As you consider your New Year’s resolutions, you won’t be able to top Felipe Vargas, who tomorrow will begin a 1,500-mile journey… on foot… from the Freedom Tower in Miami, Fla., to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
The Indianapolis resident, whom Schools Building Communities met in September at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, has been asked by the Miami-based Students Working for Equal Rights (SWER) to serve on a guide crew for four young Latinos drawing attention to, among other things, the DREAM Act, a piece of legislation intended to create a conditional path to citizenship for undocumented students through education.
“I am walking the Trail of Dreams to heal,” Vargas wrote us last night. “This walk is not just about immigrant rights or the Dream Act; this walk is about our humanity, about life and death, about food, shelter and water! I believe that the painful path is the hopeful path.”
Taking the journey with Vargas will be the Dream Quilt, which was created to represent the educational goals of Indiana Latino youth and the community supporting them. Organizers hope to have 100,000 supporters joining the march at its conclusion in May to help urge for passage of the critical legislation.
Back in Indianapolis, members of the Latino Youth Collective will join the march by walking a collective 17 miles per day locally to demonstrate solidarity with those participating in the Trail of Dreams.
“We also have other member groups of the Indiana Dream Coalition throughout the state that have been asked to walk in solidarity,” said Vargas, who said that there will be a livestream and blog of the event.
We hope to stay in touch with Felipe and let you know about the progress of the Trail of Dreams.
Noted philosopher
In solidarity from AZ, reporting 5 miles today!
Keep it going.