"That's where I began to learn that I didn't know much."
-- State Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Gravette
What’s The point?
Bill’s passsage makes Arkansas a better place.
How refreshing to hear an elected official admit that, in fact, he or she doesn't (or at one point, didn't) know everything. Like the rest of us simple humans, state senators and representatives aren't perfect. They often must be taught the ways of the world. Bravo that Hendren acknowledges that.
His admission that he didn't know everything last week in a legislative committee meeting related to his days as a young man who, after growing up and attending school with people who look pretty much just like him, began interacting with people of different races when he joined the military service.
That experience taught him to understand that there are other perspectives than the homogeneous world view he learned as a child. Growing up meant accepting that the world is not only full of diverse people and cultures, but a wide range of ideas and perspectives.
Hendren used his personal story to argue in favor of Senate Bill 519, which would at long last separate the state holidays honoring the martyred civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate forces during the Civil War.
Hendren's arguments, and those of other like-minded lawmakers including state Rep. Grant Hodges, finally carried the day at both ends of the Capitol. SB 519 finally got through the House of Representatives late last week and was signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Going forward, King will be honored with a state holiday on the third Monday of January while Lee will be acknowledged in September, though there won't be a state government day off work for it.
The news of the bill's passage was hailed as a symbol of unity and mutual understanding in our small southern state -- a place where such understanding has been, at times, hard to come by.
The fact that King and Lee had been honored on the same day was a painful reminder of the bad old days of the segregated South, especially to the state's African-American population. Efforts to break apart the observances have been undertaken numerous times in the Legislature but, inexplicably was still around with the 2017 session began.
It appears that Jim Hendren isn't the only person who's been learning. The governor had given verbal support to a similar bill two years ago that ultimately failed. Hutchinson admittedly "didn't lift a finger" to help that measure in the session because he said he had other priorities. This time he was more forceful in his support and, we think, it made the difference in the end. Better late than never.
There are still those who somehow think putting a recognition of Lee to another part of the year and not taking the day off work is some sort of insult to Southern culture. It's not, and those folks need to get over it. While there are certain aspects of Lee's life worthy of respect, and while he is undoubtedly an important historic figure, his name continuing to be affiliated with a holiday honoring King, whose legacy is both important and righteous, was inappropriate and needlessly antagonistic. Arkansas is a better place without that lingering argument.
Commentary on 03/24/2017