Community Matters: An invitation to learn from East Palestine
In the course of history, some things happen that are nearly impossible to explain in fullness. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.
RiverWise, the community organization I have the privilege of leading, has long been committed to patient community storytelling. We pride ourselves on engaging in storytelling that uncovers hope amidst chaos, that carefully examines complexity, and that provides a way of bringing community members together in even the most conflicted of situations. We don’t always get it right; but we keep showing up and continue doing our best to dignify the residents and stories that are shaping our emerging history.
Given this and recognizing that last February’s now infamous Norfolk Southern derailment site sat only several hundred feet from the Beaver County line, RiverWise has been persistently interested in following the unfolding story of residents of East Palestine and surrounding communities who continue to navigate the fallout from this tragedy.
Shortly after the derailment, RiverWise publicly committed itself to “long-form storytelling and advocacy aimed at demonstrating the ongoing personal and community impact of this disaster, showing what happens in the life of an affected community after the national media presence goes away, and cataloging the process of recovering from such a tragedy over the long haul.” We wanted to provide an alternative kind of storytelling to the sensational, extractive narratives often produced after a visible tragedy. We wanted to be around long after the national (and international) media attention waned. We wanted to be patient and persistent in our storytelling, following residents as the slowly unfolding implications of such a disaster revealed themselves bit by bit.
Over the last 14 months, RiverWise has had numerous opportunities to engage with a growing number of residents whose lives were turned upside down by the Norfolk Southern derailment. Our storytelling team has conducted numerous one-on-one interviews. In partnership with the Little Beaver Historical Society, we helped to organize and conduct a public listening session, held just weeks after the derailment took place. Since then, we have gone to numerous community events, including a Thanksgiving gathering for displaced residents. We have been at rallies, gone on driving tours, and participated in the East Palestine Film Festival.
Along the way we have been privileged to speak with mothers and fathers, children, the elderly, farmers, those with chronic illness, volunteers, community leaders, and more. Although vastly different in many ways, these residents are united by their proximity to one of the most significant industrial and environmental disasters in recent history.
Thanks to a partnership with the Clean Air Action Fund as well as funding from the Colcom Foundation, RiverWise has been able to collect much of this work under the heading of a project called “Still Here: Echoes of the East Palestine Train Derailment.” This initiative, which has been managed by RiverWise Director of Strategic Communication Dani Brown can be found online at still-here.media.
This past Saturday, RiverWise had the distinct privilege of showing content from “Still Here” publicly for the first time. In partnership with both Penn State Beaver and Baby Bello, RiverWise created a pop-up art gallery featuring photographs captured by Erin Ninehouser during various interviews and community gatherings conducted by the RiverWise storytelling team. These haunting and beautiful photos were accompanied by quotes from residents themselves. Alongside this work was a video series of short interviews amplifying and deepening the insights captured in Erin’s photos.
After viewing the photos and video testimonies, attendees gathered to watch a short documentary assembled by Christopher Padgett and Joseph Cheney, both members of RiverWise’s storytelling team. Following the documentary, Rob Two Hawks, Zsuza Gyenes, Misty Allison, and Hillary Flint – all residents affected by the derailment – participated in a moderated conversation that I had the privilege of leading. I won’t attempt to recount the nuance of the conversation that unfolded in the short remaining space I have available here. But, we are quickly working to produce a full recording of the evening which will be made available soon on RiverWise’s YouTube channel.
If you are interested in learning more about this continually unfolding story, please consider doing two things. First, take a moment and travel to Beaver Falls. Visit the Baby Bello building, which is located at 2200 Ninth Ave. Spend some time with the installed photographs, watch video shorts, and then leave your thoughts on the panels on the walls that ask for community insights. Second, spend some time navigating the various types of media available at still-here.media. While you’re there, mourn what has been lost by your neighbors. Celebrate their resilience and resolve. And reflect on what might need to be different to protect all of us from similar future tragedies.
As you have undoubtedly heard many times, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Sadly, our neighbors to the north have been learning so many deep and valuable lessons that no community should ever be called upon to absorb. Amidst all of this suffering and struggle continue to emerge many valuable lessons for all of us. Though RiverWise can only begin to uncover the depth of such stories, we are hopeful that our humble efforts might shed a bit of redemptive light on an otherwise tragic chapter in our region’s history.
Daniel Rossi-Keen, Ph.D., is the co-owner of eQuip Books, a community bookstore in Aliquippa and the executive director of RiverWise, a nonprofit working to grow community power and voice so that residents can exercise agency over Beaver County's future. Reach Daniel at daniel@getriverwise.com.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Community Matters: An invitation to learn from East Palestine
