On Mar. 21, Kani Xulam looked up at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington D.C. before gathering himself and turning south for a hike of 746 miles. Three weeks later, Xulam arrived in the Triangle and found time to rest in Hillsborough before restarting his journey.
Xulam – a Kurd scholar, activist and director of the American Kurdish Information Network – is making a 55-day pilgrimage from Washington D.C. to Atlanta to honor King’s civil rights leadership while calling attention to the ongoing oppression of Kurdish people in the Middle East. The trek, called “Love is Resistance,” is the latest effort by Xulam to push for more U.S. and international lawmakers’ support of the ethnic group that has long been state-less and struggled for its independence from Türkiye, Syria, Iran and Iraq.
Kani Xulam during his walk through Orange County as part of his pilgrimage from Washington D.C. to Atlanta. (Photo via Kani Xulam on Facebook.)
Following major highways and back roads alike, all while wearing white and a branded hat, Xulam is trekking south to King’s birthplace. Before he left Hillsborough on Monday for Burlington, he shared how King’s activism inspired this journey and more about the Kurdish community.
“We have a small community in America, about 50,000 to 60,000 [people],” Xulam told Bob Burtman of WHUP’s “3-D News.” “I say often we’re like red pepper on pizza: we’re here and there. Basically, I want and our people want for our folks back home to have agency, to have a seat at the table. They’re not inanimate: they are living human beings, with desires, with hopes, with aspirations…and we want that to be taken into account. Here [in the U.S.], we’re doing everything we can to take that into account and my little office does that 24/7.”
The Love is Resistance pilgrimage follows a similar journey Xulam made in 2023. He walked from Washington D.C., where he lives, to the United Nations’ headquarters in New York City to call for more Kurdish representation and meetings with world leaders. Additionally, he’s held prolonged protests outside the Turkish Ambassador’s residence in Washington D.C. to raise awareness of the country’s erasure of Kurdish culture and participated in a 1997 hunger strike to advocate for the freedom of Kurdish prisoners.
“This time around,” Xulam described of his walk, “it’s to honor Dr. King and to draw the attention of my fellow Kurds to his example that non-violent resistance can bring about social change. I want them to reflect on his example as I have.”
Similar to his 2023 venture to New York City, Xulam is using his journey as a way to connect with others. Not only does he want to share the story of Kurdistan and his people, but his regular posts on Facebook about those who provide him shelter, meals or company during the trip are a reflection of the best of humanity. By walking, Xulam is able to show how much goodwill exists between neighbors who are willing to listen and respectfully engage.
When he visited Hillsborough, Xulam stayed with Orange County Schools Board of Education member and community organizer Wendy Padilla. In an interview with Chapelboro, Padilla said a friend connected her to Xulam after learning about his current journey. Thinking he sounded familiar, she did a quick internet search. Padilla said she then remembered seeing a photo of Xulam during his 1997 hunger strike in Washington D.C. and being moved to tears over his efforts to stand up for Kurdish culture. The two officially met on Saturday afternoon as Xulam traveled from Durham.
“When I picked him up, you just see this beautiful light sitting on this bench,” Padilla said. “You can’t help but smile when you see him. And that is a powerful thing.”
Xulam’s time in Hillsborough was a dedicated day of rest, as he does each Sunday in this journey. Padilla used the opportunity to show him around the Orange County town and community, introducing him to her neighbors, making him dinner, and going to Maple View Ice Cream. Xulam also reconnected with some other Triangle community members he knew too, which provided opportunities to network and share stories.
So many of those conversations and interactions, Padilla said, struck her.
“In the state of the world right now, there’s so much injustice, oppression, division and hatred,” she said. “We are dehumanizing humans. And hearing about his walk — the pilgrimage honoring the legacy of Dr. King and his teachings — just moved me. For me, he’s reminding us to build community, get to know your neighbor, and break down some of the systemic divisions that we have in the state and the country. The message of ‘love is resistance,’ just like Dr. King, is such a powerful weapon against the structural injustice we have.”
Kani Xulam (right) with Wendy Padilla in Hillsborough. (Photo via Kani Xulam on Facebook.)
Padilla did not plan to join Xulam on the walk from Hillsborough — only to host him for the weekend to let him rest and prepare for the next week of his pilgrimage. But Padilla said the weekend together inspired her to carve out time to join him for a couple of miles on Monday.
What was her parting message to Xulam as he ventured further west?
“I told him he’s a special human being,” Padilla said, “and I do hope that people support him and that he stays safe, [and] look out for him anywhere he goes throughout his journey.”
Xulam is currently on track to reach Atlanta by his planned end date of May 14. He told WHUP he hopes more people will continue to help him on his way — whether by joining him for a mile, providing financial support to his pilgrimage and AKIN, or simply by learning more about the plight of the Kurds.
“I don’t know how the Kurdish independence will come,” Xulam admitted. “All I know is that there’s a rising hope, a rising tide of expectations, of a desire to be counted, a desire to be heard, a desire to be accepted and respected. How it will unfold, I don’t know…all I know is we have to study every case, we have to study every example. For myself, I find inspiration in Ghandi’s example, I find inspiration in Dr. King’s example…and I’m trying to draw the attention of my fellow Kurds to their examples that we can make it to our own promised land with least cost, with most promise and without leaving a legacy blood in our wake.
“Mutual tolerance is the answer to this question,” Xulam concluded, “and love is the way to move forward.”
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