2012 Pilgrimage for Peace & Justice Updated: 4/8/12 Join us for the annual Pilgrimage for Peace & Justice, 1-6 April, 2012, walking from Wilmington to Greenville, Rocky Mount, Wilson, Cary, and Raleigh. Join us in supporting immigration reform, fair trade, and human rights for all. If you can participate, please contact Kristen Wassil at our Raleigh office. 2012 Pilgrimage flyer tentative walking schedule 2012 Press Released [PDF] Pilgrimage Updates 7 Apr 2012: Dear Friends, Easter greetings! We finished our Pilgrimage yesterday here in Raleigh. It was a good week. We walked in beautiful Wilmington and then in Greenville. Fr. Bob Hudack now an Episcopal priest welcomed us warmly. He helped found St Francis of Assisi Church over 20 years ago. Juvencio Peralta of AMEXCAN and his intern Sierra connected us with young African American students at Eastern Carolina. The connection between racial profiling of Trayvon Williams and the racial profiling of Hispanics is very clear. We had a great dialogue in the evening at St Pauls Episcopal church with the NAACP, with an aid from Cong. Butterfield's office and many others. Our walk through Rocky Mount with Saladin and Musak was sobering. Rocky Mount is broken between Edgecome County where African Americans live and upscale Nash County where more affluent people live. Saladin helped found the Black Workers for Justice. It was an honor to walk with him. We had lunch at a homeless shelter that works with people with additions. We were humbled when were served a delicious lunch including a carrot cake. It was Saladin's birthday. Wednesday found us in Wilson with the Farm Worker Labor Organizing Committee. We walked with immigrants and farm workers and visited a former tobacco farms. The farm workers described what it is like to work in the tobacco fields. Many suffer from dehydration and have reaction to the pesticides sprayed on them and on the tobacco. FLOC has a campaign to force RJ Reynolds American Company to help improve conditions in the fields. It was a joy to pass time with the FLOC organizers Emily and Briana. We had a deeply moving dialogue with about 40 Hispanic men and women at lunch at the Guadalupana Church. Many of us cried to heard of the suffering and fear endured by our Hispanic brothers and sisters. There is great racism in both Wilson and Rocky Mount. On Holy Thursday, we visited the Corporate Headquarters of the Pantry Corporation that owns Kangaroo/BP stores. We asked that they use their influence to get American Tobacco to sit down with farm workers to improve conditions in the field here in NC. Later we held a foot washing ceremony at the Federal Detention Center in Cary. On Good Friday we walked from Garner into Raleigh in the cold rain. The sky cleared before we reached Raleigh. We received excellent press coverage [SEE LINKS BELOW] on ABC news 11, on News 14 Carolina and WRAL - CBS news. In Wilmington and Greenville we received both TV and newspaper coverage. Thank your all for your prayers during our week of Pilgrimage. Happy Easter! Gail Phares The Pilgrimage got off to a great start in Wilmington Sunday! As the Spanish language mass ended at St. Mary's Catholic Church, walkers from a number of towns joined Wilmington justice activists along with members and allies of the latino community for a march to the downtown riverfront. Crosses bearing the names of contemporary issues and struggles were carried by participants of all ages. Two NC TV news stations reported on this 26th annual Pilgrimage for Justice & Peace, delivering the story across much of North Carolina. [see links below] Don't miss the Friday observance in Raleigh. The Pilgrimage visits towns along the path to Raleigh, with walks, reflections, discussions, and dinners. ---- Jerry Markatos This year's pilgrimage includes these core walkers: Kristen Wassil, Emily Zucchino, and Gail Phares--Witness for Peace Southeast, Tessie Castillo--Harm Reduction Coalition, Dani Martinez Moore--NC Justice Center, Frank Lesko--St Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Raleigh, and Sarah Cross of Pittsboro. If you spot news stories on the pilgrimage, please communicate the links to the webmaster. Walking schedule for Wednesday Apr 4, from the FLOC website [Farm Labor Organizing Committee]. Walkers will start just a bit earlier in the morning so they get back for lunch on time. They will walk 4.4 miles in the morning and 6.2 miles in the afternoon, for a total of 10.6 miles. News Coverage ABC TV video of the Pilgrimage in Cary News 14 TV coverage in Wilmington WECT TV coverage in Wilmington Pilgimage photos in Wilmington by Jerry Markatos Lisa Wilbourne has included a write-up about the Pilgrimage for Justice and Peace in Greenville in her online newspaper, the Greenville Guardian. Thanks to Frank Lesko for providing the following links. WRAL coverage Reflector.com coverage A message from Gail Phares: Dear Friends, I need your help to recruit at least 4 or 5 core walkers for the Pilgrimage for Justice and Peace April 1-6, 2012. I need at least 4 or 5 people to join me on the walk from Wilmington - Greenville - Rocky Mount - Wilson - Cary - Raleigh. Focus: Immigratiion Reform * Fair Trade * Human Rights for All. We start in Wilmington on Palm Sunday - April 1 at 1:30 the Spanish Mass at St. Marys Catholic Church (217 S 4th Street 28401) We will focus on NC Legislator Iler who has been very negative toward immigrants. Monday April 2nd we will be in Greenville with Juvencio Peralta of AMEXCAN and have the evening program at St Pauls Episcopal Church 401 East 4th St Greenville 27858. Tuesday we will be in Rocky Mount - details still being worked out. Wednesday we will be in Wilson with the Farm Worker Labor Organizing Committee. We will visit migrant camps. On Holy Thursday we will be in Cary. We will visit the Federal Detention Center. On Good Friday, we will begin our walk at 8:30am at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Garner and walk into Raleigh for the Economic Justice Way of the Cross beginning at noon at the North Carolina state Capitol. Join us. Reports on Past Pilgrimages and other NC events 2011 Pilgrimage News--25th Anniversary of this moving event 25 Apr 2011L: Report on 2011 Pilgrimage Also view Starlet Tetteh's audiovisual record of her experiences on the Pilgrimage. 23 Feb 2011/14 Apr: Documents, news coverage, video and photos relating to the 2011 Pilgrimage for Justice and Peace