Fayetteville, Arkansas, received national in February due to its inclusion of the words “Black Lives Matter” in a Black History Month banner hanging in the city’s downtown sector. The banner was originally hung last year by the Black Lives Matter team of Compassion Fayetteville, but it sparked national interest this year after a photo of the banner was tweeted by a former Fayetteville resident. Compassion Fayetteville is a chapter of the Charter for Compassion organization, a group whose mission is to transcend cultural, religious, political and ideological boundaries in order to foster communities of inclusion and understanding, according to the group’s Facebook page. D’Andre Jones, co-leader of Compassion Fayetteville’s Black Lives Matter team, affirmed that the goal of the banner is to promote unity.
“We wanted to make sure that African-American residents in Fayetteville are relevant, that they are visible, and that their life matters,” Jones said. “When we say ‘black lives matter,’ it’s not a political statement.”
Pattie Williams, Jones’ co-leader of the Black Lives Matter team and founding member of Compassion Fayetteville, echoed Jones’ positive sentiments, and expressed that the group has received very few negative responses, but among those received were allegations that the group was inciting racism. Jones stated that in spite of this, the reception both years has primarily been positive, even with this year’s heightened interest in the banner.
“I was made aware of a few comments, but I believe that they were outside of Fayetteville,” Jones said. “So for the most part, as it relates to Fayetteville, Fayetteville has been very welcoming to inclusion, particularly (to) Black Lives Matter.”
Junior Miranda Kelly, a Harding student and resident of Springdale, Arkansas, credited the culture of Fayetteville with the banner’s positive reception.
“To me, it’s not really surprising to see something like that,” Kelly said. “From what I understand, the goal of the Black Lives Matter movement is to be aware of racial oppression and to work to end that and to work toward equality throughout races, throughout genders, throughout sexual orientations. And so I think Fayetteville is very welcoming to ideas and to promoting equality among people, and so it’s not something that is surprising to me on that front. And then to have a banner that is put up doesn’t really shock me either, because downtown on the street where it was put up, there are banners that are put up for all sorts of different events.”
The banner was originally hung on Dickson Street, which leads directly to the University of Arkansas. According to Jones, this location was chosen for its high visibility and cultural significance to the city, primarily to encourage the growth of black-owned businesses in the area.
“This month we’ve noticed in Fayetteville that there is not an African-American serving in city government, and there is also not an African-American presence as it relates to business,” Jones said. “Dickson Street is famous in Fayetteville, so we felt that if we placed it in Fayetteville’s most premier locations, that makes it make it even more appealing.”
Compassion Fayetteville plans to continue their community involvement through activism, education and discussion, but Kelly does not want people to ignore the positives as they engage in activism.
“Even though the statistics and the numbers show that there is a majority race and there is a majority white population in the area … it would be great to see much more diversity there, and I would love to see much more diversity there,” Kelly said. “It is a city that’s welcoming to that. And so that number is not necessarily noting that. Nothing against, it but it’s just saying this is where we are and we’re making progress and we’re working towards better diversity, better understanding people and better equality.”
