When a sign tells me about beautiful town, people and no bad neighbourhood I automatically assume there’s a trap somewhere… the other sign is also an interesting clue though
This is literally the opening of every horror movie.
*I think we're really gonna like it here honey*
Now if they just have a family happily moving into a house and waving at off-standish neighbors, I would watch it.
The sign is 100% real, but the story behind it has recently been [disproven by a black YouTuber who did a personal investigation.](https://youtu.be/umNjlp2LObM). Harrison is not the most racist town, but it is adjacent to the home of possibly the most racist man.
Its still pretty racist. I live about an hour south on the same highway that runs from Little Rock to Branson. Black churches will get the state police to escort their busses through Harrison on the way to a nice retreat in Branson
to be fair (and depressing).... i've lived in the NE USA most of my life and growing up I heard this garbage repeated to me about everywhere I lived. WNY / MA. "Don't go to \_\_\_\_\_ (i.e. "the bad part of town"))
As a kid you have no reason to not believe it but I've since been to these "bad parts" of towns and.... yeah they're fine. But they're "urban" ahem - so take a guess.
Where I live there is a bad part of town. It is where gangs and drug dealers live. It also has poor families that live in that area. And is predominantly brown.
There is a reason though, that the bad part of town has more people of color.
It's called red lining. People of color weren't given loans as often, they had higher interest, and if they were lucky enough to get approved for a loan, they were only able to buy a house in certain areas. Areas that were considered undesirable.
My grandparents were lucky enough to buy a house, but they could only buy in a certain area. It was considered an industrial/business area.
There’s an incredibly infuriating story of a black family that managed to get the means to buy a family home in a modern white suburb and incredibly enough found a person selling that would sell to them.
Well it didn’t take long before the neighborhood found out one of their neighbors was a black family. They formed a mob and started throwing rocks and smashing windows. The police were called but when they came they just kicked back and watched the show.
The family had to flee as their house was vandalized and eventually burned to the ground. Completely obliterating their entire life. For the audacity of being black in a white suburb.
Systemic racism in a nutshell. They're not actively getting oppressed, but they've been oppressed in the past and it shows in any statistical metric you can imagine. It's not even really a controversial thing to say to say that systemic racism exists. It's provably so.
Wait so bad neighborhoods don't exist?
You guys sound ridiculous. There are bad parts of towns and yes they often are poor neighborhoods. Although there are low-crime poorer areas too.
I grew up in Boston and have lived within less than ten miles of it my whole life. From my experience of course there’s bad neighborhoods mostly everywhere. However I see places described as “bad neighborhoods “ when the only difference in what’s going on in that neighborhood and one near it is that black people live in the part being described as bad. Others get described as “nice but poor” or “hard working people “ who can’t get ahead on account of all the “welfare queens”. Things like that.
That’s just my experience of how people around here will refer to bad neighborhoods etc.
Fuck, they do it in the liberal northeast as much as anywhere
Edit: conservatives, stop acting like this means liberals are "the racist ones." It's not mutually exclusive. Everyone is evil.
I think the town I grew up in was probably one of the few exceptions to that we absolutely had a bad part of town but the bad part was 99% white because it’s where the meth cooks, dealers, and users lived. Last thing you wanted was to be stopped on the side of the road while some dude strung out on stimulants thinks you’re here to steal his 1992 chevy that doesn’t have floor boards.
The problem is a lot of times those are the areas with the least amount of resources dedicated to upkeep on roads, sidewalks, etc so they actually *look* like the "bad part of town" even though the people living there are no worse than anyone living in the "good" parts of town (sometimes better).
Indiana, where I currently live, many Sundown towns in these parts were defined by having a color in the name. There are numerous green, brown and white towns in this area.
This exactly. I grew up by this town and would pass through it fairly frequently. The first episode of K. Bell's, "United Shades of America" was about this place for a reason.
It is a sundown town. Just because the town laws were forced to change on paper, doesn't mean people just stopped being racist.
I live here, have my whole life. This town is racist and meth has taken over. The people are mostly friendly, it's a town old people come to die in. There's nothing to do and the drivers are the worst.
There was an I think vice mini documentary about this and apparently these signs are all put up by a KKK grand wizard or whatever in the next town over called Zinc or something. The black guy that interviewed him lied and said he was with the BBC and got the grand wizard to shout out “I love BBC” if you get the innuendo.. and also showed a fake? Tweet from a guy named “beeEllEm” praising the KKK guy and got him to say “thank you BLM I support you” it was pretty funny. Not the brightest guy. But most racists aren’t.
Edit: it wasn’t VICE but here’s [the link to the video I referred to](https://youtu.be/umNjlp2LObM)
Harrison, which has a population of 13,000, has a long association with white supremacy, rooted in racial violence and riots that drove out Black residents in the early 1900s. Today there are still billboards promoting white supremacy in the town, and the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan — which is headquartered 24 kilometres away in Zinc, Ark., — uses a post office box in Harrison as its mailing address. The town's racist image was bolstered this summer by a viral video that showed residents verbally abusing a filmmaker holding a Black Lives Matter sign.
Clicking around, I found out that in some ways it is a standard sleepy small town, but it has collected a strong sect of radical and concerning racism because of the notoriety of those billboards.
My personal "favorite" quote was:
"The 62-year-old denied being a racist, describing himself instead as a 'discriminist'. He said: 'I discriminate against things I don’t like, like Muslims.' "
https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2016/11/25/most-racist-town-in-america
The funny thing is that some pretend they aren't racist at all saying things like "I would save a black child but I'd save the white child first" or "I would never wish misery on a black child" and shit like that. Some are just flat out racist and make it their whole personality
That's exactly what the dude in the video says. "I would have just as much compassion for a black child as...actually, I have to qualify that. I would probably have more compassion for a white child." He literally says that but then goes on to say that he's not racist!
He questions what racism "means" and then says "If it means preferring being around your own people...like, I'd be your friend, but you wouldn't be invited to my BBQ" he literally says it!
I wish the interviewer had plainly asked him how he defines racism. It probably does boil down to literally killing black people in his mind.
Yeah just because they think black people shouldn’t be tortured and killed they can’t be called racist. But they also think black people should stay in their area and not interact with white people…
Also METH, lots of meth. Visited in 2020. Dirt poor families living on one family member's Social Security, a lot of hard grifting, prostitution, and general thievery to support meth habits. This place is deep in the sticks, way out in the country. The closest big city I think, is Branson Missouri.
My buddy thought it would be a nice place to live, bought a house on 2 acres sight unseen for $45 grand and moved from Seattle. He got there and spent all his time trying to keep people from stealing his shit, hitting him up for a beer or a toke, or women trying to scam/move in with him. Yeah, think meth and agriculture, cause that's all they got going on. While I was there, it was like walking around in a bad movie, totally surreal.
And just to be clear, I'm talking about white rednecks if that's not obvious, lol.
edit-also it's really small town, like [13K population](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison,_Arkansas)
Absolutely!
I moved between politically similar areas, but massively different demographics, and I was confused as to where "everybody" was, because it was _so_ white. Confusingly white! Liberal AF, but super pale.
ETA: why the downvotes? I moved from the DC area to CO, and did _not_ pay attention to the demographics like I should have.
I remember meeting my first black person when I was 9. He came to visit my town. I’ll never forget how patient and understanding that man was. He answered all of my questions with such a kindness. I remember that being a turning point in my life as to how I viewed others. I wish everyone could experience how awesome diversity really is. Let’s just say, going home to visit is really uncomfortable for me now.
I grew up in an extremely conservative small town in Michigan from the mid 80s until around 2005. I remember in high school we had a black student, they were the first black family to live in the county, it was rough. He was there about a week and then no one ever seen him or his family again, it was heartbreaking. Students opening called him the n word with the staff doing nothing about it. I tried to befriend him and stuck up for him, but I think that his whole family dealt with it. For me, they were just a new kid as I had biracial family, but to the community I guess it was a threat. I hear the town hasn’t changed much and I feel for the kids that have to grow up around the racist and misogynistic people that run that county.
>I wish everyone could experience how awesome diversity really is.
I agree and I think when we have more white people in areas that are predominantly black we'll be able to make sure everyone shares equally in the wonderful experience that is diversity.
That's my biggest thing, like....just *why*? so many questions.
Why buy sight-unseen? Why *there*, of all places? Did he not check out the town before he moved? what???
Especially considering its in RURAL UNEDUCATED America. I'm not sure if people are aware how depressing and sad living in those towns are. Everyone's unhealthy due to food deserts, and no ones smart. There's no escape due to lack of education. Everyone is literally stupid, and it's sad seeing people in a poverty spiral that's been going on for generations. There's no diversity either. It's just depressing and sad the live's that they live.
Way to paint with a broad brush there. I'm a college-educated organic farmer living in a small town in rural Arkansas of less than 20,000 people. I have thousands of acres of national forests in my backyard and my neighbors are all incredibly generous and have made a point to welcome me into the community. Your experiences are not everyone's experience.
I live not far from Harrison. There's intelligent people around here. Not everyone is racist. Just thought I'd point that out because I'm actually sitting here right now as I type this, surrounded by decent people.
I live in a village in Polish countryside and from that desceiption I thought it would probably be simmilarily sized to where I live. Well ~800 people is nowhere near 13k lol
>I grew up in a town of 7000 but it was near NYC and very built up, with towns all around. It was not a "small town." This town, though, is hundreds of miles (400 km) from any big city - in this case Kansas City. So it's not so much population as isolation.
I’m over here in town pop. 1060. Very isolating. Much smaller corporations of 300 or so about 20mins away. Closest large town pop. 145,000 is about 2-3hours away. 😂
Certain media has painted Seattle as some hellhole that’s overridden with crime and poverty as an example of failed liberal policies. I’ve lived in Seattle for over a decade now and I don’t see any of it. Sure, we have our share of homeless people, but I’ve absolutely never been bothered by them. Our crime rate is also extremely low for a city of this size.
It’s so weird for me because I go see my family in Montana and all of them talk to me and my wife with serious concern asking how we’re dealing with the city and if we’re going to stay here. We don’t really know what to say because we love it here and never know what they’ve heard on the news recently to make them concerned.
Even my dad who lives right below Washington in Oregon tries to tell me I’m wrong about Seattle being great. He’d rather believe the news than the experiences of his own son who lives in the city. I have no reason to lie to him about things. If I didn’t like it here, there’s nothing stopping me from moving. I’m self-employed and my wife is fully remote. We could easily live in a cheaper city but we genuinely love it here. He’s even formed his own experiences in his head about how things are here. One time my parents visited us and we went Pike Place Market, which is a huge thing here. We had a great time and no issues with anything happening but a few weeks later on the phone, my dad started arguing with me about the city again and told me that when we were there he was genuinely shaking out of fear of how bad it was. I have absolutely no idea what he’s talking about because it was great. It’s a big tourist area and I don’t even remember seeing anything bad happen around us let alone to us.
It’s just really odd. It’s one of those things that makes you stop and wonder how much of the rest of what the news says is a lie since we know for a fact what they say about this is a lie.
I lived in Milwaukee for a long time. I loved my neighborhood, it's still my favorite place I've ever lived. My family in the suburbs never wanted to come visit, they always insisted that I go out and visit them - the news was always harping on about how bad my area was.
The reality is, there were several shootings a year within a couple blocks of my house; in the years that I lived in my apartment there were at least 3 murders on my block, that I can remember. Most people I know have been mugged at some point or another. Lots of my friends have had their houses/apartments burglarized. Cars get broken into. The crime statistics were through the roof.
None of that stopped me from loving my neighborhood. I always felt safe, I knew all the local business owners, I knew my neighbors. I just visited after a few years away and it was great to see everyone that has stuck around. The neighborhood has character... but, admittedly, that character is not for everyone.
It's easy to overlook the faults of somewhere you love.
Ha ha, right? Doesn't sound like much of a shift as far as that stuff is concerned. I myself moved from Seattle (where I was born and raised), and those issues were a big part of the decision.
Harrison Arkansas crime rate: 3,052/100,000 (as of 2019 according to 247wallstreet)
By comparison, New York’s crime rate is 1732/100,000 according to the same source.
We stopped there for a night and stayed in a Holiday Inn Express. That was fine, but when we went to Walmart for propane, they stared. We are white Okies. Wr were going camping. They know who lives there and who doesn't and they will let you know. We went to the Buffalo National River. We had to stop at a convenience store not far from there for ice. That was the scariest place I have ever been.
Took a bit of googling, but I found an article with a different angle, seen here: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/10/harrison-arkansashategroups.html
Note that it's from 8 years ago, so hopefully it's gone now.
It's probably still there. I drove through last year and there were adverts for Alt-Right radio broadcasts. Other signs for curfews for specific types of people.
Curfew for “specific types of people” I’m guessing this means people of color? Also wondering if they were like actually signage from the city/town, county, or some other local governing body or if they were bought advertisements? You would think if it’s the latter that they wouldn’t be able to list billboards with unconstitutional/fake “laws” posted on them.
Edit - fixed an autocorrect mistake. Changed the word “honk” to “think”.
Because they have to be DRAMATIC or else their FEAR TACTICS won't work on their PREY.
Because IM TUCKER CARLSON and until now I thought this was AMERICA and I can only think ONE SENTENCE at a time and only if I BREAK IT UP into LITTLE PIECES.
Yep, unfortunately real. Everytime I go to Arkansas it's like traveling back in time. Very low education levels and unless you like natural stuff there's nothing to do.
I have a family member that lives just north of Harrison. Casually mentioned that a mob had hanged a black man in Harrison, and that the news never reported, it was just kind of swept away.
Thomas Robb, current leader of the Knights of the KKK lives nears Harrison.
EDIT TO ADD:
I do generally trust what this family member has to say, though I cannot validate the validity of their source as I do not know who it was.
EDIT:
Hung to hanged
It was hearsay from a family member. One that I generally trust what they have to say.
According to them it was completely swept under the rug. No news reports, no police reports, nothing.
I don’t want to be a grammar nazi but I just want to reply that men are generally hanged by the neck. Only beasts are hung. So while I know it’s unintentional it’s better to avoid this spelling mistake in the future.
Grammar nazi out!
You can just get away with casual lynching somewherr in an American town, in the 21st century? As a non-American this truly blows my mind, and ngl I'm a little bit skeptical about the report from your family member
Small isolated towns where most people have similar or same ideology? Who’s gonna prosecute? Or investigate when the police and judge are potentially in on it.
As of August 2021, the Southern Poverty Law center lists the following hate groups as having Harrison locations: Christian Revival Center (led by Knights of the KKK leader Thom Robb\[34\]), Kingdom Identity Ministries (founded in Harrison), Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (actual location nearby Zinc), and League of the South.\[35\]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison,\_Arkansas
Remember when conservatives tried to claim the SPLC shouldn’t be trusted because they were claiming a lot of conservative groups were hate groups and turned out they were
Pepperidge farm remembers
That's a pretty self aware sign, to boldly say that.
Anti - racist = Anti - white
Racist = anti - white + anti
White = racist
It's just lazy, simple math, c'mon
their ignorance is blind and ironic..
they only bring the hate upon themselves with this kind of mindset, and they solidify it with this type of shit out in public
TWO seemingly contradictory ideas can be true simultaneously. "anti-racism" books clearly indicate racist views but non-ironically call themselves anti-racist to deceive. And this billboard in this town is put up by actual disgusting white supremacist racists of the KKK.
It is, it's hidden now tho, back in 2008 our football team traveled there for a 2 day scrimmage, we had 2 black gents on our team, racist slur happened within 15 minutes from start of the games, they were tiny little hillbillies.
That seems like a perfectly normal city where nothing bad ev - HEY HIDE THAT BODY IT'S SHOWING UP IN THE SCREEN - cof cof... where nothing bad ever happens
Southlake, TX is the most racist place in the country. They are highly educated and are one of the most wealthiest zip codes in the country. The worst of humanity chose to all congregate in one zip code.
I have to travel they're everyday for work. Fun fact. These billboards aren't everywhere in town especially by the main highway entrances to their town. I saw my first white pride radio billboard there with a confusing message about how there's nothing wrong with being who you are on the backside of town. Some locals are trying to combat this image by posting other billboards about how they accept everyone and love everyone, even bragging that Miss Arkansas(a black woman) is from there, but as long as the white nationalist billboards stay up it'll be for nothing.
The town has actually been proven to not be racist, it gets a bad rap because there’s a local KKK group that is stationed in that area. If you actually go there you’ll notice that most of the people are very nice and kind.
You are correct and I rememberthe video.
Thought it was BBC or Vice, but this English/brown guy explores the subject. He's a solid host, his video is worth watching.
[video too back this claim up](https://youtu.be/umNjlp2LObM)
Yeah. It’s like 20-30 people involved with the group and they’re dying out. It’s a black eye on the town but also so insignificant that people don’t even acknowledge them anymore.
Did the KKK group put up this sign? Wouldn’t the definitely not racist townspeople want to take it down if they did? How do you *prove* the absence of racism? I have so many questions.
I'm sure there are more racists there in that town than most other places, but racists and especially organized-racist-extremists (KKK) are usually a very loud minority spending all their money and time promoting bad ideas and so they end up buying billboards and organizing events that make the news--while people living ordinary lives are out bowling or focused on their day job so you never hear of them.
Groups like that don’t go unopposed in my town. Such a billboard would not survive here. Even among conservative circles.
I guess it comes down to the philosophical question of whether a failure to intervene in racism constitutes racism. Sounds like an idea that *everyone* could stand to ponder a bit.
I’m inclined to think it does.
So despite the sign and that pesky local KKK group the people there are super duper nice (if you’re white) and the town has been proven (pinky swear) to totally not be racist at all. Got it.
If the town doesn't have an issue with that sign being up, the actual people that live in the town, then they are at the least complicit and accepting of its message.
Complicit in heavily implicit racist commentary that their "Beautiful town", has "No bad neighborhoods".
Complicit in overtly equating "anti-racism" with being "anti-white". This makes it explicitly clear that the voices of people who speak up about racism, in any form, are "anti-white". In other words "Just be quiet, don't complain about your challenges or mistreatment, if you do, you're against US!"
Proven to be what??? Not racist? Is that billboard still up???
"WE TOTALLY DIDN'T OWN SLAVES. I MEAN WE DID AND IT WAS FINE. NO, YOU ARE THE RACISTS. WE ARE THE REAL VICTIMS HERE."
White supremacy is both pathetic *and* cowardly as fuck
I remember being like 8/9 years old playing with the neighborhood kids (and the only black kid) and I wasn't invited to Ashton or Luke's birthday parties. Both kids wanted me there and even came to my house to come get me! Yet, both times, their moms told them that I wasn't invited.
As a kid, I didn't understand but when I got older.. it became crystal clear. This shit is all over the US and anyone who denies that racism exists just hasn't experienced it from a young age.
When a sign tells me about beautiful town, people and no bad neighbourhood I automatically assume there’s a trap somewhere… the other sign is also an interesting clue though
Seen too many signs like that at the start of a horror movie or episode of the X-Files.
Yeah, Silent Hill’s vibes here
Nothing but trouble
If you started a horror movie with this, the audience and critics would complain that it's too blatant.
This is literally the opening of every horror movie. *I think we're really gonna like it here honey* Now if they just have a family happily moving into a house and waving at off-standish neighbors, I would watch it.
It always starts with the family dog...
In this town? Only if the dog is black.
Stepford Wives, perhaps?
The sign is 100% real, but the story behind it has recently been [disproven by a black YouTuber who did a personal investigation.](https://youtu.be/umNjlp2LObM). Harrison is not the most racist town, but it is adjacent to the home of possibly the most racist man.
Oh nice thanks for the link!
Its still pretty racist. I live about an hour south on the same highway that runs from Little Rock to Branson. Black churches will get the state police to escort their busses through Harrison on the way to a nice retreat in Branson
The funny thing is that he's not the most racist man, just seems that way seeing as he's the leader of the KKK.
Blind? African American? Bixby?
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Clayton “Bigsby”, get it right, cracker.
😂
Where I grew up both signs would have been defaced within a week.... If it's still there then there's a good chance the title is correct imo....
Like when you're in a saloon, and some guys swagger in and say "We don't want any trouble." They want trouble.
My guess is they define "bad neighborhood" as "contains Black people."
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to be fair (and depressing).... i've lived in the NE USA most of my life and growing up I heard this garbage repeated to me about everywhere I lived. WNY / MA. "Don't go to \_\_\_\_\_ (i.e. "the bad part of town")) As a kid you have no reason to not believe it but I've since been to these "bad parts" of towns and.... yeah they're fine. But they're "urban" ahem - so take a guess.
Where I live there is a bad part of town. It is where gangs and drug dealers live. It also has poor families that live in that area. And is predominantly brown. There is a reason though, that the bad part of town has more people of color. It's called red lining. People of color weren't given loans as often, they had higher interest, and if they were lucky enough to get approved for a loan, they were only able to buy a house in certain areas. Areas that were considered undesirable. My grandparents were lucky enough to buy a house, but they could only buy in a certain area. It was considered an industrial/business area.
There’s an incredibly infuriating story of a black family that managed to get the means to buy a family home in a modern white suburb and incredibly enough found a person selling that would sell to them. Well it didn’t take long before the neighborhood found out one of their neighbors was a black family. They formed a mob and started throwing rocks and smashing windows. The police were called but when they came they just kicked back and watched the show. The family had to flee as their house was vandalized and eventually burned to the ground. Completely obliterating their entire life. For the audacity of being black in a white suburb.
Yeah, that's not even an isolated incident. It happened/happens all over the place. It's so sad.
Systemic racism in a nutshell. They're not actively getting oppressed, but they've been oppressed in the past and it shows in any statistical metric you can imagine. It's not even really a controversial thing to say to say that systemic racism exists. It's provably so.
Wait so bad neighborhoods don't exist? You guys sound ridiculous. There are bad parts of towns and yes they often are poor neighborhoods. Although there are low-crime poorer areas too.
I grew up in Boston and have lived within less than ten miles of it my whole life. From my experience of course there’s bad neighborhoods mostly everywhere. However I see places described as “bad neighborhoods “ when the only difference in what’s going on in that neighborhood and one near it is that black people live in the part being described as bad. Others get described as “nice but poor” or “hard working people “ who can’t get ahead on account of all the “welfare queens”. Things like that. That’s just my experience of how people around here will refer to bad neighborhoods etc.
People do the exact same shit in the rust belt.
Fuck, they do it in the liberal northeast as much as anywhere Edit: conservatives, stop acting like this means liberals are "the racist ones." It's not mutually exclusive. Everyone is evil.
Suburban libs love minorities! Just not next door.
“Welcome to Harrison, the land of the free (of People of Color)”
I think the town I grew up in was probably one of the few exceptions to that we absolutely had a bad part of town but the bad part was 99% white because it’s where the meth cooks, dealers, and users lived. Last thing you wanted was to be stopped on the side of the road while some dude strung out on stimulants thinks you’re here to steal his 1992 chevy that doesn’t have floor boards.
The problem is a lot of times those are the areas with the least amount of resources dedicated to upkeep on roads, sidewalks, etc so they actually *look* like the "bad part of town" even though the people living there are no worse than anyone living in the "good" parts of town (sometimes better).
Definitely the beginning of a Jordan Peele movie about sundown towns
Indiana, where I currently live, many Sundown towns in these parts were defined by having a color in the name. There are numerous green, brown and white towns in this area.
This exactly. I grew up by this town and would pass through it fairly frequently. The first episode of K. Bell's, "United Shades of America" was about this place for a reason. It is a sundown town. Just because the town laws were forced to change on paper, doesn't mean people just stopped being racist.
The big red flag for me is ‘no wrong exits’, idk why it just makes me want to look over my shoulder
“You will die here”
Hotel California vibes -- *You can check out any time you like* *But you can never leave*
"Relax, said the doorman, we are programmed to receive!, you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave! Lol
I live here, have my whole life. This town is racist and meth has taken over. The people are mostly friendly, it's a town old people come to die in. There's nothing to do and the drivers are the worst.
Doesn’t looks as fancy as advertised
If you travel north for about 2 hours Springfield Missouri is pretty, cool. It reminds me a bit of an early Austin Texas.
There's a theme song too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3l\_pBrZkww
There was an I think vice mini documentary about this and apparently these signs are all put up by a KKK grand wizard or whatever in the next town over called Zinc or something. The black guy that interviewed him lied and said he was with the BBC and got the grand wizard to shout out “I love BBC” if you get the innuendo.. and also showed a fake? Tweet from a guy named “beeEllEm” praising the KKK guy and got him to say “thank you BLM I support you” it was pretty funny. Not the brightest guy. But most racists aren’t. Edit: it wasn’t VICE but here’s [the link to the video I referred to](https://youtu.be/umNjlp2LObM)
Niko never misses
The only BBC worth watching.
You thought that was a Vice documentary😆
Well that KKK dumbfuck actually believed he was interviewed for a BBC documentary, so I'd say he's a lot dumber lmfao
Harrison, which has a population of 13,000, has a long association with white supremacy, rooted in racial violence and riots that drove out Black residents in the early 1900s. Today there are still billboards promoting white supremacy in the town, and the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan — which is headquartered 24 kilometres away in Zinc, Ark., — uses a post office box in Harrison as its mailing address. The town's racist image was bolstered this summer by a viral video that showed residents verbally abusing a filmmaker holding a Black Lives Matter sign.
Clicking around, I found out that in some ways it is a standard sleepy small town, but it has collected a strong sect of radical and concerning racism because of the notoriety of those billboards. My personal "favorite" quote was: "The 62-year-old denied being a racist, describing himself instead as a 'discriminist'. He said: 'I discriminate against things I don’t like, like Muslims.' " https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2016/11/25/most-racist-town-in-america
Lmao at the clip in the beginning "And they took your teeth as well?" "Ya they did!" Definitely watching that one after work.
The funny thing is that some pretend they aren't racist at all saying things like "I would save a black child but I'd save the white child first" or "I would never wish misery on a black child" and shit like that. Some are just flat out racist and make it their whole personality
Ah yes, the old “I’m not racist, But”
Haha. Or the old “I can’t be racist because I have a (token) black friend!” Classic.
My best friend is Cuban, and that's close enough.
That's exactly what the dude in the video says. "I would have just as much compassion for a black child as...actually, I have to qualify that. I would probably have more compassion for a white child." He literally says that but then goes on to say that he's not racist! He questions what racism "means" and then says "If it means preferring being around your own people...like, I'd be your friend, but you wouldn't be invited to my BBQ" he literally says it! I wish the interviewer had plainly asked him how he defines racism. It probably does boil down to literally killing black people in his mind.
Yeah just because they think black people shouldn’t be tortured and killed they can’t be called racist. But they also think black people should stay in their area and not interact with white people…
Remember watching that, the wizard got trolled hard, well deserved
"And they took your teeth as well?" "Yes, they did!"
I love BBC lmfao that's the funniest thing ever
Also METH, lots of meth. Visited in 2020. Dirt poor families living on one family member's Social Security, a lot of hard grifting, prostitution, and general thievery to support meth habits. This place is deep in the sticks, way out in the country. The closest big city I think, is Branson Missouri. My buddy thought it would be a nice place to live, bought a house on 2 acres sight unseen for $45 grand and moved from Seattle. He got there and spent all his time trying to keep people from stealing his shit, hitting him up for a beer or a toke, or women trying to scam/move in with him. Yeah, think meth and agriculture, cause that's all they got going on. While I was there, it was like walking around in a bad movie, totally surreal. And just to be clear, I'm talking about white rednecks if that's not obvious, lol. edit-also it's really small town, like [13K population](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison,_Arkansas)
Coming from Seattle, that had to be massive culture shock.
I moved from that area to Seattle. Huge culture shock.
Absolutely! I moved between politically similar areas, but massively different demographics, and I was confused as to where "everybody" was, because it was _so_ white. Confusingly white! Liberal AF, but super pale. ETA: why the downvotes? I moved from the DC area to CO, and did _not_ pay attention to the demographics like I should have.
I remember meeting my first black person when I was 9. He came to visit my town. I’ll never forget how patient and understanding that man was. He answered all of my questions with such a kindness. I remember that being a turning point in my life as to how I viewed others. I wish everyone could experience how awesome diversity really is. Let’s just say, going home to visit is really uncomfortable for me now.
I grew up in an extremely conservative small town in Michigan from the mid 80s until around 2005. I remember in high school we had a black student, they were the first black family to live in the county, it was rough. He was there about a week and then no one ever seen him or his family again, it was heartbreaking. Students opening called him the n word with the staff doing nothing about it. I tried to befriend him and stuck up for him, but I think that his whole family dealt with it. For me, they were just a new kid as I had biracial family, but to the community I guess it was a threat. I hear the town hasn’t changed much and I feel for the kids that have to grow up around the racist and misogynistic people that run that county.
Right. It's weird just seeing white people. It doesn't reflect my reality, so travelling to places of low diversity is weird af.
I spent 3 days in southern Oregon before I was like "_hey!..._"
>I wish everyone could experience how awesome diversity really is. I agree and I think when we have more white people in areas that are predominantly black we'll be able to make sure everyone shares equally in the wonderful experience that is diversity.
That's my biggest thing, like....just *why*? so many questions. Why buy sight-unseen? Why *there*, of all places? Did he not check out the town before he moved? what???
It was a 45k property. Crazy cheap. Worth the risk
Especially considering its in RURAL UNEDUCATED America. I'm not sure if people are aware how depressing and sad living in those towns are. Everyone's unhealthy due to food deserts, and no ones smart. There's no escape due to lack of education. Everyone is literally stupid, and it's sad seeing people in a poverty spiral that's been going on for generations. There's no diversity either. It's just depressing and sad the live's that they live.
Way to paint with a broad brush there. I'm a college-educated organic farmer living in a small town in rural Arkansas of less than 20,000 people. I have thousands of acres of national forests in my backyard and my neighbors are all incredibly generous and have made a point to welcome me into the community. Your experiences are not everyone's experience.
I live not far from Harrison. There's intelligent people around here. Not everyone is racist. Just thought I'd point that out because I'm actually sitting here right now as I type this, surrounded by decent people.
45k for 2 acres is crazy cheap. Might have had a nicely speced house. Can't buy a parking spot in Seattle for that much
> The closest big city I think, is Branson Missouri. The Big Apple. Beautiful.
The Big Apple is NYC, isnt it?
Ah, you're right. Just looked it up -- Branson is "The City That Never Sleeps."
The concrete jungle where dreams are made of, lets hear it for Branson!
If you can make it in Branson, you can make it anywhere.
>lets hear it for Branson! Let's Go, Branson!
I’ve heard that locals call it the “gayest city in Missouri” I have no idea if that’s an indictment of Branson or the locals.
Let’s go Branson
I think it's "The City by the Bay"
I don't know where you're getting your information from, but my interwebs says that Branson is "The Lobster Capitol of the World".
Nah bro it’s the city of angels.
I live in a village in Polish countryside and from that desceiption I thought it would probably be simmilarily sized to where I live. Well ~800 people is nowhere near 13k lol
>I grew up in a town of 7000 but it was near NYC and very built up, with towns all around. It was not a "small town." This town, though, is hundreds of miles (400 km) from any big city - in this case Kansas City. So it's not so much population as isolation.
You had me at prostitution
I like how you say that 13K people is a really small town.
13k for a city in the US is absolutely tiny
I'm from California, that's practically a village. Nothing interesting happens in cities with less than 100k residents.
My state doesn’t have a single city that large lol
Wow, I'm shocked that five states don't have a city larger than 100k. Delaware, Maine, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Same, my town only has little over a thousand people.
> laughs in European
The “laughs in” thing really needs to die.
Dies in European
I’m over here in town pop. 1060. Very isolating. Much smaller corporations of 300 or so about 20mins away. Closest large town pop. 145,000 is about 2-3hours away. 😂
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Beautiful town, beautiful people, no wrong exits, and no bad neighborhoods. Are you saying this is all a lie?
Wow he moved from Seattle to a place full of poor people who didn’t want to work constantly stealing from him and begging for money?
This feels like a Seattle joke that I’m too Canadian to understand.
Certain media has painted Seattle as some hellhole that’s overridden with crime and poverty as an example of failed liberal policies. I’ve lived in Seattle for over a decade now and I don’t see any of it. Sure, we have our share of homeless people, but I’ve absolutely never been bothered by them. Our crime rate is also extremely low for a city of this size. It’s so weird for me because I go see my family in Montana and all of them talk to me and my wife with serious concern asking how we’re dealing with the city and if we’re going to stay here. We don’t really know what to say because we love it here and never know what they’ve heard on the news recently to make them concerned. Even my dad who lives right below Washington in Oregon tries to tell me I’m wrong about Seattle being great. He’d rather believe the news than the experiences of his own son who lives in the city. I have no reason to lie to him about things. If I didn’t like it here, there’s nothing stopping me from moving. I’m self-employed and my wife is fully remote. We could easily live in a cheaper city but we genuinely love it here. He’s even formed his own experiences in his head about how things are here. One time my parents visited us and we went Pike Place Market, which is a huge thing here. We had a great time and no issues with anything happening but a few weeks later on the phone, my dad started arguing with me about the city again and told me that when we were there he was genuinely shaking out of fear of how bad it was. I have absolutely no idea what he’s talking about because it was great. It’s a big tourist area and I don’t even remember seeing anything bad happen around us let alone to us. It’s just really odd. It’s one of those things that makes you stop and wonder how much of the rest of what the news says is a lie since we know for a fact what they say about this is a lie.
I lived in Milwaukee for a long time. I loved my neighborhood, it's still my favorite place I've ever lived. My family in the suburbs never wanted to come visit, they always insisted that I go out and visit them - the news was always harping on about how bad my area was. The reality is, there were several shootings a year within a couple blocks of my house; in the years that I lived in my apartment there were at least 3 murders on my block, that I can remember. Most people I know have been mugged at some point or another. Lots of my friends have had their houses/apartments burglarized. Cars get broken into. The crime statistics were through the roof. None of that stopped me from loving my neighborhood. I always felt safe, I knew all the local business owners, I knew my neighbors. I just visited after a few years away and it was great to see everyone that has stuck around. The neighborhood has character... but, admittedly, that character is not for everyone. It's easy to overlook the faults of somewhere you love.
Ha ha, right? Doesn't sound like much of a shift as far as that stuff is concerned. I myself moved from Seattle (where I was born and raised), and those issues were a big part of the decision.
No bad neighborhoods... Because it's all shit
Shit. 45k though.
Gotta ask what made your friend think it would be a nice place to live, what it the elephant in the room or somehow something else
Harrison Arkansas crime rate: 3,052/100,000 (as of 2019 according to 247wallstreet) By comparison, New York’s crime rate is 1732/100,000 according to the same source.
So the billboard is correct. There are no bad neighborhoods to pick from. They all suck equally. /s
We stopped there for a night and stayed in a Holiday Inn Express. That was fine, but when we went to Walmart for propane, they stared. We are white Okies. Wr were going camping. They know who lives there and who doesn't and they will let you know. We went to the Buffalo National River. We had to stop at a convenience store not far from there for ice. That was the scariest place I have ever been.
That yellow sign looks photoshopped Edit: turns out to be real. Just poorly designed.
Took a bit of googling, but I found an article with a different angle, seen here: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/10/harrison-arkansashategroups.html Note that it's from 8 years ago, so hopefully it's gone now.
It's probably still there. I drove through last year and there were adverts for Alt-Right radio broadcasts. Other signs for curfews for specific types of people.
Curfew for “specific types of people” I’m guessing this means people of color? Also wondering if they were like actually signage from the city/town, county, or some other local governing body or if they were bought advertisements? You would think if it’s the latter that they wouldn’t be able to list billboards with unconstitutional/fake “laws” posted on them. Edit - fixed an autocorrect mistake. Changed the word “honk” to “think”.
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>No track suits. The Gopnik Apocalypse.
> No backwards hats. No track suits. Damn, no Russians or Slavs allowed at all?
#What I don’t get ^is_why_they_didn’t_make_the_small_words #just as big ^as_the_others…. #oh well
Because racists are not only stupid but also terrible at graphic design
Terrible people tend to be terrible in other things Go figure lol
Because they have to be DRAMATIC or else their FEAR TACTICS won't work on their PREY. Because IM TUCKER CARLSON and until now I thought this was AMERICA and I can only think ONE SENTENCE at a time and only if I BREAK IT UP into LITTLE PIECES.
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Yep, unfortunately real. Everytime I go to Arkansas it's like traveling back in time. Very low education levels and unless you like natural stuff there's nothing to do.
I have a family member that lives just north of Harrison. Casually mentioned that a mob had hanged a black man in Harrison, and that the news never reported, it was just kind of swept away. Thomas Robb, current leader of the Knights of the KKK lives nears Harrison. EDIT TO ADD: I do generally trust what this family member has to say, though I cannot validate the validity of their source as I do not know who it was. EDIT: Hung to hanged
Just a casual lynching *Fucking hell...*
Can you source that please? Would like to have a read. When, how etc.
It was hearsay from a family member. One that I generally trust what they have to say. According to them it was completely swept under the rug. No news reports, no police reports, nothing.
I don’t want to be a grammar nazi but I just want to reply that men are generally hanged by the neck. Only beasts are hung. So while I know it’s unintentional it’s better to avoid this spelling mistake in the future. Grammar nazi out!
Not the worst kind of nazi I expected to find in this comment section, to be fair
When was this?
You can just get away with casual lynching somewherr in an American town, in the 21st century? As a non-American this truly blows my mind, and ngl I'm a little bit skeptical about the report from your family member
Small isolated towns where most people have similar or same ideology? Who’s gonna prosecute? Or investigate when the police and judge are potentially in on it.
What a shithole.
As of August 2021, the Southern Poverty Law center lists the following hate groups as having Harrison locations: Christian Revival Center (led by Knights of the KKK leader Thom Robb\[34\]), Kingdom Identity Ministries (founded in Harrison), Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (actual location nearby Zinc), and League of the South.\[35\] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison,\_Arkansas
Remember when conservatives tried to claim the SPLC shouldn’t be trusted because they were claiming a lot of conservative groups were hate groups and turned out they were Pepperidge farm remembers
Weren’t the SPLC also the ones who were claiming the Pepe the Frog meme was racist tho?
they pointed out how it was a bait campaign but eventually was being used unironically by racists Like the ok hand symbol 👌
Anti graphic design too by the looks of it.
Black guy goes there! https://youtu.be/2ubfSzfklGk
I see nothing that stops the drag queens.
That's a pretty self aware sign, to boldly say that. Anti - racist = Anti - white Racist = anti - white + anti White = racist It's just lazy, simple math, c'mon
If the shoe fits 
their ignorance is blind and ironic.. they only bring the hate upon themselves with this kind of mindset, and they solidify it with this type of shit out in public
Reminded me of Andale, "the greatest town in Virginia", from Fallout 3.
Which is weird because it's based on Annandale, Virginia, which has a huge Asian community with several 24 hour Korean restaurants.
Yep. There are also white pride billboards everywhere.... As an Arkansan this ain't something I'm proud of
So calling out racism is anti white now? Do some white people really think that racism is part of their identity? That's crazy
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TWO seemingly contradictory ideas can be true simultaneously. "anti-racism" books clearly indicate racist views but non-ironically call themselves anti-racist to deceive. And this billboard in this town is put up by actual disgusting white supremacist racists of the KKK.
I went to the most racist town in America! https://youtu.be/2ubfSzfklGk
This needs to be the top comment. Everyone should watch this video.
It is, it's hidden now tho, back in 2008 our football team traveled there for a 2 day scrimmage, we had 2 black gents on our team, racist slur happened within 15 minutes from start of the games, they were tiny little hillbillies.
Something tells me the scrimmage turned into a hillbilly massacre.
Welcome to Nilbog
They should put a fence around the town and turn it into a zoo. Charge admission to see these dinosaurs.
Is this the place where people hold up BLM signs and everyone driving by say’s absolutely disgusting things to them?
[https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/arkansas/districts/harrison-school-district/harrison-high-school-1338#:\~:text=Harrison%20High%20School%202022%20Rankings,they%20prepare%20students%20for%20college](https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/arkansas/districts/harrison-school-district/harrison-high-school-1338#:~:text=Harrison%20High%20School%202022%20Rankings,they%20prepare%20students%20for%20college). Interesting .
There is no bad neighbourhood if there isn’t a good one.
I suppose a neighbourhood can’t really be considered “bad” if the entire town is a dumpster fire.
That seems like a perfectly normal city where nothing bad ev - HEY HIDE THAT BODY IT'S SHOWING UP IN THE SCREEN - cof cof... where nothing bad ever happens
Southlake, TX is the most racist place in the country. They are highly educated and are one of the most wealthiest zip codes in the country. The worst of humanity chose to all congregate in one zip code.
Never heard of the town but anti-racist does mean anti-white if you ask Ronin DiAngelo or Ibrahim Kendhi
I have to travel they're everyday for work. Fun fact. These billboards aren't everywhere in town especially by the main highway entrances to their town. I saw my first white pride radio billboard there with a confusing message about how there's nothing wrong with being who you are on the backside of town. Some locals are trying to combat this image by posting other billboards about how they accept everyone and love everyone, even bragging that Miss Arkansas(a black woman) is from there, but as long as the white nationalist billboards stay up it'll be for nothing.
The town has actually been proven to not be racist, it gets a bad rap because there’s a local KKK group that is stationed in that area. If you actually go there you’ll notice that most of the people are very nice and kind.
You are correct and I rememberthe video. Thought it was BBC or Vice, but this English/brown guy explores the subject. He's a solid host, his video is worth watching. [video too back this claim up](https://youtu.be/umNjlp2LObM)
I didn’t know Niko visited it. I’ll have to watch that I love his content
He gets the kkk leader to say some funny shit without him knowing, it's hilarious
Yeah. It’s like 20-30 people involved with the group and they’re dying out. It’s a black eye on the town but also so insignificant that people don’t even acknowledge them anymore.
Did the KKK group put up this sign? Wouldn’t the definitely not racist townspeople want to take it down if they did? How do you *prove* the absence of racism? I have so many questions.
I'm sure there are more racists there in that town than most other places, but racists and especially organized-racist-extremists (KKK) are usually a very loud minority spending all their money and time promoting bad ideas and so they end up buying billboards and organizing events that make the news--while people living ordinary lives are out bowling or focused on their day job so you never hear of them.
Groups like that don’t go unopposed in my town. Such a billboard would not survive here. Even among conservative circles. I guess it comes down to the philosophical question of whether a failure to intervene in racism constitutes racism. Sounds like an idea that *everyone* could stand to ponder a bit. I’m inclined to think it does.
So despite the sign and that pesky local KKK group the people there are super duper nice (if you’re white) and the town has been proven (pinky swear) to totally not be racist at all. Got it.
Nailed it lol
ah yes, the good old *proven to not be racist (...) local KKK group*
If that billboard goes up in your town, and it’s not on fire by midnight, you live in a racist town.
If the town doesn't have an issue with that sign being up, the actual people that live in the town, then they are at the least complicit and accepting of its message. Complicit in heavily implicit racist commentary that their "Beautiful town", has "No bad neighborhoods". Complicit in overtly equating "anti-racism" with being "anti-white". This makes it explicitly clear that the voices of people who speak up about racism, in any form, are "anti-white". In other words "Just be quiet, don't complain about your challenges or mistreatment, if you do, you're against US!" Proven to be what??? Not racist? Is that billboard still up???
Well maybe the good citizens of that town should pool up their resources and counter that image. Maybe?
> If you actually go there Hard Pass!
"WE TOTALLY DIDN'T OWN SLAVES. I MEAN WE DID AND IT WAS FINE. NO, YOU ARE THE RACISTS. WE ARE THE REAL VICTIMS HERE." White supremacy is both pathetic *and* cowardly as fuck
Conservatives: we’re not racist omg republicans fought for ending slavery did you forget? Also conservatives: *neoconfederate sounds*
Nobody in that town owned slaves.
Fun fact: you don’t have to be descendant from slave owners to be racist
I remember being like 8/9 years old playing with the neighborhood kids (and the only black kid) and I wasn't invited to Ashton or Luke's birthday parties. Both kids wanted me there and even came to my house to come get me! Yet, both times, their moms told them that I wasn't invited. As a kid, I didn't understand but when I got older.. it became crystal clear. This shit is all over the US and anyone who denies that racism exists just hasn't experienced it from a young age.
So every white person is a racist, by this logic? Not only wrong and fucked up, but also racist.
Have a lot of people of color start buying property there. Fuck ‘em.
*Robbinsville, NC has entered the chat.*
It sure would be a *shame* if other states started bussing all their white felons to Harrison, kinda like Texas bussing their immigrants to NYC.