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Coal River Mountain Watch and Members of American Indian Movement Unite For the Mountains
March 13, 2004
Photos by Vivian Stockman and Abe Mwaura
Page 1 of 3
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The People United Will Never Be Defeated
In mid-March Matt Sherman "Walks on Wind" sent an e-mail around to fellow American Indian Movement activists:
Friends: I was sent to Morgantown West Virginia in 1999 by American Indian Movement Leader Dennis J. Banks. My instruction was a single sentence. "Help the Indian women save the burial site in Morgantown." It took two years but with Creator's blessing we succeeded. From time to time someone would ask me about MTR-Mountain Top Removal. I always had a more important "Indian Issue" in which I was involved.
Last month I was petitioned by some people of SW West Virginia to come down and take a look at the destruction.
On March 4th I drove down to Boone and Raleigh counties to see for myself. I was escorted up Kayford Mountain. At the top was the Stanley Family cemetery. What surrounded this little plot was incomprehensible. Total devastation and destruction as far as the eye could see. The air was filled with the screech of Hawks searching for places to land...the trees are gone and the land is poisoned: air reeks of chemicals. Demolition equipment larger than houses roamed about as monsters on a sterile landscape. It was like a surreal scene from a futuristic SCI FI movie...but it was no movie...it was real. Death and destruction in vivid black & gray.
We held a prayer ceremony. I apologized to our Sacred Mother for turning away when I was asked to save her...I apologized for my cowardice in making believe this wasn't an Indian Issue. I told my Sacred Mother I would no longer stand silent as she was raped and violated. This is truly an Indian Issue if there ever was one.
This Saturday, March 13th the brave women, men and children of West Virginia will hold a vigil and rally and take a stand against Massey Coal and the other predators and parasites who rip the face from our sacred mother simply because its cheaper than underground mining. I will be there. I invite you to join us. As people of conscience we must put a stop to this domestic terror. Marshfork Elementary School, State Route 3, SW of Charleston. The rally begins 11 a.m.
WARNING! If you come you will be in danger. A sludge dam sits a few hundred feet from the Marshfork School. The same kind of dam which has killed hundreds of people throughout West Virginia. You will face the same danger the school children face every day they go to school. If you've ever needed a cause to fight for...this is it. Please stand with us. Please keep us in your prayers.
Below are pictures from the rally and vigil, which was organized by Coal River Mountain Watch. Over 100 people turned out, joining in a big talking circle--for the mountains, the streams, and for all our relations, be they two-legged, four-legged, legless, winged or finned--or even coal industry CEOs.
The event marked the very first time that the musical CD, Moving Mountains: Voices of Appalachia Rise Up Against Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining, was offered for sale anywhere. Most of the proceeds from sales of Moving Mountains will go to non-profit organizations working to end mountaintop removal coal mining, including the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and Coal River Mountain Watch.
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The Marshfork Elementary School
at Sundial (foreground), with the |
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A silo for storing coal (built since the above picture was taken) looms over |
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Coal Rover Mountain Watch's Judy Bonds and a sign that says it all. |
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Slyvester Dustbuster Pauline Canterberry addresses the indoor crowd. |
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Dixon Muchiri's sign speaks the truth. |
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