For one week in late September, I had the honor of joining Reverend Jesse Jackson and International Union of Electronic workers President Ed Fire for a bus tour throughout Appalachia.

The trip was co-sponsored by Rev. Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). We launched it to draw attention to the plight of the poor in this region, working and non-working. Given what we saw and heard, our timing could not have been better.

While the press is quick to crow about the nation's economic boom, there are still many in Appalachia being left behind, and the gap between the region's rich and poor is expanding.

That is why we decided to name our campaign "Close the Gaps: Leave No One Behind." Our four-state bus tour through Appalachia was a non-political, non-partisan event that attracted

supporters such as the Rev. Jerry Falwell. We attempted to shed light on the white face of poverty that most of America simply chooses to ignore or pretend doesn't exist.

But it does exist, despite the best efforts of anti-workers politicians to convince us that poverty is a black-, brown-, red- or yellow-skinned problem. America's class gap knows no color and the white poor are virtually invisible. The gap between rich and working poor in America today is most evident in Appalachia.

Large parts of Appalachia remain a rural slum. One-fourth of the nation's poorest counties are in Appalachia states. The people there experience more health problems than the rest of the country. The region's infrastructure is crumbling. Education levels rank among the lowest in the nation. Trailers still serve as schools in many communities.

All of America needs to understand that there are still Appalachian counties, particularly in Ohio, West Virginia and eastern Kentucky, where it's not uncommon to see double-digit unemployment, high poverty and infant mortality rates, where per capita incomes fall far below the national average. In West Virginia, for example, per capita income is $18,957 compared to the U.S. average of $25,598.

While the eyes of the national news media focuses on Washington sex scandals, the real human tragedy in Appalachia is ignored. We saw many schools, roads, bridges and sewers (where they exist) in need of major repairs. School children have no where to eat their lunches because schools have no cafeterias. Workers and their families go without health insurance.

Retired coal miners in particular suffer from black lung disease without federal benefits or access to quality care. Black lung is ignored by politicians even though it kills 1,500 people each year. Coal miners know it. Insurance companies know it. And Americans must come to grips with it.

The people in this region have suffered in darkness for too long. More than 30 years ago, Robert Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" opened America's eyes to the poverty in Appalachia. But a generation has passed since then and sadly the poor in Appalachia have once again been forgotten.

That is until now.

Every where we went, huge crowds greeted us. We visited laid-off workers at Philip's Lighting Plant in Fairmont, West Virginia, where 1,300 IUE jobs have dwindled to 170; a rally of mine workers at a black lung clinic in Pikeville, Kentucky, striking steel workers at MSI in Marietta, Ohio and thousands of other ordinary, hard-working families.

They responded to us because they know that we really care about them and their families. We also understand that the gaps that we saw in education, wages, health care, housing, economic development and so on are not race problems. For us to make real progress on these issues, the national debate must shift from one of race to one of class.

Can we do it? We must. For the sake of all Americans.

The United Mine Workers of America has represented the people of Appalachia for more than a century. We are proud of our role in raising living standards and improving the lives of the members we represent.

We have also enjoyed a long, special relationship with the Rev. Jesse Jackson going back to the days of the Pittston Coal Mine strike when he was the only national figure who visited our striking members. We are particularly grateful for his participation and guiding moral force in this campaign.

We know what needs to be done to spur economic development in this region. Great progress has been made and some parts of Appalachia are doing well. Where there has been economic investment, people have taken advantage of these opportunities.

Unfortunately, they all too often lack capital and resources to make the most of their God-given potential. Not enough has been done to assist them and we have fallen further behind. At the same time when the nation is booming, we have a mighty obligation to leave no American behind, including the people of Appalachia.

We seek bold, imaginative strategies to spur economic development and attract capital investment to Appalachia. We urge foundations, charities and other not-for-profits to boost charitable giving and programs in the region. Only 4.1 percent of all charitable giving in Ohio, for instance, flows to the Appalachian region of the state, even though this area accounts for 8.2 percent of the state's population and an even higher percentage of need.

We also envision the creation of a private sector investment vehicle, perhaps a private equity fund, to provide much-needed financing for companies seeking to grow in Appalachia. Nearly one-fifth of all businesses in Appalachia with plans to expand, modernize or renovate during the past three years were affected by an inability to obtain financing.

And if the federal government can sponsor economic development banks for countries such as Poland and South Africa, can't we do the same for depressed American communities? Government-guaranteed international development programs have encouraged a significant outflow of capital from American investors to high-risk ventures in foreign lands. Surely, far less risky investment opportunities exist in "redlined" American communities such as Appalachia.

Do hard-working, taxpaying Americans deserve less?

Appalachia holds a special place in America's heart with its visions of clear mountain mornings, hearty union coal miners, blue-grass pickers and hard-working, patriotic families. Wonderful economic opportunities exist there. We owe it to the people of Appalachia to proclaim that they, too, deserve to be included in the American Dream, to raise their hopes and their faith in the future. It is long past time for America to close the gaps and leave no one behind. We can begin in Appalachia.

Reprinted from AIL Labor Agenda October 1998.