One albatross is gone

Dual holiday needed to go

The Arkansas Legislature successfully tossed one albatross this session.

State lawmakers -- at least enough of them -- voted to undo what had been this state's embarrassing practice of celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the iconic civil rights leader, and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on the same day.

Arkansas had been among just three states in the nation to honor the two men on the same day. Now only Mississippi and Alabama will have to explain that particular embarrassment.

Historically, both men deserve to be remembered -- just not together.

Every January, as most others in the nation focused on King and his message of peace, Arkansas had one foot stuck in the Civil War, somehow clinging to a racist past.

That wasn't good for Arkansans or for the state's image.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed the bill on Tuesday, designating the third Monday in January as a state holiday to honor King alone. It is also a federal holiday.

"The support for a separate holiday to recognize Martin Luther King far exceeded my expectations and speaks well of the General Assembly and our state," the governor said last week after the Senate vote.

On Tuesday, before he signed the bill, he expanded on that thought.

"I expected this debate would divide us, but instead during the debate we listened to each other and the conversation brought us together," Hutchinson said.

Besides establishing the state holiday for King, Senate Bill 519 by Sen. David Wallace, R-Leachville, made the second Saturday in October, near the date of Lee's death, a memorial day for the Civil War general. It will be marked with a gubernatorial proclamation and will not be a state holiday.

Importantly, the legislation also requires the Arkansas Department of Education to expand what is taught in Arkansas classrooms about the Civil War and about civil rights.

That's important not necessarily because Arkansas schools aren't teaching enough of these subjects but because inclusion of that element in Wallace's bill got the bill diverted to legislative committees on education.

Two years ago, when the state last tried to split the King and Lee holidays, the legislation got bottled up in a House committee on state agencies and governmental affairs.

This year's bill got assigned to the education committees in both the House and Senate.

Clearly, some sentiment for the dual holiday remains among lawmakers (or their constituents). Otherwise, the votes to separate the holidays would have been stronger.

So you know, the Senate tackled the issue first, approving the bill on a 24-0 vote on March 7. The shutout looked good, until you remember that the Senate has 35 members.

Where were the rest? Eleven senators simply didn't vote on the question, apparently preferring not to be counted for or against it.

The Senate nonetheless passed the bill with a half dozen votes to spare. (Eighteen were needed.)

Considering the number of lawmakers returning from two years ago, the natural expectation was that the bill might face a tougher challenge in the House.

But the lower chamber ultimately passed the bill 66-11.

Again, the vote was well above the simple majority needed for the bill's passage. But 11 House members voted against it, another 18 didn't vote and five voted "present."

Anyone who wants to see how his or her respective legislators voted can do on the Legislature's web site, www.arkleg.state.ar.us. Just plug the bill number (SB519) into the first open blank to get details of the bill's movement through the Legislature, including both the House and Senate votes.

Gov. Hutchinson gets a lot of credit for getting this legislation passed. He not only made it part of his package but also testified in both the Senate and House committees for separation of the King and Lee observances.

That no doubt helped avoid seeing the bill trapped on either side of the Capitol.

Credit, too, the lawmakers who handled the bill, Sen. Wallace and Rep. Grant Hodges, R-Rogers, for mustering enough support in their respective chambers to make the change.

Lawmakers, or at least enough of them, did the right thing.

Surely, Arkansas has shucked the bad image that was being perpetuated by the dual holiday.

There is plenty more to do, but at least that one albatross is gone.

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Brenda Blagg is a freelance columnist and longtime journalist in Northwest Arkansas. Email her at [email protected].

Commentary on 03/22/2017

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