A marcher named Sean took a vow of silence at the start of
the march. Her original intention was to march the entire 3,000 miles, from LA
to DC, in complete silence. She recently ended her silence early, as she needed
a change in energy, but she and another silent marcher, Mack, asked the marching community to take shifts with
silence. The purpose of constantly having someone silent on the march is so we
can represent those who have no voice in this issue.
It is my turn to carry this torch. Ben just finished his 10
day silence, and in his place I will be silent for a week (at least that’s what I’m thinking
now). Earlier in the march, before I was here, the marchers organized a week of actions that anyone around the world could participate in to show solidarity with the Cowboy and Indian Alliance. The Alliance camped out in D.C. for about a week to demand climate action. One of the daily actions was a day of silence, which I partook in. I really enjoyed it, and all of my friends were impressed, but it was really hard and I slipped up a few times.
Despite the difficulty of the task, I was particularly inspired to do this after yesterday’s march, in which we witnessed a concentrated animal feeding operation. We walked by another one today.
They are overcrowded, do not have much space to move in, and are standing in deep mud and manure.
