WEBVTT 00:00:38.700 --> 00:00:44.760 They were land owners, raised their children there, and I can't 00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:50.190 see our ancestors, letting these people coming in and run 00:00:50.190 --> 00:00:56.010 us off the land. No, no, it's not slavery time. It was not 00:00:56.010 --> 00:01:02.610 slavery time, back in 1995. We own the land and our homes. 00:01:02.610 --> 00:01:05.610 You cannot come in here and run us away. 00:01:06.030 --> 00:01:11.130 Lead by the people of Kingsboro, the community came together to 00:01:11.130 --> 00:01:15.570 stop this. The efforts of big business and the white majority 00:01:16.050 --> 00:01:20.640 county board, imposed this on this community, this county. 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:24.420 So, it's another story of David versus Goliath. 00:02:08.039 --> 00:02:12.539 When it was time to stand up, we stood up. We didn't consider 00:02:12.539 --> 00:02:16.079 ourselves to be activists, but there's a time for everything. 00:02:17.369 --> 00:02:21.419 And there's a time to [indiscernible] And the time sow, there was a time 00:02:21.419 --> 00:02:24.449 to come together and stand up and that's exactly what we did. 00:02:41.820 --> 00:02:46.380 Hello, my name is James Wrenn. I'm the Vice President of 00:02:46.380 --> 00:02:50.220 Phoenix Historical Society, African American History of 00:02:50.220 --> 00:02:54.690 Edgecombe County. And we're standing here in Edgecombe 00:02:54.690 --> 00:02:59.520 County, which has a long history. Before the Civil War it was 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:04.320 the largest cotton producing county in North Carolina. 00:03:04.320 --> 00:03:09.060 Over 10,000 enslaved people of African descent labored from 00:03:10.020 --> 00:03:13.530 from can see to can't see as they said, harvesting the cotton 00:03:13.920 --> 00:03:20.250 to make this such a wealthy county. South side here from our 00:03:20.250 --> 00:03:25.380 research in 1880, African Americans led by George and 00:03:25.380 --> 00:03:29.400 Rachel Bullock and other Bullocks begin to buy land on the south 00:03:29.400 --> 00:03:33.420 side of this road here. So what we stand on here, was you know legacy 00:03:33.420 --> 00:03:38.220 of the cotton plantations of Edgecombe County. By 1840 00:03:38.520 --> 00:03:42.360 Edgecombe County had a majority black population and it's 00:03:42.360 --> 00:03:46.470 continue to have such, to this time, actually Edgecombe County 00:03:46.470 --> 00:03:50.010 today is the most populous black majority county in North 00:03:50.010 --> 00:03:57.120 Carolina. But in spite of that, it's been years African 00:03:57.120 --> 00:03:59.550 Americans have not had political power in this county. 00:04:05.790 --> 00:04:08.370 My name is David Batts. My family had been in this 00:04:08.370 --> 00:04:13.830 community for over 119 years, my father was born 1903. He would 00:04:13.830 --> 00:04:19.410 have been 119 now, I'm 66 years old. And we have been in this 00:04:19.410 --> 00:04:24.870 community all our life. Hog farming was important to most 00:04:24.900 --> 00:04:29.370 every family in this area because that's where they raised 00:04:29.370 --> 00:04:32.970 their meat for the winter. They raised their barbecues for 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:38.400 special occasions, so we are used to the hogs. Being around hogs, 00:04:38.400 --> 00:04:41.520 was we knew that all our life, and we smelt you know all the 00:04:41.520 --> 00:04:45.720 small hog pens, but that was all the norm. But when this big 00:04:45.720 --> 00:04:48.540 industry was coming that really sort of upset us. 00:04:58.290 --> 00:05:00.510 African Americans gained the right to vote in 1868 and 00:05:00.510 --> 00:05:04.350 beginning to elect blacks to office, first time, they got a 00:05:04.350 --> 00:05:07.170 black majority of county commission in 1876, the General 00:05:07.170 --> 00:05:11.130 Assembly passed a law, the county government law taking away the 00:05:11.130 --> 00:05:13.800 right of people to elect their own county commissioners. 00:05:13.800 --> 00:05:18.810 That law was overturned in 1890s due to fusion movement, but then 00:05:18.840 --> 00:05:22.140 in 1900 they passed the law, taking away the rights of black people 00:05:22.140 --> 00:05:29.610 to vote. So still, you didn't have a black majority until 1992, they 00:05:29.610 --> 00:05:31.770 finally elect the black majority to the county commission, 00:05:31.770 --> 00:05:36.300 immediate white backlash was organized to overturn that. 00:05:36.300 --> 00:05:42.870 So the election of that 1994, you had, they would successfully 00:05:43.170 --> 00:05:48.450 unseat black county commissioners and put in white 00:05:48.450 --> 00:05:53.040 county commissioners who are landowners. You had a four to 00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:56.520 one white majority county commission over black majority 00:05:56.520 --> 00:06:00.690 county. And the first thing they did was try to bring us IBP hog 00:06:00.690 --> 00:06:03.000 slaughterhouse to this Edgecombe Kingsboro Community. 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:11.348 As an attorney, I usually read the legal ads in the newspaper. 00:06:12.450 --> 00:06:16.574 And I noticed in about the middle of September, as I 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:22.815 recall, that an ad was in the paper for rezoning about 400 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:28.961 acres in the Kingsboro area of our County Highway 64, at its 00:06:29.163 --> 00:06:36.102 intersection with Kingsboro road, and the significance was 00:06:36.404 --> 00:06:43.135 it was being rezoned from agricultural, residential, to 00:06:43.738 --> 00:06:48.081 heavy industry. Why would they rezone 400 acres right out in 00:06:48.484 --> 00:06:54.005 the middle of pristine agricultural and residential 00:06:54.108 --> 00:07:02.061 area for heavy industry? I went to the county industrial recruiter 00:07:02.163 --> 00:07:07.102 and asked him what was the purpose of the rezoning? And he 00:07:07.854 --> 00:07:14.654 was reluctant to tell me because it had not been announced. 00:07:15.157 --> 00:07:19.686 But being rather persistent, he finally told me with great 00:07:20.188 --> 00:07:24.834 pride, that IBP was going to locate a giant slaughterhouse in 00:07:25.036 --> 00:07:31.520 the county, it was going to employ 2-3,000 people. And I say, 00:07:31.982 --> 00:07:36.228 well, how many hogs a day? Will it will it take? And they say 00:07:36.630 --> 00:07:43.178 well probably 20 but finally getting up to maybe 25 or 30,000 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:49.026 hogs a day. What do you think about that? Isn't it wonderful? 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:55.374 I said, I think I'm going to be sick. And that was my initial 00:07:55.477 --> 00:08:00.030 gut reaction. And I've never changed my mind from that point on. 00:08:01.590 --> 00:08:07.110 I can't remember the mayor that came to him with this 00:08:07.110 --> 00:08:10.470 information that had not really leaked out to the county, 00:08:10.950 --> 00:08:15.780 but no one knew anything about it until he came and was telling 00:08:15.780 --> 00:08:19.830 my husband about they were trying to put a slaughter pen 00:08:20.550 --> 00:08:28.710 down in Kingsboro, and that we need to get organized. And they 00:08:28.710 --> 00:08:33.150 asked him if he would be in charge of it and be chairman of 00:08:33.150 --> 00:08:35.000 the committee. And he agreed to do it. 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:41.600 I remember, I nominated Gleno Horne, who was an excellent 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:48.770 spokesperson to be the chairman of the group we organized and 00:08:48.770 --> 00:08:54.500 decided to call “Citizens for Responsible Zoning.” And he came 00:08:54.500 --> 00:09:00.680 to the meeting and graciously accepted his nomination. 00:09:00.680 --> 00:09:02.030 And that's where it got started. 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:30.170 I was surprised to see that we had the kind of support that 00:09:30.170 --> 00:09:32.810 showed up. It started out seeming like it was just going 00:09:32.810 --> 00:09:37.940 to be the little Kingsboro Community. It seemed larger than 00:09:37.940 --> 00:09:42.080 us, and so when all the people throughout the county showed up, 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:46.910 and some beyond the county it really registered to me that we 00:09:46.910 --> 00:09:50.300 have a real protest going on here. And that there is a 00:09:50.300 --> 00:09:52.100 possibility that we can win. 00:10:47.900 --> 00:10:55.100 Today, I feel much better than I did, when I was up talking that day 00:10:55.130 --> 00:10:59.780 or night, whatever it was. Because at that time, I kind of 00:10:59.780 --> 00:11:05.330 had I don't want to say, but I didn't have a good feeling about 00:11:05.330 --> 00:11:12.470 the county commissioners or the county planners, because I felt 00:11:12.470 --> 00:11:17.300 like they were not being fair to the people in Kingsboro. 00:11:17.300 --> 00:11:22.280 And that they had formed their opinion that the people in 00:11:22.310 --> 00:11:28.040 Kingsboro, and also in Edgecombe Country was not capable of 00:11:28.040 --> 00:11:36.290 working at a place other than a slaughter pen. And to me, it made 00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:39.560 me and some other ones, kind of upset. 00:11:42.270 --> 00:11:51.120 It affects your health, you know the water, and a lot of diseases 00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:58.710 and rashes and stuff come from it. You can just barely just 00:11:58.710 --> 00:12:02.880 stay in your house. Because really, like I said, we don't 00:12:02.880 --> 00:12:06.150 have the hog part, but we do have the chicken part, 00:12:06.150 --> 00:12:11.670 right there off of highway extension. Certain times of the year like 00:12:11.670 --> 00:12:14.820 summertime, it smells, awful. 00:12:15.470 --> 00:12:19.460 So the waterways in North Carolina specifically the 00:12:19.460 --> 00:12:23.690 Tar-Pamlico River is hugely important to the area. Not only 00:12:23.690 --> 00:12:26.660 is it a source of drinking water for a whole lot of communities 00:12:26.660 --> 00:12:30.800 that are along the waterways, but people recreate on these 00:12:30.800 --> 00:12:34.220 waterways, people fish both again for recreation, but also 00:12:34.220 --> 00:12:37.070 for their livelihood, commercial fishing out on the Pamlico and 00:12:37.070 --> 00:12:40.370 Pamlico Sound, is huge. So there's a wastewater, there 00:12:40.370 --> 00:12:43.760 would have been wastewater from IBP, and that wastewater would 00:12:43.760 --> 00:12:46.940 have contained high levels of fecal bacteria, would have 00:12:46.940 --> 00:12:49.730 contained high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, which 00:12:49.730 --> 00:12:53.630 really impacts the health of the whole ecosystem. But this 00:12:53.630 --> 00:12:58.100 wouldn't have been just an issue for that local community. Those 00:12:58.100 --> 00:13:01.370 impacts would have traveled all the way downstream. When 00:13:01.370 --> 00:13:04.220 waterways contaminated, you know, it's not just that one 00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:07.580 area, it impacts everything downstream. And there's a whole 00:13:07.580 --> 00:13:11.000 lot of downstream from the Kingsboro area from where IBP 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:11.660 would have been. 00:13:12.590 --> 00:13:17.030 I started my career in this in this work as a river keeper on 00:13:17.030 --> 00:13:21.530 the Neuse River. So I was directly on the ground, boots on 00:13:21.530 --> 00:13:26.690 the ground, so to speak. I started another program on the 00:13:26.690 --> 00:13:29.810 east coast, but then came back to work directly for 00:13:29.810 --> 00:13:33.110 Waterkeeper Alliance in North Carolina. People would say well, 00:13:33.110 --> 00:13:37.220 what's changed? Unfortunately, not enough. We have had some 00:13:37.220 --> 00:13:40.160 successes. We've had moratoriums, we've had bans on 00:13:40.160 --> 00:13:44.930 new facilities being installed. But we still got the same 00:13:44.930 --> 00:13:50.420 roughly 2,400 lagoons, facilities and I don't call them farms. 00:13:50.420 --> 00:13:53.390 I call them facilities because they're not farms. We still have 00:13:53.390 --> 00:13:57.560 those same 2,400, polluting the waters and polluting the 00:13:57.560 --> 00:14:03.740 communities, primarily African American, Hispanic, low income 00:14:03.740 --> 00:14:07.100 families, Native American families and communities. 00:14:07.960 --> 00:14:12.430 IBP did not inform us of the environment, but there was 00:14:12.430 --> 00:14:17.980 someone from out of state that came to Edgecombe County, and he 00:14:18.460 --> 00:14:22.450 met with us and he explained the houses and everything of the 00:14:23.110 --> 00:14:26.740 slaughter pens that were created in our community. 00:14:27.730 --> 00:14:29.350 IBP never told us. 00:14:31.420 --> 00:14:34.270 Nobody ever said to me, well, we want to put a hog plant there. 00:14:34.900 --> 00:14:37.960 Maybe it would be better if you would relocate somewhere else. 00:14:39.250 --> 00:14:44.320 And we will make that possible. There are some things that I 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:48.670 guess through eminent domain that needs to happen, but it 00:14:48.670 --> 00:14:52.900 needs to happen the right way. Not running over people, 00:14:52.900 --> 00:14:56.140 not throwing people out the door. Not saying well go somewhere 00:14:56.140 --> 00:15:00.430 I don't care where you go. That was the attitude that it seemed 00:15:00.430 --> 00:15:04.780 like to me that they had. You're small, you're little, we're doing a 00:15:04.780 --> 00:15:08.680 bigger thing. And this is going on, this has ramifications of 00:15:08.680 --> 00:15:12.190 what's going on throughout the country in the world today, some 00:15:12.190 --> 00:15:13.000 things just can't coexist. 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:22.660 It's pretty evident that those who seek to make profit, choose 00:15:22.660 --> 00:15:29.920 areas where they think the population will provide less 00:15:29.920 --> 00:15:34.600 resistance to whatever negative negative impacts might come of 00:15:34.900 --> 00:15:40.360 their production, whatever it might be. It could be making 00:15:40.360 --> 00:15:45.520 boats, it could be raising hogs. Either way, often there are 00:15:45.730 --> 00:15:49.330 pollutants that come as a result of this production process, and 00:15:49.330 --> 00:15:53.170 they put profit before people. And our job is to put the people 00:15:53.170 --> 00:15:57.550 first and make sure that they have the tools to fight back and 00:15:57.550 --> 00:16:01.270 prevent these industries from coming into their communities. 00:16:01.690 --> 00:16:05.020 And if they are there already, to see if they can mitigate the 00:16:05.020 --> 00:16:08.380 different consequences of these industries. 00:16:09.450 --> 00:16:13.170 It's really easy for a project like that to come up in a place 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:16.800 and to think that the actions of individuals or a small community 00:16:16.980 --> 00:16:21.090 will never be able to impact the outcome against a large 00:16:21.090 --> 00:16:25.830 corporation. And we see time and time again, and our organization 00:16:25.830 --> 00:16:29.610 is founded on this idea that engagement by people in their 00:16:29.610 --> 00:16:32.970 local communities actually can and does make a difference. 00:16:36.260 --> 00:16:40.160 One of the things and this happened later on in the 00:16:40.160 --> 00:16:45.470 process, and I believe this was the key thing that tipped the 00:16:45.470 --> 00:16:51.800 scales in favor of opposing getting the county commissioners 00:16:51.800 --> 00:16:56.900 to change their mind, and that was they had overwritten every 00:16:56.900 --> 00:17:00.320 effort we had made up that point. They had voted for the 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:07.610 rezoning. We had brought a lawsuit, the Kingsboro Community 00:17:08.540 --> 00:17:13.400 Citizens Association brought a suit trying to delay action, 00:17:13.910 --> 00:17:18.170 because they were owners of property within so many feet of 00:17:18.170 --> 00:17:24.530 the new plant, but the lady that I was in contact with, told me 00:17:25.250 --> 00:17:30.140 that they may say they want 3 million gallons of water a day 00:17:30.620 --> 00:17:36.590 with this plant. But they really want and will need 6 million 00:17:36.590 --> 00:17:41.600 gallons. Well, we had already determined when they were 00:17:41.600 --> 00:17:45.890 talking 3 million gallons of water a day, I had gotten in touch 00:17:45.890 --> 00:17:51.680 with two expert hydro geologists from East Carolina 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:57.560 University. And they testified, signed affidavits and testified 00:17:57.560 --> 00:18:03.650 at these public hearings that at times 3,000 gallons would exceed 00:18:03.650 --> 00:18:07.970 the flow of the Tar River two or three times a year when the 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:13.610 water level got low. So I could just imagine that I projected 00:18:14.360 --> 00:18:19.310 what it would be like at 3,000, 3 million gallons of water a day 00:18:19.310 --> 00:18:25.280 coming into this plant, being mixed with all of the fluid that 00:18:25.280 --> 00:18:30.950 would be added, by all of the unmentionables that come through 00:18:31.370 --> 00:18:37.820 a hog operation. That would be a byproduct of waste. And they had 00:18:38.900 --> 00:18:43.670 several 1,000 gallons of water into the water that would in 00:18:43.670 --> 00:18:46.080 turn be put back in the Tar River. 00:18:46.080 --> 00:18:50.047 I attended most all the meetings here at the Antioch Church, and I 00:18:50.111 --> 00:18:53.694 came for some meetings in Tarboro, because I was out on the road 00:18:53.758 --> 00:18:57.853 trucking. But the most memorable meetings here, when the lawyer 00:18:57.917 --> 00:19:01.629 told us say this is a very significant thing for that to happen 00:19:01.693 --> 00:19:05.532 to y'all if y'all don't stand up. This is important. This is 00:19:05.596 --> 00:19:09.499 not for y'all to sleep on. So we need to galvanize and gather 00:19:09.563 --> 00:19:13.019 community, for us to get together, stand behind it, and 00:19:13.083 --> 00:19:16.794 support it. Because if y'all don't support it, it gon fade away, 00:19:16.858 --> 00:19:20.250 and y’all are gonna be stuck with a hog operation. 00:19:21.358 --> 00:19:24.896 Well listen, for one thing they spent a lot of time, and they 00:19:25.390 --> 00:19:31.990 spent time communicating with our neighbors, to get people 00:19:31.990 --> 00:19:36.820 to come to the meetings and public hearings and to raise 00:19:36.820 --> 00:19:43.300 the anti IBP signs, to put bumper stickers on cars, to help make 00:19:43.300 --> 00:19:46.840 the signs, but mainly it was showing up at the public 00:19:46.840 --> 00:19:51.610 hearings and being enthusiastic. I mean, I could provide a lot of 00:19:51.610 --> 00:19:56.380 information. But there were so many people that provided the 00:19:56.380 --> 00:19:58.000 enthusiasm and the animation. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:02.830 Well when the Citizens for Responsible Zoning discovered 00:20:02.830 --> 00:20:07.420 that there was an application in play to rezone part of Kingsboro 00:20:07.450 --> 00:20:11.020 in order to facilitate this brand new massive 00:20:11.020 --> 00:20:15.940 slaughterhouse, what they showed were two fundamental, 00:20:15.970 --> 00:20:19.630 important lessons for all communities. One is it's critically important to 00:20:19.630 --> 00:20:24.580 have some zoning in place, everywhere. And this is one of 00:20:24.580 --> 00:20:27.520 the things that was missing in North Carolina, and these were 00:20:27.520 --> 00:20:30.730 areas where black and brown communities, indigenous 00:20:30.730 --> 00:20:34.450 communities have been living for generations. The county 00:20:34.480 --> 00:20:38.230 commissioner infrastructure, white dominated infrastructure, 00:20:38.410 --> 00:20:43.720 left that unzoned area in place. But what we see in Kingsboro is 00:20:43.720 --> 00:20:48.760 this great example of residents coming together, recognizing the 00:20:48.760 --> 00:20:54.580 value of zoning as a tool for controlling land use in a way 00:20:54.580 --> 00:20:57.220 that protects residents of the community. 00:20:58.050 --> 00:21:02.640 I mentioned attorney Marvin Horton, I didn't know him before 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:06.780 that time. It was just interesting to see him come out here 00:21:06.780 --> 00:21:12.330 and sit in this church, as a white man and help us organize 00:21:12.660 --> 00:21:17.070 for his own interest. He really didn't come for our interest 00:21:17.070 --> 00:21:21.180 any more than his own interest. And I think that's something 00:21:21.180 --> 00:21:25.410 that we ought to remember that this was something that was 00:21:25.410 --> 00:21:31.260 going to hit him personally, and he was willing to come out here. 00:21:32.520 --> 00:21:37.710 I remember he. It seems strange to him, though, the way that he 00:21:37.740 --> 00:21:43.380 moved and acted, but he talked to us. And he calmed down. I 00:21:43.380 --> 00:21:48.600 mean, to be a lawyer. He had to really calm down and talk to us. 00:21:49.050 --> 00:21:52.140 But he did and he found out I believe, and I'm talking for 00:21:52.140 --> 00:21:57.660 him, that we were just ordinary people. And he sort of made us 00:21:57.690 --> 00:22:02.610 understand what we were looking at. And he stuck with us and we 00:22:02.610 --> 00:22:03.150 stuck with him. 00:22:07.530 --> 00:22:14.430 Our life is dull. Our jobs a bore. Others actions, just make us sore 00:22:14.430 --> 00:22:20.580 No one leads. No one follows. All we do, is sit and holler. 00:22:20.580 --> 00:22:28.230 If all we do is vegetate, pretty soon it’s way too late. 00:22:28.230 --> 00:22:34.290 To take a stand, to be a man, to save our land. Now's the time for us 00:22:34.290 --> 00:22:41.730 to rise. Take the blindfold from our eyes, stretch our brains and 00:22:41.730 --> 00:22:48.210 realize, now's the time to energize, and yesterday I added this, 00:22:48.210 --> 00:23:05.190 in the words of Sharon, “Stand alone, naked in a field, 00:23:05.190 --> 00:23:21.000 to proclaim and never yield I believe, I believe.” I just lost 00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:32.880 her in July. Join our hands, gather around, cherish your 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:40.920 friends we have found, generate a positive sound. Celebrate our 00:23:40.920 --> 00:23:47.250 common ground. If we do we're sure to find happiness and peace 00:23:47.250 --> 00:23:54.720 of mind. True wealth will flow into our hands. Worries scram to 00:23:54.720 --> 00:24:03.950 other lands. With such rewards if we activate, why do we ever hesitate, 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:10.730 to make a start, to have a heart, to do our part. 00:24:10.830 --> 00:24:15.960 Remember Kingsboro 1995, 1996. 00:24:18.510 --> 00:24:22.230 I believe that very clear that this was an environmental 00:24:22.410 --> 00:24:25.560 activist group for environmental justice, whether they knew it or not. 00:24:25.560 --> 00:24:29.640 I would also say that there were people who were working 00:24:29.640 --> 00:24:32.640 on environmental consequences of this, that were not thinking 00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:36.120 about environmental justice, and were still working as allies. 00:24:36.450 --> 00:24:39.540 But I also think it's really important to recognize now 00:24:39.540 --> 00:24:43.050 looking back on it, that environmental justice requires 00:24:43.050 --> 00:24:46.830 us now to be thinking about what are the systemic problems that 00:24:46.830 --> 00:24:50.580 gave rise to this? Why is it that Edgecombe County was 00:24:50.580 --> 00:24:54.240 thought to be a suitable place for more or less a sacrifice zone? 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:57.630 And that's where I think the important lesson that we 00:24:57.630 --> 00:25:01.560 have in the past is that many of the heroes who stood up for 00:25:01.560 --> 00:25:04.650 this, including all of the activists who were associated 00:25:04.650 --> 00:25:08.910 with Kingsboro fight, were blazing a trail. They didn't 00:25:08.910 --> 00:25:12.000 necessarily know what to call it. But they were doing it. 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:17.910 I was born and raised in Kingsboro, and I heard about 00:25:18.120 --> 00:25:21.630 what was going on about the slaughter pen and in the 00:25:21.630 --> 00:25:27.180 community, and I commend all of those who participated in the 00:25:27.180 --> 00:25:31.800 protests, and what they had to say about it. And just getting 00:25:31.800 --> 00:25:36.510 out talking to the people, because I knew one day, I wanted 00:25:36.510 --> 00:25:41.010 to come back to my community where I was raised. And I'm just 00:25:41.010 --> 00:25:45.990 so thankful I commend them over and over again, because today, I 00:25:45.990 --> 00:25:49.920 would be smelling the hog pen, if I you know, because it's 00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:52.440 right across the woods from where I live now. 00:25:52.830 --> 00:25:59.850 And if those people, those warriors hadn't stood together, 00:25:59.850 --> 00:26:06.570 and spoke, so forceful, anything could of happen. So I'm proud of it. 00:26:06.570 --> 00:26:08.880 They left a legacy. 00:26:09.540 --> 00:26:13.140 So one of the byproducts of standing together like that was, 00:26:13.770 --> 00:26:17.700 we found out that we're not alone, and that we have a common cause. 00:26:17.700 --> 00:26:22.380 And that we are capable of caring about each other. 00:26:22.380 --> 00:26:25.230 That was one of the things that cemented it. It was you could 00:26:25.230 --> 00:26:29.310 feel that people cared about each other, which we might have 00:26:29.310 --> 00:26:33.960 suspected, but we didn't really know. We saw each other before 00:26:33.960 --> 00:26:37.530 that, I think as being distant. We didn't know and what you 00:26:37.530 --> 00:26:42.570 don't know you can be afraid of. But that moved that barrier out 00:26:42.570 --> 00:26:47.190 of the way. And we were singing together and, and praying 00:26:47.190 --> 00:26:48.690 together and hoping together. 00:26:50.490 --> 00:26:55.620 It feels good to be back in this building, where we began our 00:26:56.400 --> 00:27:00.000 demonstration or protest, whatever you want to call it. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.410 It was a close knit community and most of everybody that was in 00:27:04.410 --> 00:27:12.540 this attended the church was relatives. And everybody knew 00:27:12.540 --> 00:27:13.560 each other. 00:27:14.070 --> 00:27:19.050 Well, in any official capacity, I guess it's been 20 years since 00:27:19.050 --> 00:27:24.870 I was here, since I've been in the yard and peeked through the door. 00:27:24.870 --> 00:27:28.110 But just to come in here, but I grew up coming into this church, 00:27:29.580 --> 00:27:33.270 I used to stand in the yard next door and listen to the sermons. 00:27:33.270 --> 00:27:34.770 I didn't want to come inside the church. 00:27:35.130 --> 00:27:39.090 I am going to read the letter that my husband wrote to the 00:27:39.090 --> 00:27:43.740 people in the community concerning the IBP slaughter 00:27:43.740 --> 00:27:51.000 plant that was going to be built in Kingsboro. Dear friends, 00:27:51.600 --> 00:27:57.390 my sympathy and compassion goes out to families who have lost 00:27:57.420 --> 00:28:03.270 loved ones, for those who suffer death, there is nothing else one 00:28:03.890 --> 00:28:06.030 human being can do for another. 00:28:06.870 --> 00:28:10.260 We may not have had the name for it, but I believe environmental 00:28:10.260 --> 00:28:13.200 justice has a richer history. And I certainly believe that 00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:18.150 this particular group and this particular fight is a keystone 00:28:18.150 --> 00:28:19.170 moment in that history. 00:28:20.200 --> 00:28:26.590 My request, my plea would be young people, do your homework, 00:28:26.590 --> 00:28:32.530 get educated on why this issue is so huge. Why it's huge from 00:28:32.980 --> 00:28:37.120 the standpoint of environmental justice, but why it's important 00:28:37.120 --> 00:28:41.290 from the standpoint of the environment. Also why it is that 00:28:41.290 --> 00:28:44.500 each one of us has a responsibility for this. 00:28:44.500 --> 00:28:46.070 Stand up and let your voices be heard. 00:28:47.880 --> 00:28:53.490 Now, our community is faced with a threat that requires action. 00:28:53.700 --> 00:29:01.080 Now it would be too late for sympathy and regret later. 00:29:01.080 --> 00:29:06.150 Our county commissioners, they determine to allow a giant 00:29:06.150 --> 00:29:12.120 slaughterhouse to be built at Kingsboro. It will 00:29:12.120 --> 00:29:20.010 alter our lives forever. With the same certainty as death. But we will 00:29:20.040 --> 00:29:21.960 be living to regret it. 00:29:22.649 --> 00:29:27.299 Ordinary history ought to be in our history books and taught to our 00:29:27.299 --> 00:29:32.189 children, as nearly as possible, according to the way that it 00:29:32.189 --> 00:29:36.899 happened. And nobody has anything to lose by that, 00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:38.560 by knowing the truth. 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:45.040 Not only a slaughter of 15 to 20,000 hogs a day, but they will 00:29:45.040 --> 00:29:51.640 have a sewage plant as big as Tarboro’s, their own electricity 00:29:51.670 --> 00:29:56.770 power plant, and an incinerator to burn their waste and the 00:29:56.830 --> 00:30:01.540 methane gas given off by their sewage [indiscernible]. 00:30:02.470 --> 00:30:08.260 Another real concern is that hog production farms will increase 00:30:08.260 --> 00:30:16.420 in the area. Duplin County had 800 square miles in it and 800 hog 00:30:16.450 --> 00:30:24.370 farms. Now is the time to fight this clear and present danger. 00:30:24.370 --> 00:30:30.640 If we hold back our protest now, we'll be holding our nose later. 00:30:31.300 --> 00:30:36.000 We can do better. Sincerely, Gleno Horne, Chairperson 00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.220 First of all I'd like to remember those who are with us, 00:31:29.820 --> 00:31:35.970 on that, well that night, and the names of those 00:31:35.970 --> 00:31:41.970 who have since gone on to glory and are no longer with us. 00:31:42.390 --> 00:31:46.800 But as I looked at the list of people, I can't believe that all 00:31:46.800 --> 00:31:51.300 of them are gone. Because it seems like just yesterday that 00:31:51.300 --> 00:31:57.060 this was taking place. Anyway, we would like to honor Annabelle 00:31:57.060 --> 00:32:02.670 Bullock, very active in all of the protesting and parade that 00:32:02.670 --> 00:32:07.170 was here that night. Sir Robert Sharpe better known to my 00:32:07.170 --> 00:32:14.370 family as Nate Sharpe. In [indiscernible], Gleno Horne as was 00:32:14.370 --> 00:32:18.960 mentioned earlier, he was sort of spearheaded this gathering. 00:32:19.740 --> 00:32:24.690 Mr. Colin Powell, was very instrumental in getting this 00:32:24.810 --> 00:32:29.310 group together and bringing them together in his church. And his 00:32:29.310 --> 00:32:34.980 wife, [Stars] Powell. James Hinton's here, Sandy Brazell Sr. 00:32:34.980 --> 00:32:46.110 Leo Smith. Howard Booth was my uncle. Leo Smith, 00:32:46.620 --> 00:32:53.610 Jamie Sharpe, I believe the wife of Nate Sharpe. Marvin Sharpe, 00:32:54.210 --> 00:33:02.730 Sharon Hinton, Milton Batts and Esteem Batts. And of course, 00:33:02.730 --> 00:33:06.450 a key figure here that night still living is Marvin Horton, 00:33:06.900 --> 00:33:11.220 attorney Marvin Horton, he's still with us. Thank God.