Former Bethel councilman stretches his legs

ALEX DeMARBAN

July 11, 2008 at 2:53PM AKST

Andrei Jacobs needed to take a long walk.

He’d just lost his job, his house burned down and he was homeless.

So when his brother, Julien, told him about a cross-nation march to raise awareness about the need to protect sacred Native American sites, he jumped at the chance.

“It took me 10 minutes to decide,” he said.

Growing up, he had been inspired about the walk his mother once took.

In 1963, Blanche Jacobs, the paralegal from Bethel and once-pioneer health aide in Kongiganak village, joined the flood of people that marched through Washington, D.C., in support of civil rights. She was there at the Lincoln Memorial when Martin Luther King Jr. declared his dreams.

Andrei, part black, part Yup’ik and a former Bethel councilman, grew up hearing that story and others about Mom’s selfless public service. He always wanted to follow in her footsteps, to be part of a national crusade. This year’s march from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., gave him that chance.  

“This is the most meaningful thing I can do that I know of,” said Andrei Jacobs, speaking by cell phone from a gas station in a Maryland town, where a support vehicle was getting a flat fixed.  

Since traveling to New Mexico and joining the Longest Walk 2 — Jacobs joined late, in April — he’s walked through nine states, worn out two pairs of sneakers and dropped 15 pounds from his already slender frame.

He’s logged 1,400 miles — including 200 by jogging — a distance roughly equaling the span from the Yukon River’s mouth to the Alaska Panhandle.

Jacobs said he’s part of a ragtag and increasingly tight-knit parade of some 100 people that snaked across the southern U.S. before hitting the eastern seaboard at Georgia and trudging north.

Collectively, the group has logged the entire 4,500 miles on foot.  

The walk commemorates the 30th anniversary of the original Longest Walk of 1978, when Native Americans also walked from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness about tribal sovereignty. The effort helped halt legislation that would have nullified treaties protecting that sovereignty, according to the Website www.longestwalk.org.

This year’s commemorative journey began in February, with walkers dividing into two groups. The northern walkers traversed America’s midsection, following the original route through states like Kansas and Missouri. They’ll soon meet Jacobs and the southern walkers in the nation’s capital.

It’s Jacobs’ job to pen a “manifesto” for the groups that will be delivered to Congress on Friday. It will broadly spell out positions and goals, with a focus on protecting sites such as San Francisco Peaks.

The volcanic mountain range in northern Arizona has important religious significance for several tribes, who say plans at a snow resort to manufacture snow from wastewater would desecrate the mountain.

Jacobs said the manifesto will also call for continued protection of traditional practices such as subsistence. The document will address the needs of other indigenous people from around the world and be presented to the United Nations.  

The walk has been emotional, fun, and he’s learned a lot about Native American issues, he said.

The group has trudged through furious rainstorms, been pummeled by hail and blinded in sandstorms. They’ve watched moody sunsets and endured smothering heat on hikes that often exceed 15 miles a day.

They’ve mostly camped, getting support from vehicles carrying luggage and cooking food. The walk is also part anti-litter movement: They’ve filled 3,500 trash bags with roadside refuse.  

In Texas, they pushed through a rainstorm swirling with 60 mph winds.  

“When you’re done with that 15 miles you’re hugging each other and just shouting.

‘Man, we did it! We did it!’” he said.  

Alex DeMarban can be reached at (907) 348-2444 or (800) 770-9830, ext. 444.