Community members, activists and friends will meet near Warrenton - northeast of Raleigh - this weekend to mark a historic milestone in the nation’s environmental justice movement.
The Environmental Justice movement was born in Warren County. The mostly black community of Afton stood up – and laid down in the streets – to try to stop the state from digging a P-C-B contaminated landfill where they lived – as seen on WBTV in 1982.
Voice One: I don’t want this stuff throwed in my water!
Voice Two: We are marching ‘cause we don’t want this to affect our future.
Bill Kearney was born and raised in Warren County and helped plan tomorrow’s commemoration at Coley Springs Missionary Baptist Church – where the environmental fight was organized – 30 years ago.
Bill Kearney: Personally when I travel and visit the web and I Google PCB, so many stories and pictures come up that involves our community where people around the world are using our experience to protest, to do wonderful things in their communities.
The landfill is gone now and has been cleaned-up. Next week – the state will place a historic marker in the community to remind folks of the fight that started a movement.
