Anger, "Justified?"

Here we go again. As a native of Harlan, Kentucky, I am used to stereotypes. I run up against them all the time. As soon as someone knows where I was born and raised, they feel compelled to make remarks like: (looking down at my feet) "Well...you're wearing shoes!" Or...(squinting as they pretend to take a closer look at my mouth) "You have all your teeth!" Or they ask me if I grew up with indoor plumbing. If my family tree actually forks. Do we have electricity? Phone service? Are my daddy and grandaddy and brother coalminers? I have even been asked if we have television in Harlan. Usually, I would make smart comments like, "Well, we only have ONE television in town....it's down at the courthouse, and all of us go down there on Saturday nights to watch 'HeeHaw'." You would be surprised at how many people believed me.

If you have followed this blog for long, you will remember my anger over the Diane Sawyer piece, "Hidden America: Children of the Mountains." Oh, I was upset...and justifiably so! But now I have a new one to focus on...the latest in the long list of (inaccurate?) portrayals of my hometown.

FX will present a new series, Justified, beginning March 16th. My husband keeps saying, "Paula, watch the first episode before you get so upset." I do not need to watch the first episode to tell you how it is going to represent us. It has been done before. We know. It will make us all look like gun toting, barefoot (or boot wearing), uneducated, unethical, primitive-living, moonshine making hillbillies. I will be shocked if it is anything BUT that.

I did managed to calm down enough to watch the trailer and their video on the History of Harlan. What did I see within the first couple of seconds? A flannel-wearing man carrying a shotgun, running through the woods, looking behind him like he was running from someone. The only thing missing was his hound dog. Oh wait...they had that, too.

I AM FURIOUS!

I was born in Harlan County to a middle class family. My father worked for the state, my mother owned her own business. My grandfather was president of a local wholesale company. My grandmother was a kindergarten teacher. All of us wore shoes. I was not allowed to use the word "ain't." If I spoke with a double negative in my sentences, I was corrected. I was educated. I grew up with a telephone AND a television in my house. I did not know any moonshiners.....well...that I knew of. My mother's father and grandfather were coal miners. Nothing to be ashamed of there! They were honest men who earned an honest living. That I know of, neither of them carried shotguns with them on a regular basis. Please.

I hope that this newest series set in Harlan does not portray the entire population with the same mentality that we are used to seeing when it comes to the media. I hope that someone did their homework and has enough intelligence to look at the place as a whole and tell your made up stories that do not portray the area as a wasteland when it comes to IQ's and morals. I am skeptical...again.

I believe the media thinks that telling the positive aspects of Harlan County won't bring them ratings. Perhaps the world would discover that our problems in Harlan are not very different from those in any other place in America. The myth would be exposed, and then who would the media have to exploit?! We cannot fight stereotypes in Eastern Kentucky with this kind of thing out there! This series is just one more nail in the coffin of my hometown...and one more slap in the face of the place and the people I love.

Come on, FX and Mr. Leonard....prove me wrong. I dare you.

Seething,

Hidden America: CHILDREN OF THE MOUNTAINS

Let me say before I write anything else that I am VERY proud of where I am from...where I was born and raised and where my family has lived for generations. I grew up in Harlan County, Kentucky, deep in the Appalachian mountains of Southeastern Kentucky. I am the granddaughter of a coal miner (and the great-granddaughter, and great, great granddaughter), and my mother grew up in a coal camp in the 1940s and 50s. My family was there during the struggles of Unionization, there when the coal industry was down, and there when it thrived. My family was a part of that industry for decades. I am a product of the region. I am proud. I love my "home," the people of the mountains, and the beauty that is so abundant there.

I am also protective of those things. That is why I get so infuriated and frustrated when the national media and journalists from the "outside" come into our mountains and portray the area as a wasteland. The main stream media has for decades portrayed the people of the mountains as backward, uneducated, dirty, poor and lazy. I admit that I expect the worst when I see a media van or hear about the latest prime time news show coming in to do a special report. I have seen them before, and they are NEVER positive. They come in with a VERY narrow scope, visit the worst communities in the region, portray that as "standard," offer no suggestions as to how to help, exploit families and, especially, the children, shake their heads and cluck their teeth at "those poor, barefoot hillbillies" and leave. Nothing happens. Nothing except that stereotypes are perpetuated, self esteem is made even lower, and our children question their worthiness of access to education and something better. In a nutshell, they exploit the people and the region.

With that said, Diane Sawyer and ABC is responsible for the latest focus on Appalachia. She specifically visited Martin County, Kentucky, and Harlan County (MY county) to film families and coal miners. I watched an interview Ms. Sawyer did on The View promoting the piece, and after seeing it...well, let's just say I'm not optimistic. She discussed how the babies' teeth are all rotting because the mothers spend their money on Pepsi cola to put in their bottles instead of milk. She talked about how the children of the region are "forgotten," and apparently no one in the region is capable of doing anything about it because we're ALL uneducated, poor and helpless. A friend told me that the first question she actually asked one of the families was, "So, tell me about the incest" (Does it sound like this reporter has allowed stereotypes to affect her professionalism? I can't even COMMENT about this!). She drones on and on about the drug problem that has infested the mountains and how nearly every family is affected by it.

I have a news flash for Ms. Sawyer. You can go to any region in this country and find a drug problem. You can go to any region and find people who are poor and uneducated. THIS is not an "Appalachian" problem, this is an American problem. Does she discuss the programs like the University of Kentucky's Robinson Scholars, a scholarship program that awards full scholarships and assists children of the mountains in gaining access to higher education? No. Does she talk about the cuts to programs that would help buy food for families who need it, provide medical and dental care to children, or train injured miners to work in other fields? I doubt it. Does she discuss how outsiders come into our mountains and threaten the livelihood of our people because they disagree with coal mining and its effects on the environment? I would be completely shocked. Most people who disagree with underground mining do so because they are not informed and educated well enough about the industry to know better. Environmentalists, don't get me wrong, have their place and do much good, but they have also helped to shut down mining production in our region that puts food on the tables of many families. Mining, when done carefully and within certain parameters, DOES NOT harm our environment. It does NOT threaten wildlife or watershed when done the right way. Again, many environmentalists, just as the journalists, go in with that narrow scope and report ONE VERSION of the issue. What happened to full, fair and accurate reporting?

I had the PLEASURE of working with the UK Robinson Scholars Program for nearly a decade. During that time, I worked with hundreds of "Children of the Mountains." While there were certainly families who did not have much and struggled to get by, there were also families who thrived. I bet you won't find ONE of those families in Ms. Sawyer's report. I bet you will not see her highlight any of those students who have gone to college, graduated and moved back to the mountains because they love it there and want to help the region. Many are doctors and lawyers and dentists and physical therapists and teachers. They work in the fields of forestry and engineering. THEY are a product of the region as much as the other families in Ms. Sawyer's report. Are they highlighted in a special segment? Of course not.

I am skeptical. I do not believe that this report will be any better than any of the others that came before. Another exploit. Another slap in the face of our people and our region. Another national airing of something that will only perpetuate the stereotypes we have fought so hard against our entire lives. Am I bitter? Probably. Am I angry? You bet I am.

So...Friday night, 10pm eastern, 9pm central. I'll probably be seething. But I can only hope that Ms. Sawyer is professional enough of a journalist to report accurately and fairly. So far, it doesn't look hopeful.

Here's the link to the promo. Try not to cringe when you see it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar7a9SK7eMQ

Photographs above are courtesy of (in order): www.ky.gov website, flikr.com. Harlan County Mountain range, the Harlan County Courthouse in downtown Harlan, Aerial view of the City of Harlan, Underground miners in Harlan County.

The photos below were taken the last time Michael and I visited home...Harlan. Most are taken from the top of Pine Mountain on Little Shepherd Trail.

My mountains...aren't they beautiful?

Rebel Rock, Little Shepherd Trail

Michael and Max (can you find him) exploring one of the rock formations.

Because we were visiting in winter, we could see views that just aren't possible in the summer when all the leaves are on the trees.

The Mountains at Twilight. Beautiful, rugged, hauntingly enchanting, breathtaking.

So, this former Child of the Mountains will leave it at this for now, and reserve my next comments for Saturday morning after I have had time to calm down.