“At noon on Wednesday, March 5th, approximately two dozen Mountain Justice activists visited a Bank of America in Boone North Carolina to protest the
bank’s funding of mountaintop removal coal mining and coal-fired power
plants.

Today’s event was the third bluegrass-themed protest in a week
in which Action Jackson, an Appalachian string band from East
Tennessee, staged a traditional fiddle and banjo jam inside a BoA
branch while others rallied in opposition to Bank of America’s
investments in coal. During the demonstration, three
account-holders already present in the bank chose to close their
accounts in protest, informing the branch assistant manager that they
would not allow their hard-earned money to destroy Appalachian
communities and ecosystems. After a few minutes police arrived on the
scene and briefly detained one protestor who was later released
without arrest or citation.

“So long as Bank of America continues to fund the destruction of
Appalachia, Appalachian string bands will have no choice but to bring
our music into these banks. For as long as Bank of America is funding
coal we’re going to keep coming back,” promised one of the musicians.”