Walk Against Fear 2012

“Even Though I walk Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death

 I fear no Evil, for you are with me so

Tell my loved ones, please don’t cry

Cause if doves can fly, so can I”

Heaven’s in New York—-Wyclef Jean

In Rememberance of Trayvon Martin and Shaima Al Awadhi, I dedicate the lyrics above to you. 

I set out on this journey to reveal the Unites States’ everlasting racism.  It found me along the trek. I set out on this walk to change people’s hearts and minds.  On day thirteen, smelling like a deep fried burrito, in small town Mississippi, the Walk Against Fear 2012 accomplished its goal.  I seek these accomplishments on a grand scale.

 In every movement, there has been a tragedy that resets our communities’ minds, through which the fighters find the answer and the fearful, fear no more.  When that moment finally creeps around the corner, we welcome it into ourselves, and it becomes one with the greatest power we have: the power of sentiment, otherwise known as “love.”  We realize that we love ourselves and our neighbor.  We cannot allow hatred to continually permeate throughout our society.  We take life changing action, together.

Today, I interviewed a middle-aged white man in Grenada, MS at a gas station where he commonly reads his magazines and eats.  I wished to engage him in a dialogue about the confederate flag’s flying outside the gas station and what it symbolizes to historically and newly oppressed communities.  The dialogue never emerged; the interview became a one way rant against “illegals,” as he vehemently stated, as if his allegations were grounded in truth.  His heart was imprisoned, and I could not find the key to unlock it.

Nearing the end of the rant, I became tired and asked, “Although I am a human being, can you at least refer to me as undocumented.” 

No, illegal is illegal. I’m going to call it what it is! —- He shouted.

Let me ask you something.  Would you call a black man a nigger? —- I questioned.

Yea I would! I’ll do it to his face! —- The bigot replied, even louder!

Finally, the truth came out.  After many interviews of only seeing smiles and lies, I recieved the honesty I was seeking. What a relief it was to hear such animalistic words.

The bigot showed us that part of our country has elected to go on a hateful, self-destructive rampage that divides its people through racism, and extremists engage in actions such as the Trayvon and Shaima Al Awadhi’s murders.  We just accept the stats quo.  We allow Trayvon and Shaima’s deaths to be in vain. 

The Murderers are free, roaming outside our homes.  And instead of fighting for our lives, we dive into our graves, wishing to be unseen and unheard because it is easier to deny the issue than to accept it and attempt to resolve it.

Well, thank god death has come out of the grave and is staring dead at us when we see Trayvon and Shaima’s faces.  We are being given an opportunity to create real change.  The spark is lit.  Can we create a wild fire?  Where do you stand?  Can we come together over these incidents?  We can make something positive come out of these negative situations, or are we going to let this continue to our people, nuestra gente!

Trayvon and Shaima, on my part I will try my hardest to not let your deaths be just a couple of the many.  I walk for you.  I send my heart out to the families.

Un Abrazo,

Patricio Gonzalez

(The grainy things are the little spots on my hand from spending too much time in the sun lately).

The past week was definitely a challenge. We’ve been lucky to find volunteer drivers, food, water, and shelter throughout this walk, but I have to say that Tuesday March 20, 2012 wasn’t easy. We walked about 21 miles in 89° F weather on rocks. After about the 16^th mile every step felt like a sting up and down my legs.

So far, I’ve thrown up twice during this walk and I now have little dots on my arms and a few on my legs. Because of random motion sickness, I’ve been avoiding dairy and eating small portions of food for breakfast and lunch. Truly, the strength to keep going comes from somewhere else. Although I took care before this walk to try to exercise and eat right, even that isn’t enough preparation to finish. I just have to find it in myself to put one foot in front of the other sometimes, and remember that in the past, others had to do the same.

Right now I can’t stop thinking about Trayvon Martin and Shaima Al Awadi. These tragic deaths are the very reason why we walk. As we down Highway 51 South, we hear stories about people who were involved in the Civil Rights movement. We walk through places in which people have died, been shot, or attacked because they demanded their rights. Perhaps people were once lynched on a tree we may have walked by. Trayvon Martin and Shaima Al Awadi’s deaths are no different than any lynchings of the past. As the Walk Against Fear, we pay respect to the martyrs of the past and recognize that there are martyrs right now

We saw the James Meredith monument on campus, and it made me realize how much we as a society have to go in order to eradicate racism. Kimbrely Dandridge is the first African-American female student body president in fifty years. This coincides with the anniversary of Mr. Meredith’s admission to the University of Mississippi. James Meredith was very happy to talk to her over the phone, but still young African-American men are dying because of their skin color and innocent Muslim mothers are dying because they wear a hijab. I hope that the Al Awadi and Martin families find justice for these deaths. This very hope helps me keep going even after getting bitten by ants on the road, throwing up from motion sickness, or when my legs are too sore. My body wants stop walking, but it can’t.   

The gravel road, oh the gravel road!  In the stinging sun, my skin burned red like a stop sign, but I kept trucking through.  The rocks we stepped on were mountains on the soles of my feet.  Twenty one miles to Oxford, Mississippi and it ripped much out of me physically and mentally.  

Next to the highway,  I travel next to three friends but can not help to feel alone. Where is our movement at?  Why is it where it is at?  These are the questions I asked myself.  If our communities in Memphis, Mississippi, the Texas crew, and a few others are helping and creating so much growth with few resources then imagine how much we as a movement could do with other organizations and people who have many more resources at hand?  If we actually want to create a change only unity among us all can get us there, but I cannot help but remember the following saying I saw somewhere: May the Bridges I burn light the way for others! I cannot help to feel desperate and sad that those that I believed to back me up are doing so when the Walk Against Fear brings about the truth, what we all want to scream. We all wish to shout, “Because of the Racism that lies here in the United States I have had no chance at life! I am demanding my rights, now, and taking them as I speak!”

I do want to express that to take our rights as human beings it is not enough to give the Walkers a shout out on facebook and then go to “El Dia del Nino” event or go to dance right after.  We need your help in other ways.  We are not going on a stroll across the park; we are walking two hundred and fifty miles for our community to awaken and rise up.  Please do not wait until one of  the Walkers is shot or has a heat stroke to get involved.  The racism is creaping and by the end of this sentence it is knocking at your door.  

Con mucho Amor, 

Walk Against Fear 2012

Patricio Gonzalez

Yesterday, as I rested my feet and browsed the internet I came across news of an event that happened during an NCAA Basketball game that took place at Southern Mississippi State University. As Angel Rodriguez, from Kansas State University, shot free throws a chant spread across the crowd, “Where’s your green card, Where’s your green card,” band members shouted. I couldn’t help, but to immediately relate this situation to the time the kids from Horn Lake who too shouted discriminatory terms. This event show that racism is still deeply rooted within the hearts of many in the Mid-South.

Today as I walked, I took a minute to reflect upon my thoughts and to carefully examine the environment. I looked around and realized that traces of racism still linger within all communities. In what used to be an old plantation lied a small decayed house, I waved to the Caucasian guy standing in the front door and received no reply. We walked past “PLANTATION MOTORS”, and then came across an older Caucasian lady who revived with us moments in which she had been removed from a neighborhood simply because she had African American friends. This events led me to realizing that we have accomplished the purpose of the walk thus far. 

Finally, all these traces of racism led me to finding myself and the true purpose behind each step I take. The racism shown in Southern Miss is the same racism that was shown to the white lady who was removed from the neighborhood because she had “Black” friends. The same racism that oppressed the African American community decades ago is now oppressing the undocumented community. I found it clever that this walk is fulfilling what it set out to do, “Show that racism is still prevalent in the Mid-South,” not only that, but even as “HB 488” passed the House we are also able to see how racism is expressed through legislation. The walk continues, Nothing will stop us!

 This was the fifth day of the Walk Against Fear. The past few days have been a learning experience. We walked by three youth who told us to go back to our country, we’ve walked by several Confederate flags, and today seven police cars drove by us. Four of those cars stopped us.

The first policeman stopped us because he heard a complaint from someone due to the fact that there was a 12-year old (Laura) accompanying us. He asked to see my license and I showed it to him. I did this because I didn’t want anything to happen to anyone who was walking with me. Most everyone on this walk is undocumented, and I am also the oldest, and the one whose idea it was to go through with this. The cop didn’t have a reason to stop us at all, and after he asked for my license he did a background check on me. He said he wanted to see if there was warrant out for my arrest or something. When the record came up clean, he said we could carry on and then mentioned that he was concerned about the safety of bridge that was coming up. Still though, we know that the police was intimidating us.

When this ended, I asked for his name and badge number he asked me, “You’re not going to complain about me, are you?” This is probably his way of acknowledging that he did something wrong.

After the first policeman stopped we called our attorneys who gave us advice as to what might happen. I definitely feel that the air is heavier in Coldwater, MS, and that it will get heavier as we walk. Given that HB 488 is being discussed in Mississippi (the Alabama copycat law), this walk has taken on a new significance and we are all taking on a greater risk by walking and existing. We began the rest of our trajectory by chanting “Undocumented, Unafraid!” and just kept on walking. We know that we are in difficult territory, we also know that many people out there believe in what we are doing, and that is what keeps us going.

I don’t know what will happen as the days go by, but I’m sure all of us will learn from it. Until then, those of us participating in the Walk Against Fear will continue to exercise our human rights. Sadly, Laura, our youngest walker had to go. She cried, but will be with us on weekends. If everyone else had the same desire to change things as she did, we would not need this walk. With HB 488 being discussed, we know this walk has taken on a whole new meaning.  

Day five began at around 11:30 a.m. with a warm, beautiful day.  We had been walking about six miles, and as the sun beamed, we walked up a hill, feeling confident and free.  Suddenly, the climate changed, a heavy air forced itself upon the Walk Against Fear, but, still, we dove down the valley alongside the burning road.  To the right, was a gas station, the only one along our route, today.  We rested.  We continued.

At the gas station, a middle-aged, white woman had spoken to us that the racism in Mississippi, ” There is reverse racism here.  It is on the part of the Blacks, ” she confidently explained, but rejected our educating her on how the Black and Latino communities have been treated and are continuously treated.  It set the tone for the next few minutes.  

We crossed Highway 51 and Wheeler Road, took five steps, and a Hernando, MS  sheriff blocked our path and began to interrogate our group.  Sheriff McHann, demanded to see Ingrid’s driver’s license without explaining why we were being stopped.  He questioned us all and checked to see if Ingrid had any warrants out for her arrest.  After all, Ingrid asked for his name and badge number.  He responded, “Are you going to report me?”  knowing he was breaking the law and exercising his racist views as we exercised our right to simply walk on land.  We would go on to to be stopped by seven cops total.  And now, is it a coincidence that two more police cars are outside the house we are staying at?

The more we walk into the heart of Mississippi, the more we see its lack of that very organ.  Mississippi’s Congress  is on the brink of passing the Alabama copycat and showing with full force its racial division and desire to keep the status quo.  They have engaged us in a divisive war, but we will only react with powerful peace guided by our community’s backing.  

Yesterday, our lives drove us to begin this walk. Tomorrow we might risk arrest for looking different or being from a different country, originally. Tomorrow, we need your powerful spirit with us.  Tomorrow, we walk forward.

Day 3 of the #WalkAgainstFear has officially ended. It has been truly a remarkable day in which all the Walkers and I have learned so much. We are thankful for Laura, a 12 year old, who decided to join the walk. Her brother Omar Garcia, and Saul Triana have joined the walk as well. The walk was a bit longer today; however, lots of motivation has come by Laura joining the walk. 

Laura states the following, “The Walk is an amazing experience; I have learned many responsible things. I have learned many things about this organization. I’m walking because of respect. Even if racism was shown in the past, we currently have racism too. At my school I am usually called a beaner, even before getting to know me and that’s not good! When people call me a beaner I get upset because they judge because of my skin and not because of what I do.”

I have reflected upon her words and as we thanked Mi Pueblo Mexican Restaurant for providing food for us she spoke of how she wanted racism to end. Her words brought me to tears because I too have faced discrimination because of my skin color and where I came from. Laura is such great motivation. She serves as proof that our message, “That Racism is still prevalent in the Midsouth.” Not only that, but that older generations pass down racism to the younger generations and that should be stopped.

My name is Alex Ortiz, originally from Honduras. Today we finished Day two of the #WalkAgainstFear and we walked from Southaven, MS to Horn Lake, MS. My feet began to feel some tension; however, I had so much spiritual energy flowing throughout my body. As we walked, I noticed that we have gained so much support from people. Two young ladies joined the walk and talked about the reasons they supported our walk. “We know that you guys are fighting for a great cause,” one of them stated.

What really has given the walkers and I inspiration today is seeing a picture of a paraplegic young guy who walked with us on day one. As I shared that picture, a young lady told me she admired me. I replied, “I admire even more that young man who walked and said ‘I would walk the whole way if I had a wheelchair’, even when his body rebelled against him he was willing to make a difference. His actions are truly that of a leader and a person who has given us all inspiration and motivation to continue our walk to Jackson, MS.

Before we held a workshop at Horn Lake Public Library we were subject to racism from three young Caucasian guys. They screamed at us phrases such as “WETBACKS”, “GO BACK TO YOUR COUNTRY, MEXICANS,” and “YOU DON’T BELONG HERE!” Their actions show the message we are trying to give, “RACISM IS STILL PREVALENT IN THE MIDSOUTH.”

@tu_RomeoMami