This Week with David Rovics

New song: "Kelly Butte"


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When the automobile came around, the city of Portland, Oregon opened up Kelly Butte as a rock quarry to make gravel to use for paving the streets of the city.  They did not employ anyone to split the rocks, though -- they arrested people off of the streets of the city on all sorts of nonsense charges, and made them split rocks at gunpoint, as prisoners.  This prison rock quarry, run on some of the original land stolen from the original inhabitants, operated like this for almost half a century.  Who are the descendants of the pioneers that were given this land?  We know them well.  Who are the descendants of the rock-splitting indigent prisoners?  Do they live in tents on the sidewalks of the city today?

This is the latest collaboration between me and Virtual Bird.

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