OPINION

REX NELSON: Soul-searching time

Willie Kavanaugh Hocker didn't set out to create a state flag.

She was born in Kentucky in 1862 and came to Arkansas with her parents in 1870 when her father, who had served in the Union Army during the Civil War, decided to begin farming near Wabbaseka. After studying at the University of Virginia and the University of Colorado, Hocker obtained a teaching certificate in 1887 and returned to Arkansas. She became the principal of First Ward School at Pine Bluff in 1895 and went back to the Wabbaseka area to teach in 1897.

During her 34-year teaching career, Hocker stressed the importance of Arkansas history. She also was a prolific writer, turning out poems and short stories.

Hocker was a member of the Pine Bluff chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Chapter members decided in 1912 to present officers on the recently commissioned USS Arkansas with a state flag. When informed by Secretary of State Earle Hodges that there was no state flag, the DAR members urged him to hold a design contest.

"About 65 designs--including crayon drawings, watercolor sketches and even miniature silk flags--were submitted," writes state Capitol historian David Ware. "Some design elements appeared on more than one entry. The apple blossom, Arkansas' state flower, appeared in one entry centered on a field scattered with stars representing the United States and 13 rays recalling the original states. On another, the flower was repeated four times within colorful blocks. Another design combined the state's outline with its great seal."

Hocker came up with a design in which 25 white stars represented the fact that Arkansas was the 25th state admitted to the Union. Three blue stars represented three nations--France, Spain and the United States--whose flags flew over Arkansas. They also represented the fact that the Louisiana Purchase took place in 1803 and that Arkansas was the third state created from the purchase.

A committee met in Hodges' office at the Capitol in early 1913 and selected Hocker's design. The Arkansas Legislature adopted the design in February of that year. There wasn't a mention of the Confederacy.

There were no changes until 1923. At the time, the Ku Klux Klan was growing in power in Arkansas.

"One of the first official Klan acts in Arkansas was a donation to the Prescott Christmas fund in December 1921," Dianne Dentice writes for the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. "Shortly thereafter, other Klan groups formed with the goal of 'cleaning up' local communities. . . . Leaders used the Klan as a device to regulate morals and to uphold Victorian standards, especially for women. Bigotry, the Red Scare and anti-unionism were also important issues."

The Little Rock chapter grew to 7,800 male members. A slate of Klan-endorsed candidates gained control of Pulaski County politics in 1922. A women's Klan group was formed in Little Rock in 1923, and junior KKK organizations were established in 1924 in Little Rock and Arkadelphia. During the 1923 legislative session, Klan-supported legislators led the successful effort to add a fourth blue star to the Arkansas flag to represent the Confederacy. Arkansas historians view it as an attempt to send a message to black Arkansans, reminding them who was in charge.

It's 2019, and legislation introduced by state Rep. Charles Blake, a black Democrat from Little Rock, seemed so simple. Blake's bill wouldn't force a change in the flag's design. It would only change the legal meaning of the blue star above Arkansas' name so that star would represent Native American tribes that inhabited the state rather than representing the Confederacy. The state's popular Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, had to speak out after members of his own party kept the bill from getting out of committee.

"I don't know that we need to recognize Arkansas in a state of rebellion," Hutchinson said. "I think we would be better off recognizing those nations, from Indian tribes to others, that we've been under."

Do I think many of the Republican legislators are bigots? No. Do I believe that many of them are politically spineless? Yes.

They fear the loudest voices in the room. In this case, those voices are spewing their alternative Civil War history on social media and in messages to legislators. I went to a few of their Facebook pages. It was amazing how those attacking Blake and Hutchinson fit the stereotype of the angry white male who's glued to Fox News and reading far-right websites. Their pages were filled with false stories shared from obscure sources. Some had even shared the fake story that Henry Winkler, the actor best known for portraying the Fonz, had died. That story was from a satirical website called Conservative Tears, which exists to dupe and make fun of conservatives.

Legislators should realize that these attack dogs are in the same category as people who regularly write letters to the editor and call radio talk shows: loud in voice, small in number. I used to remind politicians for whom I worked (all Republicans, by the way) that the vast majority of voters will never write a letter to a newspaper or call a radio station. Follow the letters section of this newspaper closely and you'll see the same handful of names pop up over and over in a state of more than 3 million people.

I believe Blake is sincere in his efforts. But had he filed the bill purely to begin weakening the GOP stranglehold on legislative seats, the recalcitrant Republicans couldn't have done a better job of playing into his hands. Young people are turned off by such actions. Want to drive the voters of the future into the Democratic fold? Just continue to block sensible bills such as this, and it will happen.

As I read the comments of these bitter men, I saw the tired old "trying to change history" line. Nothing can be changed. The sad history of Arkansas' decision to secede is there for all to see. In fact, talented Arkansas historians have turned out numerous fine papers and books about this state's involvement in the Civil War. And Arkansas did a better job than any state marking the war's sesquicentennial, adding historical markers in all 75 counties.

Two weeks ago in this space, I wrote about Winthrop Rockefeller's influence on modern Republicanism. Republicans should have a big tent, but there's no room in that tent for bigots. Rockefeller could have told you that. Hutchinson must now do the same.

Perhaps GOP legislators can gather on Petit Jean Mountain at the end of this legislative session and do some soul searching about their party's values.

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Rex Nelson is a senior editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Editorial on 03/17/2019

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