Protesters are walking across Massachusetts from west to east. They want Native American rights, a ban on new nuclear reactors in the state, ICE out of the state, and an end to sand minding in eastern Massachusetts pine barrens that are sacred to Wampanoag people. This page
https://changethemassflag.com/2026/07/30/listen-to-indigenous-voices-def...
of their web site lists the name Rhonda Kay Alak Anderson. In 2019, Native Americans led a protest rally near Greenfield following a corporate acid spill that killed thousands of big and small fish in a river. The September 1, 2019 spill into the North river in Colrain, Massachusetts was from a factory owned by Barnhardt Corporation of North Carolina.
“We prayed for the water, the wildlife, and those who work at Barnhardt -- they need prayers too. We are all connected to this watershed, and we are all connected through water. Water has memory and is considered a living being -- a sacred being, in Indigenous spirituality,” protest organizer Rhonda Kay Alak Anderson in 2019 told the Valley Post. “I am Iñupiaq- Athabaskan from Alaska. I have lived in New England most of my life, and currently call Colrain my home. I want to recognize this land we are standing on, this land that we are all benefiting from, was and still is Wabenaki territory, land lovingly inhabited by Sokoki Abenaki, Pocumtuck, Mohican, and Nipmuc people.... Sokoki means 'people who go their own way' and they are still in southern Vermont."
Anderson continued, “We're in the watershed of the Kwenitekw river, or Connecticut river. While this river has known several names by many different groups of people along along its flowing path, Kwenitekw has stuck. It is important to remember that this area has been an integral place for Indigenous people to reside, gather, farm, hunt and fish for millennia.... This action is a statement to Barnhardt: This kind of pollution is not acceptable and will not be tolerated. We are sending a message to (state regulators): hold industry accountable for such devastating pollution.”
Jake Mayer was at the rally. He told the Valley Post, “Rhonda is an incredible advocate for people and planet.”
The photo at
https://valleypost.org/content/colrain-north-river
shows Anthony Melting Tallow holding a feather and leading a prayer at the rally. He is a member of the Siksika Nation. The photo was taken by Jason Montgomery. To reach Montgomery go to www.AttackBearPress.com.
Tallow said, “This is the time of the gathering of all the spirits, because it’s going to take all of us to turn this world around from where it’s going.”
Rebecca Tippens was at the rally. She told the Valley Post that, contrary to some media reports, Barnhardt Corporation did not tell regulators about the leak until it was pressured to do so by neighbors who saw lots of dead fish floating in the river. Tippens said children often swim in the North river. “Reparations should include restocking the river and perhaps having children involved with the restocking so it becomes a deep lesson learned for them,” she said. “Teach deeper respect and love of our rivers and the creatures that live in them.”
Montgomery, the photographer, told the Valley Post, “What we hoped to do was first honor the loss of life through prayer with Anthony Melting Tallow, then let Barnhardt know that we see them, and that we will not be silent.”
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In 2014, the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor closed permanently
because thousands of people marched in Brattleboro, and because
hundreds of people were arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience in Brattleboro and outside the reactor three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire. Deb Katz was one of the main organizers of these protests. She lives in the Pioneer Valley and runs a group that has a web site at:
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On August 5, Northampton city council member Debby Klemer told the Valley Post, "Picture Main Street is definitely happening. Preliminary construction will begin late ‘27. I believe it is expected to be completed in ‘29.” This project will make the city safer for bicycle riders and pedestrians. It will also pay workers to plant trees.
A picture of what it will look like is at:
https://www.northamptonma.gov/2547/Picture-Main-Street
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In a voice phone call, Maida Rosenstein, director of organizing at UAW Local 2110, told the Valley Post a Gazette article was “pretty accurate.” The article was based on the following press release:
August 3, 2026, Amherst, Massachusetts – Local 2110 of the UAW has petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for a vote on
unionization among Museum staff at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts. The unit will include all full and part time staff of the Museum including staff in Collections, Development, Marketing, the Bookshop, Education and Guest Services. (There are 36 full-time workers.)
Staff members cite low wages, health and safety conditions, lack of
promotional opportunities, and greater job security as reasons for
unionizing.
Sarah Demarest, a Guest Services Associate, says “Staff have raised
crucial concerns about safety issues, under-staffing and other
conditions that interfere with our ability to do our jobs but we are
often brushed aside. Right now, without a union, we have no effective means of addressing our concerns. The Museum needs to hear our viewpoint on these things and with a union, they will.”
"We all care about the Museum, but I want our hours and working
conditions to be sustainable so that staff can continue doing the jobs
that we love,” said Jessica Blasko, Assistant Retail Manager. “We are dedicated to our work and proud of our collective contribution to the museum’s success. Unionizing is an important next step to ensure that our contribution is recognized and that the future of our work is protected.”
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is just the latest in a
growing movement of museum workers to organize. The last few years have seen thousands of workers in art museums and other cultural institutions decide to unionize. Employees at the MFA, Boston; ICA, Boston; Mass MoCA; the Emily Dickinson Museum; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; MoMA ... are some of the
institutions that have voted to unionize with UAW Local 2110 since
2020.
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