Bill filed to strike Confederate reference from state’s flag law
The Democratic leader in the Arkansas House filed legislation Friday to remove a reference to the Confederacy from the law that explains the symbols on the state flag.
A single blue star above the state’s name in the white diamond on the flag commemorates the Confederate States of America, according to the 1924 resolution setting the current design of the flag. The design of the flag was later adopted into state law in 1987.
House Bill 1487, filed Friday by House Minority Leader Charles Blake, D-Little Rock, would amend Arkansas Code Annotated 1-4-101 to state that the star “commemorates the heritage and contribution of the Quapaw, Osage, and Caddo tribes and other Native American nations who inhabited Arkansas,” prior to European contact.
“This is a great opportunity to honor our history,” Blake said in a short interview Friday, while anticipating resistance from those who would want to retain the reference to the state’s legacy as part of the pro-slavery Confederacy.
Among those critics, state Rep. Brandt Smith, R-Jonesboro, said Friday that he “knew it was coming up.”
Two years ago, during the 2017 regular session, lawmakers with the backing of Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson passed a law ending the decadeslong practice of celebrating a single holiday in January for both slain civil-rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. During a House debate over
that law, Smith questioned whether the Arkansas flag’s memorialization of the Confederacy would be the next to go.
“We cannot rewrite history,” Smith said Friday.
Speaking by phone, Smith later added that he did not want blacks “to feel any type of anxiety when they look at the flag.”
But Smith then questioned the motives of Blake, who is black.
“I don’t know whether he’s got any anger or resentment that he’s holding onto personally, that he can’t deal with,” Smith said.
Blake said he never considered changing the design of the flags — as have lawmakers in other Southern states where flags once included symbols of the Confederacy — only the “words on the paper.” Mississippi’s flag includes the Confederate battle flag.
Changing the Arkansas flag itself would cost too much, he said, as new flags would have to be issued to government buildings and public schools.
John Berrey, the chairman of the Quapaw Nation based in Oklahoma, called Blake’s idea “fantastic,” though he said he had not discussed the proposal with the Democratic leader directly. Berrey noted that the word “Arkansas” has Quapaw origins.
“Our history runs very long in this state,” Berrey said.
Representatives for the Osage and Caddo nations did not respond to requests for comment.
A spokesman for Hutchinson said Friday that the governor had not had a chance to review the proposal.
The first state flag was commissioned in 1912, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture website. The U.S. Navy was preparing to launch a battleship bearing the state’s name and needed a state flag to fly. A flag designed by Willie Kavanaugh Hocker of Jefferson County, originally containing three stars in the white diamond, was approved by the Legislature in 1913.
The original three stars carry dual meanings under state law: that the land encompassing Arkansas has been a part of three nations — Spain, France and the United States — and that Arkansas was the third state born out of the Louisiana Purchase. The fourth star was added by the Legislature a decade later, in 1923, to commemorate the Confederacy. The flag was changed for a final time in 1924 by placing the Confederate star alone above the state’s name, with the original three stars below it.
Criticism of the state’s flag and its symbolism have also come from outside the state Capitol.
After former first daughter Chelsea Clinton tweeted in January her “wish” that the flag did not have a Confederate star, an Arkansas-based graphic designer started a website, newarkansasflag.com, featuring his own ideas for an entirely new design and writing that the state should hold a contest for a new design by 2023, the 100th anniversary of when the fourth star was added.
Blake said Friday that even changing the meaning behind the flag could become a protracted effort. Legislative calls to end the Lee-King holiday, which began in 1989, took nearly 30 years to come to fruition.
“Change is uncomfortable, change is difficult for a lot of people,” Blake said. “But if we don’t have those conversations, we’ll be stuck in a place where change never happens.”