by Lucy Duncan

My family and I live in a multicultural neighborhood just west of Philadelphia. My neighbors include many new immigrants from India, Bangladesh, Korea, Vietnam, Greece, and other countries, as well as many African-Americans.

This a guest blog post by Gabriela Flora, AFSC Regional Project Voice Organizer - Lucy

Often the first step to becoming an ally is hearing and really listening to another person’s story.  I went to Intermountain Yearly Meeting (IMYM) at Ghost Ranch in the mountains of New Mexico this year for the first time since I’ve been on staff and told and heard moving stories there.

Wars wouldn't exist without the creation of a hateful "other," drawing on racial, ethnic and religious prejudices to manufacture fear, demonizing the "enemy" to justify killing people. Unfortunately our own country is no stranger to this tactic.

West Virginia is a state with vast natural resources—timber, oil, gas, and, most famously, coal. Those non-renewable resources are quickly disappearing and, with them, the hope for West Virginia's future unless we create a Future Fund—a mineral trust fund—to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
 
Since the 1880s, much of West Virginia's wealth has left the state in railcars and trucks.