willing to participate by driving any distance…that would be welcomed.
#2: RUNNERS. ALL runners for ALL lengths/distances are welcome. We do need more people that can run the entire distance to Oklahoma, but if you can only do a portion, all running is welcome. If you would like to run, please contact me with the days/distance you are willing to run. Below is the entire route so you can figure out where to join. I have also attached to this email a Runners packet. Please read it carefully and make sure you are willing to comply with the commitment that is asked of you. For example, there are NO drugs, alcohol, sexual relations, allowed during the run. You will need to complete this packet, fill it out and give to me when you join the run. Also, as a runner, please know that you are responsible for your own transportation home. You must have funds to provide your way home and some funds to help support yourself for the duration of the run (food, gas contributions, etc).
#3: FUNDS. Peace and Dignity is a completely grassroots effort. We do not take corporate money and all fundraising is done through grants and community fundraising. Some money has been raised by the New York committee, but it is not enough to sustain our journey. All funds will go to help with gas for vehicles. As we all know, gas will be the most expensive part of the run. If you are able to donate any money, that would be a tremendous help to make sure we make it to our final destination. Please bring your donations to the gathering on FRIDAY or SATURDAY sunrise.
#4: Hosting. Below you will find the route. If you have contacts anywhere near these areas, runners will need places to to sleep, shower, wash clothes, and have a meal. Ideally we would like to work with Native communities and Centers. Also, since this run of 2008 is dedicated to honoring and preserving sacred sites, if anyone has a suggestion or knowledge of sites along the way…we would like to make sure we arrive and pray with the staffs near these sites.
#5 Supplies: We will need help with the following items. If anyone would like to donate the following items, contact me and/or bring them to the gatherings.


Spiritual supplies needed:
Plenty of sage/cedar/sweetgrass/tobacco and other medicine bundles needed for ceremony and as offerings
Carbones/charcoal and copal
Red cloth for prayer flags/markers

Logistical supplies needed:
WATER, large jugs
Electrolyte powder mix
First aid kit
Antibiotic cream
Tylenol tablets/ Advil
Sunblock
Arnica, Ice hot, tiger balm, hot/cold cream for pain
Roadside emergency kit
Instant Ice packs
Ace bandages
Trail mix/ snacks/ granola bars
Basic camping gear, such as pots, utensils, plates
Non-perishable food, cereal, bread, peanut butter, jelly, fruit, etc.
Toilet paper, anti-bacterial wipes/ gel



East Coast Route Logistics/Route
Saturday June 14th: Begin the run at 5am sunrise out of New York City, Inwood Park to Easton, Pennsylvania (70 mi)
Sunday June 15th: Easton, PA to Lebanon, PA (77 mi)
Monday June 16th: Lebanon, PA to Carlisle, PA (50 mi)
Tuesday June 17th: Carlisle, PA to Everett, PA (80mi)
Wednesday June 18th: Everett, PA to Mount Pleasant Mills, PA (76 mi)
Thursday June 19th: Mt. Pleasant Mills, PA to Pittsburgh, PA (41 mi)
Friday June 20th to Saturday June 21st : Rest Days: We will converge with the Longest Walk 2 in Pittsburgh and have been invited to a Pow Wow on this weekend.
Sunday June 22nd: Pittsburgh, PA to Friendsville, Maryland (72 mi)
Monday June 23rd: Friendsville, MD to Petersburg, West Virginia (72 mi)
Tuesday June 24th: Petersburg, West Virginia to Harrisonburg, Virginia (70 mi)
Wednesday June 25th: Harrisonburg, VA to Louisa, Virginia (65 mi)
Thursday June 26th: Louisa, VA to Richmond, Virginia (or Pamunkey Reservation) (50 mi) at this point we will unite with the Spirit of the Youth Run (coming from Oneida Nation) and run to Pamunkey, Virginia (through a confederation of 8 nations) and continue on the route with them.
Friday June 27th: Rest Day
Saturday June 28th – July 4th: Running from Pamunkey, VA to Chattanooga, Tennessee (580 miles) where we will end the run at the Eternal Flame of the Cherokee People, the exact location where the Trail of Tears route will have started. There will be someone there to receive us, uniting the routes, which will allow for it to be a continuous route which will continue on to Panama. The details of this route, day to day still need to be worked out with the Spirit Runners who are taking the lead for this part of the route. We will most likely go through North Carolina (through the Tuscarora nation). Their exact route is not decided, but I will send this part out as soon as it is completed.
At the closing of our route, those who choose can depart from Tennessee back home, or those who wish can continue on to drive to Tahlequah, Oklahoma where we will meet the Cherokee Trail of Tears runners as they conclude their run in Tahlequah and we will pass the staffs to those runners from Chicago (another tributary route arriving to Oklahoma) and to the Trail of Tears runners. They will carry on the prayer to New Mexico where they will meet the main route running south.
The drive to Tahlequah, OK is 15 hours. We need to arrive there by July 5 or 6th.
What is Peace and Dignity?
Peace and Dignity Journeys are spiritual runs that embody the prophecy of the Eagle and Condor. This prophecy mandates that at this time all Indigenous Peoples in the Western Hemisphere shall be reunited in a spiritual way in order to heal our nations so we can begin to work towards a better future for our children and generations to come. Peace and Dignity Journeys occur every four years and start with Indigenous runners on opposite ends of the continents (Chickaloon, Alaska and Tierra del Fuego, Argentina). They run for seven months through hundreds of Indigenous communities where they participate in their respective spiritual practices and traditions; spark dialogue on the issue of peace and dignity for Indigenous Peoples; model their responsibility to Mother Earth, Father Sky, communities, and themselves; and receive the community’s prayers. These prayers, sacred staffs, and conversations are then carried to proceeding communities until the runners reach the center of the hemisphere. When the runners meet at the Kuna Nation in Panama City, Panama,(they will arrive November 13th) it will symbolize all Indigenous Peoples joining together in a spiritual way to manifest the prophecy of the Eagle and Condor. For more info: www.peaceanddignityjourneys.com



Tezcatlipoca-a reflection, a moment of reconciliation of the past with the possiblities of the future, not a vision of the light but an awareness of the shadow that is the smoke of lights passing. It is the smoking mirror into which the individual, the family, the clan, nation and barrio must gaze to acquire the sense of memory that steers intuition, the sense of history that calls for liberation.