Appalachia: Rich Land, Poor People

[Music] the following program is from NE the public television [Music] network L How Sweet the Sound that falls upon the all those who love Kentucky soul and H that state so dear it's people working for away and those who love to roam are home sick for appalache Kentucky home home sweet home I think one of the beautiful things I've ever saw is in the fall of the year when I look on the techic of the mountains and see the beauty of all of the different colors of the trees and I'm riding along with people and

I say look at y y is the most beautiful scene that I have ever saw I see the Technic color of the mountains we wonder how long it'll last we wonder how long we can hold our peace we wonder how long we can set and look and what's the greediness of people for no Mighty do come in and destroy all things that was created for man and they were coming in from the Far Corners of America and they are taken out they are taken out of our County and our our state they are taking out

the things that God provided and put forth for us they taking it out and they're leaving us nothing they're leaving us nothing coal is the key P county is the largest coal producing County in the world now Kentucky last year there was 100 4,598 79 annually to Kentucky that's the only thing we have and if the outsiders would leave us alone we not have any trouble with people [Music] here [Music] [Music] yeah it's awful crowed oh well I couldn't have Liv sure if I hadn't sold my electric stove and television things I just wouldn't had

no room for it what did you get for what you sold I sold the electric store for $25 and sold the TV and antenna and what wire was with it I guess it's 200t of wire for $20 I let my bookcase go for $10 shotgun for 10 factly give way how long that that you still have some of that money left no no I paid okay I paid 16 169 this is Frank Collins he's 38 lived in the mountains all his life he has three children and a sick and pregnant wife he doesn't have a

job in the bookcase I sold it bought a b eat with it took the one over hospital for checkup nothing left out of hit electric stove $25 got out of hit I bought gas and moved up here most of it bought a little grub too there was nothing left out of head I don't know what I'll do now till the first mon I get my stamps after I get hit right car me through for a while he worked the mines until they mechanized then like thousands of others he was thrown out of work some men

went to the city to look for a job or go on relief and since 1950 the Region's population has decreased by 350,000 but an estimated 1 and A2 million more people many like Collins remain there are no exact figures on the number of poor but they're estimated around 50% and maybe more many of them are old and disabled but many others like Collins are able to work but have no skills except mining a little better than I do now see rent $15 uhhuh haven't lived in Big Six room p in income tax 270 Social Security

58 558 lights $8 the store $ 12270 I made $154 and broke even with them that you broke even yeah they a diamond just paid my debt but I have made good money down there hot spot T now it's all mechanized though yeah it's all gone why is it going and it takes everything you make to live and you cold for y wife sick I didn't have no hospital cars in that's what I could rate and scra she was down 3 months down there and her father had to take her to the hospital once I

didn't have the money to take her could you work in the mines now and make any money live at it but I couldn't save nothing but you couldn't get paid like you used to I guess no uh after you could a ding a big machine man like scosi a here or something or you experience man you can make good money I think they pay somewhere from 25 up to $30 a ship all depends on the job get there that continuous manner I think it pays 30 I don't CH car runs about 25 like that that's

pretty hard to get into though yeah it is you can't hardly do that unless you experience and somebody knows you way don't looks like there nothing here no way nobody starvation's all and you can't find work now that's out sure is we just live this this way we can since August and it went FR and let quit see de they going to put me on a disabled check you know over here and never didn't come around cuz I was just able to do anything Frank had to take care of me you know never come around

so we just let it go I think down pretty good though yeah any way we [Music] have but I wish I could left Kentucky all together where I could actually got a good job that's sure is my wife gets well I'll go I'll find out there nothing hear any more at all unless you do have some kind of train or something you own that you can live at I you just take me now got I don't own nothing got no job or nothing it's hard to live it's the school it's a very pretty picture I'm

fat I'm fat now not what' you do when you get out of school I just stayed homework had it over there though I went on see now I made a mistake why'd you quit hey I just too many to go I just wouldn't go home but my sister's younger than me she went plums was 8ighth grade and then graduated to high school and went half semester of high school and then got mared and she went for 8 years she never missed a day never was life if I just done that i' been okay I went

300 hours one class got one of these and 300 another got one that's great I started in high school over here and went two nights on the program and quit went to vocational school I guess been a whole lot different if if you had all that school before yeah it would have made a lot of difference hell i' never been here start with I'd probably been somewhere working if I had all this when I first got out of school but after out of school why you forget a lot of it here's the old picture me

and my daddy the picture that was took off me where was he buried up on the hill at momy about his place was he born around here at the her CHR kie the he lived in the mountains all his life yeah always Le do he like him yeah buddy what did he do well he worked in the mines you know he got thisa and here's some other pictures see that's the smallest here's em when in the second grade here he is in the first grade another now she is again there's that L of color yeah

I had one black and white and and that of color keep in the Bible huh yeah see nobody don't mess with the Bible now that not keep anything that's Leonard see to Alive noce him looks like he's fat or something yeah was EST that hear let me let me it bab pleas ho in the house you sure are get on other side side weing it always when you find B you like got three of them let me there are some jobs available mostly in the mines but they require skills which men like Collins do not

have until recently there were few effective programs to train them and little attempt to bring new industry in instead there have been government work programs medical cards and food stamps a gigantic welfare state has emerged which has destroyed pride and initiative and made people dependent on the system Collins borrows $2.50 to buy $60 worth of stamps on the first of each month the food lasts him less than 3 weeks Jack y want some with no thank you Frank I'll wait a bit I get $60 worth this time Friday and have to do me all the

month of December for five us John Engle John Engle Stacy Scott Martin Larry Frank cin [Music] place 20 40 50 53 56 58 260 thank you just how they can't eat actually what they should have you go to buy and meat for $60 well you can get some but you can't get what the young needs milk is over a dollar a gallon you take three growing Youngs how long is a gallon milk going to do them just mess or to they can't have what they need maybe I get them two three gallons and time I

buy the rest of grocery meal flour and stuff like that lar cream ain't nothing left to buy meat and stuff like that the eggs well you just you can buy them cheap but they don't last long and you can't keep them if they don't use it that day I just to throw out cuz I can't run refrigerator I've got a good but I can't run it makes a big difference it's just a bad situation anywhere you go the wealth of Appalachia is underground much of it however is owned by land and coal companies outside the

region in cities like New York Pittsburgh and Philadelphia they bought the coal rights from the Mountaineers around the turn of the century for as little as 50 cents an acre since then much of the profit has left the region [Music] [Applause] [Music] today machines do most of the work in relatively few men are employed in the mines years ago there were thousands of miners they lived in company towns with company stores they risked their lives daily and until they organized in the 30s they worked 12 hours a day and more for very little pay and

when the mines closed down during the Depression and again in the 50s often it was without warning and many people were left with nothing but their dreams I can remember the old days when uh after the uh first world war maybe it in the 20 that this whole place here they take the for instance the Coke Ovens all night and they had theaters going right and when I was young we'd come over here sometimes I'd have a date we'd come over here and go to the movie one time I remember particular the trail along some

Pine uh we saw the first showing over here and uh this the whole place is all lit up and theaters and and old commissaries and uh and the Coke Ovens going on and it'd go on all night hey was a good booming place at at that time it it it had a big garage over there and a filling station and all these stores was filled up with everything in them to buy and the post office was there and this was a big commissary up to alany with everything in the world in it to eat and

was just a real wonderful place to live in and uh everybody uh enjoyed it I mean you know they had just a living h on the Hogs you should say but when he went down they went down too and then they just moved out I had to leave this hall seven times and I was working the day this m shut down up here closed down I was working that day and I was working to day this and shut down and I was working to day that and shut down down Y and they just said come

up put a notice of M are down and that's all of it they didn't give you nothing companies didn't they they didn't even V you nothing and if you lived in the property you paid them just the same as she was working for what do you mean you if you lived in their houses you paid rent matter how long you Liv there you had to pay the rent the mindes was down they didn't care you paid it or if you didn't they moved you out and let the house fall down just like his whole hollers

fell down no no warning they worked right all up to the night they shut her down they said she's gone boys junking her oh yeah they they lost automobiles they lost everything it was pitiful hauling furniture and stuff back out his H big cars fine automobiles it was s but I had luck I I kept mine I had a good one brand new one and a lot of their houses what houses they own they soow them tore him down sold it out y they they didn't care nothing about nobody I tell you the truth about

it blew down didn't care nothing about nobody come on you call miners whereever you may be and listen to the story that I relate to the my name is nothing extra but the truth to you all tell I am a cold Miner's wife I'm sure I wish you well I was born in Old Kentucky in the C and born in bread I know all about the P beans Bulldog gravy and cornbread and I know how the coal miners working slave in the coal mines every day for a dollar in The Company Store for that is

all they pay without the Kentucky West Virginia cold fields that World War I and World War II wouldn't have been run and what will you get for your labor but a dollar in The Company Store a Tumbl down Shack to live and snow rain part through the top the car that you drive uh requires a ton and a half of coal to make the coal to build that car oh M and is the most dangerous work in our land today with plenty of dirty slaving work but very little pain this example of industry in Eastern

Kentucky I think is just typical of uh how this country was founded on private [Music] Enterprise [Music] n for over half a century Central Appalachian coal has supported American industry 1966 alone almost $900 Million worth of coal was extracted but the wealth underground is rarely reflected above ground illiteracy is high many people don't have enough food and vitamin deficiencies are still common the streams are polluted the countryside littered with refu the mountains being torn up by strip miners the companies do contribute income in the form of workers salaries and some companies are active in Civic

activities but by and large the coal benefits only a few those that still work in the minds and those that service them we are a subsidiary of Bethlehem Steel and we operate three coal mines and preparation plants last year we produced two and A3 million tons of coal uh used to make Coke to make steel and U right here in our town alone the last year and a half has been about 25 to 30 new homes David Zagar is superintendent of mines for Beth elorn a subsidiary of Bethlehem Steel he is a company provide employment

for these people who make $7 8,000 a year there's a lot of opportunity here for people the living environment conditions is great uh we're tickle of death that we had a chance to raise our kids in a town like this where everybody knows everybody and um just a nice friendly atmosphere and the opportunities in mining are great we have a very low turnover of people which to me is an indicator that the people that work here are happy and and what they're doing in the environment under which they live independent coal companies as well as

some of America's largest corporations like Bethlehem us and Republic Steel take millions of dollars of coal annually from Appalachian counties yet those same Counties have little money for public services like schools roads recreational or health facilities some of them cannot meet even 10% of their school budgets Appalachian legislatures have kept property taxes low compared to other states and elected County tax assessors aren't given the money with which to do an adequate job of assessment we don't make any surveys we don't have any mapping syst at all and Revenue Department doesn't furnish any technical advice or

Aid or any way in delmare drawn County tax assessor not County Kentucky so we just have to rely on the companies to give us an honest list and as they are pretty accurate if you can't survey the land how can you trust that the companies are giving you a fair assessment well we just we just have to trust them we just have to take their word they have a mapping system and they they'll bring their maps in and present them to us County tax Commissioners and we don't know very much about them as we look

at them but they sort of convince us any have you ever tried to raise the assessments on them oh yes I I raise assessment pretty often how about a seance tax would that help I like to see a s teex say I'm for it I think it'd be wonderful what would it do oh it would no doubt if the legislature would set it out right and contribute some or quite a bit of that money that would arrive from it to each County well naturally it would help our County there have been some proposals for attacks

assessed loc Al on the coal taken from the ground 5 cents a ton would bring in almost $10 million a year to those counties the companies have opposed it they say they cannot afford that much tax that it would put them at a disadvantage with other fuels it's been proposed H well it's it's been proposed just recently in the state legislature but uh seemingly uh it's uh unpopular maybe I guess with the cold operators naturally they may not want to pay the taxes and you know these big companies that have a lot of wealth in

your county and they employ a lot of men they're not not very many now but they they keep a lot of money here and put a lot of money in circulation and naturally your representatives have a inclination to sort of go along with them you know and try to please them and there's not too many people people individuals think too much about it and realize it just what it would mean to the economy of the county and how much relief it would give all of those people with Force taxes if these companies were paying their

share not paying enough well who's to be the judge uh we're paying what we are required to pay by law and in fact we even pay more David Zar Beth elorn we pay uh 20% of the taxes in this County alone and and yet we only own 2% of the mineral so how about the other 98% what's the mineral work uh nothing unless you can get it out and make a profit on it if you can't make a profit on it of a penny or more you just will leave it in the ground it's not

worth anything to you uh there there's a lot of good points for public debate there but I don't think our time is uh can let us get into all the aspects of the economics of the coal industry what do you mean is good without coal you would have very little if anything in our area uh the area is depending upon coal I think this area should be very happy that corporations such as ours and US steel and others are here they're good companies they're honorable companies if we are wrong in mining coal in Eastern Kentucky

and if we are wrong in what is going on in the appon area as far as industry is concerned then I think this whole country is based on the wrong philosophy to do it any other way you're just talking about socialism so if what we're doing is wrong then this whole country is Wrong coal is cheap now everything going to gas or electric well the price of Co is cheap but when you go and bite it by the T and transfer it from cross the mountain over in here you pay $10 for maybe more when

we can buy we buy when we can I get the best way I can when he did have the money Collins would buy coal to keep his family warm now like many other Appalachians he crawls into the side of the mountain in back of his house and digs it out Daddy on [Music] shovel that camer knock it down a whole lot of trouble too just try to keep warm had to crawl back in there and dig and he them set try to get a little coold man never got some factories in here maybe it wouldn't

have to don't look like they ever going to do anything though all the big companies just that owned this coat poor people ain't got no more right to it you tell me way back in there that they bought up the cold mineral for practically nothing from the PO people and now they ain't got nothing to live on or nothing else makes it rough all the way around they hang a dozen people in elri County I don't guess has got Co rats some big company's got them all bought up that's where it hurts at if people

had Co rid but they could make a little money around here but in truck M but you can't do it big companies got it all like black Dam uh diam coold company and uh Blackwood Land Company Virginia steel and metal company they don't lot this coal so what you going to do the PO people ain't got no change for big companies like that we just have to get it out the best way we can when we ain't working Come On Son if we don't fight for what we thinks right now 100 years from now there

won't be nothing our grandchildren or great grandchildren and their grandchildren will grow up in poverty if we don't do something now I if the free enterprise system as practiced in the Appalachian area hasn't seemed to work for many of the people there neither has the welfare state in the form of government programs over 30 years of relief programs have done little to bring about any meaningful change in most lives and int of to stay here these men and several Vista workers came out of the West Virginia mountains to the capital in Charleston to protest a

45% cut in welfare payments and lack of jobs at home the new United States is a rich country we know we all know that it's a rich country why should the American people had to live in property when they got enough of money and enough resources here in in the states to live on and survive and make it good why should I I can't see it West Virginia one West Virginia is one of the richest States in all of the men have large families all were on government make workor programs which did not offer any

future but did bring in some money it was enough to live on until the state cut it almost in half claiming a shortage of federal funds due to the Vietnam War I work all my life I've been on this ADC for8 months they sent me to school they gave me $278 they cut me off cut my check back down to $165 can't live on it this D sent me to school they work me 20 days a month for that and sent me to school so what up I want to live Hest live I didn't mind

working and going to school at the same time how many kids you got I got five boys how far is that 165 not very far the programs which seemed promising to of many have delivered very little some men have been trained but many more remain untrained and there's no comprehensive program for them 2,700 Mi of Highway have been authorized but less than half have been completed and while education and health standards have been raised they are still far below National levels and the men feel that they've been given in their own words just enough to

keep them from squealing and that government is unresponsive to their needs there no job back home yeah you can get a job uh it's a oily it's a truck driver grease Market we call it but what it pay $20 a week could you think we I could get my family on $20 a week you make more in welfare oh all right that's when I got on it how about in Clay County what's in clay in Clay County ain't nothing but a coal mine and a camping outfit builds these campers for trucks that's all it is

they employ not very many men so they couldn't work all us on there what do you guys want I mean what do you I want jobs yes we all want jobs where we can be independent a job to have a good income I mean there way we can uh support our fans definitely what we want jobs and factories we want factories in West Virginia they put factories in other places why can't you put them in West Virginia you put them in Ohio Chicago and everywhere else why can't you put them in West Virginia yes the

governor yeah I can tell you why they don't on account of the coal miners the coal miners got the big majority they kicked the little man around that's why we get jobs yeah we'd be glad to work in fact I don't want no h down I want to be a man I came down here I think I was pretty apolitical I just had graduated from law school I believed everything that I read in the books about the responsiveness of government to people and as the year progressed and I saw how man's economic situation made a

difference and what kind of government he got became more and more disillusioned I mean that uh here where people have tried Time and Again by peaceful means to get even a straight answer to a problem which Gravely affects them and have not been able to do so uh I myself am left with no choice except to believe that either this is a perversion of the democratic process in West Virginia that we have in West Virginia or else that the Democratic process doesn't work in this country Rick Bank a Vista volunteer from New York and Bob

Tanner an Appalachian volunteer from California helped organize this protest with end of the month you and all we had was all we had was gravy and coffee you know for the last week of the month because the check ran out you know a week before that and you know it's just uh at least down in the southern counties where we work and I think the last election proved in the whole state you know that it's just not things just not working down here you know so there's another problem that goes along with that and that's

the fact that people here don't understand the meaning of political power and are just beginning to understand that and until there is uh a group of Po poor people and middle class people whose interests are the same who are willing to organized to change the situation there won't be any impetus in the other direction I think this What's Happening Here is a good indication of it what what's the complaint of the AVS and and the Appalachian group to save the land and people and all those people what is their complaint their complaint is period I

mean they just complain they don't like our government they don't like our Bob hul past president of the Kentucky independent Co operators Association is representative of the small conservative middle class which opposes attempts by Vistas and other groups to organize the poor the government run everything and they preach that the government is the best to do all these things in other words everybody should be all industry and everything else should be completely controlled by the government the same philosophy is taught in Russia but Russia don't have send us any we to live on we do

that no I'm not saying there is no poverty I'm saying that poverty is a uh more or less a state of mind because a lot of people that that uh you from New York would consider poverty stricken don't consider themselves that way people go to work poverty program no you don't need any poverty program they go to work you don't there's a need for here no need for the commment no need for the appach volunteers or any the rest of these things is coming in here so you have a bad tax system bad education bad

roads and that keeps the industry out and you don't have educated workers because of of the uh educational system I was speaking about so somewhere somewhere along the line somebody's going to have to make a break in that and say look let's spend the money to change this system so that there can be industry there can be better education and there can be jobs for these people and make them productive citizens in other words when you attack when you attack the abcu guy when you attack the guy in welfare you're attacking the product of a

system not the cause of what's wrong you're attacking somebody who's who's suffered under the system not the guy who's created it and if you want to change things don't tell this guy to get up and get a job when he caning under this system because he doesn't have a decent way of life here okay his own choosing well why couldn't he go to work like other people I don't see why they couldn't go out and shovel you guys are advocating that everybody everybody that can't find a job in West Virginia leave West Virginia is that

right well then what are they going to do sit around and starve you want to bury them you know why the cities are burning now because people from down south have gone up north they've gone to the cities and there's no jobs there's no food so they're burning them I mean if there are no jobs in this state and a guy has a family he's got to do something and so the federal government said all right we'll train these men they set up these great training programs look tremendous in Bill form the president signed him

with empty dozen pens and handed them out to all the congressmen that sponsored the bill gets down to the local area and and 100 men out of 168 in playay County get assigned to the state road and they make big rocks in the little rocks some training you're complain in Eastern Washington I'm from the state of Washington in Eastern Washington there was poverty as as deep as any poverty anywhere Senator Magnuson decided that that had to be changed and he started building the Columbia River Basin project a project that today has got 10 dams on

it produces more electricity than the than the state of Washington and the whole Pacific Northwest could ever use in a lifetime has produced great irrigation projects has raised that level of in the income in that area tremendously now why can't you guys as citizens of West Virginia find us some projects in this state that are going to get us off the ground that's the kind of stuff you guys can do they are calling for dedication all the way to a clause at the same time they're feeding out messages to Americans say forget it Pikeville Kentucky

Herbert filb professional anti-communist was invited by the Chamber of Commerce there to speak out on the dangers of Communism in the United States and in Eastern Kentucky you can see see where we end up we find Americans who do nothing and communist who are working very hard so you can have a million Americans do nothing and a handful of Communists who are dedicated and who will give their lives to a cause who's going to win who will win I know there have been uh some rumbles concerning the Vista program here and some of the way

the money has gone through the oeo anything to be surprised about anything to be hysterical about any reason to suspect that if the Communist B br's appearance followed the arrest and an indictment for sedition brought against poverty workers they had been helping land owners organize against strip mining the law under which they were charged was struck down and they were released but the case brought out deep middle class fears of Outsiders and government programs if we can only build now now and if we can only find more people of equal dedication of equal concern we

can and we shall win this struggle thank you very much God bless [Applause] [Laughter] [Applause] [Laughter] [Applause] you oh definitely is coming this year what are they doing well I let some the same things he spoke about I think uh I think the Communist mixed up here with this was arrested I'm born and raised 62 years in these mountains we've always made a living without oeo and without Vistas we don't need them uh I've got some valuable land down here that men like him have just finished uh auguring my property I'm putting out fruit trees

and things like that on these people uh they come in the restaurant they smell they stink they don't take a bath uh our poorest people take a bath with in a number two Wash Tub these people don't even take a bath you I I've got up and left the restaurant on occasion or two when these uh filthy things come in the odor is so bad you can't eat your breakfast Jesus Christ and the government and the government paying these people to come in here and tell us how to live George I told him I would

have it Saturday night same people listen you people would be more highly appreciated if you're dressed like uh like uh Hill bellies and not like something out of a out of a Jack in a box or something you don't need to come in here to impress us with boots and fuzzy faces No my friend wrong place boys you going to in the wrong damn place believe you me better be leing you come to us like like human beings and we'll treat you like a human being you come to us like a damn bunch of beatnicks

and we'll treat you like beatnicks now my friend you better believe it you're treading on damn Dangerous Ground right up to B that's right Divorce Yourself from this bunch of of scum and and and get with it be human beings why is it dangerous ground sir why is it danger ground don't say it don't say it it's dangerous ground because these mountain people won't tolerate they're getting they won't tolerate it my friend I know aren't they helping the poor people no no they're not helping the poor people they're taxing hell out of the poor people

to feed the damn things that's right they tax tax them that's a damn my God Mister do you want any property I New York You Don't Own no property huh Jesus Christ how are they taxing tax tax onions Jesus you can't talk that listen you you people people are really un Dangerous Ground you're not talking to Phil to to uh her Phil my God you're talking to hillbilly now and we're getting sick and tired of you and you better believe it why because we don't like the way you're dress we don't like your fuzzy damn

faces we don't like your boot we don't like that we don't like no part of it I used get part of it's getting to the place where people are not really needed in this Society the Reverend Andrew Young of the Southern Christian leadership conference everybody is determined to drive us out now what do I mean by that they put the pressure on us down in Mississippi that's the reason they won't give us free food stamps that's the reason they don't want the government programs to come in that's the reason they won't build houses that's the

reason they won't provide education because they want you to get out of Mississippi and go to Chicago but when you get to Chicago mad daily put you under such pressure that he's trying to drive you out of lay and people in West Virginia who are going someplace and they go one from one state to the next and and nobody needs people nobody wants people anymore especially not poor people and so we really the people come together to organize from Tennessee and Eastern Kentucky Virginia and West Virginia this is a meeting held in Charleston West Virginia

in the summer of 1968 they are holding workshops on local problems and trying to get white Appalachians to identify with the black civil rights movement but the combination of a cut back in poverty funds A Feeling by the poor people that government and Industry are not committed to change and the opposition of the middle class makes organizing difficult the only thing we can do is take over where we are and run that and if we can once begin to do that and build a base from where we're all poor then maybe we can have something

to say about how this Society is run I want you to remember why are we going to Washington why am I standing here why are we fighting this Robert fure president of Mercer County cap organization when I was a kid growing up I can remember when the back of my pants looked like something left over from a Halloween party because on the two big patches over my fants on my knees the same way in West Virginia we need jobs that will pay something you see in in the economy of the United States of America We

Stand number 12th in wealth the state of West Virginia does but we are not a state we are more like a colony all of our natural resources and our great minerals is owned by people that lives in other states like the king and queen of England used to uh come in and take from the colonies these people are taken from us we have no tax at all on our great wealth nothing at all in other words why can't these people that owns this wealth in West Virginia process this year into a finished product in West

Virginia set up factories into a finished product to where this uh wealth can be processed here give the people in West Virginia jobs because this is their wealth this is their money this is their life this is their land and it can be sold on the market much cheaper than what it's being done and until the white people awakens to the fact that he is a poor man that he has to be identified to what he has and where he stands this is the main issue the main thing is the white people I tell you

the white people have to be identified with his name you have to be his name they say that the white people wants nothing of this but I'll tell you in the last year I've seen more white people wake up where they've been asleep than I have ever seen you wake up out of bed in the morning this is real got your like Jack please Andy take a look what white Appalachia is they want you to see that they are part of this campaign eny they want to be part of it and I am proud today

to stand up before you as a white man and declare that we are becoming part of a nation that is being reborned again and is going to live Andy young is I said before one of the greatest men that I have ever known Andy I love you as a brother [Applause] not I couldn't have said that a few months ago I hated the [ __ ] a few months ago this is true yeah until I begin to realize the Bible that I had read taught me that all people all men were created equal and that

we're all human beings in the sight of God I'm not ashamed to admit what I was and what I am now today I am a man that can stand up for human beings and human dignity and human [Applause] rights go [Applause] there I'd like it here better not do any place else cuz it feels like home when used to leave here once before and it just feels like home I never have been in the city except lexon and I don't know nothing about the city i' be in a city now know how it feels I

tell you more about it but I like Kentucky because it's Forest Hills and things Woods I like the woods so I don't know what to do Chee are you eting D what you me it's start get that sheet you got to realize your boy's 14 you ass soon be going off to work but I'll say he won't even go to high school he done been in high school she a fil him two years so you got a program to thee for the dropouts to work and he'll probably go to work on that he get enough

money to get out on he mother's got a sister in Dayton I got a brother in Belleville Michigan he got a sister n no but he'll probably go some go to work I don't know where you go or what you do but he won't be here much longer I'll keep him with him with as long as I can yeah but you can't tell a young person down they all pretty well have to go if they ever have anything look see me me a paper see hot C wa did you cop it no I sat d

d ask you want to let him get that wait let get it show AR [Music] I knew he's tring that Mr Scott was my teacher last year I failed a year I failed six I faed two years if I didn't fail in two years I'd been a first year High School this year but I fail on the fourth I fell on the sixth why I fell on the sixth I was homebound taking Apple fits had a tumor on my brain now Lord moved it I believe I'll going through school and try to make something out

myself if you ain't got no education you just ain't got no job you can't get no job I've seen that on TV and you just can't go nowh without education that's why Dad sat in there now he ain't got no education per education he'd be all right wouldn't be starving like we are I'm just thought just thinking I'll go to High schol cuz I I think I like it then now going through college and trying to make something if I can get through college way we are now can't get through High School you get you

got no Brown um put some purple going get me some other words you mixed purple and yellow to get brown that's right that's right huh yep what's this color here purple well you got blue in it no that's purple maybe the blue F from H [Music] yeah okay but you done a bad tank J here you went over here you didn't go up to it not just ta nice enough for a little boy okay be [Music] pain for this is NE the public television network