A months-long bipartisan effort to end the state's dual celebration of the birthdays of Gen. Robert E. Lee and Martin Luther King Jr. came to an end Wednesday after yet another no-vote in a legislative committee.
House Bill 1119, which would have created a separate celebration for Lee, failed in the House State Agencies and Governmental affairs.
If approved, the secessionist general's birthday would've been observed on the second Monday in January. The state would've continued to mark the civil-rights leader's birthday on the third Monday.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Fred Love, D-Little Rock, tried passing the bill through the committee at the start of the week but the meeting ended for lack of a quorum as too many legislators left the room.
Despite Monday's failure, Love said Wednesday that he thought he had the support he needed to get the bill through.
"Leadership is difficult sometimes," Love urged the committee. "I know it's a hard decision... But we will be on the right side of history."
There was no debate on the bill which was defeated handily by voice vote.
"I'm surprised to be honest [that it failed]," Love said. "They seemed supportive... I don't know what happened. Like I did, I received a flood of emails for and against [the bill]. I guess some kind of succumbed to the pressure."
Wednesday's vote didn't mark the first time a legislator thought he had the votes necessary to put Arkansas in line with 47 other states that devote that day to King and not a Confederate general.
Not even Virginia, Lee's home state, celebrates the two historical figures on the same day; only Mississippi and Alabama do so.
In February, a co-sponsor of Love's bill, and the chairman of the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee, Nate Bell, tried twice.
He fell short each time.
Both times Bell ran his bill, dozens of people turned up speak, most in opposition to the legislation. A few sported clothes or other items bearing the Confederate flag.
On Wednesday, the commander of the Arkansas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Robert Edwards, said the defeat of both HB1119, and Bell's earlier version, HB1113, should be seen as a victory for equality.
"Is there any difference between [honoring] Robert E. Lee and the Little Rock Nine?" Edwards asked. "Look at the Little Rock Nine. It represents racism, doesn't it?... It's about where we're going. Not where we've been."
Arkansas has formally celebrated Lee's birthday since 1947. It wasn't until a deal was struck in the mid-1980s that the state recognized King's birthday. Part of that compromise was placing it on the same day commemorating Lee's legacy.
Arkansas' tradition drew great national media attention this year, much of it negative from Slate magazine and MSNBC, after the Capitol closed for this year's holiday.
Bell has said that there is no shame in celebrating Lee's contributions to Southern heritage but said that doing it on a day meant to commemorate a civil-rights leader gave the perception to outsiders that Arkansas was backward.
Bell had suggested creating a Southern Heritage Day in the fall that would pay homage to Lee while also honoring a less famous Confederate general with Arkansas roots, Patrick Cleburne.
Asked if he thought his committee confirmed outsiders' perceptions of Arkansas as backward by voting down his bill, Love shook his head and said he couldn't speak to what others thought or said.
"I don't think that vote is on the right side of history," he said. "Arkansas has a history which we can be proud of... I thought this would be one more step in healing race relations in Arkansas."
Love said he was personally committed to fighting for separating the two figures' holidays. But that fight will have to wait until the next session.
"Sometimes [bills] don't come out the way we want to," Love said. "I'm encouraged to bring this back next session. And I'll continue to do so until we get the holiday separated.
Metro on 03/26/2015