According to U.S. News and World Report, the state of Arkansas ranks 42nd in education, 43rd in economy, 47th in infrastructure, and 49th in health care--alarming statistics that should have created a sense of urgency among elected officials in the Arkansas General Assembly.
One would have believed that the lawmakers would have hit the ground running to formulate innovative policies to address the serious issues which Arkansans face. To the contrary, some members decided to begin the 93rd General Assembly targeting the curricula of public schools and attempting to modify the rules on self-defense in Arkansas.
For greater context, the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice reports that, "in a backlash to historic voter turnout in the 2020 general election, and grounded in a rash of baseless and racist allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities, legislators have introduced three times the number of bills to restrict voting access as compared to this time last year. Twenty-eight states [including Arkansas] have introduced, pre-filed, or carried over 106 restrictive bills this year."
A prime example of one such restrictive bill was recently introduced by Rep. Mark Lowery. House Bill 1218 seeks to ban not only public schools but also two-year and four-year institutions from teaching social justice and diversity-related curricula. Going further, the bill would penalize public schools by denying critical state funds if social justice were to be taught.
Not stopping there, Representative Lowery has also introduced House Bill 1231, the Saving American History Act of 2021, an effort to prohibit the use of school funds to teach about the 1619 Project, an initiative that, according to The New York Times Magazine, aims to reframe the country's history by "placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of our national narrative." Perhaps not incidentally, House Bill 1231 mimics a similar piece of legislation introduced last year on the federal level by U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton.
Along with the aforementioned is another problematic bill introduced by Sen. Bob Ballinger that would end the duty to retreat and justifies the use of physical deadly force against an imminent threat. Currently in Arkansas, a person may not use deadly physical force in self-defense if they know they can avoid it by retreating. Though it failed in House committee, if resurrected and passed, Senate Bill 24 could disproportionately affect Black people and other persons of color and lead to more gun violence and death.
The Social Justice Institute at Philander Smith College, in our mission to embrace and catalyze a justice focus across multiple domains, finds these three pieces of legislation to be disheartening, at best, and downright damaging at worst. As our mission is to uncover and promote solutions to racial inequities through policy, advocacy, research and academic programming, we are committed to upholding Philander Smith's longstanding commitment to social justice, fueled by the longing of students and other stakeholders to carry forth its legacy of producing justice-rooted change-makers in the community and the world.
This is why students must be allowed to study about race, gender and social justice in the classroom. Doing so exposes them to an understanding of systems of oppression, structural racism, community-centered leadership and productive approaches to eliminating disparities and tackling racial inequities. Armed with this kind of knowledge, students will be better equipped--empowered even--to address issues of discrimination, inequity and inequality.
It is equally important to champion young people grasping the long-lasting impacts of slavery upon our nation and state rather than spearheading attempts to suppress this ugly part of American history. (For example, Arkansas still observes a state holiday known as Confederate Flag Day--a celebration of the same flag that was proudly paraded through the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection by a group of domestic terrorists.)
Renowned historian Malinda Maynor Lowery put it best: "Reclaiming shared histories that are forgotten or misremembered is essential to the success of systemic reform."
Unequivocally, the Social Justice Institute at Philander Smith College rejects these proposed pieces of legislation.
We encourage the Arkansas Legislature to instead redirect its energies on introducing and enacting policies that would help reframe the narrative about Arkansas clinging to the bottom rung of any ladder so that one day she might be able to rightfully lead the nation in economic growth, educational attainment, health-care access, infrastructure investment and voter participation.
Goals of this nature--ones which expand opportunities instead of repealing progress--are ones that we would willingly partner to help achieve.
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Christopher Harvey is the interim associate director of the Social Justice Institute at Philander Smith College.