Poorest Region of America - What It Really Looks Like 🇺🇸

What a different America out here if I cruise up some of the haulers , do you think that's a good idea ?

You lost him again .

A lot of people don't understand it .

It wasn't for coal mines .

A lot of these people are out here to be starving to death .

Feels like everybody picked up and left .

I came from a long line of drug users .

I will be the first in my family to hold a college degree .

Are you the grandma of the haul ?

I guess , massive hit to a community like this .

I want to show people that we are more than just drugs and coal mining .

We work hard , we support our families and we don't let nobody step in between that .

This place got me a little emotional .

Good morning guys here in Bluefield , West Virginia .

And today we have quite an adventure .

We're going on driving through the south side of West Virginia all the way over to Kentucky .

And this is known , arguably is one of the most impoverished places in the country .

Now , this is former coal country .

The industry was booming at one time .

It's retracted quite a bit many people have left , but some have stayed .

So today we're going to get far out as far out as we can into the sticks to meet the locals ask the questions , learn from them and get a better understanding of what this region is like .

Let's do this here .

We are in mcdowell County .

And so this is the poorest county in West Virginia .

25,600 is the average family income .

See , a lot of these people have moved out the coal truck here .

Looks like an old school switchback .

Elementary school .

These tracks right here have brought out tons and tons of coal .

And since a lot of that coal has declined .

Well , this is what happens to the towns .

These were once thriving , busy storefronts .

People walking around .

You got great homes up here above , I'm sure those were like the managers , the coal mines .

You can see a lot of these homes , there's nature coming back , taking them over , got a little grocery deli check .

It's like a jungle out here .

These forests , very lush , very peaceful , very closed at this old place here .

Looks like it's been around forever .

A staple of the community .

Pictures of families , people from the town .

I'm sure that's too bad .

But what a different America out here .

Look at this architecture , some beautiful buildings .

What town is this ?

This is the town of , how long have you lived here ?

Uh It'll be four years this December , I moved here for work .

You don't think this video is gonna make 100 million .

I don't , I don't think so .

Maybe 565 £260 full of muscle , maybe .

Hey , you .

All right , I'm doing good .

Thank you .

And , uh , that's my neighbor .

He's , hey , you 76 yet .

7 77 .

This gentleman is , uh , making a video of this area about Appalachia .

Come on over .

You wanna , you wanna jump in tea ?

He's , he's got stories .

I can tell his name is Fred Johnson and his wife's school Children .

She's a teacher .

No , it's a rental truck .

Your name ?

Peter San .

San .

Nice to meet you .

You too .

He's the best man in town or , or all of mcdowell County , mcdowell County .

Thank you , Clarence .

Did you grow up here ?

No , I grew up in vic's good .

It's , uh , nice , wonderful place to live .

People are friendly .

Everybody's friendly down here .

You don't meet a stranger .

You know , if anybody can help you , they'll help you .

If you're sitting on the side of the road at night and got a flat tire , they'll stop and change it or if they can't change it , they'll bring you home because we had a flood here back in 2000 and 1 , 2002 .

And a lady from Bluefield worked at the hospital and the water was up all the way through there and she got to the end of town and , uh , somebody called me and I went down and got her and brought up and she spent the night with us .

Me and my wife , I let her stay with me .

So I didn't know her from , from Adam .

So a lot of old school values out here , old school values a lot .

What about the younger generation ?

They're gone .

They're leaving , they're leaving town , they're leaving town and the ones that are here are , they don't , they don't really care about anything .

They , they just , most of them is on drugs .

Really ?

Most of the drug problem .

So , from my understanding , talking to some locals , it's either people are on drugs or people are super hard working .

There's like no in between .

It's like you got two different groups , right .

That's right .

Two different groups .

Mostly everybody around here is elderly .

Si Clarence .

I'm 60 I'm not there elderly .

Well , tt's 77 and looking like you're about to play some hoops and , and dunk the ball .

Thank you .

I used to in my day I did in my day but uh old age catches up with you .

Eventually , eventually , old age catches up with you .

Did you ever work in the mines ?

No , I was an electrical motor repair man .

I worked in that job for uh 43 years .

We repaired uh mining motors , steel mill motors .

I've been , I've been , I , I guess I just about all over the world working on different motors and stuff .

What do you mean , be careful going to Harlan County while on the road .

There's a bunch of drunks on the road on the weekend .

This is Fourth of July weekend .

You gotta watch out for the young folks .

Ok .

What about , what about if I cruise up some of the haulers , like , just randomly up some of the hollers ?

You think that's a good idea or just depends the one I go up .

It , it depends on where you go up .

It really depends because you are real bad .

I mean , yeah , the road are real bad .

Even though you got a , you know what they call this MCDA County , they call it the patch .

So , could I fit in to the patch ?

No problem .

No problem .

You just gotta , just gotta put a little of that on just a little bit of personality and attitude .

You'll be fine .

I be your neighbor , Mr T , pretty much everyone is involved with the coal industry here .

There is a tourism industry starting with side by side and people getting out on these trails here .

But as you can see , even the , that is , yes , a massive hit to a community like this in the town .

I was staying in Bluefield .

If I wanted to get groceries , the best place was the Walmart .

You want to get an avocado , you want to get probably the most fresh fruits and vegetables outside of a garden .

It was Walmart .

And so when you have it go away in a community like this .

I mean , we're sort of entering , I think we'll get into it today .

Sort of food , desert territory where it's a far way to get pretty much all your staples , you know , outside of mini marts and chips and sugar drinks and whatnot .

Very interesting story .

I was told yesterday by a local and he told me back in the day with the coal mining companies , the miners would be paid in scripts , which was their own currency .

Each coal mining company had their own currency .

The catch was you'd have to go to the equivalent of the Walmart back then , which was a massive general store depending on the mine where you buy your food , your clothing , whatever you needed you'd buy there .

But you could not take that currency and go anywhere else with it .

You want to leave town , you want to go off to the coast on a vacation with your family , forget about it .

Your money only worked for the business that you work for , which is insane here we are in Welsh is the county seat , I guess , is the biggest town here .

And look at these buildings .

Wow .

Look at this place .

Looks like a massive old school up there .

I wonder what it is .

Now .

We have a gl down here .

I think that's what that is .

I was told in the last time , one of the nicer homes there was sold for $25,000 .

So something like this is almost a giveaway at this point closed permanently .

3 13 , 23 the pan the garden out of business , everything pretty much vacant walk right down the center of the street .

Here back in the day , you can see the boss looking over the workers very , very hard work .

This looks like an office or some sort of manufacturing .

It just feels like everybody picked up and left .

Very cool old building .

I was told by a local the other day that these rivers just flowed black back in the day .

Social security dot gov .

Now we got to meet some locals eventually , but I was told in these parts and I can't confirm this at all .

But roughly half the people are living off some sort of disability or food stamps or some government assistance and half are working their butts off .

Ok .

There are two guys up there .

First two people in town on the streets , Iraq from 05 to 06506 in Baghdad .

A lot of guys here were in the military .

My man here signed up , didn't get to go .

Me and he was gonna go in together and uh he had to clear some stuff up .

Were you uh were you sad that you couldn't go or did you want to go ?

I want to go back .

Do you guys work in the mines ?

You don't anymore ?

You ain't got time to spend no money .

So , I mean , you don't enjoy life , you just ain't nothing enjoyable about it to me .

So , a miner , how much are they working ?

Uh , I would run that 48 hours every week , at least , but sometimes 60 hours , 60 plus hours and that's underground for 60 hours , 60 hours a week .

What does that do to your sleep cycle ?

That , it's terrible .

You , you're always tired , you're walking around , you , you're a zombie most of the time .

You know ?

So it's not for me now .

A lot of people it is for , but it's , it's not for me anymore .

I did the whole three weeks in the , you did three weeks , the whole three weeks .

What , what work did you like better military or coal mine for sure .

Good brotherhood in the military .

You can't find it nowhere else .

What about the coal mine ?

Good brother brotherhood there .

But , yeah , they brotherhood there .

Everybody looks out for each other .

How about in wells right now ?

Is it a close community people ?

Uh , pretty , it's pretty tight here .

Everybody looks out for one another .

You know , you get out of here , this town , you know , everybody is so many different walks of life .

But you get out here , you got the , you got families .

If you get in a holler , everybody knows everybody .

Oh , yeah .

You'd be a kid down there and get in trouble down here .

Time you get home , you're about five people then call your mama .

Saying , hey , time you get there , they are waiting on .

Everybody knows everybody .

It's not a good thing .

Sometimes , you know , I had a few friends telling me don't come into this part of Appalachia .

It's gonna be super dangerous .

People are gonna be closed off and I , I , everyone's been cool .

Everybody , hey , people from out of town and stuff , we get it a lot .

You know what I mean ?

Most of these people are , they're , they're not from here .

They just come down here just to see the , the country and , I mean , that's , that's the new industry , huh ?

You got a bit of tourism out here ?

That's , that's helped a little store really good since they built that , uh , mccoy Trail .

It's been mad people coming here from out of town .

It's been crazy .

Why the bars here ?

Is there a lot of crime or no break in ?

Really ?

It's just this , this area right here .

Uh , I guess probably in the early two thousands it was pretty , pretty rough , you know .

Uh , but now everything's kind of calmed down , settle down .

So there's not a lot of thieving and stuff like that now .

But there used to be that , that stuff's probably that place to come in in the nineties .

So it's gotten better in that sense .

Yeah , it's gotten better and better , but it just keeps getting better .

It keeps getting better .

I mean , the population is going down or you walk out here , you get every one of these streets will be pulling on everybody and it'd be our generation .

Most of them left here .

How old are you ?

I am .

Uh , so most of them left .

So when way back , when the streets were busy , when you were talking 20 years ago , uh , in the nineties , probably , probably it slowed down in the two thousands .

It slowed down gradually and the younger kids just don't like to get outside or what the , these , these last two or three generations , I believe they don't really get out much .

Uh , most of them can't change a flat .

So they , they , they , uh it's a different breed than what we was , how we was raised , any kind of playstation game or anything like that .

So they're inside on the screens .

You guys don't wanna leave , you wanna stay .

Oh If I didn't have three babies here , I've been gone .

I've been gone a bunch of a couple of times , a few times and uh , I always end up back .

It's a gym .

Now , did you go to school up there ?

Uh It was a , a high school there then as you , uh , as you went by it , they turn to a Children .

How was it back in the day ?

That was a lot of kids .

How you doing ?

I've been doing well .

Thank you , sir .

This used to be , this used to be a booming place .

It was booming back in that .

Well , when the mine shut down the country and the economy went down .

People laughing at the business , uh , business shut down at one time .

First buy anything you wanted here .

We , if we live , we , because you wanted to , we had all kinds of different grocery stores , cash stands , bus turn on , you could buy everything you needed .

You buy everything that you need .

When did the Walmart shut while back ?

Ok .

So you love Welsh .

Yeah .

Good people out here , Danny , you work in the Suntan .

You're out there on the the the the pool side with the ladies or what you getting darker .

You look like me .

I know I'm gonna go up there guys .

Can I I can't walk in or anything , right ?

Ok .

You too .

Thank you .

God bless there are the guys down there looking up at the school that they went to .

It's the cycle of life and everywhere is always at a different point in the cycle .

Maybe there will be a time where people will see this as a place just to get away from everything .

Appreciate the architecture .

Some industry would have to move in because everything is cheap here as far as living costs .

But it looks like there's some bunk beds in here .

New windows .

So that's being used .

God , I love this old style .

Oh , it looks like a nursery or something for kids .

So the guys used to run through here between classrooms .

You can almost hear the door banging open and closed , the laughter of the walls down the stairs .

Recess about to happen .

The bell going off three o'clock end of the day , gonna get out in town and hang out with friends .

This place .

Got me a little emotional .

You guys are missionaries from Utah .

I'm from , I'm from Oregon .

You know , Appalachia pretty well at this point .

At least this portion of it , I think out of all areas is like the Welsh , like uh mcdowell , a little bit of Wyoming is about the most like West Virginian type like Deep Appalachian .

You can get , how have you been received in the hollers on the hollers very well .

People out here very humble people .

Very kind .

I've served in Ashland , Kentucky , uh down parts of um Virginia and stuff .

And then out here it's been most caring people that everyone will let you in a lot of time .

They're offering like food and stuff and it's just really , really nice people .

So it's a , it's a good place to be a missionary because some , some places in America , I'm sure the door just shuts in your face really quickly .

Sorry , I did that once a long time ago .

Sorry , I forgive you .

Ok .

You got some names .

Yeah , I just wrote down the uh Panther and JOLO .

Those are two places I gotta go take care .

Good luck .

Thank you guys .

Take care if you don't ever see me again .

I'm in Panther .

Let my wife know .

Right .

See ya .

It's always interesting to see the missionaries out in the world .

They go absolutely everywhere and have zero fear .

Take some .

It's a one way road .

What a car every 20 minutes , huh ?

You guys live right up here ?

Yeah , she was right there and I live on the corner .

So , what were you saying about your work these days ?

I work 68 hours a week , six days a week .

68 .

What's your shift from every day ?

5 to 5:05 a.m. to five in the evening and all the overtime I want .

Do you think people in the country don't understand coal , coal work that well , or what do you think that working in coal mines , even if it's underground or on top of the ground ?

It's hard work .

And you go out 10 , 12 hours a day .

If you go on the ground , you don't see daylight until the end of your shift .

You work out over top of the ground , you got the heat , you got trucks , you got inspectors , you got to deal with .

It's not an easy job .

A lot of people don't understand it if it wasn't for coal mines .

A lot of these people around here would be starving to death .

They wouldn't have electricity , they wouldn't have heat and here's , you got the government and everybody want to shut the coal mines down .

Do away with this .

Do everything electric .

Well , you gotta have coal to run electric plants .

A lot of steam ships have to have coal to run , to transport goods back and forth .

But a lot of your coal goes to China .

Right .

Yeah , it's just , you gotta learn the people , you gotta learn the culture and with people out here everybody thinks we're just dumb country folk .

But actually a lot of us out here is more than a lot of people give us credit for .

We work hard , we support our families and we don't let nobody step in between that .

People out here will bend over backwards to help you .

They'll give your shirt off your back as long as you don't make them mad or cross them .

I hear a man's word and his handshake is his bond .

No , a lot of places around here , hasn't you guys ?

All the best ?

All right guys .

So this is a hauler and the hauler is just a narrow road that goes up a valley off the main road .

So , what I've been told is in most haulers , everyone knows everyone really well and you know , an out of state or car or any different car than they're used to .

It's well known .

So , depending on the hauler and this is just what I've been told , it can be uh very friendly , very warm and welcoming or the opposite .

But from what I've seen so far in West Virginia , everyone's been very , very , very friendly and hospitable .

So , let's see if we can get up here and I don't know what we're gonna see , to be honest .

Suck it all along .

Sketch .

All right .

Sometimes you just can't put the camera on things and they were , uh , junking out on something anyways .

They were nice .

At least .

I mean , we're deep in now .

This is deep , deep , deep countryside .

Rule America .

There is another group of guys I talked to down the road before I couldn't put the camera on them .

That's the problem .

You can't just come up and be like , can I put the camera on you ?

I have to feel it out .

Uh You know , a lot of these guys are used to , maybe not used to but know of how they're portrayed .

And , you know , most people , not all but a lot of them that come into this part of the country , put them under the bus , make them look , make them look bad .

And so rightfully so they're hesitant to be on camera and I would be too 100% .

I totally get it .

So it's about feeling it out and then , uh , if they're cool , then it's awesome .

I can get that conversation on camera and give you guys a look of what it's really like here .

We got quite a journey though ahead .

It's at least another four hours or so to Kentucky because we took this back road looks like maybe an old school renovated into apartments .

The guy washing his house , you can see the soot , which means we're on a coal route .

The trucks carrying coal are on this road .

So this is definitely a more built out hauler .

We got some houses that are barely there but then some newer stuff .

So it's a real mix .

You can ask these guys here , what's going on ?

How you doing ?

You think about me ?

Oh , thank you , ma'am .

So this is a nice hauler .

Is that fair to say ?

Yeah , no , won't help the house .

They call , what's that ?

They call ?

They call this number one a long time ago .

Oh , they got uh now they came to the what , what's the name up now ?

My part uh Branch Road , branch Road .

Ok .

So the haulers are basically , they go up a valley .

Everybody knows everybody is that the story .

Everyone knows everyone's business .

I've been here since 69 .

You , you've been here since 69 ?

Has it changed at all ?

I thought you might be interested in looking at this .

It tells about all kinds of mines all around Mac County .

We're still in mcdowell .

And so is everything here , right ?

Yeah , cos the history here , you know , Biden and uh take the , what are people gonna do ?

You know that the only thing people got to live on , you know , working in the mines .

It's the only economy out here .

That's the only ain't no factories in here , you know , and coal mines on keeping this place going did you work in the mines ?

Yeah .

I worked in the mines .

How many years I worked a long time .

Falls and stuff you had to , you know , on your knees and stuff that you take all the on .

Sometimes the tops are heavy .

The hold the top on the , you know , and all come out .

When I told the mine , I said the cut too far against the , the , I said waters are peeping out the right side of the corner of the cup .

We got water in the , in the , we was riding in the back of it and that water has 12 breaks of water backed up and it just that out just like a explosion .

You know , the water is deep but you feel like we had same time but you still feel you save some coal miners .

Yeah .

How many I have about eight of us working on , you saved eight people .

Yeah .

When that water out there .

Wow .

Wow .

So this , this chapter right here tells you all about what happened down here at this mines .

And then it gives you how many people died in these mines here .

I think they said they were 90 90 something people down here in .

It's got , it's got all their names listed .

There's the big monument it was down here at and they moved it .

So do you guys , I mean , you're , you talk about it all the time .

You live , you eat and breathe it right ?

That's , that's something keep us going .

You know , mine is just like being at home to me .

You know , I worked when I worked every day , just like being at home .

You know , the mind is really safe from what it is out here .

You gotta get killed with a car or plane .

This is a man and his young son , both of them were killed down here in this mine .

So you were saying when Biden came in , he tried to shut the mines down his policies .

Well , they talk about mansion and Biden is against the coal .

If we don't get somebody in there for the coal , we're gonna be losing 100,000 jobs around here .

So , you know , it's interesting .

I looked in mcdowell County , the , the voter records .

It was very blue here , like 70% Democrat and then it just changed the last couple of elections to hard because of the policies , right ?

So whatever policies support coal , you're gonna vote for that guy .

You have Trump Trump part of coal and justice part of coal , you know , and , uh , if we get somebody in there wanna go , uh , windmills or gas , uh , it might be our job around here .

Yeah .

What would you do if you didn't have coal ?

Well , we didn't have coal that might be hurting because they gotta make steel with that coal .

And , you know , a lot of the things they make for coal and if we don't keep the coal , they ain't gonna have no coal to make steel stuff with .

So you can't make steel with gas , natural gas or oil , right ?

You have to make it with coal .

Yeah , you have to make it with coal or something , you know , burn hot coal , natural gas .

Ain't gonna make me .

My dad was killed down here in his mines before I was born .

He was killed in March and I was born in August .

I'm sorry ?

Wow .

And my late husband , he , he didn't work this mine , but he worked what they call the wagon mines .

When we were first married , he worked , they had cars , they called them cars .

Then they a ton or so , they wasn't very high .

And , uh , the coal was real low and he would come home and tell about how he would lay down on his side and take a big shovel .

And the shovel was about this wide , take it and shovel that coal up in cars and they'd hold a ton to two ton of coal and he got a dollar a car .

Do you have internet out here ?

I was told he didn't part time part time .

So it , it , it goes in and out sometimes when it goes from , you know , out it'll stay out for days and weeks at a time .

So sometimes they go out , the telephone goes out for two weeks .

I don't have , I don't have what they call landline phone no more .

I just use cell phone , you get cell phone coverage now this hauler .

So if I go up to the top , you think that's ok ?

Yeah , you're gonna travel all the way , go past the great go way to the top , go out past the graveyards and just keep on going .

And when you get out there past the church , you'll turn down the hill and when you get right at the bottom there .

So it , it , it ac I won't come back this way .

I'll just keep going around .

Ok .

I think I'll explore .

Why not .

Thank you .

Yes , thank you , ma'am .

Appreciate it .

You , you , you married ?

Well , you married , I've been married .

Uh my second marriage , I've been married now .

Thank you so much .

How long I've been married ?

20 years .

How long I've been married ?

20 years .

Long time .

Jake .

I said he married , well , he married the right woman .

He married my ex daughter-in-law .

Wait , he's married to you .

He , he was , he married my ex daughter in law and his brother is married .

One of his brothers is married to one of my daughters and now you two are married .

No , no , I thought you were a husband .

Wife .

I'm sorry ?

No , no , we're just , I've noticed Molly's life .

So , yeah .

Ok .

Got you .

I said he married my oldest son's ex-wife .

Oh , ok .

Got you .

I sat down and talk to her .

You know , she's gonna get too much , you know , a lot of people or , you know , too much company in my work .

Every time I talk to my brother , I'll stop to stop down here and talk to you .

Oh , that's cool .

So , you guys are all connected here ?

Everyone knows everything .

That's nice .

You don't feel lonely and if something goes wrong something happens , the neighbors get you in at , they do what they can , you know , death in the family or sickness , you know , bad sickness .

Somebody gets hurt or something .

Pitch in like , just put their time in or they actually put help with money too if they need money .

You know , and they , uh , they cook food , bring it in even if it's different families .

That's great .

That's really , yeah , I know .

I have been down this road here in this holler .

I watched them grow up small kids .

They played with my kids .

Are you the grand of the holler ?

I guess 20 minutes into the holler .

We have the Dunford Family Cemetery just past some great people .

They came up to the door here .

We were talking for a while .

I just couldn't run the camera just a lot of that .

But I'm getting some of it .

I'm getting some of it for you guys .

I'm sure this is super important for the locals here .

Family is absolutely everything here .

Many generations living under one roof quite often .

And in these haulers , some of these families came four or five generations ago and have stayed and I've been told some never leave .

They actually , they just never leave the holler or maybe they get out a bit .

But Charleston , the capital is like a world away .

Forget about DC , New York , California .

Those are like a different galaxy well kept cemetery .

Dunford Dile , another Dunford Dunford , Dunford .

And this is the Dunford Row and we're not gonna get a name on those got ciphers very short life of 18 years .

Don't know what's going on over there .

No .

All right .

Just had the coolest conversation with a guy .

It's too bad .

He didn't want to be filmed .

Him and his family were out there at this pretty nice house .

He works as a manager .

I believe it was a manager at one of the coal companies .

They cannot hire young people straight out of high school without a college education or anything for 80 to $100,000 .

He also stated roughly 60% of kids under twenties , I'd say 10 years are on drugs of some sort and don't want to work .

So I hate to put the negative story in here , but I like to capture the reality and that's one man's opinion and his experiences .

It doesn't mean it's , you know , through and through fact .

Uh but that's how we learn about like the local on the ground perspective .

Great guy , really cool guy , but a bit pessimistic about like the future of this place because of the drugs and the fact that kids just do not want to work .

He was 45 I think and said , yeah , in his generation , it was everyone got to work .

And now he said this is , this is gonna die out out here .

Eventually .

He also said there are prostitutes in some of these small towns .

The dope heads don't mess with them because everyone's packing the lady grandma of the holler , uh the dope heads don't mess with her because she'll shoot him .

He said just such a good dude .

He's honest .

Straightforward .

No BS .

That's what you get .

Just going off .

These random roads deep , deep , deep in the hollers of West Virginia started to get a lot nicer down here as far as properties .

But Virginia has from first impressions , a bit of a different feel and on a sad Miss West Virginia met such cool people in that state here in Grundy , Virginia .

Been out of West Virginia for just about 30 minutes .

It feels like a different world out here .

The Walmart is the luxury edition social media has absolutely destroyed .

You know , an entire generation as far as the only thing they know how to do is play on cellular phone .

So you were saying when I was inside , it's tough fighting kids to work .

They don't want to work very hard , but they uh around these parts .

I mean , a lot of it goes back to the morals that the families have taught them and I don't believe they , I don't believe they're teaching them the responsibility of work ethic in society .

Ok .

I was thinking when I got out to the sticks of West Virginia , Virginia , it was gonna be a bit immune from that .

Maybe I was a bit naive .

I honestly thought it would be like kids on the streets .

BMX bikes society in general , social media has definitely ruined .

Now I'm creating social media .

But these are the kind of social media you're doing though .

If people look at it and understand it , maybe they'll let their kids get out , you know , and kick rocks , play , play , kick ball .

I mean , something besides just except this one you have working on it .

We have a very , we have very few kids that are 18 to 24 that actually get out and try to produce at a job you're holding this place up , huh ?

Keep these guys in line .

Is that ok ?

I'm doing a video on Appalachia .

So how about the generation you came out of high school with ?

What , what percentage would you say are actually working class Americans at this point at this very point from my class .

Um I would say maybe 50% if that because I personally I'm gonna be honest with you , my best friend from high school is currently locked up in prison for drugs .

So just as you were saying a while ago , I I've seen multiple people from my graduating class on drugs and , I mean , just down the wrong path in general and these are people that have been given opportunities to , to , like , go further in life and they just choose not to , they're content with being what they are , you know , what is , what is it right now ?

FentaNYL ?

Yes .

Yes .

Ok .

So you're saying 50% of kids out here they're working their butts off .

Oh , I don't want to call you a kid .

How old are you ?

Ok .

Sorry .

23 .

Ok .

Young adult , 50% are working their butts off .

50% are junked out on drugs .

And a lot of these people , they have kids and they , their parents are raising their kids while they're out here just doing whatever they want to do .

They're junked out on drugs or mom and dad still taken care of .

It's crazy that we're in the same state right now .

It's Fairfax County , right near DC .

Right .

That's where the Power Center is .

That's the nerve center of the country .

Well , I don't know .

They're not , they're not really caring about the amazing story that we have here .

Personally , I give people a second chance .

Always have .

We have a girl here right now who just worked two jobs .

She , she finished up 1400 hours of community service from a drug , from a drug situation .

She's really straighten herself out and she is a role employee 1400 hours .

She would go to the courthouse and work 9 to 49 to 5 .

You come straight here and work 5 to 10 , 5 to 11 and then almost an hour home .

So , when you were in high school , was it hard to avoid the drugs or ?

It was easy ?

It was just like that crowd's over there and we're over here and I'm not , I have nothing to do with it .

There was drug usage during high school when I was in high school , but it wasn't as bad .

Like , it was not as easy to get your hands on something , you know , like I was one of those people that , uh nobody really talked to me .

I mean , I just stayed to myself .

I was kind of a , a student .

I done what I had to do and then I went home and I worked from the time I was 16 until now .

So , and I'm actually getting ready to graduate college with my associates degree , criminal justice here .

She's been here since I was 16 and he was kind of hard .

Are you gonna pull over , pull over your manager when he's speeding there a lot ?

I can tell you that and it was harder for me to stay away from it in my generation because everybody was smoking marijuana , which is completely nothing anymore .

You would be a , that what you can walk into a store and buy now and it's changed that much in five years .

The , the drugs are growing rapidly in this little small community because everybody was just isolated and you had nothing else to turn to at that point .

Or at least that's what they make more money at home than they were to get out and work .

This is true .

This is true .

So all those nice houses coming into grundy from West Virginia .

Who are those people ?

Cold old money stuff or some of them ?

I mean , and then you have , you know , your school teachers , they live in some of the nicer homes .

So this is a place where the school teacher can live in a nice home .

Oh , yeah , you just got out of high school , right .

So , how many people from your high school class ?

Do you know that are out here in our community doing work ?

Yeah .

Actually working , like you go , I'd say , probably around 25% .

Like the majority of them are either on chicks or living with their parents and they don't really care to work .

I've tried getting them into an engineering program to tell them you need to do something .

Mom and dad ain't gonna be able to take care of you forever .

You're not gonna always have people in your life to support you .

You have to , you know , actually try to make a name for yourself .

But , so checks , how do 19 year olds get checks ?

Well , see one of my buddies , he got a check because he had a seizure .

So he gets $600 like every month , what was his seizure from ?

They said it was from some Japanese disease he had ever since he was born .

He was born with it .

And one of my friends , he went on disability , he has anxiety .

So he still lives with his parents .

He still draws his chicks .

He doesn't try to work .

How old he is ?

20 .

Is it legitimate ?

The anxiety or is it just like just to get the money ?

Honestly , I can't tell because he does seem to have like panic attacks .

Personally , I believe anxiety is something we all share and it's just something you can work yourself into .

But he's always kind of used it as like a crutch pretty much to get him out of taking tests to get him out of participating in physical education .

Right .

So he's milk , he's milking the system .

I believe so .

Ok .

And so a lot of , a lot of kids your age are doing that .

Unfortunately .

Yes , me personally , I came from a long line of drug users .

I will be the first in my family to hold a college degree .

I have to protect myself in order to keep getting further in life .

When they put me on the anxiety and depression medicine , it was just irritation all the time .

Like every little thing , usually I'm a very patient person .

I train people here on a daily .

I have a child and everything and I'm very cool , calm , tiered like , I'm not an angry person at all and it just , it made me so , like , irritated , like , every little thing would just piss me off .

But once I quit taking it , like , I had a couple of days where I just didn't want to get out of bed at all .

It was just horrible .

But after about a week of not taking it , I felt normal and then I figured out , you know , different coping mechanisms like meditation .

Um , I do that .

Um , I go on my hikes with my son .

You know , we walk the dog and , you know , and we have a whole farm full of animals .

Like we've got lizards , snakes , everything .

So we kind of keep yourself occupied .

You know .

So you're off the medication now and you found better therapy through nature walks .

How many people do you think are on medicine ?

Roughly around here ?

Yeah , I would say quite a few percent .

What percentage in this area ?

At 65% of the people would be on some kind of medicine at some point .

And , I mean , as far as the depression medicine , I'd say , well over half on it alone .

But see what they do is a lot .

We had an employee that worked here .

He would not let the medicine get any system .

It would make him do all these crazy things .

And then he'd go to the doctor and tell him it wasn't working and they'd put him on something else .

And plus he was doing other things with this medicine .

I don't know what , and it just , and I've seen that and I was going , yeah , 18 year old kid ruined his life over .

I just caught one .

Like , if you guys mind if I film this , is that cool ?

Let's see if I can hook you into it .

If I look into it , you can film the whole thing .

I gotta get done in here though .

I don't think you'll be able to get done in here .

It's all mud .

I'll get you from above .

And I had one that was be in my pull up under the bridge and then I , that one that I just broke me off .

Yeah , that , that one big one is like that .

Am I scaring the fish sitting up here ?

Not really , but I believe I scare them because I hope that big one and then it broke me off and uh you should have been here 10 minutes ago , man .

I missed the moment .

Hey , so your buddy here was saying you're a diesel mechanic , you're going to school for it , right ?

Cool .

Good to hear these stories because I was just downtown and they're saying kids aren't working at all these days in archaeology .

Nice .

Nice .

And your boys here from uh Indiana , you work at Dairy Queen manager ?

Nice .

How old are you ?

Are you ?

The youngest manager in Dairy Queen History blew up in 1939 .

What the mine , yeah .

Uh , killed like 50 people .

It's still up there too .

There's a carving on the mine entrance with the date on it .

They brought a bunch of Italian , uh , sculptors in here to do it .

Oh , no way .

It says 1937 on the guy .

I know Ed , but he's gonna start making a heritage trail up there very soon .

Cool .

So , you guys really respect your miners .

Yes , sir .

And then also we're really proud of our veterans here too .

That not a matter of fact , during the civil war , uh , this county supplied , uh , units for or supplied men for three units to go in , uh , the 34th Virginia Calvary , 10th Kentucky Calvary , and , uh , the second Virginia State honor .

You're into history .

What really got me into ?

It was my grandma telling me stories about my papa , uh , or about my third great grandfather's her papa .

Uh , he was a native , half native and he signed up in the 34th .

He fought , he fought Gettysburg , Sharpsburg , all that .

That's what really got me into it .

Private .

Andrew Coal Company C 34 Virginia Calvary , which is the I got a grant .

Longwood University .

Four years .

Uh , history , archaeology .

Up in farm .

They pay your tuition full , full ride .

Yeah .

And then two years of it , I'll be spent in London , UK , London .

Wait , what , what do you want me to sing ?

I love you .

The virgin .

Yeah , I sang too .

Of course , these boys had to bring it up .

Let's hear it that before these callous hands and all this work , you sit up at flowers acting like we live forever getting high and skipping class .

Yeah , I reckon we were he but in her eyes , we were saying now calling all the boys home , heaven's angels carried her away .

So I , and it hurts me .

So its mountain beauty that the world's call home and I can't see her up .

Laurie .

I can see her through the pine .

Thanks , man .

That was so cool .

When you're a bored kid in Appalachia , I mean , you get into anything .

That's interesting .

I mean , so you , you either get into anything interesting or you get into drugs , right ?

I mean , pretty much it is an epidemic here .

It's bad and it's not so much the marijuana and stuff like that .

It's stuff like meth heroin , things of that sort .

I've seen my family destroyed by it .

I've seen other people's families destroyed by my stepfather was on the , uh , the meth real bad .

He's no longer with us cousin .

I'm sorry , ma'am .

Uh , but I want to show people that Appalachia is not that we are more than just drugs and coal mine .

I mean , we have history here that spans , if you're counting the Native American history spans about 1000 years , right ?

We have so much more to offer the , the culture , the music , uh , the people , the people are just great .

I mean , folks here will , will help anyone .

It doesn't matter who you are .

That's , that's what I love about it here is that no matter what your background is , no matter where you come from , they'll help you .

If you're a good person , if you have respect , they will help you .

And yes , sometimes we get a little rowdy , sometimes we get a little reckless but , you know , just good hearted people .

So what do you think is needed in Appalachia ?

Better leadership .

I think pride , not a lot of folks are proud of who they are .

They're not proud here .

I thought Appalachian people were very proud .

Well , the older generation is , but a lot of the younger generation , you know , they've kind of lost their way a little bit .

Why do you think they're not proud because people's never taught them , people's never taught them where they come from , where they uh how resilient they actually are , you know .

Right , because our ancestors , at least mine speaking for mine , I'm a direct descendant of Viking kings .

All the kings in Southwest Virginia is descended from beer and Ironside .

First king in America was a guy named Ron SB .

He got the last name King as a nickname as a epithet given to him because he was in the Swedish army and he was the bastard son of a noble from the house of and he came to Pennsylvania in the 16 twenties and his descendants actually moved south .

Uh His great grandson , Lieutenant Mathias Keen , ended up founding King Mountain and he was a soldier in the Continental Army .

I mean , bad ass people .

Very bad ass people .

Uh Makes you proud to be a descendant of that , right ?

You got , that was , that was a , that was allowed .

I got this .

Oh my God , got it .

No , I didn't , I didn't have my break in .

I've been talking to a guy and lost him .

Lost , you lost him again .

The Romans just copied the Greeks homework .

Committed a little different .

Who ?

Are you ?

A bigger fan of the Romans and the Greeks ?

Oh Greeks 100% .

They kind of do have a little bit of beef against the Romans .

You have beef against the Romans a little bit .

Why ?

Because what they did to the Germanic people , not just Germanic , but the Celts too .

The mass genocide , man .

They got a back special battle for 85 ad .

You know the whole story of Armenians .

You , you , you are way more up on this stuff than the Armenia was a , was a Germanic auxiliary for the Romans , but he defected and was the general for the Germanic tribesmen led them into the black forest , set trees ablaze , cut them down , divided up the legionaries .

It was a blood bath .

General virus was killed too .

Oh And it also confused the Romans because Armenia was still wearing his Roman armor .

And actually if you go to Munich .

There's , there's a statue of Armenian me and my camp , the uh Lieutenant Colonel Vince Camp , the son of confederate veterans .

We put up uh the first confederate statue in Buchanan County last year .

Uh My family cemetery , it was at the grave of my fourth great grandmother , Elizabeth Jackson and her husband died during the battle of mcdowell in Highland County , Virginia .

So , ok , for many people , when they hear a confederate , all they think is of , of racism immediately .

No man .

What are you ?

What are your thoughts on that ?

Like , do you , do you have friends from different ethnicities or is that an issue ?

But that problem wasn't anybody .

My fourth great grandfather on my dad's side was a black man who fought in the confederate army .

His name was private Nathaniel Hawthorne and he was a sharpshooter for the 37th Virginia Infantry from Russell County .

Racism confuses me .

It really does simply because of the fact that we all come from the same place .

First evidence of humanity popped up in Africa about 2 million years ago .

That's where humanity come from .

We are all humans .

That's why racism I think is excuse my French kind of bullshit .

You know , it's made to divide people , it's made to tear people down .

I didn't get my first cell phone until I was 15 years old .

I woke up at daylight , went with my , we went , worked in the garden when it come hay time we mowed , tattered , raked all the hay .

I threw hay since I was eight years old .

I pushed around 44 bales of Hey Rose .

They're like that big around .

I rode them around .

Uh , I got dirt back one time , messed the wheel up on it .

I had to have a whole new chain , had to have a carburetor .

Everything .

Dad looked at me and it was because he wanted me to have responsibility and work for what I got because I'd appreciate it more and I had to go out , I did it and then I fixed my motorcycle with the money .

I made anything I've ever had .

My dad helped me with one vehicle .

He paid half on my first vehicle .

That's all he done from now on .

I've probably had , I'm 18 and I've probably had 40 vehicles .

40 40 40 years , just trading up .

I'd fix them up and sell them .

You can ask Zach , that's all I've ever done is work on vehicles .

I could take this truck right here , take the motor and transmission out of it tonight and tomorrow day have everything put back together .

So you're saying kids don't work like you did .

No , they don't .

Some of them do now don't get me wrong .

50 50 50 .

Yeah , because nowadays it's like mommy and daddy spoils you and I guess that's just how it goes and not only that , but a lot of people around here are on , like , checks , they get , they get checks , uh , for social security and that's how the youth is brought up here .

They , they're brought up that .

Ok , so my mom and dad live this way so I can live that way .

You know , that's what they think .

Ok , but you guys weren't brought up like that .

No , I've watched this , man , I've watched this boy right here with his mama .

They completely redone the inside of a house that was from what , 19 or 18 hundreds .

Yeah .

My , my house was built in 1910 and I've watched him rebuild that whole house .

This man can build anything out of wood , make you tables , make you chairs , anything you want .

He's a woodwork guy .

Yeah .

But now I'm not gonna lie to you .

Stolen , you put a book in front of me .

I'm an idiot .

I'm in college for six months right now .

One of my welding classes , I get my diesel , I get my class A CD LS .

And as soon as I'm done with that , I go straight to work and you're really set because less , less people your age are doing that now , I think .

Right .

I think that I'm doing it because in a way and it's the only thing that I know and I lived paycheck to paycheck growing up .

That's how it went .

It wasn't because dad and him couldn't provide for us .

It was because my dad was in a bad motor motorcycle accident .

And he couldn't hardly walk but I want more for my kids .

Then what ?

Uh , I have , I'm not gonna give them everything .

They're still gonna have to work for stuff .

Like I didn't go on my first vacation , like an actual vacation , like , let's say to the wilderness until I was with my best friend and I earned the money to pay for it because that he couldn't walk around the way that everybody else did .

And then I've carried him from inside my house to his truck , set him in his truck and then carry him from the truck all the way back in the house because he was on a cane .

And , but besides all that , there's kids here that work and they work their high end off .

But then there's them kids that's privileged that it's because of the social security check .

Why would you give a drug head , social security when he's putting all of his money towards something that is tearing this state down ?

Why would you do that ?

Knowing that they are a drug addict ?

So , why do you think ?

I know at least 20 people that have to go to the methadone clinic every other week just because they're so hooked and they draw some security .

All right guys , Kentucky , 10 minutes that way .

But we're not gonna make it today because it's getting dark .

Uh What an amazing adventure today through Appalachia .

Through the far most removed part of Appalachia .

You can see how important coal is .

It's sort of the center point of everything in this region .

It's beautiful .

The people are fantastic as far as everyone I met today and some didn't want to get on camera .

Understandably .

So , uh but you saw some of them on camera which were great and drugs obviously .

I mean , that's everywhere in the country going up .

But I think it's even more concentrated here in this region tomorrow .

Meeting up with 1/5 generation coal miner in Kentucky .

That will be the next video and thanks for coming along until the next one .