We hear it all the time, “Please vote Mitch out!” “Why does Kentucky keep voting for him? Do something!”
Well, a lot of us are doing everything we can to defeat Mitch this year. Four Rivers Indivisible is putting up billboards, “Burma-Shave”-type signs, and organizing volunteers. See Forward Kentucky’s stories 4 Rivers Unity Week of Action and Burma Shave Saga--Including Conservative Neighbors, which was on the Trending List at Daily Kos recently.
The Four Rivers region includes the far western portion of Kentucky, with portions of the Lower Cumberland River basin, Lower Tennessee River basin, and direct tributaries to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Paducah is the largest city. The group raised funds through Indivisible Project for a billboard targeting Mitch, and wanted to do something to reinforce the billboard message. This video project was the result. Here is the billboard, which can be seen on Lone Oak Road in Paducah, and starting September 24th on Clark’s River Road in Paducah. Both billboards will run all the way up to the election:
Here is the You Tube video project, with local Kentuckians who volunteered to make this project a reality! The video is set to Florence Reece singing her original version of “Which Side Are You On?”.
From Wikipedia Florence Reece
“In 1931, the miners and the mine owners in southeastern Kentucky were locked in a bitter and violent struggle called the Harlan County War. In an attempt to intimidate the family of union leader Sam Reece, Sheriff J. H. Blair and his men, hired by the mining company, illegally entered their home in search of Reece. Reece had been warned in advance and escaped but his wife, Florence, and their children were terrorized. That night, after the men had gone, Florence wrote the lyrics to "Which Side Are You On?" on a calendar that hung in their kitchen. She took the melody from a traditional Baptist hymn, "Lay the Lily Low", or the traditional ballad "Jack Munro."
And of course Pete Seeger made a version of this ballad famous, and it became an iconic union song. We felt it was perfect for our message about McConnell.
Some volunteers, who weren’t able to make videos, also made memes to go with the You Tube theme, expressing their views on issues they feel passionately about:
Four Rivers is planning another billboard for Paducah targeting early mail-in and in-person voting. You can support this and other similar activities by donating here:
Four Rivers Act Blue.
Thank you for your support!
And would love to see people post their anti-Mitch memes, protest posters, or videos in the comments! Always looking for more good ideas!