Governor's Sit-In Day Two: Why Kentucky Can't Wait

[Joanne98]

As the nation's beloved author/farmer philosopher Wendell Berry settled his 76-year-old lanky frame onto the floor of Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear's office last night, he picked up a copy of The Tempest. But in joining other protesters in this extraordinary sit-in to halt reckless mountaintop removal mining, including a coal miner and inspector who dedicated 40 years of his life to the industry, a Harlan County activist whose brother was killed in a mine, a nurse who has served black lung-affected coal miners for decades, and some of the country's top Appalachian labor and history scholars, Berry was not taking part in any Shakespeare spectacle.

When Prospero commands in the classic play, "We are such stuff, as dreams are made on," Kentuckians, who have lived among the ravages of strip-mining for a century--and mountaintop removal operations since 1970--were making it clear that they can no longer wait for the elusive dream of coalfield justice and democracy in their own homeland of central Appalachia.

When Martin Luther King wrote his game-changing letter for the Civil Rights movement on the need for civil disobedience, "Why We Can't Wait" from the Birmingham, Alabama jail in 1963, the neighbors and families of these same Kentuckians were already in the throes of a growing movement to stop the devastation from unyielding and increasingly lawless strip-mining operations.

While King sought "to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation," besieged strip-mined residents in Knott County in eastern Kentucky organized their own sit-ins and protests to keep unchecked strip-miners from destroying their historic homelands and hillsides and watersheds. They exclaimed to the world: "We feel we have been forsaken."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/governors-sit-in-day-two_b_822327.html

[MasonJar]

1. Wendell Berry is my hero. If y'all haven't read his works, do yourself

a favor and find one to read. He is the ultimate in the drive for environmental protection

[roxiejules]

3. K&R

[femrap]

2. Corporations kill

people....and since they want to be called 'people,' then why aren't they put on trial???

I f*cking hate them and the hateful, corrupt politicians that they own.

[underpants]

4. WOW very impressive

I will add a joke (not in any way meant to diminish this brave act) --- when the pundits were trying to figure out where this surge of action by the people would spread from Egypt they NEVER thought it would leapfrog to KENTUCKY

[roxiejules]

5. More info and photos....

http://kykernel.com/2011/02/12/kentucky-authors-activists-stage-sit-in-at-governors-office/

“I don’t believe that there is a justification for permanently damaging the world, and I’m here to say that and to be a part of this effort,” Wendell Berry said.

[underpants]

6. PIC

[underpants]

7. Another pic

A group of activists, including acclaimed author, poet and environmentalist Wendell Berry, have occupied Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear's office over this Valentine's Day weekend, demanding that the governor meet with them to discuss the devastating effects mountaintop removal coal mining is having on eastern Kentucky. About 20 activists in total are in the office, and have invited the governor and Kentucky's first lady to join them.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/02/kentucky-sit-in-governor.php

[MasonJar]

8. A giant thank you to all of them.

[MasonJar]

9. Actor's Theater in Louisville did a tribute to Wendell Berry a year ago.

It was slides and music and readings from his works. That was one of the most beautiful, inspiring presentations that I have ever seen on the stage.