‘Code Word’ billboard draws Harrison groans

Mayor upset; protest set for today

HARRISON - A billboard went up in Harrison on Tuesday that reads: “Anti-Racist is a Code Word for Anti-White.”

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NWA Media

Layne Ragsdale (left) and Carolyn Cline, members of Harrison’s Race Relations Task Force, discuss their community’s reaction Wednesday to a billboard that the town’s mayor calls bad for business.

There was an immediate response from people in the community. A protest is scheduled for noon today, and a local radio station asked for its billboard, which was above the new one, to be removed. The sign company obliged.

“I think this is awful,” said Harrison Mayor Jeff Crockett. “It does not represent the people of Harrison’s attitude or the way they feel about any races. I think we’re welcoming to all. It’s trying to represent a false image of the way Harrison is.”

Crockett said the billboard also will be bad for business. Many people driving through Harrison won’t stop after seeing that billboard, he said.

About 10,000 vehicles pass by the location on the U.S. 62/65 bypass daily, according to 2012 traffic counts from the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.

Harrison has been dogged by image problems since race riots more than a century ago. The problem was exacerbated in the 1980s when Thom Robb, leader of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, moved to Zinc in Boone County and began using a Harrison post office box for the group’s mailing address.

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture says, “Though nowhere near as murderous as other race riots across the state, the Harrison Race Riots of 1905 and 1909 drove all but one African American from Harrison, creating by violence an all white community similar to other such ‘sundown towns’ in northern and western Arkansas” where blacks were not welcome at night.

The passage of time hasn’t put to rest Harrison’s reputation as racially biased. Harrison’s City Advertising Tourist Promotion Commission continues to consider hiring a marketing firm at an initial cost of $30,000 to combat the bad image.

Harrison’s Race Relations Task Force will meet today and discuss the billboard, said Patty Methvin, president of the Harrison Regional Chamber of Commerce. The task force was formed a decade ago to address issues of this kind.

“I think this is a catalyst,” said Methvin, who is also a member of the task force. “The call to arms is going to move people who want to respond.”

Claude West, who owns Harrison Sign Co., said he had the “wrap” - the printed material - put on the billboard but he’s “just the middleman.” West wouldn’t say who leased the 12-by-24-foot billboard at $200 a month for a year.

A young man leased the billboard about three weeks ago, saying the statement on the billboard referred to the government, West said. The man told West anyone who complains about the government is called a racist, apparently referring to the fact that President Barack Obama is black.

“I’m not a racist, but I don’t like Obamacare,” West said, paraphrasing the man’s explanation.

“Listening to him, I didn’t see anything wrong with this,” said West. “Would I do it again? Probably. I don’t know why it has exploded like this. I think there’s a tension. I think people are uncomfortable about where the country is going.”

People, including the man who leased the billboard, have a right to free speech, he said.

West said he immediately removed the radio station’s billboard at the station’s request.

He said he has taken calls from around the country about the billboard and has been called “racist” for allowing it, an accusation he denies. He plans to make himself available during the protest today to answer questions, he said.

The Facebook-organized protest will be held at noon at the billboard, and the mayor will speak at 2 p.m., said Floy Castello, one of the organizers. The group will then march to the sign company at 801 U.S. 62.

A long block away from the billboard, down Vine Road over to Main Street, is Freeland’s Barber Shop.

Freeland Dunscomb, the owner, said he didn’t lease the billboard but he knows who did. Dunscomb, who is married to Robb’s granddaughter, ran for justice of the peace last year, losing by a vote of 981 to 210 to Ann Kimes, a real estate agent. Dunscomb has spoken at Klan rallies in the past.

“I’m not going to comment on who did it,” Dunscomb said of the billboard. “He wants to be anonymous. That message points out a really simple hypocrisy that we’re all aware of: that basically only white people get called racist. Whether it’s criticizing [President Barack] Obama or Obamacare, if a white guy does it, a lot of times they’ll get called racist. If a black fellow criticizes [George W.] Bush or the policy of a white president, they never get called racist. This is a double standard we all live with every day.”

According to the 2010 Census, Boone County had 674 Hispanic residents, 229 Asians and 131 black residents. Whites still make up the vast majority of county residents, though, with 35,624.

Layne Ragsdale, another member of the Race Relations Task Force, said there’s nothing its members can do to force the sign company to remove the billboard. The task force is considering a counter campaign with “love thy neighbor” signs that could turn the negative into a positive, she said.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 10/17/2013

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