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Little Rock: Activists Demand a Meeting with Governor Hutchinson

By dianeravitch
September 28, 2019 //
2

Parents and supporters of public schools in Little Rock are outraged that Governor Asa Hutchinson refuses to meet with them. The state took control of the Little Rock district, and parents want democratic decision making restored. Remember when Republicans used to support local control? Not anymore.

Rev/Dr. Anika Whitfield write to the Governor on behalf of a large coalition of parents.

Gov. Hutchinson, 

 
As you may have heard at our rally on September 25, 2019, to fulfill the legacy of the Little Rock Nine to obtain a world class equitable education for students currently being denied by discrimination and state laws, and to #ReclaimLRSD in total with a locally elected school board, we demanded a meeting with you.
 
The organizers of the Support OUR LRSD coalition, a coalition of parents/guardians, students, alumni, community activists and supporters, faith leaders, volunteers in the LRSD, teachers, educators, retired teachers, and LRSD business leaders and faith leaders and communities need to speak with you about the fate of our beloved LRSD. 
 
You have been talking at us, and not with us. You and your appointed board and commissioner of education have been making decisions that work against our will, decisions and requests. 
 
As our elected Governor, you vowed to serve the entire state. You have not been serving our best interest, because you have not given us the opportunity to meet.  You have not provided us with an opportunity to not only state our case with you face to face, but you have denied us the dignity of being heard by you and your staff on multiple occasions.
 
We are insisting that you meet us on Monday, October 7th or Tuesday, October 8th prior to the Thursday, October 10th State Board of Education meeting.
 
There will be two representatives from each of our coalition groups ready to meet with you.
 
Please have your staff provide me with the date and time you will make yourself available to meet with The People of the LRSD, members of the Support Our LRSD coalition, who are requesting to meet with you.
 
Rev./Dr. Anika T.  Whitfield 
Grassroots Arkansas, co-chair
Support Our LRSD coalition 
By the way, Rev/Dr. Anika Whitfield is featured as a hero of the Resistance in my new book SLAYING GOLIATH, which will be published January 21, 2020.
Categories Accountability, Arkansas, Democracy, Education Reform, Little Rock, Parents, Resistance

Rev/Dr. Anika Whitfield Writes a Letter to the Governor of Arkansas: Return Our Public Schools to Us!

By dianeravitch
September 22, 2019 //
1

Rev/Dr. Anika Whitfield wrote the following letter to newly re-elected Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas about the failed state takeover of the Little Rock School District, whose only purpose was to take away any democratic control of the district’s public schools by its residents. Dr. Whitfield is both a podiatrist and a minister, so she is Rev/Dr.

Rev/Dr. Whitfield is included in my new book “Slaying Goliath” as a hero of the Resistance to Privatization. She stands up to the Governor and the Waltons, who think they own the state as their private plantation. She shows time and again that one person can make a difference; one person can organize Resistance; one person can speak out for justice and demand it and eventually they will be heard.

 

Governor Hutchinson,
Two days prior to being sworn in for your second and final term as Governor of Arkansas, KATV-7 interviewed you and captured you sharing this quoted statement:

“He said, ‘Well, I have to look forward to the swearing in, just to have that mark where you have another 4 years to serve the people of this state. But also, it’s just affirming to know that they said you’ve had 4 years, we think you’ve done a good job, we want you again.'”

Sadly, we, the LRSD community, do not have the same assessment of your leadership.  Good is not the adjective we would use. We have experienced four years of you serving as a the leader of an evil, politically and economically driven abduction and seizure of the LRSD our local, political, and economic power.  Rather than serving The People of Little Rock, you have reverted to enslaving us, keeping tax paying residents from our local ability to provide our children, our schools, our neighborhoods and community with the type of compassion, protection and oversight needed to protect our beloved community from the violence we have been forced to endure at the control of your political, economic, and racial whips and lynching.
And, Little Rock is not the only city suffering from your style of leadership. Pine Bluff, and several other AR Delta cities can testify to the same or similar abuses at the control of your hands.
We have had enough!  
The insurrection of your violent and abusive leadership is coming. Your violent actions are making fertile ground for persons of diverse backgrounds and experiences to join together in solidarity to take back what is rightfully ours and should have never been taken from The People in the first place.   You can look at the state board of education meetings (that you did not attend) that were held in Little Rock these past three weeks and see the diversity, yet strong unity in our powerful presence and voices. 
We will no longer allow you to sale our public schools, drive our students and good teachers away, and cover up the gross neglect and violence that has occurred at the state and district levels under your slave master leadership.
We won’t stand four more years of your abuse. 
We will not stand for four more years of your unwarranted control of our children’s present and future fate, our school’s present/future fate, our neighborhoods and cities present/future fate, and visible attacks on the health and well being of the African American/Black, Latinx, poor, and uninsured living in Little Rock (in Pine Bluff, and other cities in the AR Delta). 
We are aware of your tax cuts and breaks that only further the expansion of greed allowing your wealthy political donors to take over land, property, schools, and neighborhoods  allowing them to avoid paying property taxes, and even by giving incentives and awards for those who are renaming formerly predominately low income (but historically rich) African American/Black owned neighborhoods and communities. 
The harm you have caused Arkansans under your four years and eight months of “leadership” is visible, palpable and unconscionable.  
We have students all over Arkansas afraid to go to school and parents afraid to go to work because you refused to declare Arkansas a Sanctuary State. 
We have requested on numerous occasions meetings with you and your appointed official, Commissioner Johnny Key, and both of you refused to do so until we called upon our elected Senators and Representatives, with you only conceding to give us one visit each.
We are no longer asking that you do us no more harm, we are demanding that you STOP your violence against us!
Give the LRSD back now!
Rev./Dr. Anika T. Whitfield 
Despite her fervent plea, the state board voted to continue state control of the Little Rock School District. One member also proposed disbanding the Little Rock teachers’ union. The motion received a second and will likely pass at the board’s next meeting.
Dr. Whitfield wrote:
The Arkansas State Board of Education voted unanimously to keep our schools under some sort of state control even after January 28, 2020.  They have adopted the draft as their working plan at today’s meeting despite the public outcries to discuss the draft further as it still has too many uncertainties, variables and undesirable state control even after the “release” of the LRSD.   
 
After voting to adopt this framework for reconstituting the LRSD, a board member made a motion to dissolve the Little Rock Education Association (our largest teachers/educators union).  The motion was not called for a vote, but did receive a second.  They adjourned the meeting and will vote on dissolving our union at their next meeting in October.
 
It is time for moral fusion, direct, non-violent, civil disobedience action!
 
Categories Arkansas, Democracy, Resistance

The Walton Plot to Privatize the Public Schools of Arkansas

By dianeravitch
September 4, 2019 //
22

The headquarters of the Walton/Walmart billionaires is in Bentonville, Arkansas, so it is not surprising that the Walton Family Foundation and the members of the family (net worth: $100 billion) have decided to privatize the public schools of Arkansas.

Arkansas is a poor state. It doesn’t have an abundance of private schools that are as good as its underfunded public schools but the Waltons want every child to have a voucher or a charter school to attend.

Legislators are easy to buy in a poor state. The Waltons own quite a few.

The Arkansas Education Association did the research and described the empire that the Waltons have constructed in service to their goal of owning and privatizing the public schools of Arkansas. In the Walton plan, there will be no “public schools,” only privately managed charter schools and vouchers for religious schools.

The AEA report lays out the Walton Empire of Privatization in detail, with their bought and paid for think tanks and academics.

Although this report includes a lot of names, it is just one slice of the nationwide effort to plunder our public schools. These organizations have a vast infrastructure and deep pockets that can seem daunting, but our students are counting on us to stand up and speak out.

While they may have more cash, we have the power of numbers and common sense. Arkansas’s taxpayers and students would be better served by investing our scarce resources to improve our neighborhood public schools and helping all of the students who attend them.

Our public schools are the anchor of our communities, and the best way to expand opportunity for all. This idea does not require twisted statistics, or market tested language to trick people into supporting it. It’s as old as the country itself.

Do you think any member of the Walton Family ever feels ashamed of the damage they are wreaking on our democracy?

What about their minions? Have they no shame?

Categories Accountability, Arkansas, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization, Shame, Vouchers

Little Rock, Arkansas: Dr. Anika Whitfield Pleads for a Return of Democracy

By dianeravitch
August 31, 2019 //
8

Dr. Anika Whitfield is a remarkable woman. She is a podiatrist. She is an ordained Baptist minister. She has volunteered as a tutor in the public schools of Little Rock for many years. She is active in Save Our Schools Arkansas and Grassroots Arkansas. She is a fighter for social justice and equity. She wrote the following letter to Johnny Key, who is Commissioner of Education in the state. Key was trained as an engineer and served in the state legislature for a decade. Anyone who cares about the children and schools of Little Rock should listen to Dr. Whitfield. She is a dynamo.

The state took control of the Little Rock School District because six of its 48 schools were low-performing. Instead of helping the schools, the state simply abolished local control. The Walton family plays a large role in the state due to its dominance of the state’s economy and its many political lackies.

Dr. Whitfield wrote:

Commissioner Key,

For two weeks now, the Arkansas State Board of Education has been hosting public meetings to discuss the future of the LRSD. Since the LRSD was taken over by the state on January 28, 2019, you have been serving, by appointment, as our sole board member. Sadly, you have not been present for any of the four meetings that the state board of education has been hosting in the LRSD community. Why is that?

Over the past close to five years now, serving as the sole board member of the LRSD, you have not elected to host one meeting with the LRSD about the state of our district, the exit plan for our district, nor to gain insight from the stakeholders and the persons most impacted by the many decisions you have made regarding the LRSD. Why is that?

When we have called on you over the past four and a half years as community organizers and leaders on behalf of the LRSD community, you have refused to host public meetings about our concerns, the state of our district, and your plans for our district. Your attorneys or staff at the Arkansas Department of Education has responded to me that you are not required by law to host meetings like an elected school board, and that given your responsibilities to the entire state of Arkansas as education commissioner, it is difficult for you to make a commitment to doing so. Why then, don’t you give the LRSD back to a democratically elected board who can commit to serving the LRSD who can meet with the public regularly and provide a plan for restoration of the LRSD?

Some of the highlights you missed by not being present, in the room of public discussion were as follows:

•We believe Governor Hutchinson should replace Mr. Key (you) as commissioner of education because not only has he failed to serve as an effective board member of the LRSD, he has refused to listen to our majority voices that have echoed for close to five years now that we want democracy restored to the LRSD and to our school board.

•It has been evidenced by Mr. Key’s (your) actions that Governor Hutchinson appointed you to fulfill the pleasures of wealthy business owners in Arkansas (the Waltons, Mr. Hussman, and the Stephens) who appear to have made it a part of their business plan to invest in charter schools that generate city, county, state and national funding for their businesses to operate privately off the backs of primarily African American/Black and Latinx students.

•We, the LRSD community, realize that BEFORE the LRSD was taken over for six out of 48 (now only 44 because you have forced the closure of four of our beloved neighborhood schools), the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) as recommended by the state board of education (SBE) and enforced by state law, had been overseeing the six schools that were performing below proficiency according to results from racially and culturally biased standardized tests. Therefore, the state board of education should not have, in good moral conscious, decided for the ADE to take on the responsibility of 42 other schools in the LRSD until they could prove success in helping the six schools overcome the barriers prohibiting proficiency or above outcomes of the students attending these schools.

•We recognize that the absence of a democratically elected school board allows for the management of an over $350 million dollar budget in the hands of one person, Mr. Key (you), who has not been allocating funds in good faith according to the will and the knowledge of the LRSD community as an elected board is required. We want to know where have the city, county, state, federal, and limited and regulated private dollars been allocated, spent, diverted, or unused by the LRSD board (Mr. Key), the ADE, and the LRSD administration?

You missed the opportunity to learn, hear, and discuss with the more than 120 LRSD community members who attended all four of the public meetings held in four different locations in our city.

And, most importantly, you missed, as our sole board member and state commissioner of education, hearing and responding to our (the majority of the LRSD stakeholders who attended the meetings (at Roberts Elementary and St. Mark Baptist Church) list of demands:

1) Immediate return of entire LRSD.

2) Local, democratic board elections Nov. 2019 or reinstatement of last elected board. (You still have time to announce and prepare for Nov. 2019 elections by law. Failing to do so will only further indicate your willful sabotage of the will of The People, the majority of the LRSD stakeholders. )

3) An MOA that the SBE and ADE will commit to doing the LRSD no more harm.

4) Reopening of our neighborhood public schools they closed.

5) Nullification of the current blueprint.

6) Immediate establishment of a LRSD Student Union and Parent Union.

7) Full accounting of all LRSD financials during state control of LRSD; constructive trust with method for LRSD to recoup funds from the State.

8) Same standards for private schools and charter schools as for public schools.

9) Higher qualifications for board members, both state and local/district; including requirement that some board members be certified educators.

10) Evidence-driven programs and solutions in all LRSD schools; examples include the early childhood development program at Rockefeller Elementary and the school-based health program at Stephens Elementary.

11) Make public input more accessible for parents and others responsible for children by providing child care at public meetings.

We expect a public response from you today.

Rev./Dr. Anika T. Whitfield
Grassroots Arkansas, co-chair

Categories Accountability, Arkansas, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Democracy, Education Industry, Education Reform, Little Rock, Privatization, Walton Foundation

Little Rock: Please Don’t Destroy Our Public Schools and Our Children

By dianeravitch
June 5, 2019 //
4

Dr. Anika Whitfield, an education activist in LittleRock, Arkansas, wrote an open letter to State Commissioner Johnny Key and the members of the Arkansas State Board of Education. She appeals to their humanity, forgetting for the moment that the state of Arkansas is owned by the Walton Family Foundation:

 

Mr. Key and the Members of the AR State Board of Education,

Students, families, schools, and neighborhoods in the LRSD community are experiencing almost indescribable losses. 
 
We have witnessed significant losses of students to charter and other school districts during your watch, as we have seen many school closures and observed more funding and attention being given to growing charter schools, primarily in and around the LR community.  
 
We have also witnessed an untold account of the number of students who have been transitioned from the LRSD into a prison pipeline. And, to be clear, most of these students are disproportionately African American, Latinx, and students from low income homes and communities. 
 
We know that many of these actions have not occurred haphazardly, unintentionally, nor unnoticed by most, if not all of you.
 
We appeal to your humanity and the spirit in which your position holds, to represent all children and all public schools in our state with equity and without discrimination.  
 
We appeal to you even moreso as your more recent role has been to oversee directly the LRSD since taking over our public school district, January 28, 2019, to provide all of our students with access to meaningful resources and support in order to experience a world class public education.
 
We rightfully hold you accountable for the losses mentioned above.  And, we consider these to be failures as a result of your actions or inactions. 
 
We appeal to you, as you prepare to return the LRSD to the community of LR and to a democratically elected, local, representative board of directors, to provide and allocate the necessary resources to ensure that every Elementary school has a qualified, certified, school counselor that will well serve the students and schools in which they are hired, without demonstrating discrimination and without oppressing the students in which they are agreeing to serve.
 
Looking forward to hearing back from you soon.
 
Sincerely, 
Rev./Dr. Anika T. Whitfield
Categories Accountability, Arkansas, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Inequity, Injustice, Little Rock, Privatization, Walton Foundation

Arkansas: Why Do Republicans Hate Local Control?

By dianeravitch
April 3, 2019 //
14

 

Republicans were once the party that advocated for local control of schools. No longer. Now they support state takeovers. This is the Big Bad Wolf technique.  State Control makes it easier to privatize public schools. No need to listen to parents or communities. No raucous school board meetings. No democracy. State control of schools is autocracy in action.

In Arkansas, a state that is almost wholly owned by one wealthy family, the Little Rock School District wastaken over by the state because six of its 48 schools had low test scores. A Democrat proposedto End State Control after five years. That bill failed. A Republican state legislator has proposed to extend state control to nine years.

The Republican legislator puts the onus on the district for failing to improve while it is under state control. This is whacky. If the district hasn’t improved under state control, it’s the state that has failed, not the district. Why punish the district for the state’s failure? Why not hold the state accountable?

This report was published by the Arkansas Public School Resource Center, without a link.

 

“BY CATHY FRYE
“LITTLE ROCK –  Senator Kim Hammer, R-District 33, on Monday filed a bill that would allow the Arkansas Department of Education and State Board of Education to retain control of public school districts for up to nine years.
”SB668 accomplishes this by letting the State Board grant two 24-month extensions if a district that has been under state control for five years still isn’t meeting expectations.
“The bill appears to be a response to Senator Will Bond’s failed legislation that would have required ADE and the State Board to return school districts to local control within five years of a takeover.
“Bond, D-District 32, testified last week in the Senate Education Committee that the bill would apply to any and all school districts taken over by the state.
“Current law states: “If the public school district has not demonstrated to the State Board and the Department of Education that the public school district meets the criteria to exit Level 5-Intensive Support within five years of the assumption of authority shall annex, consolidate or reconstitute the public school district…”
“Bond’s bill, SB553, proposed another option – returning a district to local control as long as it met certain criteria.
“At that committee meeting, ADE Commissioner Johnny Key contended that approval of the legislation would create an uncertain situation where “we’re back to not knowing,” adding that in the case of the Little Rock School District, which is approaching the 5th anniversary of its takeover, “the exit criteria was recently communicated.”
“Per Bond’s bill, the State Board would be able to return a school district to local control if the following criteria were met:
  • “The public school district has adopted a plan to correct the issue or issues that caused the classification of the public school district as being in need of Level 5-Intensive support; and
  • “All public schools within the public school district that is classified as being in need of Level 5 – Intensive support are making demonstrable progress towards the removal of the Level 5-Intensive support classification; or
  • “The number of public schools that are classified as in need of Level 5 – Intensive support within a public school district has increased while under the authority of the state board.”
“The bill further states: “The state board may promulgate rules to establish regarding the criteria by which a public school district may exit Level 5-Intensive support as established under subdivision (c)(2) of this section.”
“In closing for his bill, Bond asked committee members to think about how their school districts would feel about remaining under state control for more than five years. This isn’t just about Little Rock, he said.
“In the end, the bill failed.
“Hammer’s bill has been referred to the Senate Education Committee and could run as soon as Wednesday. The committee meets at 10 a.m. in Room 207. An agenda has not yet been posted.
“Hammer’s bill still offers the State Board the options of annexation, consolidation or reconstitution of school districts. At the end of five years, the State Board could consider those choices or extend the state takeover by another 24 months. When the two-year extension ends, the bill states, the board would then be allowed to grant a second two-year extension.”
Senator Kim Hammer hates democracy and local control. 
From Wikipedia:

Kim David Hammer is a Missionary Baptist pastor and hospice chaplain in Benton, Arkansas, who is a Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives for District 28 in Saline County near the capital city of Little Rock.

Bentonville is the home base of the Waltons, where most of them attended and graduated from the local PUBLIC schools. The Waltons, having benefitted from their good public education, are now using their multi billion dollar ($150 billion) to destroy public schools across the nation. Ingrates.

Categories Accountability, Arkansas, Little Rock, Privatization, Republicans, Walton Foundation

Arkansas: Please Help the Resistance Fight the Corporate Takeover!

By dianeravitch
March 19, 2019 //
6

 

I have recently been in touch with residents of Arkansas who are fighting the Waltons effort to destroy public schools in poor black communities. It is an uphill battle, to be sure, and they need our help.

Minister Anika Whitfield has been working with parents, teachers, and fellow clergy to forge grassroots opposition to resist the onslaught of the Wal-Mart empire.

Pastors are forming their own Pastors for Arkansas Children to defend the principle of public education.

Jitu Brown of the Journey for Justice Alliance will soon be in Little Rock to offer strategic advice. Jitu and J4J led the successful Dyett hunger strike, which blocked theclosing of the last open admission high school in Chicago’s historic Bronzeville neighborhood. As a result of a 34-day hunger strike, Mayor Rahm Emanuel reversed his decision to close the school and instead invested $15 millioninrenovating it into the Walter Dyett School of the Arts.

Please join me in helping the Resistance fight the Waltons and the Corporate Takeover of the state’s public schools by sending a check to:

Grassroots Arkansas

Arkansas Community Organizations

2101 South Main Street, LR,  AR 72206.

It is registered as a charitable organization by the IRS and is tax deductible.

 

Categories Arkansas, Charter Schools, Chicago, Closing schools, Privatization, Resistance, Walton Foundation

Arkansas: Legislators Seek Return of Local Control in Little Rock

By dianeravitch
March 16, 2019 //
2

 

Little Rock is a poor and impoverished district with 48 schools. Six of its schools were low-performing so the state seized control of the entire district. The Walton family owns Arkansas, and they want to make it easier to open charter schools. Local elected boards tend to stand in the way of privatization.

Six legislators introduced a bill to restore local control. 

Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times, one of the few journalists in the state who regularly stands up to the Walton oligarchs, writes:

 

Six Little Rock legislators have filed a bill that would provide a pathway to return of local control of the Little Rock School District, taken over by the state more than four years ago for low test scores in six of four dozen schools.

Under control of state Education Commissioner Johnny Key the district remains under state supervision and the state Board of Education has seemed unimpressed by improvements in the district, which is majority black and impoverished and has seen charter schools drain off many of its already successful students.

The legislation by Sens. Will Bond, Joyce Elliott and Linda Chesterfield and Reps. Charles Blake, Andrew Collins and Tippi McCullough makes a key change in a relatively new state law that opened the door to perpetual state control of the district — or parceling it out to private operators as forces aligned with the Walton Family Foundation school lobby have long desired.

The bill says that the state “may” rather than “shall” annex, consolidate or reconstitute a district that hasn’t met criteria for exiting Level 5 of the school distress rating. The expectation is that some Little Rock schools will likely have standardized test scores short of sufficiency at the end of five years of state control and thus be unable to exit Level 5.

The legislation says a district could regain local control if it has demonstrated any of the following criteria: “substantial improvement” in the district;  the state Board of Education has approved a plan to address deficiencies; schools at Level 5 have demonstrated progress, or the number of schools that have been judged at Level 5 has INCREASED under state control. That list point is worth noting particularly. Though apples-to-apples comparisons are difficult because of several changes in tests used, the Little Rock School District had eight schools with an F grade in the 2017-18 school year where it had six schools judged as failing when the state took it over. Those eight must make passing scores on a single test given next month or else the district is sunk under current criteria.

Will Little Rock School District taxpayers see their democratically controlled school district taken away forever for Johnny Key’s failure to improve it? That is the question. The new legislation would give the state another path. The bill’s success may depend on just how badly other forces want to see the district (and its teachers’ union) permanently destroyed and its property tax riches and profit opportunities given to the mixed abilities of unaccountable and often secretive private school management corporations.

 

Categories Accountability, Arkansas, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization, Walton Foundation

Arkansas: Who’s Who in the Charter Movement (Hint: Everyone Is Owned by the Waltons)

By dianeravitch
March 12, 2019 //
11

I can’t tell you how angry this post made me. I felt outraged and frustrated. It is not just about privatization. It is about the purchase of an entire state by one family. How can anyone teach civics in Arkansas when one family owns everything?

This post will make your head spin. Public schools in communities of color are taken over by the state, and charter schools open. One high-powered chain. spreads it’s tentacles across the state, scooping up the best students. A rotating cast of characters plays musical chairs at the state board, the state education department, and superintendencies.

The schools targeted for closure and privatization are schools that enroll mostly children of color. Everyone feels powerless to stop the Walton train.

Behind it all: ALEC, the Koch brothers, and the Walton Family. The Walton Family owns everything and every body.

Schools? Education? An afterthought.

This saga reads like a gangster tale. The mob always wins.

I was contacted by a minister in Little Rock who asked, what can we do? My advice: civil disobedience. Mass protests. Marches. Demonstrations. Chain yourselves to the schoolhouse doors. Nothing else will work. The greatest enemy is complacency, apathy, hopelessness. Faced with the unlimited power of a family that owns the state government, it is easy to feel hopelessness. But resistance is the only path. The other way, the status quo, is servitude.

Categories Administrators, superintendents, ALEC, Arkansas, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Corruption, Education Reform, Koch Brothers, Walton Foundation

Gun Debate in Arkansas: And She Persisted.

By dianeravitch
March 9, 2019 //
12

This story in today’s Washington Post moved me. If I had been in the room, I would have jumped up and applauded Senator Flowers.

 

Debate on gun legislation reached a crescendo at the Arkansas State Capitol on Wednesday when a senator fervently denounced a bill that would make it easier to use lethal force in the name of self-defense.

The bill, sponsored by three Republican state senators, would remove a clause from the current law that required a “duty to retreat” in self-defense cases. Previous efforts to push similar “stand your ground” laws in the state, under both Democratic and Republican legislatures, have all failed within the past decade, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.

On Wednesday, Sen. Stephanie Flowers (D) spoke up when some members of the state’s Judiciary Committee tried to limit debate time on the issue — delivering an ardent monologue to explain why “stand your ground” laws are dangerous, particularly for people and communities of color.

“I am the only person here of color. I am a mother, too, and I have a son,” Flowers said. “And I care as much for my son as y’all care for yours. But my son doesn’t walk the same path as yours does. So this debate deserves more time.”

Addressing gun rights supporters in the room, Flowers said it was “crazy” to limit debate on such a sensitive issue. The senator again invoked her 27-year-old son, adding she was glad he no longer lives in Arkansas.

“You don’t have to worry about your children. . . . I have to worry about my son, and I worry about other little black boys and girls,” she said. “And people coming into my neighborhood, into my city, saying they have open-carry rights walking down in front of my doggone office in front of the courthouse. That’s a bully!”

Flowers said she was “scared” and “threatened” by the notion, and cited instances in which people had entered the legislature while carrying guns under their coats, adding, “You can see the damn print!”

Before she could continue, Flowers was interrupted by the committee chairman, Sen. Alan Clark (R).

“Senator, you need to stop talking,” he whispered.

“No, I don’t!” Flowers lashed back.

“Yes, you do,” Clark replied.

“No, I don’t,” Flowers said. “What the hell you going to do, shoot me?”

“Senator …” Clark said, in an apparent effort to quiet her.

“Senator s—. Go to hell. I’m telling you, this deserves more attention.”

Flowers walked out of the committee room before returning to hear other groups speak out against the bill, including the Arkansas Association of Chiefs of Police and the Arkansas Sheriffs’ Association, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The measure was narrowly defeated in a 4-to-3 vote, with one Republican joining the opposing group.

Video of Flowers’s unrelenting defense was shared widely Friday, drawing praise from those inspired by her fearlessness. Some found the timing of the video to be fitting, as Friday marked International Women’s Day.

The bill’s primary sponsor will attempt to reintroduce the bill Monday to get one more “yes” vote, local NBC affiliate KARKreported.

Categories Arkansas, Guns, Racism
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