Walk Day 2

7.12

This morning we had prayers outside in front of the longhouse. It was a beautiful way to start the day.

As always we started off with “Na Mu Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo” and then space for anyone to offer prayers.

After this we were invited by Frida, an Onondaga grandmother, to have breakfast at the Firekeepers Diner on the reservation. We had a beautiful, relaxed breakfast (which doesn’t usually happen on the walk) and went back to Onondaga Cooks house to pay our respects at Audry’s resting place and walk out.

We were met by about 50 young people who came out to walk with us.

Jun san speaks to WPR as walkers gather to begin the day

We left the reservation and headed out onto the highway. It was an amazing way to start a walk.

6 Nations Flag leads the walk

We said goodbye to the walkers after a few miles and continued on for a few hours until noon/8.5 miles where we had lunch at the ArtRage gallery.

After lunch we drove a few miles outside of the Hancock Air Base and walked the 2 miles into Dewitt to have a vigil.

Hancock Air Force Base is one of the 2 bases in the United States that currently operate drones.

Although this walk is specifically titled “No More Fukushimas” the goal is also to address the issues of militarism as a whole.

Drones are unmanned vehicles that are operated from two facilities in the United States. People sit in front of a computer screen (that bears eerie resemblance to Call of Duty) and direct and control these robots to fly all over the world and from thousands of feet up in the sky murder whoever the United States Gov’t labels as a terrorist, which all too often children with cameras.

The Syracuse Peace Council does an action weekly at the drone base and we joined a few members for about an hour outside of the base.

Photos from the vigil at Hancock can be found here.

After the vigil many walkers paid a visit to Slocum House for showers (which were badly needed) before returning to St. Lucy’s to join up with their first ever Sing a Long/BBQ.