Judy Bonds, ¡Presente!

Photograph of Judy Bonds by  Sam Eaton of American Public Radio's Marketplace.

Again it was a note from Vernon Haltom, letting me and others know that Judy Bonds, our beloved warrior against mountaintop removal had succumbed to lung cancer. As I think of Judy, gone now barely a day, in my head, I'm hearing Bernice Johnson Reagon sing, "They are Falling All Around Me"

It is your path I walk
It is your song I sing
It is your load I take on
It is your air I breathe
It’s the record you set that makes me go on
It’s your strength that helps me stand

You’re not really gon’na leave me

I can also hear Judy's voice, denouncing Massey at Marsh Fork, or laughing at the after-party for the premiere of Coal Country at the Blue Grass Kitchen in Charleston, WV. 

Here's Judy in an interview from May 27, 2009 w. Fred Smecker for Toward Freedom:

My father and brother always said, 'Every law ever written about coal mining was written in our blood.' I'll always remember that quote. The industry has abused and oppressed our people for 140 years....most have a relative in the coal industry. This divides the community greatly, like a civil war almost - we get lots of threats and intimidation...it's basically a war zone, there are the threats and intimidation, and then the three million pounds of explosives used to blow up the mountains. If you have an industry that's been running amok for 140 years, you have an outlaw on your hands. They control the schools, the media, the politicians - it's virtually a dictatorship! It's interesting, the miners and other coal-workers who stick up for coal it's like the Stockholm syndrome; it's an abusive relationship. A psychologist would have a field day down here.

*

And, in case you're interested, here are the complete lyrics to Reagon's song from the album B'lieve I'll Run On (Redwood, 1978).  You can listen to a clip on Dr. Reagon's site.

They are falling all around me
They are falling all around me
They are falling all around me
The strongest leaves on my tree

Every paper brings the news that
Every paper brings the news that
Every paper brings the news that
The teachers of my life are moving on

Oh, death comes and rests so heavy
Death comes and rests so heavy
Death comes and rests so heavy
Your face I will never see, never see you anymore

But I’m not really gon’na leave you
I’m not really gon’na leave you
You’re not really gon’na leave me

It is your path I walk
It is your song I sing
It is your load I take on
It is your air I breathe
It’s the record you set that makes me go on
It’s your strength that helps me stand

You’re not really gon’na leave me

(oh…)

I have tried to sing my song right
(I will try to sing my song right)
I have tried to sing my song right
(I will try to sing this song right)
I have tried to sing my song right
Be sure to let me hear from you