Blair Mountain March Enters Third Day
By Mike Roselle
June 8, 2011
Three days into the March on Blair Mountain and the marchers are now in Madison, West Virginia, moving single file along the narrow main road snaking through this small city. The scene is calm and State Police and Boone County Sheriffs are present, and besides a few insults yelled from passing vehicles, a few pro coal placards and some crudely worded signs telling the marchers to go home, the marchers have gotten a mostly positive reception from residents along the route, and their spirits are high. Today they are about 100 marchers, while more are expected to arrive as the week’s march culminates at the big rally on Saturday. On Saturday the final rally is expected to draw over a thousand people to Blair Mountain.
Video By Carolyn Case
Organizers have had to contend with many last minute problems, as campgrounds and parks that had agreed to host the campers all reneged on their promises in the face of strong pressure from the local politicians who answer to the coal companies. As a result, they have had to stay in a warehouse in Marmet and need to be shuttled back and forth to the highway every day, adding hours of work for the crew, but in spite of these and other setbacks, they are on schedule to arrive in the town of Blair by Saturday for the rally that will feature Emmylou Harris, Ashley Judd and other performers along with a speech from long time MTR opponent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Attending were activists from around the country, from as far away as San Francisco, and a large contingent of Appalachians, which included several retired members of the United Mine Workers, some of whose fathers had faced the bullets in the first Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921, the event the marchers are commemorating. http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2011/06/08/the-second-battle-of-blair-mountain/ The Battle of Blair Mountain was one of the largest armed uprisings since the American Civil War. Over 10,000 coal miners wearing red bandanas marched on Blair to break the stranglehold the coal companies had over their lives, and which had rendered them all but slaves in their own land, condemned to work like mules underground in dangerous conditions for less than a living wage.
March on Blair Mountain – Images by antrim caskey
Photos By Antrim Caskey
Though the miners were eventually routed by company thugs and the US Army, the Battle of Blair Mountain alerted the nation to the desperate plight of the coal miners, and eventually led to reforms and the establishment of the United Mine Workers as the first successful industrial trade union. One would think that this alone would make Blair Mountain one of the most important historical sites in America, but due to coal industry pressure it was taken off the National List of Historical Places and Massey Energy and Arch coal have indicated that they plan to blast what remains of the mountain to get the coal underneath.
The second Battle of Blair Mountain is not about coal miners; they are mostly gone and Blair is almost a ghost town. A handful of union strip miners operate the nearby Hobet Mine, and their union, the United Mine Workers of America supports mountain top removal. The union supports the Historical Designation for Blair Mountain but has not said they oppose blasting it off of the face of the Earth. Thus there was very little active UMWA support for this march. This is a real shame, as MTR has cost thousands of union mining jobs, and UMWA president Cecil Roberts knows this. The marchers hope that by reminding the union of their shared history, that they can be convinced to change their position on MTR. Judging by the reception the marchers are getting here in Madison, I’d say they might succeed in this. I could not imagine this group walking through this town three years ago without causing a riot. The number of people who are no longer afraid to voice their opposition to the destruction of Appalachia has grown exponentially since then and the politicians are starting to notice.
For more information on the march, go to http://marchonblairmountain.org/
We on the coal side Mr Roselle, had allready deciced to practice restraint and rob the activists of the attention thru confrontation they so desperately seek.
What activists want, what West Virginia wants is clean air and clean water for healthy communities and an end to mountaintop removal.
King Coal takes and takes, leaving West Virginia one of the poorest states in the nation. Mountaintop removal is killing West Virginians.
We want Action! We want the law to be enforced. Appalachians are crying for justice, this is an emergency situation.
Thanks for the restraint, Watch. Nobody likes it when it gets ugly. You guys have learned a valuable lesson. Even without the usual nastiness from your side, we are getting plenty of attention, which we do seek, but never desperately. I hope this heralds a new day on the Coal River where opponents of mountain top removal need not fear to raise their voices, to stand up and be counted, and to join forces to fight for a better future for all of us.
Antrim, having never been arrested I feel confident in saying , we too want the law to be enforced so you, Mike and the other activists keep that in mind while visiting Blair mountain.
when all other avenues have been exhausted to halt the injustice of mountaintop removal coal mining, citizens and journalists have engaged in civil disobedience, wherein the law we break of trespassing is far less injurious than Massey Energy/Alpha Nat. Resources breaking federal laws like the Clean Water Act in their pursuit of profit (always over people).
but you know all this Watcher.
Thanks for your continued interest in our activities.
Grew up there… had to leave… couldn’t abide by what was happening… now I realize that when we lefties walked away… coal got stronger… communities got obliterated… children are dying… hell, everybody’s dyin… I’m lookin’ back now… I’m pissed as hell… and I am joining the fight… and calling on all the Appalachian Souls out there to do the same… Coal boss… your lies have been seen… you have been revealed for what you are… The Coal industry’s dark days of murderous destruction for greed are coming to an end… and just so you know… I’m not afraid to live without what your fossil death fuels… NEXT PUSH… Everyone who can… GO OFF GRID!!!
Being gone from this site for awhile I decided I would come back and see what the comments were on the March of Blair mountain. Question, why did Kathy Mattea back out after saying she would come down and perform? Oh yeah she didn’t want to lose her “fan base”, not having a hit single since Regan was in office I can understand why she would say she would perform and she shouldn’t have to worry about her fan base, from what I’ve heard no one cares about her music anymore. I would also like to know how the wonderful folks of San Francisco and Oregon liked our wonderful state? I would like to know why a conversation between a “marcher” and WOWK news was this, the “marcher” was ask where they were from and they said Oregon, the news reporter ask what he knew about MTR and his reply was NOTHING! I for one, love our mountains, love my home and love this beautiful state but I can understand why the coal miner gets aggrivated, why they get mad and why they can get so upset. Junk like this that goes on is nothing more than a waste of time. Have you guys gotten so “in need” that you have brought out of staters in here? The fact that this was brought up earlier last year about out of stater and you guys claiming it was wrong, is funny now… This march was nothing more than an “attention” grabber! From the artist that was supposed to have been there on Saturday to the scene that you guys caused at the park in Boone county…Did you honestly believe the folks of Boone County would have welcomed you guys with open arms? Come on your smarter than that!
Hi Raychel,
Welcome back to Climate Ground Zero. I’m sorry to hear that you missed Kathy Mattea perform at the rally at Blair on Saturday. She also marched to the mountaintop with about 1000 others, many of whom are out-of-staters. Those out-of-staters that you speak of use Appalachian coal, they understand their connection to mountaintop removal coal and global climate change.
We need out-of-staters to be involved in the movement to stop mountaintop removal because West Virginian politicians from Manchin and Rockefeller to Rahall and Caputo to the DEP, etc., etc. are bought and paid for by the industry.
As Bobby Kennedy Jr has so eloquently said, there has been a subversion of democracy in West Virginia which permits the wanton, dangerous mining activities of Massey, Arch, Alpha, ICG, etc.
Look at Dr James Hansen’s position on coal. Immediately transition out of coal into renewables, build no more Coal fired power plants and supplant the coal economy in Appalachia with jobs in renewables. Hansen has taken into consideration not only the perils that coal exposes us all to, but the fact that coal, as deadly as it can be when mined and burned, needs to be replaced with jobs around solar and wind production.
The out-of-staters are concerned and want to help. We do not want to be dominated or removed by outlaw coal companies responsible for the destruction of the world’s most diverse temperate forest, headwater streams that provide our drinking water and the irreplaceable communities of the Appalachian mountains.
Just like me, many former residents of WV who are now out of state returned to challenge greed and put an end to MTR. This planet is shrinking all the time and the eco system is very connected, so everyone has a stake in this. I was born in Rock Creek and my family had to leave because the mines shut down and big coal didn’t need my father or uncles, just like they won’t need any of the miners some day in the future. They don’t care!!!!!!
The price is too high.