The prospect of a Chinese pulp mill occupying the foothills of the Ouachita National Forest concerns me greatly. As a fourth-generation Arkansan, historian and writer focusing on Natural State heritage, I stand aghast.
Where to begin counting the ways the proposed Shandong Sun Pulp Mill constitutes an assault on the commonwealth?
The Chinese pulp mill proposed for Clark County marks an unprecedented outrage against the natural resources of Arkansas, the original garden state of the U.S.A. This wholesale sellout of forest, water, air and soil profits only China. The first hire was a Canadian chemist; the few non-union jobs created for Arkansans will endanger workers' health. Arkansas will be left to deal with yet more pollution entering the already critically burdened Ouachita River, which, thanks to Georgia Pacific's contamination of Crossett, is a toxic cesspool by the time it enters Louisiana.
This corporate giveaway to China contains fallout that will blanket the Diamond Lakes Region--the state's economic engine of heritage tourism, fishing and outdoor recreation.
Hot Springs National Park-area economies will suffer due to the unrelenting stench produced by pulp mills. The "Valley of the Vapors" will take on new meaning. From continual logging trucks and clearcutting to destruction of wetlands--who will vacation in New Pine Bluff? Is Oaklawn prepared to be relegated to the level of West Memphis' greyhound park? The deer woods of Arkansas should not be sacrificed with such nonchalance.
Beyond such obvious ecological and economic threats, the human tragedy of this "plan" concerns a subject unknown to most. The untold history of Clark County is bound up in more than a century of injustice suffered by black Arkansans.
After the Civil War, Clark County drew African American families that prospered in farming and education. Arkadelphia became a center of education for black students, with four boarding school-style academies that were famously self-sustaining, supplying classical education as well as farming experience on-site, as school-grown crops provided food for students and faculty.
Arkadelphia's National Historic Landmark Rosenwald School still stands, along with Peake Academy, now part of the public school system. Ouachita Baptist University and Henderson State University carry on Clark County's educational tradition. However, the historic black schools--Sloan Academy, Presbyterian Academy and the rest--suffered similarly horrific fates as campuses were burned and a dean of students killed during early 20th century racial unrest.
These crimes have never been addressed and remain to this day a shameful secret known only to Arkansas historians and descendants of Clark County's black community. In 1952, the community reeled again from a spate of schoolhouse burnings. History repeated itself as destruction of black schools went uninvestigated.
The site of the proposed Chinese pulp mill adds epic insult to historic injury as an example of environmental racism. Author Linda Pennington Black, who was born, raised and educated in Clark County, observes:
"If the site of this construction--Gum Springs, on Highway 67 adjacent to Highway 26--is allowed, it brings huge concerns for me that yet more of our history will be like a dust-blown road, lost with the winds of time. [The proposed pulp mill site] is directly across the road in the heart of the black community where generations of families have gathered for historic picnic reunions year after year. Still held the first weekend in August, we call it the 2nd of August Picnic. People start gathering on Friday night with activities continuing through Saturday.
"These are hallowed grounds for the black community, grounds where we could meet and have fun during the decades we weren't allowed in public parks, restaurants, swimming pools, movie theaters; where the waiting rooms in doctors' offices were marked 'colored' and 'white,' and the back door the only door opened to us.
"The 2nd of August Picnic held the best ballgames--women's softball and men's baseball tournaments. Many notable baseball players, such as the Spearman brothers--Charles, Willie, Henry and Clyde--Dennis Biddle, Sam 'Boom Boom' Wheeler, Connie Rector, Harry Kenyon, and my own cousin, Arthur 'Superman' Pennington, were men of the area who played in the historic Negro Baseball League. Preservation of history is a gem no money can buy."
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Denise White Parkinson of Hot Springs is the author of Daughter of the White River (History Press, 2013).
Editorial on 08/18/2016