Runners taking spiritual journey across two continents

The runners involved in the Peace and Dignity Journey are not participating in an athletic event, but a spiritual one for American Indians.

The journey takes place every four years and involves two main groups of runners: one that begins its journey in Alaska and one that begins in Argentina. Both groups started running on May 1 and will continue until they meet in October near Panama City, Panama.

A branch group, the Trail of Tears runners, will arrive in Cape Girardeau on Tuesday and leave Wednesday morning.

These runners represent the Cherokee nation and follow the trail traveled by the Cherokees in the 1830s as part of the tribe's forced relocation from land east of the Mississippi River.

Currently, the group is made up of four runners who are 63 years old or older.

"It's been really incredible," said Trail of Tears coordinator Rachel Sue Whitaker Senn, who has been running with the group since it left Red Clay, Tenn., on June 6.

Although members of the group wanted to run across the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, pedestrians are not allowed. So they will run up to the bridge on the Illinois side, leave tobacco and ask their ancestors to run where they cannot. The runners will then drive over the bridge and continue the run on the Missouri side.

The Trail of Tears runners will join the northern group of runners in El Paso, Texas, on July 16. The Trail of Tears runners will end their journey there while the rest travel on to Panama.

Although the Trail of Tears runners specifically represent the Cherokee, all the Peace and Dignity runners are taking part in this journey as a means of spiritual healing.

According to Gustavo Gutierrez, the North American coordinator, many American Indian groups see running as a form of prayer. It is also a means to unite groups from North, Central and South America.

This reunion of people from all over the Americas is seen as fulfilling the prophecy, told by several American Indian groups, that the eagle of the north and the condor of the south will join together one day.

Running does not continue every day, nor do all the runners who start the journey complete it. Gutierrez likened it to a relay race where one team hands off the baton to another team. However, about 40 people will travel the entire journey.

Senn said each person in her group commits to a certain number of miles a day. She personally runs five miles a day. They have a truck with them that allows them to rotate between runners.

"It's not a race," Senn said. "It's a continual prayer."

Runners from the northern and southern groups visit with communities on Indian reservations along the way.

Often, members of the reservation join the run for a short while.

"The main thing is that it brings hope to people," said Rene Reyes, who ran a short time for the northern group in the last journey and plans to do so again this year. "I could see the expressions on the faces of people in the community, I could see the sense of hope in their eyes."

kalfisi@semissourian.com

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