Alienated America

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(03-06-2019, 09:18 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: I didn't know that. That's tragic. What allowed the coal people to treat them like that? I can't believe they didn't break some sort of law or regulation. Or was it just that the laws had not caught up to their tactics at that time?

As for the Scots and Irish, the point I was making was mostly that whites, as a race, were not oppressed for any significant period of time. Not necessarily that any group of people who were white had never been oppressed. The Irish were oppressed by other whites, so it'd be difficult for white people to claim that oppression as a race related thing. It's more of a heritage based thing (white face like in White Chicks is not heritage specific after all).

Okay.....I get where you're coming from now....

A lot of that was before the formation of the UMWA.  So, yes, the laws hadn't caught up with the tactics, but it didn't end altogether when they did.  What happened was, once the ground was purchased for pennies on the dollar, the companies built the towns and set up their own government with bought and paid for lawmen and judges they brought in from the outside a lot of times.  The other times, money talks and locals sold out.  On top of that, you had notoriously corrupt state governments like Kentucky (still is, but I digress), that were also getting their pockets lined.  It's an interesting topic, if you ever take the notion to read up on it, and explains the distrust people from the region have for outsiders, and their "backward" beliefs. It's not really backward, it's a deep seeded lack of trust.

Now, that's not to say all companies were like that. For example, U.S. Steel out of Pittsburgh realized the value of the coal to their bottom line, and built Lynch, KY. Lynch was state of the art in coal town territory, and the company looked out for the well being of its population and did right by the workers. They built and maintained a very nice living for its inhabitants. There a lot of horror stories though. The Mattewan Massacre is a good launching point, if you're interested, followed by Bloody Harlan.