[ID, Reddit post in r/WestVirginia,

I 100% support these riots. And I’ll tell you why:

When West Virginia coal miners were getting shit on by the government, crushed by the coal companies, and harassed and murdered by hired Pinkerton thugs, you know what they did?

They rioted, burned down company buildings, blew up a couple of courthouses and offices with dynamite, shut down the entire coal industry (which was the major source of home heating at the time so it caused a national emergency) and shot some cops and Pinkerton men. They stole a TRAIN, parked it on a bridge over the Big Sandy river, and blew up the bridge. The train and about 10 cars loaded with coal are still on the bottom of the river today.

Then to top it all off they went to war with the US Army National Guard, and damn near beat them at Blair Mountain, but the arm brought in air support and was mobilizing tanks.

You might think”well, that was different” and you may think it was justified, but nobody (except the miners) thought it was justified back then, They were called terrorists and traitors, and accused of being communists and ungrateful immigrants with dangerous and radical ideas.

I’m pretty proud of that part of my heritage, so if Americans somewhere out there are grtting shit on and raising hell about it, you won’t see me judging them. I figure they’re entitled.

I’m getting a lot of feedback from people saying “I didn’t learn anything about that in school!” To whick I’d say “Of course you didn’t.”

End ID.]