By DAPHNE HUTCHINSON

By DAPHNE HUTCHINSON

Rappahannock Vwt Staff Writer

"A country without honor is like a man without honor. It will always have problems,” said Yael Beck as she paused in Sperryville to rest on Friday after walking all night across the Blue Ridge Mountains.

With the family horse pulling their homemade wagon. Yael. her husband John and their two small children trudged through Rappahannock as part of the Long Walk for Survival organized by the American Indian Movement. They stopped for only a few hours at the creek in front of Rainbown Stables, hoping to make Washington, D. C. by the following morning to meet the Long Walk’s main contingent from California.

The Becks left West Point. Tennessee, near the Alabama border on September 9. Their aim and the goal of the long walkers from California is to draw attention to the failure of the U. S. Government to live up to its treaties with the original Americans.

According to John Beck, a part Cherokee, others besides Indians are walking and riding across the country to the nation's capital. “AH four colors are involved. Indians cannot do it without help from honorable white people,” he said. “Since treaties with Indians were made in the name of all the people of the United States, all the people of the United States have a stake in seeing that the government’s promises are kept. So we’re going to the people—^In the beginning, there was the word and the word had honor. We want to give it honor again.” Beck said. Beck said.

Once the long walkers reach Washington, they plan to meet with congressional leaders and other government officials. “We’ll see whoever’s going to listen,” Yael said. “But it’s not just the end —what happens this weekend—that’s important. We’ve talked to people all across the country, trying to raise the consciousness of Americans," she added.