Several civil-rights leaders and state elected officials spoke to over 50 attendees at a “Real Love” rally against the “Stand Your Ground” bill Sunday afternoon on the state Capitol steps.
“Real love is true. Real love is justice. That’s why we’re here, and that’s why we are going to set the pace for the nation. We’re saying it’s time out for lies. It’s time for true justice, real justice. And real justice can’t wait,” said Attorney Evelyn Moorhead, who emceed Sunday’s rally and attended as a representative of the W. Harold Flowers Law Society.
Sen. Bob Ballinger, R-Ozark, and Rep. Aaron Pilkington, R-Knoxville, plan to present the bill to the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Pilkington said in a phone interview Sunday. The bill would amend current self-defense law by eliminating the duty to retreat from a perceived threat. The House Judiciary Committee has 11 Republicans and nine Democrats.
Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Gravette, said to the crowd via phone that this is not a conservative issue and the name “stand your ground” isn’t an accurate name for this piece of legislation.
“I’m a conservative Republican, but this is not a partisan issue,” he said. “Current law allows for any Arkansan, threatened with deadly force, a right to stand your ground, defend themselves today. But this law broadens that. It allows someone who can escape, in complete safety, to choose to stay and fight and kill …
“What I don’t understand about this: We’re in the middle of a pandemic, we’ve had racial unrest, civil strife, and we feel like it’s necessary to pass a law that the prosecutors, law enforcement, all testimony tells us it’s not necessary.”
Several speakers at the rally said the bill would lead to more gun violence and death, disproportionately affecting Black people and other people of color.
“If passed as law, this bill would have a dangerously negative and profound impact of Arkansans and the criminal and civil justice system. Undoubtedly, it ties law enforcement’s hands and denies victims of remedies by providing blanket immunity from criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits of individuals who claim they were acting in self defense,” said Julian Lott, mayor of Camden and president of the Arkansas Black Mayors Association. “This bill allows individuals to be judge, jury and executioner.”
He referenced many statistics on the negative and racially biased effects of these laws, including a A Tampa Bay Times analysis of nearly 200 cases that found that people who killed a black person walked free 73 percent of the time, while those who killed a white person went free 59 percent of the time.
“This is not just a bad bill; it’s a deadly bill,” said Rep. Vivian Flowers, D-Pine Bluff. “This also has an economic impact. Arkansas’ second largest industry is tourism. What happens if this bill were to pass? Or even if House Bills 1218 and 1231, that changes curriculum and punishes people for teaching real history? What kind of state do we become?”
Other speakers also condemned the two House bills, which were filed earlier this month and would allow for state funding to be restricted from going to schools with certain courses, events or activities dealing with race, gender and other social groups.
Vicki Hatter, president of the Little Rock School District Board, said the bills are problematic from an education standpoint.
“Parts of history will be sanitized,” Hatter said. “Our district, Little Rock School District, is a civil-rights district because it’s the home to the Little Rock Nine. We will not be able to speak about race and gender and political affiliations and looking at our overall history of America or even the world… We need legislation out of the classroom.”
Jada Washington, president of the University of Central Arkansas NAACP, said the bills would take away people of color’s voices and would eliminate what little of their history is currently being taught.
Pilkington said his understanding is that the Stand Your Ground bill is supported by most Arkansas voters and that Republicans in the House will vote for it.
“It’s what their constituents want, so I hope they don’t turn their backs on their constituents and they stand together,” he said.
CORRECTION: State Rep. Vivian Flowers is a Democrat from Pine Bluff. An earlier version of this article gave an incorrect city of residence for Flowers.