WE KNOW THIS TO BE TRUE
THE STATE OF YOUTH ISSUES IN APPALACHIA AND A PLAN OF ACTION
Over the past year the STAY Project has devoted our time at our virtual and in-person gatherings to strengthening our base of young people ages 14-30 in Appalachia, deepening and building out our analysis of the economic, environmental, social, and political conditions that young people and our communities are facing, clarifying what we need to fully actualize a just and sustainable Appalachia for all people, and identifying what work we can do to get us to our vision of liberation. We have also spent time to tend to our organizational infrastructure and do the important work of leadership development and transition. As young people living in Appalachia, we are experts of our own experiences. Here is what we know to be true heading into in 2022:
Before the pandemic, young people living in Appalachia were already struggling to thrive under the economic and social legacy of extractive industries like coal, gas, logging, tourism, etc... When those jobs broke and/or disappeared people’s bodies, pharmaceutical companies flooded our region with opioids. Our local, state, and federal governments have been trying to sell us prisons, small business, tourism, and downtown revitalization as the solution. We’ve got high rent and low wages because opportunities for youth are few and often look like low-paid positions like Americorp/VISTA and service work that exploit the labor of young people. We know that these are false solutions that rely on able-bodied workforces to work long/seasonal hours with low pay and little to no benefits and that they will only replicate our current conditions and cause suffering while lining the pockets of politicians and businesses.
The economic and environmental issues we face are compounded by acts of homophobia, transphobia, sexism, and racism, from members of our own communities. Trying to survive and just be young under compounding oppressions, while living with the legacy of extraction, takes a toll on our mental and physical health. Not to mention our access to healthcare is disappearing with the closing of rural hospitals and absurd medical costs. Instead of real transformative solutions, we get policing by cops and ICE in our schools, our hills, our hoods, and our hollers.
Nearly two years into this pandemic and the conditions of our communities have not changed. Governments and institutions built from (and for) capitalism and white supremacy were not designed to recognize our humanity, and COVID-19 has only intensified the ways that the everyday violences of these systems impact our lives, families, and communities. We are struggling, too often in isolation, as we experience and witness the trauma of ongoing violence and death. We are expected to continue on at the rapid pace of domination, without pause for grief, reflection, or acknowledgement of our collective pain.
Even under a new administration our day to day conditions have not changed. We know that culture and systems are not shifted in one day or any politicians term, and so no matter who is in elected power we know we will still have to fight and organize for justice. We know that the state is not coming to save us, we have to save ourselves. We know that we need each other, that we need our communities, that we belong to each other and deserve care and dignity.
What are we doing about it?
We know that no industry or government is going to save us and that it will in fact take many people using a diversity of tactics in coordination across the region (and beyond) operating under shared principles to realize our vision of a safe, sustainable, engaging and inclusive Appalachian communities. We know that this work is ongoing, that the relationships and knowledge, the personal and collective care that make it possible require ongoing tending. We do our best to combat the dominant culture of isolation, individualism, and perfectionism that we have inherited, gathering to create life-affirming community and culture, rooted in reciprocity, interdependence, and our unconditional worth. Our opportunities are in our relationships and our kin networks that transcend state & county lines. We know how to show up for each other. We are providing strength and refuge in each other—our resources are our relationships. We know how to invest in those relationships and build each other up as leaders.
In 2022, We are going to keep creating spaces for young people to be joyful and silly together, to share resources, skills, and knowledge, and to deepen our sense of connection and belonging. We are going to keep gathering and connecting with our people in and across our home communities, in youth autonomous, multi-racial, queer affirming, accessible spaces, in intergenerational and community spaces, and in autonomous caucus spaces. We are committed to supporting the development of the Black Appalachian Young and Rising program and understand that to do so we must continue cultivating trusting and authentic relationships with Black youth across the region.
We are going to continue tending to our organizational infrastructure and doing the important work of leadership development and transition. We know that this work (and our lives) are transitional, and that our leadership and structures of governance must be as well. We are committed to the ongoing learning and practice of leadership transition, finding new ways to infuse transition into our organizational infrastructure, and collectively stewarding the growth of our infrastructure as a new economy practice.
WE STAN THE CULTURAL AND CREATIVE POWER OF YOUNG PEOPLE. STAY members are out here making music and creating art and celebrating despite the challenges. Drawing on Appalachian and the South’s rich artistic and cultural lineages, young people are creating visionary music, poetry, art, and cultural pieces that draw on the past and point us toward the futures we deserve. We are committed to practicing and investing in our cultural and creative power through our Appalachian Love Story and Appalachian Love Fest projects and throughout our work.
We know that young people have already been out here in these hills doing the work. STAY members are creating revolutionary gathering space, leading electoral campaigns, expanding reproductive healthcare access, redefining sex education, supporting harm reduction and mutual aid work, resisting the school to prison pipeline and the violences of public education, telling our people’s histories, pushing other formations to be better and more strategic, supporting labor struggles, organizing and getting resources to our people, etc. and we are doing this with the absolute bare minimum. In 2022, the STAY Project is going to keep connecting y'all with opportunities to grow as leaders and resources through our gatherings, and through our member support fund.
We know that we do not have all the answers and that we are not the first to do this work. In 2022, the STAY Project is asking our community, our members, our alumni, and our elders to hold us accountable and give us guidance and support.