California Indians walk for tribal unification
Story-Date: 02:46 p.m. PST Saturday , August 29, 1998

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California Indians walk for tribal unification


By Martha Bellisle
Associated Press Writer


SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) -- As California's tribes wrestle over the rights
to run casinos, a small band of Indians is walking 500 miles in the hope
that somehow their ordeal will bring peace and healing to their people.

On Thursday, six days after setting out from Pala Indian Reservation near
San Juan Capistrano, 25 Indians stopped briefly alongside the Pacific Coast
Highway to rub ointment to their blisters, powder their feet and change
their socks.

"We've suffered sore muscles and bleeding feet," said Robertjohn, who wore
a tribal headdress of feathers and carried a staff topped with the head of
a golden eagle. "We're doing this to make an offering for our children and
for all those who love the land."

The walk goes from the reservation about 45 miles northeast of San Diego to
the Capitol building at Sacramento. It has been described as a walk for
peace and a demonstration that Indians on and off the state's 112
reservations can join as one to deal with the issues that divide them.

No issue appears more divisive than gambling. The fault lines widened
Friday when Gov. Pete Wilson approved gambling compacts that permit the
Pala tribe and 10 others to open the first state-sanctioned casinos. About
40 casinos are operating illegally in the state, according to the governor.

However, some other tribes claim the deal is unfair because it prohibits
the use of Vegas-style video slot machines. Opponents to the compacts have
placed a proposition on the Nov. 3 ballot asking voters to allow
Nevada-style casinos on all reservations.

Amid this infighting, the walkers, who represent various tribes, began
their 21-day trek, planning to arrive in Sacramento on Sept. 16.

"There's a hidden agenda in the push to take Indian casinos down," walk
coordinator Gayle Kelly said. "The casino issue has to do with the
sovereignty issue ... in a broader sense, it's an attempt to get rid of the
treaties."

But at the same time, she said the walk is not political.

"The people who are walking are not businessmen. They're not casino people.
They're spiritual," Ms. Kelly said.

It's a journey, organizers said, for the unification of the state's
American Indians into a "United Nations of California Tribes" and for their
right to live "free of outside restraint, conditions, or imposed cultural
genocide."

"The signs that we're under attack are everywhere," said Ms. Kelly,
referring to restrictions on the casinos, a proposed nuclear waste dump
opposed by tribes, and the forcing of Indian men in prisons to cut their
hair.

The walkers said they will camp out on the Capitol steps for three days and
hold talks with the governor and lawmakers.

By Thursday, they had gone 120 miles.

"We're making a door for politicians to walk through," Jimi Castillo of
Whittier said. "We can't make them come. But we have a message for your
governor: We're walking."



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