Ry Cooder writes song for Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo
Singer-Songwriter Ry Cooder has written and recorded a song honoring environmental whistleblower Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo. Called "Kool-Aid," the song is featured in Cooder's new album, "Election Special."
Cooder (pictured in this photo by Dani Canto) felt inspired to write this song after hearing Dr. Coleman-Adebayo's interview on the Smiley & West show.
Dr. Coleman-Adebayo sacrificed her career at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to speak out against vanadium poisoning in South Africa. Her book is called, NO FEAR: A Whistleblower's Triumph Over Corruption and Retaliation at EPA. NO FEAR tells the story of vanadium miners in South Africa, Dr. Coleman-Adebayo's efforts to protect them, the retaliation she suffered, her historic jury verdict against EPA, and the campaign that led to the NO-FEAR Act.
Her story well fits the tradition of a folk song hero, and Ry Coder has done her story justice. Thank you. Dr. Coleman-Adebayo is a board member of the National Whistleblowers Center.
Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo sacrificed her career at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to speak out against the poisoning of South Africa. NO FEAR tells the story of these workers, Dr. Coleman-Adebayo's efforts to protect them, the retaliation she suffered, her historic jury verdict against EPA, and the campaign that led to the NO-FEAR Act..jpg)
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No Fear: A Whistleblowers Triumph over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA is a new book by environmental whistleblower Marsha Coleman-Adebayo (pictured, with EPA whistleblowers David Lewis and Bill Sanjour). In 1996, Dr. Coleman-Adebayo was a senior policy analyst for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She was assigned to an international team to assist the new democratic government of South Africa. She raised concerns that an American company was poisoning a South African community with its vanadium mining. She soon discovered that her superiors EPA did not want any American companies to be fingered for polluting South Africa. Her ordeal became the subject of a jury trial. The jury ruled in her favor. However, the EPA paid nothing. The Department of Justice paid the award from the government's general liability fund. Dr. Coleman-Adebayo led a campaign for the NO-FEAR Act. Under this law, federal agencies must now pay for their unlawful discrimination out of their own budget. 
This week, Congressman Albert Wynn introduced the Congressional Disclosures Act (HR. 4650), legislation to protect federal employees from retaliation when they make disclosures to members of Congress. This is important legislation and it has been strongly supported by the 
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