Junior Walk, 21: The coal companies control everything you do.

Junior Walk is an environmental activist who paid a high price for speaking out against the coal industry.

He was raised in the Southern part of West Virginia on the banks of the Coal River. In his community, you either take a minimum wage job, join the military, or work for the coal mining industry.

He attended the Keystone XL protest in Washington in August. He was arrested last month at a tree sit-in to stop blasting. He's being sued by his former employer Massey Energy, now Alpha Natural Resources, for trespassing. His court date is scheduled for November 14.

Junior is in San Francisco accepting the Brower Youth Award, which is given to seven young people for their outstanding activism and achievements in the fields of environmental and social justice advocacy. It's the first time he's traveled West of the Mississippi.

Find out more here: http://is.gd/Q5rbd2

Listen to the Your Call show with Junior and two other award recipients: http://is.gd/YDD8aZ

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• coal
• energy
• surface mining
• Massey Energy
• Junior Walk
• Brower Youth Awards
• Earth Island Institute
• David Brower

[jsteele2200]

what a fucking bunch of bullshit!

[jsnvnk]

I support you 100% Junior! Solidarity from DC

-Jason

[01citizen]

Junior Walk is the real deal. The southern coal fields of Appalachia is the proving ground for American fascism. If you don't believe it, you don't know your West Virginia history.

In 1921, here they didn't call it "class war", they called it Blair Mountain. Being forced to leave your home used to be due to violating a "yellow dog" contract they forced upon you. Nowadays banksters run families all across America out of their homes and trade bogus paper. Back then they called it scrip.

[ibkoni]

Awesome video. Need a mic for the guest.