coal mines

The mining accident in the coal region of West Virginia is a tragedy. The loss of 25 lives in what amounted to the worst explosion in a mine in the past 25 years, along with the death of four miners who were found this past weekend, is inexcusable. We now know that the mine where this incident occurred was riddled with safety violations that the Massey Coal corporation skirted and ignored.

I live in Philadelphia, the birthplace of our nation.  Hours away is the Coal Region, a symbolic place for the unionization of miners, many of whom were immigrants, and exploited under the scope of our Constitution decades ago.  Today, in Philadelphia, taxi drivers are being exploited like the coal miners, and are in a symbolic struggle to unionize and stop the injustices.