OVER THE WEEKEND,
PROTESTORS FROM JOPLIN FOR
JUSTICE AND BRIDGE THE GAP
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS CARAVANED
TO ZINC ARKANSAS, THE REPORTED
HOME OF THE NATIONAL DIRECTOR
OF THE KU KLUX KLAN, FOR A
BARBEQUE. ACTION 12'S DEJA
BICKHAM JOINS US LIVE FROM THE
STUDIO, DEJA YOU TALKED TO
THOSE WHO MADE THE TRIP, WHAT
DID THEY SAY ABOUT THEIR
EXPERIENCE? ANDY...THEY TOLD
ME THEY BELIEVE RACISM NOT
ONLY IMPACTS THE LOCAL
COMMUNITIES AROUND THE KKK
COMPOUND, BUT IT IMPACTS THE
REPUTATION OF THE OZARKS AS
WELL. AND AWARENESS IS A HUGE
PART OF THE SOLUTION.
Dola Flake, Organizer, Joplin
for Justice: â
the energy of hate and bigotry
is there."NATS: "Diversity
chased me down. Diversity is
chasing down the last white
community anywhere. No child
left white."Aaron Clarke,
Bridge the Gap NWA: "We don't
want to go down there and be
the first black people that
some of these people have ever
met and be the angry, hateful,
violent people that everybody
else in the area has told them
about."DEJA: CLARKE SAYS HE
ORGANIZED THE PROTEST AS A WAY
TO EXTEND AN OLIVE BRANCH.
Clarke: "Everyboy likes to eat
right, so let's start and
let's create a common ground
and let's move from there."
Flake: "As lead organizer for
Joplin for Justice, it really
was important that we have a
presence there.There was a lot
of narrative happening while
we were in Zinc, Arkansas some
of that came directly from the
KKK..DEJA: BUT SOME OF THE
DIALOGUE CAME FROM COMMUNITY
MEMBERS WHO DON'T AGREE WITH
THE METHODS OF THE KKK.NATS OF
FLAKE: "Alright yall we are
here with, what's your name
sir? Kevin Stage. We're here
with Kevin, he's a Zinc
community member he's going to
talk a little bit about the
impact of having the compound
of the KKK here has on the
climate and the culture of
this community." NATS.Kevin
Stage, Harrison Arkansas
Resident: "It gives us a
negative effect, everybody's
like Harrison, Arkansas is the
most racist town in America.
Now back in the day when it
was all over Harrison, I get
that. 100-percent terrible.
But now is that stuff still
going on, very little."Clarke:
"We have to work with these
people otherwise it's just us
standing outside of the
building yelling and saying
black lives matter, who's
going to take the next step
and and go inside of the
building and say hey black
lives matter, and that's what
Bridge the Gap is about."
Flake: â
partnering with Bridge the Gap
Northwest Arkansas and other
activist groups is not simply
to cause trouble and agitate
people, it is to bring
awareness and change and
unfortunately, making people
uncomfortable in their bigotry
and hate is part of that
process.â
JUSTICE AND BRIDGE THE GAP NWA
PLAN TO CONTINUE TO PARTNER
TOGETHER IN THE FUTURE AND
CLARKE HAS ANNOUNCED HIS PLANS
TO RUN FOR CITY COUNCIL IN THE
CITY OF ROGERS.
