Come see the film Black Diamonds: Mountaintop Removal and the Fight for Coalfield Justice on Thursday, September 13th at 8:00pm in 104 GBJ/Johnston Student Center.

Then, Join us for a discussion with Black Diamonds filmmaker Catherine Pancake on Friday, September 14th, at 4:00pm in 370/380 Shanks Hall (on the upper quad near Schultz).

This award-winning documentary explores the ongoing struggle between coalfield residents (in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee) and the multinational corporations that are destroying Appalachia’s mountains, headwater streams, culture, and human lives through mountaintop removal coal mining.

In addition to dramatic footage of mining in progress, the film features interviews with coalfield residents and documents their efforts to seek relief from the blasting, pollution, and flooding around their homes. Black Diamonds also charts the evolution of the anti-mountaintop removal social movement, which began with residents recording damage to their properties, and eventually escalated to acts of civil disobedience. The film’s website states that “Black Diamonds is a stepping off point to explore how normal, everyday people can choose to fight for control over their land, resources, and communities. This fight can be inspiring, riveting, daunting, and one that changes human beings forever.”

On Friday, September 14th, at 4pm in 370/380 Shanks Hall, hear the filmmaker speak about her experiences directing and producing Black Diamonds, then stay for a panel discussion dealing with issues brought up in the film, such as, how do social movements evolve from citizen complaints to civil disobedience? What are the connections between destroying the environment and destroying a culture? How can social activism be effective in challenging and changing public and corporate policy?

Featured panelists:

Catherine Pancake, producer, director, filmmaker, and artist, has shown her work at The Baltimore Museum of Art, Philadelphia International Film Festival, Millennium Theater, NYC, and many more venues. In 2001, she won a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award for a video demonstration tape of Black Diamonds. Catherine is also an award-winning producer for commercial web site projects and online marketing.

Anita Puckett (PhD linguistic anthropology, Texas) researches language and economic relations in southern Appalachia. She teaches courses in Appalachian folk culture, community heritage, Appalachian languages and cultures, and critical issues in Appalachian Studies. Virginia Tech’s Appalachian Studies Program is housed within the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies.

Brian Grogan is a Graduate Assistant in the Center for the Study of Rhetoric in Society. The Center brings together faculty and students with a range of disciplinary interests to examine the role of language in individual and social transformation and to share this scholarship with the public.

Hannah Morgan is a member of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards (SAMS).  SAMS is an organization of concerned community members and their allies who are working to stop the destruction of Southwest Virginia communities by surface coal mining, to improve the quality of life in the area, and to help rebuild sustainable communities.

These events are sponsored by the student organization Mountain Justice at Virginia Tech and the Department of English’s Center for the Study of Rhetoric in Society.