Runner Retraced Long Walk Route, Renewing Local Memory and Awareness
A recent profile highlights Edison Eskeets, a 66 year old Diné runner who in 2018 retraced the historic Long Walk route from near Canyon de Chelly to the Santa Fe Plaza to honor those who endured forced relocation. His 330 mile solo run completed in roughly 15 days has renewed attention to community remembrance and raised questions about how local institutions preserve and teach this history.
Edison Eskeets completed a solitary, ceremonial run in 2018 that retraced the Long Walk route from an area near Canyon de Chelly by Chinle to the Santa Fe Plaza. The journey covered about 330 miles and took roughly 15 days. Eskeets framed the run as ceremony, remembrance and community storytelling, conducting interviews along the way and seeking to memorialize Diné people who never returned from the 19th century forced relocation.
The profile of Eskeets situates his effort within broader efforts to remember and educate about the Long Walk, and it underlines cultural sensitivity in how the route and its memory are approached. For residents of Apache County the route and its starting points carry immediate local resonance. Canyon de Chelly and Chinle are places where families and community institutions continue to live with the legacy of removal and resilience, and Eskeets used endurance running as a means to bring public attention to that legacy.
The practical implications are civic and institutional. Community memory projects such as Eskeets' run intersect with public education, county and tribal cultural preservation programs, and regional tourism planning. Local school boards decide curriculum content, county officials weigh investments in interpretive signage and infrastructure, and tribal governments exercise authority over cultural resources and ceremonies. When grassroots acts of remembrance gain visibility they can prompt public meetings, influence budget priorities and shape how institutions engage with historical trauma.
Eskeets' combination of ceremony and interviews also points to opportunities for civic engagement. Public hearings, education workshops and collaborative projects between county offices and tribal institutions can translate attention into policy and funding. Apache County voters and civic groups will be deciding in future elections on officials who set those priorities. Ensuring transparency about how funds and programs are allocated will matter for both cultural preservation and public trust.
The run is a reminder that personal acts of remembrance can prompt institutional response. For residents and officials in Apache County the question now is how to convert renewed attention into durable support for teaching the Long Walk, protecting culturally sensitive sites and supporting community led memorialization.
