By Logan Mote
My name is Logan Mote. I am also known as Eartheart Walker, a 30 year old activist and artist, living in Venice Beach, CA. A Peace walker is someone who takes a gentle journey of prayer and example. My walking is first of all a prayer for peace. My free spirit has led me on five pilgrimages over the past three years. I begin my sixth peace walk on February 13, 2016 with the American Indian Movement.
I have a personal motivation to participate in this Walk. In 2000, at the age of 15, I left Texas to find my mentally ill mother. I found her in downtown Los Angeles, homeless and on drugs. I decided to move to California to care for her. I helped my mother overcome her addiction to crack cocaine. Life was good for a few years, however in Feb of 2013, my mother relapsed and died from a drug overdose. Valentine’s Day I buried her my best friend, my mother.
I am participating in this walk to share, to heal and be a light to others that have lost their loved ones to addiction. The Longest walk #5 is a prayer for peace on earth and in our hearts.
My first solo walk, I walked a 144 miles from Venice Beach, CA to Gaviota Beach, CA. This walk was in honor of my mother.
My second and third pilgrimage was with a non-profit organization called Nevada Desert Experience. This 70 mile pilgrimage started in downtown Las Vegas and ended at the Nevada Nuclear Testing Site. We walked in the footsteps of a long legacy of peace walkers and spiritual leaders to draw attention to nuclear dangers that continue to threaten our planet.
My fourth pilgrimage was a 50 mile walk along the Pacific Coast Highway, “A Walk for the Water”.
The fifth and most recent peace walk was in the state of Washington, with Veterans for Peace. I traveled 100 miles. I ended the walk at the state capitol with “Twenty-Two-Many” organization. We organized a rally that raised the public’s awareness to the 22 men and women in the military committing suicide everyday.
The February 13th walk with the American Indian Movement will conduct the “Longest Walk #5”, War on Drugs. A 3,600 mile journey across the American heartland, passing through 15 states and ending in Washington D.C. on July 15, 2016. The purpose of this walk is to bring healing to people from the effects of drug addictions, violence, suicide, and self-harm and harm to our mother earth.
I believe the path to healing trauma is finding safety and support. Accepting what has happened, and reconnecting with the community. Spiritually and community values are critical elements to recovery.
This is a big undertaking. A national event that will connect thousands of people, and deliver hopeful solutions to the world.
My overall “Walk-For-Peace” goal is to walk 100 “Peace Miles” in all 50 states in support of the creation of the Department of Peace here in the United States. This would be a cabinet-level department of the executive branch of the U.S government.
For more information or to support this pilgrimage visit Gofundme.com/Eartheartwalker.
Sincerely,
Walk-For-Peace
Logan aka Eartheart Walker