Participants: Ron Carson (mostly), with Biff and Polly

Transcription

1 Participants: Ron Carson (mostly), with Biff and Polly M1: Ron Carson M2: Biff W: Polly Can be cut at beginning from 0:00 to 0:27? (00:00:27) W: Where was this picture of, was Lyndon Johnson Vice President? M1: Uh, he was President then. Yeah, uh, I can show you the picture in my office, which we bypassed. This is Kennedy here, when he came down to address the war on poverty, this is over in Hazard, KY, back in 62 I believe the year was, 61 or 62, somewhere in that early 60s. And then when he got assassinated, Lyndon Johnson came back and started the war on poverty and this is a picture of one of the areas of where they were at during that time Commented [1]:? M2: Mr. Carson, are you from Lee County, or? M1: I was born and raised in Pennington Gap, Lee Co. I left here at the age of 16, when I finished high school-actually left at 16, went to Boston, MA, lived in Boston for 2 years at that time, at 18, I..it s a long story. I got married at 18 and then 8 months into my marriage my wife was killed in an auto accident on the Mass. turnpike, so I came back to Pennington Gap to work in the coal mines for a year and then quickly discovered it wasn t something I really wanted to do, so I left and went back to Boston, I stayed there for the next 20, 25 years. M2: And you got into health work there? (00:01:55) M1: No, actually I, warden at the prison, I would do warden [there at the] house of corrections, which is in Northshore Boston, near Logan Airport and I got married again, my wife and I decided we wanted to get out of the hustle and bustle of city life and my family owns some land here so came back and built the house and happy ever after. Commented [2]: Might be name of corrections facility, Deer something? M2: But your wife was not from this area... M: No, my wife is from Boston M2: Boston M: Yeah, and she says major culture shock, after 28 years here, 29 years here, major culture shock. Well, one good thing about it, we had been married for 12 years, no kids and we decided to adopt our son Kevin and moved here and the first year here she, she conceived our daughter Alexis, so it was a blessing Commented [3]: relieved? Not 1000% on this word Biff: That s amazing (00:02:55) Ron: We have 2 kids, our son Kevin is an attorney up in DC. He s on the Hill, he worked for [Sheriff?] Brown of OH as one of his legislative assistants. My daughter is a school psychologist here in the county

2 W: Fabulous, fabulous, wow, how fun Ron: That s the life story of Ron Carson W: Do you keep [dfjkal] to DC? Ron: Especially now with the, all of the Black lung there is a lot going on. I ve been in DC probably 8 times in the past 4 months. M2 AND W: Really?? Wow (00:03:31) Ron: Yeah. Actually Tim Kaine was here, right here, Monday, Monday afternoon, so we got, we got. Actually you know what black lung pretty, pretty much bipartisan support is going on now, I mean we have D and R all addressing this issue. So its not split, that's one thing that I guess black lung is so ingrained into politicians together, there's a lot going on now, I mention... W: do you have theories as to why that is? (00:04:04) Ron: Well, good question. It s fact, I mean, it s there. I mean, you know, I think the Trump administration wanted you know wanted coal mining jobs, but with these jobs comes a health crisis and they are realizing this now, that if we go back to these jobs these coal mining jobs have to take care of other miners and the data coming out of this clinic on national level it s showing that this area something is going on with the seam of coal, the silica, the rock, something going on. That s why I want you to come downstairs later and meet the epidemiologist? [fjdkals] shaking, tell you a lot more (00:04:52) W: There s this idea, more jobs in coal, keeping people healthy, can and exposure type occupation like they had. Are there other things that contribute to the bipartisan efforts? Ron: Well, that s pretty much it, the burden amendments, which is what when a miner does to apply for black lung [benefits?] the burden of proof is shifted now, it s on the insurance carrier to disprove it and not for the miner to prove it. We got that changed under the Obama administration; Senator Burr from W V before he passed away they rolled him into the Senate floor in a wheelchair and he snuck the [burden] amendments in with the ACA, so that got passed. So, but i'm shocked that the R all are supportive, they do say that they are some [] members, so.. Commented [4]: Bird? W: Will those amendments survive with the repeal? (00:05:55) Ron: We have, we have had new legislation that s been submitted bipartisan, we have 7 R on the House side and 7 on the D side, and on the Senate side we have 4 on the floor, so we feel very strongly that, and some the Trump admin has said that they will protect the burden amendments. Now whether that s true or not, but that s what the politicians are saying. Biff: Sure Ron: Trump admin is behind it, they're going to support it, so we ll see W: Can you...go ahead

3 Ron: But there is so much emp on black lung right now on the national level, I m surprised you guys haven't heard about it because it's...nyt, Washington Post, NPR just did an article on the radio 3 weeks ago, and they've been airing it over and over. Have you guys heard that, NPR? (00:06:53) W: Yes, in fact [Ron: the black lung segment] yesterday there was more coming out of WV, was talking, some, I think it was focused on the opioid, but it seemed like WV is in the news a lot. Ron: Yeah, Howard Berkus, he's, he lives out in UT, he's been here like 3 times since January, working a story on coal mine dust disease and everything, so a lot going on W: Yes [paise] Could you say more when you make these trips to Washington, who you.say more about the purpose of your trips to Washington, who you meet with,[ron: well yeah] activities? (00:07:39) Ron: Yeah, I meet, well of course with Senator Kaine, Mark Water, cause they re VA, also meeting with Joe Manchin WV, action on the House side met with Paul Ryan, Nancy Pelosi, they are not in coal areas, but have the, we feel, has some power and can convince other people. But yeah, we, the coalition, one thing about the coalition we can't lobby, so we call it education, because we receive federal dollars from the federal black lung program, when we go to DC, it's not that we are lobbying for change or anything, we've got facts, facts, and we present these facts to [fdjksal] and constituents and your community, blah, blah blah. This is what we are saving we are on the battleground fighting, we save this. So, but yeah, we, we've gotten some good support, it feels like we have anyways. (00:08:42) W: And could you say more about the coalition? Is that one of these Ron: The coalition is 15 [grantees??] and 15 coal producers stakes. I ve been chair of this org 3 diff times over the past 25 years. It started in 1981 in WV and where it all began and then each year we have a conference and this its in SLC, UT. We have hosted it 3 times here, Stone Mtn has hosted 3 times, the last one was in Bristol, in 2000 and, I think 2012, about 4 years ago-2015! I m sorry, yeah was in Bristol Commented [5]: Is this VA or TN? W: And were you very active in putting that conference together? Ron: Oh, we put it on, we actually staffed, and I actually got the speakers and the venue, I mean everything, we did everything W: that s a big, a big deal to put on a conference Biff: Yeah it is (00:09:51) Ron: Yeah, very big. Working with the universities for the continuing education units and everything. But yeah, the coalition is in 15 coal producing states and there s 28 black lung clinics in the nation. Stone Mtn is the largest, [W: Wow!] in the nation W: And this is, is the official name? Ron: Yes, the National coalition black lung respiratory disease clinic W: so we can look on that website [ Ron: yes you can] and find out a lot about. Ron: yes you can, absolutely, yeah

4 W: and (00:10:30) Ron: and i m sort of the, like I ve said, I ve been the chair 3 times over the past 4, 3, 12 years of my 25, 26 years, about half of my black lung career, I've been chair of this org, and I finally stepped down in 2012 when we did the conference and I became the historian. I just keep all the diff info and the history of it W: well, Biff is going to be [laughter] very excited to tap into that Ron: you need to see my cultural center Biff: I d love to, yeah Ron: The Appalachian African-American Cultural Center, the little one room school that I went to [Biff: oh, wow], that when my wife and I moved back here, we turned into a historical cultural center, preserving the Appalachian culture of AA in the coal fields of SW VA, that nothing in the country that's addressing blacks in the coal fields, and that's about 8 miles down the road Biff: i d love to do that, if [Ron: see that before you head out] If I can;t, If we can't make it, i'd love to come back because, i'm working on a project at UNC with Coretta Brown who's documenting LYNCH, KY and the AA heritage there, BIll Turner exactly Ron: Bill and I were together the week before last, we met down in Berea and had dinner and everything Biff: so Coretta helped us to create an exhibit and it's now traveling a little bit, so maybe we could partner someway to bring it to the cultural center or work you on your history, [Ron: absolutely, yeah] let's plan on doing that W: where is the school, where is is located, okay Ron: Pennington Gap, little one room brick school building they were going to tear down, and that's a whole nother story, but yeah they were going to tear it down, and we fought really hard to preserve it. My mother was the first group in it in 1939, when it was built and I was its group in 1965 and integration, and my great great grandmother Rachel Scott built the building so that the black children would have a place to go to school in this county (0012:32) Biff: was it a Rosenwald school? Ron: it was a Rosenwald school, you're exactly right Biff: so she organized the community to get the funds [Ron: yes, yes], that s fantastic W: does it have a historical marker and all that kind of stuff? [dfaksljf] Ron: I want you to listen, [fjdklasjf;a] [Biff: we re gonna go, we re gonna go] all the way down to admin, you're going to pass right by it, so if you have 5 min [Biff: we ll do it] look at it and just keep moving, once you leave here, you go right by it

5 (00:13:00) W: heading to Jonesville? Ron: yeah, head to JOnesville, to Malcolm [fdjkasl] you go right by it W: and what road is it on? Ron: Leona Street (spells out), and I can follow you out and show you where it, it won t take 5 min of your time, [Biff: okay, we ll do it] not even 5 min Biff: I would love that W: we ve got all the time in the world, you re the one on a time [fdlasjfd] important, and we re taking a lot of your time (00:13:25) Ron: Oh not all, and I tell Art is, Art and Sister Beth are 2 of my fav ppl, I mean, I would, walk the world back for them, those two, they are, they are just my, my idols, they are, my mentors, and whenever I can do something for either one of those two, I don t care, Biff: I understand Ron: I m going to do it Biff: Tell me who sister beth is, I don't know this [by now] (00:13:52) Ron: Sister Beth Davies, she was part of the, I guess back in the day with the St. Charles Clinic getting started, I knew her form pics of her on the video here I m going to show you in a few min. She s a nun, what s the foundation..? W: Her orders? Ron: Yeah, her order W: I can t remember, but. Ron: I can t remember, I have it written down on the Power slide. But they were very instrumental and, in helping organizing the community [Biff: right] on[?] 1974 (00:14:31) Biff: And is she still living; Is she in this area? Ron: She is still living, and their office is right down from the cultural center, maybe a football field length from the cultural center Biff: that s fantastic Ron: Sister Beth is 80, 88 I believe, yeah W: so she s, 25 years older than me, and when I was in, say I was 24 or something like that, she was, she was living in town

6 Ron: now you were the first nurse practitioner, right? W: Yes, mhmm Ron: and you were under the Dr. Rock W: Sandy Rock Ron: Sandy Rock [laughter] W: What a name, yes Biff: Sandy Rock [laughs] (00:15:11) W: And tell me again, the [dhfaskl] the more, the complication for memo Commented [6]: medical term Ron: Oh, pulmonary massive fibrosis (spells out first 2 words) W: Okay, so is [Ron: PMF]...describing what you re seeing massive fibrosis [fdjkals] white? [Ron: yes, yes] Okay, so it s like. (00:15:38) Ron: and it's in younger miners now, miners as young as 28 and back in the early 90s, if we saw 3 in a year, the miner was in 60s or 70s, years and years and years of coal dust exposure, and now we're seeing as little as 5 working years. 28, 29, 30 with these large opacities W: and, are there, you talked about it's the source of the type of dust, something, some element within the (00:16:11) Ron: I think they, the experts, I call them the experts, not a single thing could be several things, but one thing is the [quartz??] the type of dust, there's more silica, all the good coal that was easily accessible that was back in the 70s, you know, pretty much gone, coal is still here, but you have a lot of rock in order to get to it, and the machinery now that they are using you know just chops up that rock so fine and you know is the silica dust [fdnklasf] and it s not so much that the, the coal dust is causing this, it's the silica, the rock dust which is very toxic. W: and can we, can we actually see that top operation, or is it way up on the mountain where you can't really see it from the road? [Ron: what's that, the coal mine?] The rock crushers Ron: Trying to think...there's one in Woodway...I don't think that one active here in St...they are mining coal, but it's over in KY, but they bringing it out in a portal over here in St. Charles Biff: Sue Ella was telling me about that this morning, cause taxes Ron: yeah, cause of the taxes, yeah exactly right (00:17:31) W: what does the portal look like?

7 Ron: It s just an opening, with a belt, like a belt, and the coal may travel 3 miles over KY through the mtn but the portal is on the VA side and the coal is coming out so you see the trucks go on up the road or the trains going down, the coal a [washing??]...at the [fdjkals] plant and shipped out. But I don t think there s a active coal mine in the county right now Biff: that's what Sue Ella said, yeah W: And you said the, the economic, the reason for doing this has to do with taxes? (00:18:10) Ron: the taxes, the county can tax the coal that s coming out on the VA side W: and is it less, than the KY tax? Ron: thats a good question, i'm not the right person to ask that, I have no idea, I just know when operations cease and my wife is on the town council Pennington, she mentioned that the county was losing like dollars per month, week, or something like that because coal wasn t running and it had a big econ impact on the county as a whole when it wasn't coming out. But Sue Ella will probably know that, that number Biff: Could you tell me about the market for the coal? Has it changed, is it more that is being exported out? Ron: The market is...down Biff: what is the main market of the demand? (00:19:10) Ron: Natural gas, the Eastman over in Kingsport that use, that use coal 10 years ago, went to natural gas, most of the steam plants, TVA (TN Valley Authority) went to natural gas, so the demand is high but i'm hearing that you know a lot of coal is being shipped up to Norfolk and Newport News and being shipped out Biff: out...exported Ron: yeah, exported out, that demand is here and pretty much up and moving, but in this region here...i was speaking to about 300 coal miners about 6 months ago over in Lebanon,VA at the center, their families and they were saying we got to get coal back, we got coal embedded in any natural gas or any wind, get our coal back and I said, by hands, how many burn house coal in this room? Not one hand went up. How many burn house coal years ago? All the hands went up. I said How many have cell phones in this room? Every hand went up. I said do you understand if we still had switchboard operators you wouldn't have your cell phone? Biff: evolution, right? (00:20:41) Ron: evolution, exactly. You know, I, you know I m for jobs, believe me, when we have to have jobs around here, but and I would never publically go on the record to say this, but I mean, we need to move beyond coal, we do, we do. It s easiest, it's dirty, it's nasty, you know in this, people are dying from it and you know I mean, I would love to see the jobs yeah, cause when there are jobs people are happy, money is flowing, you get things doing, but you know, we as a community just need to look at something else because I just, I just think coal is a thing of the past, just like the cell phones with the switchboard Commented [7]: NEED TO CUT HERE to respect his "would never go publically on record" statement

8 ops, you've got to move on, you know, gotta move on. But I would never publically say that because i'm a coal miner advocate, always have been, but that's just my personal thought W: well you have a tough is tough is what you have. You have a video, a powerpoint Ron: I have a couple here...have a seat! Biff: thank you [END]