Clinchco, Virginia is located in the heart of Appalachia. For generations, coal mined in this community and throughout this region, now one of the poorest in the country, fed the growth of the US economy. The livelihoods of the thousands of people who lived in this town were tied to the dangerous work in the mines, but as coal companies automated, those jobs disappeared.

Today, though great wealth continues to be extracted from these hills, the community has been left with almost nothing. Mining operations have become six or more times more productive, but there are no jobs left for the residents of the community who have roots in the area stretching back for generations. Clincho's population dropped by two-thirds, the hospital went bankrupt, and decent housing is in short supply - many living in tents or makeshift trailers.

We were given wonderful hospitality by our hosts, the Appalachian Women's Alliance and the United Mine Workers Association. Meredith Dean, Executive Director of the Appalachian Women's Alliance, welcomed us at an afternoon rally. Members shared the history of their area, their mission, and songs and poems expressing their history, culture, and struggle.

[From the Appalachian Women's Alliance Mission Statement] We have lost our people to the Trail of Tears, to explosions in the coal mines, to feuds, to black lung and brown lung, to hunger, to alcohol and drugs, to class and race murder, to domestic violence.

We have lost our land to coal companies, land companies, and timber companies that take from us and do not give back.

We have suffered the poverty of poor education, corrupt government, inadequate health care, unemployment and domestic violence.

Poverty has driven many of us out of the mountains to cities where our children are taught to despise their heritage and abandon their culture.

APPALACHIAN WOMEN ARE BUILDING A MOVEMENT

AGAINST the forces of poverty, Appalachian women have created brave and triumphant traditions of resistance and change.
...
We are accomplishing the excruciatingly slow but steady work of raising consciousness and self-esteem,
identifying common struggles,
developing a collective analysis,
creating a common vision,
and taking collective action.

We marched through the town, waving American flags, expressing through chants and songs our need for basic economic human rights: "What do we need?" "Healthcare!" "When do we need it?" "Now!" Along the way, residents clapped and cheered in support of our message.

We returned to the tent site to discuss NAFTA and the FTAA, making the connections between job loss locally with workers worldwide threatened by the FTAA.

From there, we went out into the community, hearing again the horror stories of economic human rights violations - stories which both reflected the unique history of the area, and strongly echoed the stories of those we had heard all across the country. Some marchers visited the Coal Miner's Memorial, which lists the names of the hundreds of people who have died in the mines over the last century. Many marchers, from around the country, were deeply moved by the stories of devastating human rights violations and hopeful struggle.