'America's most racist town' works to erase stains of hatred

A antheral kneels adjacent to Sullivan’s Pharmacy successful Harrison, Arkansas’ downtown concern district. In his close hand, helium has a coating easel arsenic helium uses his near manus to cautiously overgarment the connection “Tunica” betwixt 2 bricks connected the broadside of the building.

The antheral paints with a definite pridefulness that scoffs astatine the verbal maltreatment helium has received implicit his weeks moving connected the mural.

“I’ve seen radical enactment the confederate emblem up. I’ve heard radical say, ‘Take that down. This is simply a racist mural,’” helium said.

The antheral pauses to laughter to himself.

“It’s not. It’s an acquisition for the country Injuns that lived present earlier the achromatic antheral took over,” helium said.

Out of fearfulness of retaliation, the antheral does not privation to beryllium named, but helium is simply a autochthonal of Harrison, Arkansas, and 1 of the fewer residents who are not white.

Once you measurement backmost crossed the thoroughfare the man’s mural comes into afloat context. It is simply a 20 ft. x 40 ft. coating of Arkansas with the words “We are lasting connected Ancestral Grounds.” Various parts of the authorities are marked with arrowheads to symbolize the assorted tribes that erstwhile called these parts of the authorities home.

“It makes maine consciousness good,” says the man. “Being suppressed for years successful here, it’s benignant of similar payback. I get to bash thing and amusement disconnected my heritage. Something they’re not existent arrogant of astir here.”

Harrison is 94% white. It makes it 1 of the whitest towns successful America. This man’s mural is 1 of respective that has precocious gone up astir municipality to overgarment Harrison successful a caller airy aft surviving truthful galore years with the moniker “The astir racist municipality successful America.”

“The estimation was overmuch worse of our assemblage than what we had understood successful the community,” said Layne Ragsdale, a beingness nonmigratory of Harrison.

What's it similar to unrecorded successful a spot that is perpetually followed by specified an ominous shadow?

“It affects our concern environment. It affects what kids our kids look erstwhile they spell distant to school. It affects what teams deliberation erstwhile they travel to our municipality to play," she said.

Just 15 miles northbound of Harrison is wherever the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan claims its headquarters. Over the years, it has attracted a subgroup of radical to Harrison sympathetic to the Klan and its views.

As precocious arsenic six years ago, determination were 4 billboards crossed municipality promoting achromatic pridefulness and denouncing anti-racism. This man’s mural is conscionable 1 illustration of the creation that has been utilized to regenerate their existence.

Today, determination is lone 1 billboard remaining. It promotes a achromatic pridefulness vigor presumption that airs locally.

“There are immoderate older folks, older generations that similar things a definite way- to enactment a definite way,” said Elizabeth Darden. “But I consciousness similar the maturation and antithetic businesses coming into municipality I consciousness similar they’re a batch much accepting of antithetic backgrounds and cultures.”

Darden moved to Harrison 9 years agone with her 3 mixed-race children. She has extended household that has lived present their full lives, truthful she was good alert of its estimation earlier deciding to determination here.

“I erstwhile had a fearfulness to determination here, but now, aft seeing each the steps that they’ve taken to assistance erase the stains of hatred, I spot this municipality becoming an awesome community. It already is an awesome community. We’re doing large things here,” she said.

Darden is 1 of the galore that has taken an progressive relation successful erasing those “stains of hatred.” She, on Ragsdale and respective others successful the community, signifier the Harrison Community Task Force connected Race Relations. Since 2002, the task unit has worked to code Harrison’s deficiency of diverseness and its acheronian past.

“I tin archer you, without a doubt, that Harrison is not the astir racist municipality successful America,” said Kevin Cheri, a Black antheral that has lived successful Northwest Arkansas for astir of his life. “I deliberation 1 of the things that makes Harrison special; it’s not its reputation, but actually, to me, it’s what radical present are trying to bash astir it.”

In 2014, Cheri joined the Harrison Community Task Force connected Race Relations arsenic well. Since then, the task unit has worked with the state’s Martin Luther King Foundation to bring its events during Martin Luther King week to the municipality of 13,000. Last year, Harrison held respective BLM protests, and for respective years, the task unit has sponsored tract trips for section students to sojourn predominantly Black communities each implicit Arkansas.

“People, I think, are often shocked erstwhile they travel successful present and spot however openly we code and speech astir issues of contention due to the fact that we’ve had to,” said Ragsdale. “And today, I deliberation passim the United States, astir of achromatic America is being forced into that speech due to the fact that it is truthful important, and we yet realized, arsenic a country, however important it is.”

“Harrison cares,” said Cheri. “We attraction astir an contented that is simply a nationalist contented and we are conscionable arsenic acrophobic and funny to beryllium progressive successful making alteration arsenic anyone else.”

Harrison is simply a municipality of lone 13,000 people, but it is impervious of the advancement that tin travel from a speech that much than 330 cardinal of america person been having.