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I’ve been thinking a lot about the viral video going around of my hometown, Harrison, AR. I was born there and lived there until I left to attend college in Fayetteville. It goes without saying that the words spoken in the video are disgusting, deplorable, and shameful. A thread:
I am continually dumbfounded as to how someone could speak or believe those words and have that kind of hate in their heart. Yes, it is true that there is a very small but active chapter of the KKK in Zinc, AR, about 15 miles from Harrison.
They have a P.O. Box in Harrison and have put up several hateful, racist, and disgraceful billboards in town, many of which have been combatted by billboards displaying messages of love and inclusivity.
Many in Harrison, including my grandpa, have been trying for years to have the racist billboards removed, and some of them have been removed!
My grandpa is a leading member of the Harrison Task Force on Race Relations, which aims to make Harrison more inclusive and also to counteract the reputation that Harrison has as a “haven for white racists.”
Since 2003, the Task Force has held meetings & events with that mission as their guiding principle. In 2016, @wkamaubell visited Harrison to film an episode of @CNN #UnitedShadesofAmerica. In the episode, Kamau comes to one of the meetings (& my grandpa even got a hug from him!)
Since the #BlackLivesMatter 
protests began, there have been several marches in Harrison, and there's now a BLM billboard in town. Despite the words of bigotry in the viral video, I choose to focus on people doing the work to make places like Harrison a place for ALL. @brentrenaud
protests began, there have been several marches in Harrison, and there's now a BLM billboard in town. Despite the words of bigotry in the viral video, I choose to focus on people doing the work to make places like Harrison a place for ALL. @brentrenaud
This is an opportunity for members of the community to look deep down inside of ourselves and ask, “how can I be better?” If you find yourself to be defensive about Harrison’s reputation, research ways that you can offset that reputation.
Are you volunteering with the Task Force and like minded groups? Do you regularly donate to organizations that aim to provide equality and equity for Black Americans? Are you diversifying your staff? Do you support Black-owned businesses?
Do you use your position in the community, whatever it may be, to uplift Black voices? As a teacher, are you being transparent with students about Black history? And are you teaching about it beyond Black History Month? As a business owner, are you hiring people of color?
As a member of law enforcement, how are you working to reform the corrupt system that exists? As an elected official of Harrison, how are you working to make Harrison a better place for Black and brown people to live and work?
I vividly remember during my senior year of high school when members of the KKK were threatening to attend and taunt the Homecoming ceremony in which the first openly gay Homecoming maid would walk.
The students at my school rallied against them, flooding them with phone calls, messages, and tweets. Because of our opposition, they did not attend.
We also organized a social media campaign called #IAmHarrison and flooded social media with messages of love, inclusivity, and the celebration of diversity. But none of that went viral, so you probably didn’t know.
There is a LOT of work to be done in Harrison. My black sister in law and black 5-year-old nephew currently live there, and I admit that I worry about their safety at times. No one can deny that Harrison has some dangerously racist inhabitants.
But, as with almost everything, it is complex. There are also people there, like my grandpa, who are involved in just about every community group imaginable, working every day to make it better.
I think my upbringing in Harrison has a lot to do with my desire to work among diverse patient populations. When researching medical schools, I searched for institutions that value health equality and equity for all and place social justice at the center of their curriculum.
I am blessed to have been accepted to a program that does just that. @UMBaltimore
Harrison, like any community, is full of complicated people. We must not deny that racism exists in our communities. We must not turn a blind eye. We must speak out when we see injustice. We must not say “well I’m not racist, so why do I have to take responsibility for this?”
We ALL have a responsibility, including myself. We ALL have work to do. We are ALL called to be a part of making sure that #blacklivesmatter .
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Link to United Shades episode of Harrison (skip to minute 19 for the Task Force meeting)
Link to piece by @BostonGlobe @brentrenaud , in which some of the above photos were provided by: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/19/opinion/black-lives-matter-haven-white-supremacists/
Not sure if this is Brent Renaud’s offical Twitter account, but wanted to do my best to credit the photographer.
A very kind person directed me to the journalist’s twitter handle: @RenaudBrothers . Thank you for visiting Harrison, shedding light on this issue, and for your service as a journalist.
