Harrison, Arkansas: Racism Defended

[chervilant]

The spouse of the national director of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Muriel Robb, wrote a letter to the editor of the Harrison Daily Times, excoriating members of the Harrison Task Force on Race Relations for rejecting a KKK "community award," given (allegedly) in response to the task force's Love Your Neighbor initiative.

Excerpts of her letter:

I have read the Dec. 28&29 weekend edition of the Harrison Daily Times and I was appalled by the arrogance of the Harrison Task Force on Race Relations and their so-called rejection of the community award given to Harrison for being a Love Your Neighbor Community.

Do not these hateful and bitter people know that the award was given to the people of Harrison and not to the “Task Force?”

**snip**

It is amazing how they spin their voodoo logic. At one moment the “task force,” Harrison Chamber of Commerce, and city hall are boasting that Harrison is one of the best small towns in Arkansas, if not the country, then they flip, claiming that Harrison has a horrible racist image that is stifling its growth, claiming that folks are terrified moving here or of even driving through town.

**snip**

These narcissistic elitists think they have been given a mission to “save” Harrison.

**snip**

Well, if they didn’t like it then why did they move here? And if they really want to help minorities, then they should move to Pine Bluff, Camden or El Dorado where they can help the poor, the unemployed or the elderly. (snip...) If they REALLY want to help minorities as they claim, then they should move where the minorities are and begin helping them. But they won’t do that because they feel safer in this nice white community.

As my husband stated in the recent press release, Harrison truly is a Love Your Neighbor Community. There are no drive-bys, knockout games (also known as Polar Bear Hunting), flash mobs, wrong exits off the highway or bad neighborhoods. All those things are in Little Rock, El Dorado, Pine Bluff and other “enlightened” cities that have become multi-racial and diversified. In case you haven’t heard, “Diversity is a code word for white genocide.” Love your people — is that really too much to ask?
Sincerely,
(Muriel) Mrs. Thomas Robb

For those who don't know, the event which has prompted this brouhaha was the anonymously funded billboard which read “Anti-Racist is a Code Word for Anti-White.” The subsequent defacement of said billboard by an anti-racist individual ratcheted up the vitriol. This individual painted the word "love" over "Anti-White" and is currently facing a misdemeanor criminal mischief charge. He was released on a $2,500 bond.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Wow, Harrison must have changed since I used to make weekly trips there. Back

in the mid-90s, there was crime and bad neighborhoods in Harrison. It was a small town and a mid-sized OTR trucking company was based there. It had some nice antique shops and that was about it. I guess I never realized it was a 'nice white community'. I did know the KKK was based there.

[Art_from_Ark]

2. Back in the '90s, the KKK had "adopted" part of Arkansas Highway 7,

between Harrison and the Missouri state line, I believe

[chervilant]

4. That caused a big brouhaha, too.

Currently there are a handful of intrepid souls: a cluster of Asian families, some Black and mixed families, and a few openly gay families.

However, most locals still spew their hateful rhetoric, and it's tolerated -- if not completely supported.

[chervilant]

3. Harrison has grown

to almost 13,000 people. It is now a wet county, and one brave soul has opened a bar. Much of the crime here is drug related -- mostly alcohol and meth.

Many native denizens are self-proclaimed racists, and proud about their politics of hate.

[Art_from_Ark]

5. I knew a guy who sold insurance in Harrison

He once told me, "Those guys in Harrison are proud to be white!"

On a side note, is the Hammerschmidt Lumber Company still in operation there?

[chervilant]

6. No, it's not.

But, we have a big Fed Ex hub here.

[Art_from_Ark]

7. The biggest impression I had of Harrison

as a newly-turned teen on my way to Dogpatch via Arkansas 68, was the Hammerschmidt Lumber Company, which had "Hammerschmidt" written in huge letters. At that time, the owner, or a relative of the owner, was the US representative for the 3rd district.

[chervilant]

8. Arkansas 68 is now 412.

I had to look it up.

You wouldn't recognize the major highways, now improved to facilitate travel to Branson and Bentonville (home of Wallyworld and Sam's sad, alcoholic daughter).