Today we mourn the passing of our dear friend
Julia "Judy" Bonds
We love you Judy. You will always live in our hearts.
Judy Bonds: Remembering A Mother To The Mountains
(1952-2011)
Judy Bonds....Mother to Appalachia...its mountains, its streams, its teaming life, and its rugged mountain people and their culture. On Monday January 3, Judy Bonds exhaled her last breath from the homeland she loved. May that breath's prayer bring renewed life to those of us who have loved her, admired her, and drawn so much strength from her. Judy’s spirit lives on in the arms of God. Judy’s vision, courage, and passion for justice continues to empower those of us blessed to have known her.
Judy
Bonds was a foremost leader in the fight against mountaintop removal. She
lived in Marfork Hollow in the Coal River valley, as her ancestors had lived
for seven generations (many of them underground coal miners). The heavy
foot of Massey Energy Coal Company blasted her surrounding mountains, bled
out its waters and
suffocated
its
trees. Judy finally evacuated her ancestral home in the face of polluting
dust, foul water, and incessant noisefrom the coal operations. She continued to fight MTR, organizing and leading Coal River Mountain Watch. In 2003
Judy Bonds received the Goldman Prize, the world environmental equivalent of the Nobel Prize, for her community
organizing and unwavering battle against coal industry abuse.
Like other outspoken anti-MTR activists in the coalfields, Judy Bonds received innumerable threats, taunts, personal
assaults, and faced bullying coal trucks. Judy refused to flinch, recognizing that to give in to the coal terrorists is to
capitulate to their nefarious strategy. Truth must prevail, but truth requires courage and perseverance.
Two images of Judy Bonds flash through my mind as I try to pray.
One image is that of Judy the fiery activist. Short in stature, Judy is like the shepherd-boy David armed with 5
smooth stones and a sling. Her face is fierce, jaw set, eyes glistening, keen to battle the coal company Goliath that
dares destroy her beloved mountains and abuse her community. Judy whirls and slings her stones as hammer-shot
words of sorrows and angers and facts and truths. Like the biblical Deborah, Judy’s stirring courage leads the
charge. Deborah, a mother of Israel; Judy, a mother of the mountains and its inhabitants, a keeper of the covenant,
a lover of God and God’s people (Judges 5).
The other image is that of Judy, her dark eyes twinkling with joy and laughter, warm arms embracing and hugging,
soft words consoling and inspiring. I have never spent any time with Judy that I have not been freshly inspired,
envisioned, emboldened, encouraged, and appreciated. To be with Judy was to feel valued. Judy Bonds was other-
centered, non-egocentric, honest, and generous of heart.
Judy was a woman of deep faith in God. She was not a “churchy person” nor did she wrap herself up in pieties
and heavenward chatter. Judy’s earthy, robust faith placed her feet on the ground, her sleeves rolled up, her
hands working the ground for God’s truth and justice. She openly loved God by decrying the despoliation of
creation, in God’s name. She trusted God for strength, for truth to prevail, for “justice to roll down like waters, and
righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24). Judy Bonds was a prophet of our time. To use Walter
Bruggemann’s theme in his work, “The Prophetic Imagination,” Judy called people out of their spiritual numbness
and hopelessness in the face of coal industry abuse. And simultaneously, Judy envisioned and led hope-renewed
people to fight injustice and to forge ahead to the promise of a healed land of peace and wholeness.
For more on Julia (Judy) Bonds, here are some links: Coal River Mountain Watch; Huffington Post; Utne Reader;
Americans Who Tell The Truth; Video at PowerShift 2007; Democracy Now interview; Video of Capitol Climate
Action. (videos also shown below article)
---Allen Johnson (January 2011)
Christians For The Mountains
please visit www.judybondsmemorial.com
Judy's family asks that instead of flowers, people donate to the ongoing work of Coal River Mountain Watch
And please we all ask you to do what you can to finally end the destruction known as mountaintop removal.
Below is a Video of the Memorial Service for Judy. It was a beautiful service. The video is rather long - 3 hours.
There are more videos below of Judy speaking and rallying up the people. Speaking the words and message God has placed on her heart to speak.
Thank you God for this amazing woman,
and Thank you Judy for your loving, courageous and faithful heart - Thank you for being you.
