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"Our Contemporary Ancestors" Discovered (Again)___________ Garry Barker There is a new surge of confidence and cooperation sweeping across Southern Appalachia, an air of self control and excitement that surely must be growing from the emergence of local leadership. President Clinton and all the candidates have "discovered" us again, as they are prone to do periodically, and maybe this time we'll be ready to deal with it. All the signs are in place for another "discover Appalachia" mission, another highly publicized effort from Washington to bring what then-President William G. Frost of Berea College during the 1890s, termed, "our contemporary ancestors," into the mainstream of America. Whether we want to be mainstreamed or not. President Clinton came to Kentucky on July 5, with stops in Jackson and Hazard counties, to announce his "new markets" program of loans and tax credits designed to bring prosperity to such high poverty regions as Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta. More business and jobs, and solutions to the region's problems, were concerns of the 4,000 people who showed up to see Clinton in Hazard, Kentucky. In 1962, Letcher County lawyer and writer, Harry Caudill, raised the serious doubt whether the nation possessed the skill and tenacity to successfully cope with the region's complex and deep problems. One could apply the same question to the Clinton administration: Will Clinton have the skill and tenacity to cope with Appalachian complex problems? Rev. Jesse Jackson jump-started the potential new discovery cycle with his visit to Appalachia last fall, and we can expect more of the same from the political candidates. We can also expect the attendant negative publicity and the stereotypical depictions of what we are, since the urban media viewers of mountain people seem to see what they had already decided was there. Whether it's there or not. In most ways I'd be willing to swap some bad press for enough Barker is director ofMorehead State University's Kentucky Folk Art Center and a member ofthefirst class ofLeadership East Kentucky. 10 federal dollars, if they'll just send the money and leave their planners in Washington. We know all too well what our problems are. If we begin to forget, editorial writers, documentary film makers, TV news crews, and freelance magazine writers provide plenty of reminders. We all even know, deep down, that the ultimate solution to Southern Appalachia's economic and other troubles is education. At all levels-of ourselves, and of others. We could use lots of federal dollars to improve the quality, pace, and process of that education, if this time they will allow us to become involved in deciding what's to be done. If this time federal "Appalachian" experts will figure out that Lexington is not Appalachia, by historic and contemporary measures, unless all the Hazard natives living there have completely taken over. A recent planning meeting on Appalachian highways was held in Lexington, Kentucky, nowhere near any of the highways that the Appalachian Regional Commission has helped to get built. Planning for a major conference on Appalachia, initiated by Bill Clinton, will take place somewhere in the mountains, probably in Ashland, Kentucky, and Huntington, West Virginia, on August 12-13. A good start. Right now, much of the positive feeling, particularly in East Kentucky, probably stems from the first mountain governor since Bert T. Combs, one who sees to it that we are not ignored. Gov. Paul Patton has managed to offend lots of Pike County residents with his workers compensation reforms, but he has also placed high priorities on East Kentucky programs and projects. His support of the Kentucky Appalachian Commission means that the people who live and work here are being listened to, and he has initiated programs such as "Leadership East Kentucky" to help build networks across the region. If we are about to be "discovered" again, we'd rather not fight and lose another war on poverty. In that last war, like the concurrent one over in Vietnam, it was hard to identify the enemy or the objectives. This time, we'd rather use our own troops and develop our own battle plans. 11 ...
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