Arkansas' dual commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee has no place in the 21st century, black leaders say, vowing to make the issue a priority in the next legislative session after falling short this year.
A coalition of religious and civil-rights leaders said they're targeting the joint holiday because it represents a contemporary symbol of the state's stormy racial history, comparable to the Confederate flag that flew over the South Carolina State House until last summer. Disentangling King's holiday from Lee's memorial would represent a symbolic victory, they said, and it could chart the way for further racial reconciliation.
"If we can get this realized, then there's hope there will be enough love and strength to heal and go forward," said the Rev. Arthur L. Hunt Jr., a pastor at Hunt Memorial Cathedral of Faith in Dumas.
Arkansas remains one of three states -- the others are Alabama and Mississippi -- that celebrate both the black civil-rights leader and the white Confederate general on the third Monday in January. Proposals to change Arkansas' holiday, sponsored by black and white lawmakers from both parties, died in committee last year after provoking vocal opposition from people who said the change would diminish the state's Confederate heritage.
Supporters had hoped the dynamic might shift after Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican who is white, publicly endorsed giving King his own day and considered including the issue in a special legislative session. But the Legislative Black Caucus declined to endorse that move, and the governor excluded it from the special session.
Black Caucus members said they didn't want to support legislation before seeing a draft.
That's just an excuse to avoid working with Republicans, said Dale Charles, president of Arkansas' NAACP chapter. "They don't want to give him [Hutchinson] that credit," he said.
State Rep. Fred Love, D-Little Rock, who is a member of the Black Caucus and sponsored a bill to separate the holiday, said it doesn't matter who supports the measure "as long as it gets passed." But he didn't want to endorse a still unformed measure.
Hunt wants Hutchinson to call another special session, but the governor's office has ruled it out. Still, beginning the push to change the holiday months before next year's legislative session would help raise awareness in the black community, Charles said.
But the coalition's uphill climb was evident at a Thursday evening rally in Little Rock's Mosaic Templars Cultural Center. About a dozen people were spread across more than a hundred empty chairs.
"I had some preachers tell me they were going to be here, and they didn't show up," Hunt said. "We the preachers have to do some self-examination."
That support didn't materialize when the bill came before committee, either.
"The silent majority didn't speak up," said Rep. Nate Bell, an independent from Mena who sponsored one of the bills. Bell, who is white, said he received hundreds of negative emails along with some threats -- and that pressure intimidated some freshmen lawmakers, he said.
Although the issue will likely come up in the next session, lawmakers should instead spend their energy on issues that affect people's daily lives, such as jobs and education, said Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville, who is white.
"It really shouldn't be this big a deal," said Ballinger, who voted for giving King his own holiday.
Metro on 06/13/2016