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The Warren Record file photo
The 2012 commemoration of the 30th anniversary of protests against the PCB landfill built in Afton included a walk along the route protesters took in 1982.
LUCI WELDON/The Warren Record
Warren County Environmental Action Team members, from the left, Bill Kearney, former Congresswoman Eva Clayton, Wayne Moseley, Dollie Burwell and Shauna Williams are among participants in the December 2021 Red Carpet Kickoff beginning the 40th Anniversary Commemoration of the 1982 PCB protests and birth of the Environmental Justice Movement.
LUCI WELDON/The Warren Record
Warren County Environmental Action Team members, from the left, Bill Kearney, former Congresswoman Eva Clayton, Wayne Moseley, Dollie Burwell and Shauna Williams are among participants in the December 2021 Red Carpet Kickoff beginning the 40th Anniversary Commemoration of the 1982 PCB protests and birth of the Environmental Justice Movement.
A day filled with activities is planned for Saturday, Sept. 17, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the 1982 PCB protests which are now recognized as the beginning of the environmental justice movement.
The event will begin at 8 a.m. at Coley Springs Missionary Baptist Church, 224 Parktown Rd., Warrenton, in the Afton community.
In planning the commemoration, the Warren County Environmental Action Team is joined by a still growing list of partners that include government representatives, universities, organizations, agencies and individuals from Warren County and other areas of the country.
During the 2012 commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the protests, Bill Kearney, coordinator of the Warren County Environmental Action Team, made the statement, “I believe that what man meant for harm, God can turn to good.”
Today, he continues to say, “What man meant for harm, God meant for good,” as he looks forward to the 40th anniversary commemoration while challenging Warren County residents not to think of their community as poor, but instead to think of what they did at a pivotal moment in history.
“Stop thinking of the county as poor,” Kearney said. “We are victors, not just victims.”
The Warren Record file photo
The 2012 commemoration of the 30th anniversary of protests against the PCB landfill built in Afton included a walk along the route protesters took in 1982.
More than 350 people participated in the 2012 commemoration, which included reflections about the events of 1982.
Construction of the PCB landfill followed years of public outcry, resistance and legal actions that came after transformer oil contaminated with toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) was illegally sprayed in Warren and 13 other counties in 1978.
The state of North Carolina and the federal Environmental Protection Agency chose Warren County for the PCB landfill, which they claimed was safe and would not leak.
In 1982, as trucks began hauling in 10,000 loads of contaminated soil from more than 200 miles of North Carolina roadways, protestors from Warren County, supporters of their cause and civil rights activists marched and lay down in front of the trucks. More than 500 arrests were made during about a six-week period, and what is now known as the environmental justice movement was born.
Activities that have already taken place in preparation for Saturday’s commemoration have highlighted how community residents of various racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds came together in unity in the effort to stop the PCB landfill.
The process of planning Saturday’s commemoration has involved a growing list of partners who have wanted to share their time, expertise and resources. The team that came together to plan the event originally included representatives from the Wilson Library and the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina, the Warren County Branch of the NAACP, the Warren County Community Center, former Congresswoman Eva Clayton, Warren County Manager Vincent Jones and other representatives of county government and departments, the local faith community, local citizens and others involved with the 2012 observance, including Wayne Moseley, now retired from Living Arts College, and Jenny LaBalme, a journalist and photographer who took photographs here in 1982 while a student at Duke University.
The list of those who have become involved with or expressed interest in the commemoration, or are providing support, also includes representatives of the UNC Gillings School of Global Health, the University of Mississippi, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Friends of the Earth, the North Carolina Conservation Network, the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, Shaw University, Appalachian State University, Duke Divinity School, the United Church of Christ, Maria Parham Health, the Living and Learning Youth Center, Warren County Schools, the UNC-Chapel Hill Center for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention, the North Carolina Black Alliance, NC WARN, the business community and additional representatives of the faith community.
More recent additions include the following:
• Dr. Phaedra C. Pezzullo, associate professor, Department of Communication in the College of Media Communication & Information, co-director, Center for Creative Climate Communication & Behavior Change, Inside the Greenhouse, and Just Transition Collaborative, University of Colorado, Boulder
• Pavithra Vasudevan, assistant professor, Department of African and African Diaspora Studies Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, The University of Texas at Austin
• John Rash & Melanie Ho, Southern Documentary Project, Center for the Study of Southern Culture, The University of Mississippi
• Breanna Byrd, Ph. D. student, Feminist Studies graduate intern, African American Resource & Culture Center, University of California, Santa Cruz.
By last week, the list had grown once again to include Clear Water NC, The League (Pennsylvania) and NC Interfaith Power & Light.
Kearney does not take credit for bringing these partners together. Instead, he views himself as a facilitator who answers calls, texts and messages from those who want to become involved.
“God has sent some really great partnerships,” he said. “There are people wanting to be involved from grassroots people that were affected (by the landfill) to policymakers in Washington, D.C.”
Coley Springs Missionary Baptist Church, especially its Health Ministry, Warren Ministries United, additional faith leaders and other in the community are working with the Warren County Environmental Action Team and its partners to make the event possible.
The commemoration will begin with registration and check-in at 8 a.m. Participants in the morning worship will include the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Jr. and Edgardo Colón-Emeric, dean of Duke Divinity School.
Morning activities will also include what was originally planned as a ceremony to pass the torch from those involved in the 1982 protests to a younger generation of people who will now carry on the work to protect the environment. However, the partners planning the event felt that passing a torch signified constant forward movement without looking back to the past.
The partners instead chose the symbol of the Sankofa bird, which is pictured with its feet facing forward while its head is turned back. The Sankofa also holds an egg in its mouth.
Kearney explained that the symbol, originating in Ghana, represents a need to reconcile the past, whether good or bad, and move forward utilizing lessons from the past for guidance. The egg represents the future.
“To move forward, you must look back,” Kearney said.
He noted that the Sankofa suggests the idea of reconciliation while celebrating, of finding space to celebrate during the process of reconciliation.
The morning will also include a commemorative march following the route taken by protestors 40 years ago. Participants will depart Coley Springs Missionary Baptist Church and follow Limer Town Road to its intersection with Ervin Kearney Road. At that point, ministers will lead a time of prayer for healing and reconciliation.
The group will return to the church, where lunch and a time of reflection will begin at 11:30 a.m.
The final hour of the commemoration will feature a discussion about where to go from here.
Several other activities are also scheduled to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the PCB protests and Warren County’s role in history:
• Community Worship Service on Sunday, Sept. 18, from 2-4 p.m. at Coley Springs Missionary Baptist Church. All churches and residents of the community are invited to participate.
• Downtown Warrenton and Warren County Jail Museum Environmental Justice Tour on Tuesday, Sept. 20, from 5-8 p.m. Participants will meet at the jail at 5 p.m. for tours of downtown Warrenton. After they return to the jail, a program will include monologues, reenactments, posters and information about plans for the future of the jail. Several local residents who were active in the PCB protests of 1982 will also give remarks.
• The Warren County NAACP Freedom Fund Back Together Again Banquet on Sept. 24 at 6:30 p.m. The event will be live-streamed. Tickets are $20 for the live-streamed program and $50 for the live-stream and a copy of the program booklet, which will highlight the NAACP’s role in the PCB protests and environmental justice movement.
Kearney said that lessons from the PCB protests of 1982 remain important today.
“Everyone carries responsibility for the environment,” he said. “We all have a voice.”
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