Raised for a Future that No Longer Exists

[Music] Donald Trump won the White House in 2016 in part because of his promise to bring the American coal industry back we are going to put our coal miners back to work three years later you're seeing coal companies shut down at a near-record pace right now we're in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky heading to a place called Harlan County Harlan County is the heart of coal country up here and it was largely a County that was built by coal mines in the 1920s in the early 1900s and we're here because last July black jewel coal laid off 1,100 workers of this tiny populous people who depended on coal for their livelihoods and they were the last game in town the story of Harlan is really the story of coal country across America and as this nation moves from fossil fuels to renewable energy we're here to find out what the next generation of would-be coal miners are going to do now that that economic base and that financial future has been taken away from them [Music] I've come here to meet Joe Watts a 24-year old who like the generations of men before him was raised on the promises of cold yeah yeah hunting gear so where we got right this is the portal 31 expedition mine and Lynch this is one of the first minds inland ship is opened by us coke and coal they opened his mind and built this coal camp you call it this was the heart of this town for a long time back in the day do you have any familial connection to this mine yeah my family my meemaw's brothers her uncles and was one of the first people to work in this mind and now it's just a museum that's a museum this thing here it shows the timeline of how this mine and the city developed from the 19-teens to when it shut down in 1963 yeah they was 10 and 11 year olds coal miners back in the day yeah ain't no gravy in it no gravy job and underground miners didn't have no easy job that's a short they you're under money yeah everybody under money ain't worked in the coal industry we got laid off the day my superintendent told me he said it's just a bunch of paperwork they filed chapter 11 bankruptcy he said we just can't they told us to send everybody home for a couple of days until they get this paperwork sorted out about three weeks went by a train was getting loaded they laid us off but they could still come in here and get a train and haul out the month the cold that we worked for and washed for them and got it ready but they can still come in here and get it and take it out to make money I thought well I never talked nothing about it but four or five other guys they got together on the track when that train came out Larry stood in front of it told him it ain't leaving this holler with that gold so they backed that train up and it's it right here for three or four months the company was loading the train with over a million dollars worth of coal when the coal miner stepped on the tracks and blocked the train from leaving for the next three months [Applause] how is the town changed since then or what have you noticed there have you seen any of your neighbors or anybody that you know really still suffering or everybody or our unemployment when you file for unemployment you get six months of unemployment if you don't find a job and my unemployment just ran out into January so now everybody's either gonna have to move or get a job somewhere that's having to move on and do a whole nother City yet you don't know that about that your family ain't gonna be there it's just gonna be you and I mean I'm a grown man scared of that it's just it's just gonna be different not seeing my family everybody Jill comes from a family of coal miners going back for generations all of whom lived worked and raised families in Harlan County his 22 year old brother Jake chose college over coal and he's back visiting for the weekend there's a lot of people in the national conversation right they oftentimes talk about coal towns as being antiquated right a relic of the past part of American history that doesn't really have a place in the future people look at me differently when I say that I'm from southeastern Kentucky or that I say from I'm from rural Appalachia or that my dad's a coal miner people probably think most of us are stupid they probably think people in this region are on opioids or don't feel like that they don't they're not worried about helping us because they see us as like subhuman subhuman yeah they don't understand I tell you better code mothers tell you walking off those steps then don't judge us what was it like going into those mines every day or so he's pretty scary up you never forget it you go away scared a day if you don't you don't know if it's gonna fall or not I have to learn oh wow you don't need to explore enough I don't teach you too but you gotta be a workhorse you don't never know what's going hey you might go in one day and not come in I've seen that before too how does it make you guys feel to see the industry in decline in this town it's all right get ready guys have worked hard you know all their life and then one day they might get up go to work with you light up let's see you saw your son get laid off yeah broke my heart because he liked real good don't think it's wrong I think they are the respect we're going to kick this country on last hope for a long time especially back there World War two making out that steel and stuff I think one for cover we might not even be here done to me that's right there that you know will coal still be a part of their identities I would think so I would like for it to be a part of my kids identity because it's always been a part of mine and I couldn't imagine it not being part of mine it's the idea of leaving enter your minds at all yeah do you guys think there's a future here still but you're gonna stay anyways yeah why it's home yeah in 2019 the coal industry suffered the sharpest decline ever recorded in American history and for the first time ever renewable energy surpassed coal and domestic energy production and the effects of Cole's departure are most apparent in the six cities that make up Harlan County Benham Cumberland Everts Harlan City loyal and Lynch Harlan County currently has the highest unemployment rate in the state of Kentucky and according to the most recent data more than half of the income of Harlan residents comes from either Social Security Medicare of food stamps and all of this can be traced back to the decline in the departure of the coal industry right now we're in Cumberland which is one of the smaller cities in Harlan County that also was heavily affected by the closure of the black jewel mine right now we're gonna go inside one of the local barber shops and just hear from some of the people who have been here for generations how these mines closing has affected life here in Cumberland this area they own the collation property yeah and also you know in mice it's my home paid for so am I supposed to just walk away from it and leave that sitting because the problem you have here is we don't sell your home if you drive late because nobody's coming here you don't feel like the government should step in or do you put any faith in the government at all population has went down so quickly and things around here that we're not playing important anymore because we're so small yeah and when crisis I think without someone larger set me and you know they'll be helpless then it's not gonna go very far churches in Harlan are some of the few buildings left standing offering any help to a growing population in need st. Stephens Catholic Church in Cumberland has one of the largest food pantries in Eastern Kentucky and has become one of the last sources of hope for community suffering in the wake of Cole's departure in July when I came here last year people off feminist daily came to Holy Trinity parish asking for food and some people came and asked some money to settle their utility bills there'd be families come and collect food baskets last July it was 275 around 275 and last December it had gone up to 400 that's what we have to do that's what Jesus wants us to do feed the hungry how heavily there's a community depend on the church providing this a lot I think I mean worse since the mines closed easy but there weren't for the church and the other churches in the community helping folks out around here with groceries a lot of the stars really yeah what do you guys think about your future here you think you're gonna stick around Cumberland when you get older I don't once thank you in my daughter she said they're right I want her to go away if you ever concern though that if that population continues to grow rather than rely on the church people will just start leaving it doesn't you can happen if you never what do you think the future of this county is kind of materiality we are Christians we are followers of Jesus our way of working is that not blaming or cursing the darkness but to light a candle this might be a really difficult thing to talk about you mentioned that the house sound risking foreclosure someone might come and take the house honey if the worst comes to pass and that does happen what's what are you all gonna do like a thanks for that really I hate to go through they can happen I'm trying to get Social Security to the banks gave me two extensions since I got hurt I don't had them all how much longer is that last extension the lights won't six months Nick it ran out last month I don't know how much longer I know that I'm trying to do it LASIK and are you worried that all your kids are gonna have to leave on the job for the future yeah I'll probably have to go out to get a good job I liked it I really do but I can't blame the leader like I say it always be home here how do you feel about your little brother getting out it's just some people's different something like he didn't care to leave home you know that's why I didn't leave when I graduated I didn't want to leave home but I just wanted to come out and work and make money but sometimes I'll look back wishing I could have went to college and show something different because I feel like I can't got nothing where we are right now we are up here and cartridge contestant this is where me and all my buddies we all come with their hangout where you were younger yeah rifle weathers whatever this is the old deep mine I came here in which mine it was it's north for four or five or six they named a bunch of me yeah yeah it's pretty it's right so hard to leave this place for me but you can see I mean it's anything everything you see right here has been handled by a dozer or a dump truck or being blasted trying to hit that rock over [Music] [Applause] it's probably hundreds of yards or so you don't try the outfit on [Music] believe I seen some dust right off of it you know gotta come up here and we'll deer hunt one time yeah that dude that's just what we do every deer hunt and coyote hunt and fish right for witters I'm gonna have to tough it out to make money somewhere so my mom's real good at starting from just 24 [Music] the youth of Harlan County have found themselves in an unprecedented position generations who spent their lives following in their parents footsteps have finally arrived at the end of the road and in this moment we're seeing a glimpse of America's future I was just rocking a grin for anybody no it was worthless without two people that I actually went in I earn God a generation of young people in industry towns across the country who were raised for a future that no longer exists and as cleaner and cheaper renewable energy signals the end of an era for coal country no amount of EPA restrictions being lifted are going to reopen their minds and if a new opportunity doesn't breathe life into Harlan County it's not the generations prior who pay the price it's the youth of tomorrow who live with the consequences through the lives of Joe his siblings and young people all over coal country we can see cycles of poverty and inequality play out in real time with no clear answer of how these cycles will be interrupted I don't think the government is going to come in and help her at all I think that if Harlan ends up doing anything more than what it's doing now it'll be because of people in Harlan want to try to pull it out and if your only choices are to vote for what's been an empty promise to protect the lifeblood of your town or to vote for someone who wants to cut it off completely I wouldn't put faith in the government either [Music] you

Channel: VICE

Views: 1,502,511

Rating: 4.8563485 out of 5

Keywords: documentary, documentaries, docs, interview, culture, lifestyle, world, exclusive, independent, underground, videos, journalism, vice guide, vice.com, vice, vice magazine, vice mag, vice videos, film, short films, movies, coal, coal miners, kentucky, harlan county, miners, poverty, fossil fuels, renewable energy

Id: O_6G9gab_f4

Length: 16min 16sec (976 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 04 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/rickster907]

Oh so you mean trump lied through his god damn teeth during the 2016 campaign? Lied directly to.all these miners? Over and over again? And then the miners didn't get shit?

I'm shocked.

[u/trackerFF]

The decimation of industries is not only a problem that coal-towns are experiencing.

There are lots and lots of small village, towns, etc. all over that are too reliant on one source of income. Be it coal, factories, food production, etc.

I'm from a small town that has suffered a 50% drop in population the past 25 years, because our main source of income (fishing) has been removed due to automation and effectivization. It was the same story there - generations upon generations that have been doing the same things, often unskilled work - now coping with the new reality.

The industries aren't coming back, and if they do, they're automated to such a degree that you'll never need the old unskilled workers - but rather a workforce that is mainly technicians and engineers, probably x% size of the old workforce. For things like coal, it's probably even more dire.

Sad fact is that a lot of small places will completely disappear with time. Where I'm from, there are lots of small ghost towns that died off 50-60 years ago, due to small-scale production being moved to larger towns. And now the larger towns, are dying out, because the production there was moved somewhere else.

So while I do empathize with coalers, there's not a whole lot one can do. It's the course of life. Gotta look for new opportunities, and educate the population - simply waiting for the good ol' days to return is unfortunately not going to happen.

[u/frozenpicklesyt]

This is an excellent documentary that gave me a really interesting perspective from these affected people and communities. Before, I really hadn't considered that the loss of these types of jobs would completely destroy communities. Thanks for the post, OP! :)

[u/Fidelis29]

Coal plants are being switched over to natural gas, not being replaced by renewables