This week, Inside Appalachia,, a hospital in Western North Carolina was bought out. Residents say the quality of care has gone down. Also, an immersion school in North Carolina is trying to revitalize the Cherokee language with the help of a printmaking class. And, a pair of artists follow cicada hatchings to make art from their shells.
Kingwood March Gives A Unique Look At Racism In America
West Virginia Delegate Danielle Walker speaking with a counter protester at a Black Lives Matter Rally in Kingwood, WV in September 2020.Chris Jones/100 Days In Appalachia
Listen
Share this Article
2020 presented new levels of outrage over police killings of Black and Brown people in this nation. Police killed George Floyd and Breonna Taylor which prompted protests, marches and rallies to denounce racially motivated police brutality.
A Black Lives Matter march in Kingwood, West Virginia set up a flash point for that tiny town. Black protestors and their allies faced off with white people who say Kingwood has no race problem. The angry white crowd outnumbered BLM marchers and showed the raw seam of rage that has come to define racism in this country.
In this Us & Them episode, host Trey Kay speaks with West Virginia Delegate Danielle Walker, a woman pushing back at the fear and outrage of racial hatred in America.
For this episode, Us & Them collaborated with Chris Jones and Jesse Wright of 100 Days in Appalachia, a non-profit news outlet at West Virginia University.
.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council and the CRC Foundation.
Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond. You also can listen to Us & Them on WVPB Radio — tune in on the fourth Thursday of every month at 8 p.m., with an encore presentation on the following Saturday at 3 p.m.
Chris Jones
/
100 Days In Appalachia
Kingwood BLM March organizer Frank Goines walks with West Virginia Del. Danielle Walker. Walker wears body armor under her shirt.
Chris Jones
/
100 Days In Appalachia
BLM marcher at the Kingwood Rally passes a counter protester wearing a Nazi SS shirt with a swastika tattooed on his hand. Other counter protesters shouted insults and racial slurs at BLM marchers.
Chris Jones
/
100 Days In Appalachia
As BLM marchers made their way through the streets of Kingwood, they passed armed counter protestors shouting racial epithets .
Chris Jones
/
100 Days In Appalachia
West Virginia Del. Danielle Walker marches with a BLM activist on one arm and a counter protester on the other in an attempt to deescalate tension during a Black Lives Matter march in Kingwood, West Virginia in September 2020.
This week, Inside Appalachia,, a hospital in Western North Carolina was bought out. Residents say the quality of care has gone down. Also, an immersion school in North Carolina is trying to revitalize the Cherokee language with the help of a printmaking class. And, a pair of artists follow cicada hatchings to make art from their shells.
From Shepherdstown to Huntington, celebrations statewide recognized the day in 1865 when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to let people enslaved there know that they were free.
In the early 20th century, the coal industry was booming in Appalachia. That made the region a destination for Black migrants from the Deep South, who were moving northward in search of new jobs. Black communities thrived in Appalachia during the boom. But as coal employment declined, Black coal camps began to dwindle. Now, a West Virginia man is reviving one of those coal camps — through farming. Tiara Brown reports with support from Black By God, the West Virginian.
On this West Virginia Morning, we look at efforts to revitalize a former Black coal camp, plus hear from award-winning singer and songwriter Carrie Newcomer for our Song of the Week.