Jamie and Domi talk about the day when York County stepped on the head of the snakeheads … of the Chinese gangster variety. These venomous smugglers specialized in trafficking human cargo across the sea into America and other countries. Their impact in 1993 touched York County and its prison when INS detained 154 smuggled Chinese people crammed aboard the Golden Venture that ran aground in June 1993 on Rockaway beach, Queens. By 1997, about 50 Golden Venture seekers of freedom remained in York County prison, held four years without being charged. Jamie and Domi tell about those years when a group of faithful area residents advocated for them in court, the news media and with government officials. These prisoners were released after Congressman Bill Goodling brought their plight to the attention of President Bill Clinton. Their legacy includes scores of folk art sculptures created in prison that remain in private collections and local museums. And that legacy includes an engaged York County community who saw injustice and never gave up.

Season 1, 2021: Episode 1 - The Baptist Farm and Underground Railroad: https://www.witnessingyork.com/mapping-meaning/farming-by-day-underground-railroad-by-night/

Episode 2 - Trauma in War and the Workplace: https://www.witnessingyork.com/mapping-meaning/a-soldiers-escape-healing-ptsd-in-nature/

Episode 3 - The People of the Golden Venture: https://www.witnessingyork.com/mapping-meaning/access-to-justice-the-mantra-of-liberty-for-the-golden-venture/

Episode 4 - A Hill to Die on: https://www.witnessingyork.com/mapping-meaning/a-hidden-space-the-potters-field-in-north-york/

Episode 5 - Millers' Tales: https://www.witnessingyork.com/mapping-meaning/a-woman-with-one-arm-how-the-wallace-sisters-successfully-ran-their-grist-mill-despite-a-disability/

Episode 6 - Susquehanna Trail: This Old Road Keeps Rolling On: https://www.ydr.com/story/news/history/blogs/york-town-square/2008/10/21/susquehanna-trail/31557873/.

Related sites:

Preserving Newberrytown: https://www.facebook.com/groups/96217

Retro York: https://www.facebook.com/groups/retroyork

Witnessing York: https://www.witnessingyork.com/

Wandering in York County: https://yorkblog.com/wandering/