Broken Promises, Forgotten People
By: Janice Nease
There is a war raging in the coalfields of Appalachia. It is not a traditional war. There are no soldiers, nor are there armaments, but it is nonetheless a war. It is a direct attack on the environment, the communities, the people and the culture of southern Appalachia. The enemy is mountaintop removal mining, a callous, egregious and dangerous form of mining.The Appalachian coalfields have become a sacrifice zone so that the rest of the nation and even parts of the world will have so called "cheap electricity". Since Appalachians have always been the "step-children" of America, we are considered expendable.
For too long, we have allowed the rest of the nation to devalue our lives and our culture. For over a hundred years, long before coal was discovered, proud mountain people inhabited the hills and hollows of West Virginia. My ancestors were among them. Mountain people have a unique relationship with the land on which they have always lived. The mountains are a part of us, and we are part of them. The mountains played an integral part in the daily life of those who lived in the hills and hollows of West Virginia and Kentucky. They provided recreation and food to supplement our meager incomes. They also provided medicinal herbs and plants to cure us when we were ill and a place to bury our dead when it was their time to go. They offered us solace when times were hard and inspiration when we needed to refresh our soul. The mountains also reminded us of who we were and upon whose earth we walked. You cannot look at a mountain and not know there is a creator. God's mountains surrounded our modest homes with their beauty. More importantly, they were the touchstones of our existence. They gave us our sense of self and our sense of place.
Appalachia is like a sleeping giant, slow to awaken, but ferocious when they learn how deeply they have been betrayed. Our government has failed us, our legal system has failed us and the regulatory industry has turned a deaf ear and blind eye to the destruction of our communities, our homes and land, our health and the health of our children, to the environment and to our mountain culture. My people have become aware that they must join together to fight a common enemy. They are hearing the call to battle. Like them I have learned that we must fight injustice and oppression whenever and wherever it is found. So, in the twilight of my years, I have become a soldier, and there are many others just like me. We have gone to war. I pray that I will see the end of this attack against nature and humanity in my lifetime. If I do not, I hope they have mountains.