Harrison’s historic evening

It was an event that any community across our state should be proud to host and sponsor.

That truth quickly became evident as I stood at dusk last Tuesday amid the enthusiastic crowd of at least 300 gathered around a plot of ground just outside City Hall in Harrison. They had come along with a band and T-shirts advocating love to bury a casket that symbolized the stigma of racial hatred that has unfairly plagued my hometown for decades.

It was obvious from the sheer numbers how deeply the messages of acceptance and tolerance left to us by the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. thankfully resonate in the hearts and minds of so many.

DuShun Scarbrough, director of Arkansas’ Martin Luther King Jr. Commission, made the decision to hold the 2014 vigil and burial in Harrison. The six previous vigils were held at the state Capitol in Little Rock.

Surrounding me were junior and senior high students and adults who’d arrived from across our state. I met as many as I could. Even hugged on a few of them.

Martial Arts Master and chief Richard Anderson had escorted 15 of his Little Rock students. “They love this,” he said. “Each of them volunteered for this trip because they wanted to be here.”

Cordelia Bohlar, mother of two of Anderson’s students, said the rumors have been of a racist community, “but we’ve been treated very well here.Even our hotel rooms were paid for by businesspeople and others who donated to our trip.”

In fact, the Wood Brothers local motel and auto enterprises donated 100 room nights for the first Martin Luther King vigil held in Harrison. The Inland waste management company, FedEx Freight, Friar’s Funeral Casket, Hart Monument and Olive Garden all made significant contributions to make this evening a reality, along with personal donations from citizens, said Layne Wheeler of the city’s Community Task Force on Race Relations.

Mingling in the throng of jubilant students, I met so many fresh young faces and asked some to write down their names. From Pine Bluff Dollarway there was Aeriall Miller, Romia Mays, Irayana Boykins, Kayla Dorrough and Diamond Williams, to name but a few.

Billy Williams also was in the crowd. As a bus driver he said he’s stopped in Harrison several times over the years. “Everyone here has always treated me nicely,” he said. “Last time I stopped in a restaurant to eat then headed over to the Wal-Mart. It was nothing but a positive experience.”

Tyson executive and Harrison native Ed Nicholson drove from Springdale with employees Anna Kimble-Roberson and Zessna Garcia. “We came because I know what kind of good city this is,” said Nicholson.

Kathy Byrd, who heads a program at Jonesboro high school called “Gentlemen of Knowledge,” brought her large group of students. These students not only stand out academically, but volunteer much of their time to fundraising events in Jonesboro that benefit everything from the women’s shelter to Children’s Hospital. “We came to the nonviolence youth summit in Harrison two years ago,” she said. “We’ve never had a single bad experience here.”

Two of Byrd’s students, Jaylin Small and Cedric Jackson, agreed that every young man in their group was for coming to Harrison to attend the youth summit and experience the symbolic burial of racism. “This has been a good experience for us,” said Small. Jackson said he (as do I) believes it might be a good idea to hold such events in every community.

Activities had begun an hour earlier three blocks away at the Lyric Theater on the Square. There, vigil participants had enjoyed musical entertainment by Harrison’s high school choir, Northark Drama and the Children’s Choir of the Ozarks. Following that, four uniformed members of the Cass Job Center shouldered the small pine and cedar casket, handmade by wood craftsman Norm Friar, to the burial site. The casket’s lid featured black and white hands clasped in friendship, and a small heart of stone.

The procession from the theater to City Hall was led by 12-year-old Erin Knight of North Little Rock and 13-year-old Kaylen Smith of Little Rock, each bearing signs that read: “I am a man.” Afterwards, Smith expertly recited Rev. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Scarbrough’s idea to physically bury the stigma was intended to send an unmistakable message to the handful of area bigots that also exist in every community from coast to coast. The scourge of intolerance borne of their conditioning certainly isn’t limited to the 13,000 folks who call Harrison home. But this community, through its task force on racial relations and proactive efforts, has achieved something historic that displays a love for all mankind regardless of circumstance of birth.

The crowd around the burial plot took turns tossing dirt onto the casket that had been scattered with flowers tossed by the students. Harrison Mayor Jeff Crockett, another key player in the town’s efforts this day, was among the first to heave a shovelful. After dark, I passed Crockett, who had returned to the grave and was busy shoveling the sizable pile of remaining dirt into the hole.

I spelled Hizzoner for a dozen or so heaves. Watching the fresh soil rise ever closer to the surface provided an ideal end to a memorable evening.

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Mike Masterson’s column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mikemasterson10@hotmail.com. Read his blog at mikemastersonsmessenger.com.