Walking The Line: Into The Heart of Virginia celebrates July 2

Walking the Line press release, June 28, 2017
Contact: walkingthelineva@gmail.com Kay Leigh Ferguson, 434-987-1736; Lee White, 434-282-7259

Walking the Line: Into the Heart of Virginia will complete its two week, 150 mile, 5 county walk along the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline route this Sunday, July 2, 2017, in the pews of the Union Hill Baptist Church, near the site of the proposed Buckingham Compressor Station and at Union Grove Baptist Church, all in Buckingham County.

Buckingham County, geographically the center of Virginia, is also the site of the most shocking and most racially unjust assault that the ACP plans against the rural communities of our state. The historic African American community of Union Hill surrounds former slave plantations which are now the chosen site of a proposed 54,515 horsepower gas compressor station.

At 10 am, the walkers, Buckingham County community organizers, and the congregation of Union Hill Baptist Church with Pastor Paul Wilson will join in worship and in the third sing and filming of Sow Em on the Mountain, a song which is quickly becoming the anthem of many who oppose the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipeline proposals.

“Sow Em on the Mountain is a traditional song that reminds us that ‘we’re gonna reap just what we sow'”, says Kay Leigh Ferguson whose group ARTivism is supporting Walking the Line. “We can decide now to hold the line and protect our water, air and children and sow the seeds of protection. Or we can sow the seeds of environmental destruction by doing nothing. It’s time to choose what we want to sow.”

Following worship, the community is invited to walk or drive to the nearby site of the proposed Buckingham Compressor Station for a ritual sign dedication and planting by Friends of Buckingham and then on to Union Grove Baptist Church for a potluck supper. All are invited.

The proposed Buckingham Compressor station will be one of the largest of its kind and targets this small, rural, largely African American community to bear by far the greatest burden from the real dangers of fire and explosion and from toxic emissions and degraded land values of any community along the proposed ACP pipeline route.

“This is not about keeping the lights on. This is not about jobs. This is corporate greed hiding under a very thin mask of common good,” adds Ms. Ferguson.

“Dominion acts as though they are in charge of us. That they can rule us. That they have authority over the water, over the land and over people’s lives.” says Pastor Paul Wilson. “They, in that sense, become the destroyers of God’s creation.”

“This walk is not about being against anything as much as it is about drawing attention to the beauty and value of the land and the water that we must not allow ourselves and our children to lose,” says Lee White, key organizer of Walking the Line.

Union Hill Baptist Church is at State Rte 663, Buckingham, VA, 23921 (off 64E south of Charlottesville, take VA-20 S (24.7 mi). Take State Rte 655 to State Rte 602, 8 min (5.7 mi) Turn left onto State Rte 602, 6 min (5.2 mi) Continue on State Rte 660. Drive to State Rte 663, 8 min (4.3 mi)

Related links: the first and second “Sow Em” song videos and the Buckingham Compressor station focused video “Thou Shall Have No Dominion Here”  and more information can be found on our Facebook page here: Walking the Line facebook and details about joining the walk are here:  Walking the Line website