Submitted by Abigail Fowler on April 17
Disclaimer: Please note that I simply wrote about 3 points of view for a reason. There are so many amazing minds in this town that don’t fit into these paradigms, but if I dove into them all, this would take a year to write and no one, not even me, would bother to read it as it would be over 100 pages long to delve on the amazing diversity of Arkadelphia.
Picture it: You’ve just graduated from OBU/HSU and have chosen to stay in Arkadelphia post-grad, even though it’s not your hometown.
You ADORED your time in college: everyone said hello to everyone; the buildings were pristine; you were able to talk to anyone about theories and ideas on an intellectual level. Sure, there were the silly people from *insert opposing university here* around town, but in your 4 years in Arkadelphia, you’ve been able to connect with a few of them as well.
You’re so excited to make Arkadelphia your own and do whatever you can in the town to keep the vibrancy you felt in college alive.
Fast forward to 10 years later… you’re still in Arkadelphia and have worked your booty off to make the rest of Arkadelphia as amazing as the heavily-funded universities in town. You push yourself and your colleagues to make this town better, but you get the oddest pushback from the “weird Arkadelphians.” You know… the ones who must be SOOOO stuck in their ways.
Can’t they see the progress we’re trying to make? Can’t they see that this town can thrive just as much as Benton or Conway if they just let us have our way?
Picture it: You just drove back into Arkadelphia in the morning for work after a solid amount of time turkey hunting.
This town isn’t perfect, but you were born and raised here and you love it. You live life by a story you saw on Facebook: The Parable of the Mexican Fisherman. Sure, you could climb the ladder at work to make millions; but as the parable goes, at the end of the day you’d spend your early retirement hunting and fishing anyway. What’s the point of overworking yourself if you get to do the same thing now while slowly and steadily working a blue-collar job that gives you weekends off and no stress from a management position?
You clean up, then go to the shop to work your shift only to find out that there’s new gossip in this little village of a town: the decision makers in town have yet again refused to listen to their citizens in their pursuit of money. Oof- the town is angry. Some of these comments are kind of funny.
Why in the world would they think this wouldn’t get push back? Can’t they see we don’t want some fancy corporation coming in and messing with our town? Can’t they just leave us and the land be so we can keep hunting and fishing?
Picture It: There’s yet another corporate versus blue collar Facebook brawl in the town and you could care less about the words being thrown around.
Why should I care about this mess? We never have a say in anything anyways… so why bother? Members of the town literally turn a blind eye to the cultural appropriation they do of Latinos every Cinco de Mayo. Haven’t they noticed that most of the people who show up to that event are white? There are enough Blacks and Latinos in the community that we could really make it a great party, but we’re not about to support an event created by white people that are taking from our culture. If they really cared about us, they would give one of the local Mexican restaurants the funds to throw the party rather than it being a room of all whites and only a few token minority members planning this party.
Didn’t they see that most of our culture didn’t show up to last year’s Cinco de Mayo for fear of an ICE raid? How can they not realize that we don’t trust them? I’m not going to care about a data center because my immediate concern is not having the Karen that lives next door lie and say I’m not an American citizen and have me carted off to a detention center.
***
Over the past 3 decades that I’ve seen this town in a lot of different forms: first through the eyes of my grandad who was an interim mayor way before I was born, then through my uncle who was the head of the chamber; then through my high school friends with very different walks of life; then through my own lens as an adult who traveled and lived in a lot of cities/countries and moved back home.
Everyone in this town discusses a prominent problem: everyone wants to make their own legacy from scratch rather than supporting a similar idea someone else started; resulting in a lot of half-funded projects that are never finished throughout the town.
However, there’s a more glaring issue that definitely gets overlooked. It shows up blatantly in situations like we saw recently about the EDCCC board deciding behind closed doors that we would have a data center even though they didn’t let the citizens in town know in advance they were bringing it to a vote.
The issue that gets overlooked is this: we’re all in our own bubbles and refuse to reach past them aside from a friendly “hello” at the grocery store. It has created a grand divide. In my opinion, it’s reached a level of toxicity. Yes, you can complain “this is a nation-wide issue.” However, we can’t fix the nation: we can fix us.
This has been going on for decades and I’ve seen it get worse as the different cliques have kids and schedule them for playdates with only the people in their original bubbles. Unless those kids expand their own bubbles in grade school, they repeat the trend and question why they feel so separate from the town as an adult.
***
Moving back here after traveling throughout Europe and the US in my 20’s, I realized that Arkadelphia is the equivalent to the Black Forest of Germany. Any time we want to build something totally new, we have to cut down a grove of trees because the whole place used to be a dense forest and we’re progressing in infrastructure at the rate of a Scottish village given the fact we’re still cutting forests to expand even though we’ve been an established city for over 160 years.
We are the cute Irish town you visited on vacation where everything closes at 9 and, just like England’s quiet Canterbury, Sundays are for church.
We are not Bentonville with their grand infrastructure. We are not a Hallmark movie with parties every weekend.
A majority of the town likes that we are a village rather than a city center. We are a town with a mix of quiet intellectuals and blue-collar fishermen. We are a town that is multi-cultural with enough diversity that there is zero reason why people from a certain culture shouldn’t have majority say in a festival that was made, according to the press release, to honor their culture.
We are not a “future corporate mega structure.” If we were, I would assume that major corporations currently present such as Taylor King’s law firm would have felt comfortable making a more corporate-structured home office in town rather than keeping the quaint, one story, law office next to one of our funeral parlors. If we were, Hardmans may have revamped to a newer, modern building like Taco Bell and Wendy’s did when our local hardware shop had a corporate retail consultant come in to change the store.
They didn’t build corporate, modern structures because they know their customer: it is not who the Arkadelphians are. Decade after decade, I see the same problem: people who didn’t grow up blue collar or a minority in this town move here for university. As it’s their first time out of their own hometowns, they look at Arkadelphia with wonder. They grow and expand their minds while they learn. Then, they expect the rest of the town to act and feel the same way after they’ve gotten their cap, gown, and diploma.
Pushed on by their professors to “be the change in the world,” they feel they can change Arkadelphia. They try to get to know the people, but after a few years, they navigate back to “people who just get it.” Who are these amazing people who just “get it?” Other people who had the exact same life path in Arkadelphia.
Without realizing it, they wall themselves in with only people who are a near reflection of themselves. They’re still pushing for that change and the euphoria they felt in college, but now they’re discouraged as they feel it’s constantly met with animosity they can’t understand from the “others” in town.
Picture It: Everyone in their friend group has a college diploma aside from 1 or 2 people; usually the spouse of someone with a diploma, though. Sure, they’re friendly with their hairdresser who dropped out only after a year of college, but they simply don’t “click” enough to plan a weekend trip together. They’re too different. They need to be with their people who just get it.
Picture It: Everyone they go hunting with either has a government job, a factory job, or owns their own small business in a trade. They didn’t waste their money on college; why would they? They’re making good money now as long as the city quits taxing them so much. It’s fun hanging at the hunting lodge. These people just get it.
Picture It: Having to constantly feel like they’re fighting battles with Karens or Chads; being overwhelmed with the advice from their elders to always film an encounter with a police officer or a white person who confronts you about something; it’s healthier for them with people who just get it.
***
Our great divide in this town is not from the Battle of the Ravine. It is from the small actions of a majority of Arkadelphians who choose the comfort of interpreting the phrase “stay in your lane” to mean “stay in your bubble.”*
Our great divide comes to a head when officials on a small board feel so narrow-mindedly strong about something they know will have pushback, that they use phrases like, “the others just don’t know what’s good for them,” to validate shutting out an entire village from a major decision that will affect their hunting grounds and livelihoods.
Our great divide comes from the fact that city events and other circumstances make minorities feel they have to push harder to have a valid voice in the town.
They feel like they have to act like a white person to be taken seriously. It’s not fair.
***
How do we stop this divide from tearing us apart? As with all complicated questions, there is no magic, singular Band-Aid that will heal this severe cut. Here are actions I’m taking to ensure I hear from and aid all 3 sides in a healthy manner:
1. As a white person with a history in their family of public office at the city, county, and state level; I do not run for any local elections. Y’all don’t need another basic white girl with my rose latte and a quad shot of espresso voting on things at the city-wide level. We need more minority voices in office because that reflects the true town.
2. I will be friends anyone until they get abusive, try to take advantage of my kindness, or oust themselves as a bigot/racist. Why do I have only 3 red flags for friendship? Because I’ve learned that anything outside of those 3 rules is merely a question of how secure you are in getting out of your comfort zone. How can we have empathy for others if we aren’t willing to make friends with those whose mindsets are miles outside of our norms?
3. The hard conversations need to be had, and true debates must be made. Please read this and understand that I rarely debate people anymore. Why? Because the art of a proper, intellectual debate has been lost to most. My favorite debates and hard conversations take place on picnics or 3-hour dinners with friends.
Why? Because you’re stuck with each other for a while. It’s not a “if you just let me talk, you’ll see my point of view” conversation. Everyone leaves those conversations frustrated. A good debate happens when (1) there are at least 3 people with wildly differing viewpoints and (2) there is food to eat if you feel aggressive. Put the food in your mouth so no words will come out. When there are more than 2 people, each person becomes more likely to listen rather than spending the time contemplating what to say next.
4. I am saying this with a lot of love for this town: if you want this rift to close quickly, everyone is going to have to humble themselves enough to recognize that everyone’s voice needs to be heard; especially on sensitive subjects that affect the whole town. This isn’t a dictatorship. Acting like one and ruling the town through closed-door meetings won’t make all of your dreams magically come true.
You do you, Boo Boo. As we are not a dictatorship, this is not a command. I truly hope that everyone takes a moment to notice that the people most upset are frustrated because they feel unheard and unvalued. I don’t think anyone should feel like that.
*For reference: stay in your lane just originally meant keep your nose out of people’s personal business.
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
