A group of activists gathered in Charlottesville on Sunday to prepare for a march on Washington. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
[sounds of people chatting, fans, folk music]
In a former warehouse-turned-studio space in Charlottesville, a handful of people sat painting in color on printed signs. An image of two hands clasping each other is surrounded by endangered animals and the words "We rise – not just for you and me – stop MVP." That's the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which the organization ARTivism Virginia has fought against since it was founded in 2017 by Kay Ferguson.
KAY FERGUSON: We're inviting everybody to come be with us on June 18th, and to meet us at 9 a.m. at 1st Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
The Poor People's Campaign, a movement that seeks to overcome systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, and the war economy, is holding a march and assembly in D.C. on the 18th. A few dozen ARTivism folks will be in the crowd –
JOSHUA VANA: …Bringing some of that good pipeline fighter coalition energy to the nation's capital.
Joshua Vana is the organization's director.
VANA: Our causes are intersectional, and the more we show up to support each other, the better chance we have at winning.
This is also a chance for ARTivism to thank Rev. Dr. William Barber, the Poor People's Campaign co-chair, for his support over the years, including when he came to Buckingham County to speak out against a compressor station that the Atlantic Coast Pipeline wanted to build in the historic, predominantly Black community of Union Hill. The Atlantic Coast pipeline project was canceled in 2020.
FERGUSON: If we get together and resist the old ploy of trying to divide the people at the bottom against each other, then we will create a "new, unsettling force."
As for the MVP, it's currently tied up in court with federal legal and permitting battles.
