HIP-HOP AMBASSADORS, CONT. And number three was just the experience, especially for Ferocious, it was his first time out of the country, and we both agreed it was like a hopefully not “once-in-a-lifetime,” but a “first-in-alifetime” experience. How long were you there? Ten days. We had eight- to 12-hour workdays, get up at 8 a.m. and sometimes get back at 10 p.m., but I was talking about hip-hop, and the studio, and we were recording in the studio with the artists as well, and performing — it was great. It was like the life that I’m aiming to do a lot more of regularly. And it was in a foreign, beautiful land with good food. You said it was kind of a cultural exchange. What did you take away from their culture? More than anything, they had a real positive vibe. A lot of it could have been
based off of the fact that this was a special occasion, but it was this kind of sincerity among the artists who worked together. Because the vibe was positive, even when we hit potholes, they were easy to get through. Because everybody was really on some, “we’re trying to get an end-product of our art.” That was from the artists more or less. From the students, that was encouragement. For me, I’m big on people who experience other cultures, it was one of those things where you realize how big the world is and how you can play a part in it, so to speak. So it was like, here is this dude from Pine Bluff, Ark., who’s speaking to these kids, who are hanging onto every word, in Banjul, Gambia, and who at the end want autographs and everything like that. So even the artists who they know or hear about, who started from wherever they started from, are impacting them over here. So it was kind
of like the importance of every move, the interconnectedness or just the web of life. Everything you do does matter and affects somebody. Going on some physics type, equal-and-opposite-reaction stuff. What’s the Gambian hip-hop scene like? It’s cool. Most of it is still influenced by other musical genres. They were really big on dancehall, reggae and some of the traditional sounds, so in terms of their Top 10, two or three of them sounded very Americanized, like westernized. The rest of them were very much dancehall reggae influenced, implementing a lot of the culture in the look and the style of Western hip-hop, even more so than it was in the music. It was almost like they pick and take what they want because a lot of times they would rap in English and switch to their native tongue then they would
implement in dancehall elements so they kind of like bastardized it to make it their own creation. Do you want to go back? That’s the goal. So now not only do I want to go back, I also want to try somewhere new. I know if I go somewhere new it might be a different experience because one of the reasons the concert went so well is because they linked with a third party corporation, which is not always a guarantee. So the embassy will always put on a show, but it won’t have as much impact because they’re not promoters, so it’d be way, way different. But I’d like to go to a different area, and if I get anywhere in the area of Africa, I’m going to try to go back. That’s the goal, to go back, because you get to build some relationships. I’m working on a song getting on the radio up there and stuff like that. The goal is definitely to go back.
HARRISON FIGHTS RACIST REPUTATION, CONT. From page 12 raised enough money for the church to repave its parking lot, and about a dozen residents spent a weekend in Helena, helping the congregation renovate their church. As a thank you, the church choir performed a concert on the Harrison Courthouse bandstand. In 2004, the Task Force began sponsoring an annual scholarship for a minority student at North Arkansas College, a community college in Harrison. Then in 2007, the Task Force created Central High 50th Anniversary posters that were placed in local businesses and sponsored a full page commemorative notice in the newspaper. It also sponsored a handful of public screenings of “Banished,” a documentary about sundown towns, and a screening of “Mississippi Innocence,” a documentary about two men freed through the Mississippi Innocence Project, followed by a question and answer period. The Task Force has put together a traveling exhibit on the history of Harrison that includes prominent black families and homesteaders. One member has made contact with a black Harrison descendant — a retired AT&T worker living in New Jersey, whom they hope to bring to Harrison for a visit. In February 2011, students were bused in from all over the state to participate in the Task Force-organized Nonviolence Youth Summit, part of Arkansas’s Martin Luther King Jr. Commission’s annual conference. Right now, preparations are underway for the 2012 Youth Summit. There have been independent efforts, as well. In 2006 a music pro32
AUGUST 1, 2012
ARKANSAS TIMES
ducer named Scott Hoffman collected nearly 1,200 signatures on a public declaration that read: “We the undersigned citizens of Harrison, Arkansas, and surrounding areas do hereby denounce the blatant racism and bigotry of a very small minority in our community. We stand for respect, harmony and acceptance of all people.” Hoffman ran the declaration as a full page ad in the Harrison Daily Times. Harrison’s minorities are growing in visibility. According to the 2010 census, Harrison is 0.3 percent black (about 34 residents), 0.6 percent American Indian, 0.7 percent Asian and 2.2 percent Latino. The Task Force has two black members, transplants who retired in Harrison and regularly attend meetings. The president of North Arkansas College, Dr. Jacquelyn Elliott, is Native American, and Dr. Ali Abdelaal, an oncologist and one of North Arkansas Regional Medical Center’s most prominent staff members, is Egyptian. Last year the School Board developed a minority staff recruitment plan, as mandated by Arkansas law, because the number of minority students rose to 5 percent. And in 2008, Anne Millburn, the Harrison High School counselor, started a diversity council. To join, students must fill out an application specifying why they want to be a part of the council. Last year the council had 52 members, including two minority students. This year, there are 35 members and three minority students. FedEx, the largest employer in Harrison, has a national diversity council with an active Harrison chapter. FedEx sponsored the 2011 Nonviolence Youth
Summit, and for the first few years, FedEx representatives trained the high school diversity council. Now Millburn handles this on her own, tackling issues like bullying, cliques and respect for people of all ethnicities, genders, religions and sexual orientation. Members of the diversity council say they encounter negative perceptions of Harrison when they participate in events with other schools. This summer, senior Maggie Langston attended Arkansas Governor’s School. “One guy wrote in my yearbook after Governor School, ‘Sorry I called you a Klan member, you’re an awesome artist,’ so apparently I changed his opinion. … He called me a racist because I lived in Harrison, and I defended it. Then the next day, he said he talked to somebody who went through Harrison and saw a ton of Confederate flags. And I said, ‘You must have missed Harrison, then.’ I just kind of let it go, but I attempted to subtly change his mind.” The diversity council said that the 22 minority students at Harrison High are as accepted as anyone else, with plenty of party invitations and dates to prom. Last year, a black senior named Isaiah moved in with a white family when his family left town. He wanted to finish his sports seasons and graduate with his class. “If anything, maybe [minorities] are even a little bit more popular, because we’re trying not to show that we’re racist,” Maggie said. Seth Chaney, an 18-year-old, darkskinned Brazilian studying to be a paramedic at North Arkansas College, has lived in Harrison since he was a toddler.
His adoptive parents are white, and his mom is a bilingual doctor. Growing up, he was the only non-white kid at his private school. “All my buddies are white. Two of my buddies are halfMexican. They all went to Harrison. Of course, you get the backwoods, redneck hillbillies that don’t know anything, but I haven’t really experienced anything [like racism],” he said. Another student, Eric Spradlin, leads Chi Alpha, a Christian student organization. He said he’s never met Thom Robb, but that Robb “used to go to church with my grandma, till she told him he was wrong in his viewpoints, and she never spoke to him again.” “The KKK, they’re not really a threat. They kind of disbanded from how the movies portray them,” Chaney added. A few months ago, Elliott moved from Missouri to accept her position at North Arkansas College. Both her church and her Rotary Club are multiethnic, and she’s spearheaded a new minority recruitment plan at the college. Even as overall enrollment is shrinking, minority enrollment is growing. She refuses to mention the KKK by name. “A lot of people judge Harrison that have never actually set foot in Harrison. And I think that’s unfair. You’re entitled to your opinion, but come visit the community, come talk to the people and then make up your mind. I’m passionate about it, because I chose to live here. I wouldn’t choose to live and work in a community that’s racist. … From what I can tell, our minorities are much more involved and much more a part of this community than Mr. Thom Robb, or whatever his name is,” she said.