They'll Cut Off Your Project: A Mingo County Chronicle

Chapter 3

3 jimmy and 1 arrived early for the meeting at Goodman, a small mining community about twelve miles west of Williamson. He and several AFDCU enrollees had been working the area for several days and fclt the time was right [or organ izing the community. I drove up the hollow known as Dan's Branch, just to get a look at the physical sctling before the meeting, and on the way up I noticed several people walking out to the mouth of the hollow. The meeting was to be held in an old coal company building. J immy pointed out a house high on the side of a mountain where a snake-handling preacher lived. As far as I know, he was the only snake-handling preacher in the county, and I was hoping that he would leave his religion at home if he came to the meeting. Thinking about trying to explain the concept of community action with a copperhead crawling down the aisle, J told Jimmy that I could stand the politicians at a meeting but not the snakes. Forty·six residents of Goodman turned out to hear us explain the role of the Economic Opportunity Commission and the purpose of our meeting. Everyone listened in- temly, and then several talked about the housing problem. Others told of their own individual hardships and the troubles they had with the local welfare department. Ira Phill ips, an AFDCU enrollee assigned to cut weeds on the state highway, said, "You just can't get a thing out of that welfare department lessen you vote for Noah Floyd's gang, and then it's so little you can't get by on it." The snake.handling preacher and his wife sat near the back of the room, listening to the discussion. Noticing his silence, 1 asked whether he would be interested in helping to organize a community action group in the area. He rose to his feet, walked over to a window, raised it, and spat his tobacco out. Turning toward the group, he said, "I'll tell you, brothers and sisters that are gathered here tonight, there is only one kind of organization 1 will help organize, and that is the church of the living God." His voice grew louder and faster as he proceeded. "I'll tell you there is too much wickedness in this here world for me to worry about worldly things, and the only way out is the way of the Lord. The Lord said if you will believe in him that he'll take care of you, and, if yOll don't believe, you will be condemned to hellfire and damnation. And, brothers and sisters, the flames of hell are hot. "Who knows among liS who has sent these government men in here to organize us and get liS to accept things of the world. For all we know, they may be communist. The Lord saith the poor shall inherit the kingdom of God, and in Revelation he also speaks of the mark of the beast. In the last day, everyone who signs lip will have a mark on his forehead and a number in the palm of his hand. And, brothers and sisters, who is to say this ain't the mark of the beast?" An elderly lady in the second row said, "Amen." Another shouted, "Amen, brother; let the spirit of the Lord speak outl" He smiled and gazed at the crowd. "Now just look at you back there, Jed. You ain't never attended a one of my church services, and, besides that, you ain't worked a day in the last ten years, not since the mine closed down. But you are the first in line when YOll hear of a handout. "Oh God, oh God," he shouted as he pounded his clenched fist on a seat lOp, "what is th is world coming to? My brothers and sisters, let me tell you here, now, and forever , if you don't believe in Cod, there ain't nothing that can be done for you. And, brother, let me tell you there are scriptures in the New Testament that clearly show the way. ]['S easier for the camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." He slowed his pace. "Now I've told you what I...