Welcome to Arkansas!

An Arkansas state trooper officially welcomed us to Arkansas, the Natural state. About 5 miles into Arkansas, I noticed a state trooper on our tail. He followed us for several miles before pulling to the left of me and motioning for me to pull over. I was actually driving below the speed limit, so I knew speed wasn’t an issue. He approached the van on the passenger side, looked inside to see my father with the road atlas in his lap, and my mother sitting the back seat amidst assorted bags and luggage. He let us know that he was checking on us because he felt we were following a tractor trailer too closely. He asked me to walk with him back to his patrol car where he asked me various questions about our travel plans, vehicle ownership, identity, and employment. I believe he was sorely disappointed to learn that we were as we appeared—a family on vacation. When I mentioned that we had been traveling around the country since before the Memorial Day weekend, he expressed surprise that I could have that much time off. I shared with him that as a federal civil servant working for Congress, I’m entitled to a generous amount of vacation time. The officer and I shook hands, and he wished us safe travels. That, of course, was the external account of what happened. I’ll spare you the internal dialogue I was having (and the associated foul language).

Once we arrived at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, I put the highway incident behind me (as best I could) in order to absorb the beauty of the site and the wealth of information and artifacts presented. The library was very impressive. Bill pulled out all the stops to display his papers, gifts, and highlights of his presidency. The presentation put a positive (or at least minimally critical) spin on the events of his presidency including the Lewinsky situation. I was disappointed that I couldn’t enter the Oval office replica because I had every intention of having my picture taken at the president’s desk. Unlike Graceland which has Elvis’ jets parked outside, the Clinton library does not have a replica of Air Force One in the parking lot (another disappointment). Ultimately my mother got to achieve her goal of seeing another presidential library (my folks went to the Kennedy library last year). Now she’s trying to figure out what other presidential libraries can be easily visited. I’m voting for the Carter library, but I may be biased.

Little Rock’s Central High School was the other site on the day’s agenda. A new visitor center across the street from the school presents the story of the “Little Rock 9,” the nine black students who faced angry mobs to begin the integration of Little Rock’s schools in 1957. The exhibit with film footage, photographs, and interviews with the students and protesting white citizens was powerful and moving. Facing the school today with its imposing and majestic façade was intimidating without angry masses of people spewing words of hate and threat. I can’t begin to imagine the bravery of those nine students—even with National Guard escorts—entering the school and concentrating on school work. On another corner across from the school, a memorial park has been created with an exhibit of photographs from the many years of Central High’s history. The photographs depict how far race relations have progressed as Central High students from diverse backgrounds are shown studying, competing, and socializing together in the years since 1957. The school remains in operation with a student body of 2,700.

Also moving was a sculptural presentation on the grounds of the Arkansas Capitol building celebrating the courage of the Little Rock 9. On plaques circling the sculpture are quotes from each of those nine brave souls. All of them were touching but the one that stays with me the most was Minnijean Brown Trickey’s quote from Ghandi:

“We have to be the change we want to see in the world.”