A star in a prominent place on the state flag, denoting Arkansas' place in the Confederate States of America, doesn't need to be assigned a new meaning, a committee of lawmakers decided Wednesday.
A bill that would have removed references to the Confederacy in the state statute explaining the meaning of the flag's elements -- and replace them with a commemoration of the state's American Indian tribes -- failed 8-5 in the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee. The star above the word "Arkansas" signifies that Arkansas was part of the Confederacy.
House Bill 1487 needed 10 votes to pass out of the 20-member committee.
Republicans on the committee, joined by a contingent of men who identified themselves as descendants of Confederate veterans, questioned the motivations of the bill's sponsor, Rep. Charles Blake, D-Little Rock. They described the bill as part of a slippery slope to removing other objects regarding the Confederacy across the state.
Blake said the historical record sheds a different light on how the flag came to honor the Confederacy.
Seated in front of a row of five men signed up to speak against his bill, Blake, who is black, noted that the Confederate star was added in 1924, a decade after the first version of the flag was adopted and nearly 60 years after the end of the Civil War. Around that time, according to the website for the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, the Ku Klux Klan was at its "zenith" of power in Arkansas.
"One could argue that the star was not added to the flag to honor the Confederate States of America," Blake said. "The star, in context of the time of 1924 and that period, was added to add presence and prominence of white supremacy in the state of Arkansas."
[RELATED: Complete Democrat-Gazette coverage of the Arkansas Legislature]
The adoption of other honors to the Confederacy during the 20th century has similarly stirred criticism in recent years, along with a counterargument from those who say Arkansas' participation in the secession of slave-holding states is part of history.
For example, it was not until 1943 that Arkansas began recognizing the birthday of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. In 1985, when Democrat Bill Clinton was governor, the holiday was combined with one celebrating civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Arkansas was one of the last states to celebrate a joint Lee-King holiday when the practice was ended by the Legislature in 2017, with the support of Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson. That action appeared to still irk some lawmakers and speakers Wednesday.
"What's next after this?" asked Rep. Bruce Cozart, R-Hot Springs.
Robert Freeman, who identified himself as a descendant of Confederate veterans, prompted murmurs throughout the committee room after he accused Hutchinson of seeking "added political support from the so-called black community" by supporting an end to the Lee-King holiday.
Another claimed Confederate descendant, Alexander C. Wilson III, said he had eight relatives fight for the South in the Civil War -- which he referred to as the "War of Southern Independence" -- and said attempts to change the flag's meaning were being driven by "revisionist organizations," though he did not clarify to what groups he was referring.
Debate over the bill, which lasted about 45 minutes, grew emotional for several Democrats.
Rep. Jamie Scott, D-North Little Rock, the only black member of the committee, signaled her intention to speak, but appeared to tear up and ended up not speaking. Her colleague, Rep. Nicole Clowney, D-Fayetteville, moved to comfort her.
"Flags are not historical documents, they're symbols," Clowney said.
Only one Republican on the committee, Rep. Jimmy Gazaway, R-Paragould, spoke in favor of HB1487. Other Republicans, pointing to historical sites around the state, as well as the American Indian roots of the state's name, questioned whether American Indian tribes that had once inhabited the state were not already being appropriately honored.
The Quapaw Nation, one of three tribes that would be honored by name under HB1487, has come out in support of changing the star's meaning. The other tribes that would be named are the Osage and the Caddo.
As the committee adjourned and its members filed out of the room, another lawmaker who is on the panel, Rep. Jack Ladyman, R-Jonesboro, could be heard remarking about "Indians" to a colleague.
"We're putting them on the flag after they fought against us?" Ladyman asked, standing just in front of a reporter.
John Berrey, the chairman of the Quapaw Nation of Oklahoma, said the remark was inaccurate, at least pertaining to the Quapaws.
"The Quapaws have always been known as diplomatic and friendly," Berrey said.
Asked to clarify his remarks, Ladyman said, "I had a question. I don't know the answer." He noted that no representatives of the American Indian nations were at the committee Wednesday to give remarks on the bill. He said his remarks were not aimed at any one or group of tribes.
"During the settling of all the states in the West ... there were conflicts there," Ladyman said.
Blake told reporters that he was prepared to try again to advance the bill.
The Democratic leader added that he had hoped for support from Hutchinson, in light of the governor's support for ending the joint Lee-King holiday. Hutchinson had not taken a position on HB1487, a spokesman confirmed Wednesday, although the governor had expressed appreciation that the bill would not have cost the state any money because it did not propose to change the overall design of the flag.
Metro on 02/28/2019