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As president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), I have had the pleasure of visiting New York City on many occasions, primarily to attend labor events or coal industry functions. I have always enjoyed my trips to the Big Apple, but because I was born and raised in a southern West Virginia hollow, working many years as a coal miner in the same area. I just don't adjust well to the city's hustle and bustle. However, I do have enormous respect for the city's culture and its resiliency, particularly following the horrific 9/11 attack. That said, I am returning to New York with a few of my friends on Wednesday, May 21, to participate in a rally to try to persuade CBS and its parent company Viacom to terminate plans to produce a new reality show called The Real Beverly Hillbillies.

This show, if produced, will feature a family that's been plucked from rural America (and probably had a rough go of it) and plop them in a Beverly Hills mansion to see how well they can manage. Now ask yourself, if these folks were going to fit in on Rodeo Drive, that wouldn't be much of a show, would it? Exactly the point. CBS and Viacom are conducting an exhaustive search for just the right family, hoping that their life situation - coupled with being totally out of their element-will provide many laughs for a national TV audience. Until now in the world of reality television, people have been more than happy to make fools out of themselves as individuals-or at worst, families-but to go from that to an entire class or region of people is just not right. This show would accomplish little more than to perpetuate outdated and cruel stereotypes that rightfully anger rural Americans.

On April 11, I wrote to Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone and President Mel Karmazin, explaining to them how offensive The Real Beverly Hillbillies would be to millions of rural Americans, including thousands of coal miners and their families. I asked them not to produce this show. After my letter was sent, other unions representing workers throughout rural America-including the Steelworkers, Communication Workers, Food and Commercial Workers, Flight Attendants, Bakery, Confectionery and Tobacco Workers and Service Employees - also wrote to CBS and Viacom to voice their opposition to the show. To date, not one of us has received a response; not even a courtesy reply that our letter had been received. I had initially put a formal protest by the UMWA on hold, pending a response from Viacom or CBS, but since they have chosen to ignore us - much as this show would ignore the feelings of rural Americans - I will be in New York on May 21 with coal miners and our friends and supporters to publicly voice our displeasure. I will also announce that the UMWA will be asking our members to boycott the products of companies that would choose to sponsor this kind of rubbish, and that we will be encouraging other unions opposing the show to ask their members to do the same. There are currently more than 56 million Americans living in rural areas across America and our goal will be to enlist as many of them as possible in our boycott.

In my letter to both Mr. Redstone and Mr. Karmazin, I stressed that more than 100,000 active and retired UMWA coal miners across our great nation certainly deserved better than this. These people have worked very hard and have often endured great personal risk in dangerous conditions to supply the bulk of America's energy needs. I can guarantee you that a show like the The Real Beverly Hillbillies, which is solely designed to make fun of, degrade and humiliate the rural way of life, will offend and repulse a great majority of them.

I have said previously that if CBS and Viacom intend to move forward on this ill-advised project, then they should also offer viewers a show that takes a wealthy corporate executive (maybe Mr. Redstone or Karmazin) and places them in a small rural community. They could call it Executive Survivor. The CEO would start with nothing, be relocated to Appalachia and have to find a job that pays them a decent living wage, while also providing them health care and pension benefits. Of course, they would also have a family to feed and clothe and bills to pay. If we’re lucky, maybe they will end up working a 30-inch seam in a non-union coal mine. Now that would be real entertainment. I am sure this will never happen, but you get the point.

I urge all New Yorkers - and anyone else who supports our position that CBS and Viacom should shelve plans to produce The Real Beverly Hillbillies - to please come to our rally on May 21 and voice your opposition. It begins at 9 a.m. inside the Equitable Center Building at 7th Avenue and 51st Street in downtown Manhattan.

Cecil Roberts is International President of the United Mine Workers of America and a West Virginia native.