I'm incredibly, tremendously, un-apologetically PROUD of my home town right now.
For generations, hate and misogyny have had their thumb on Harrison, AR.
It's a small community, where most people are kind, genuine, and quick to help a stranger in need.
However, there is a small, small fraction of the town's population who have taken it upon themselves to keep the diversity at bay, even erecting a "white pride" billboard along the main strip, leaving the rest of the country to believe the entire town is full of uneducated, racist, homophobes...
...like this guy:
As you're reading this, brave residents have taken to the streets for the 2nd Annual Harrison, AR Pride Fest! (The photos/video in this post just came across my newsfeed a short while ago.)
Despite threats of protests and violence, they marched down Main St, through the town square, over the Crooked Creek Bridge (where, at one time, they might have been lynched for this kind of thing. I'll get to that in another post.), and on to the city park for a day of music, food, love, and laughter.
But not without some opposition...
Last year's kick off of this new, beautiful movement was so much more than anyone had expected. Even with rain dumping on the festival half of the day, a large crowd still gathered. Of course, so did the protesters. However, the word has spread, and the few people who are still involved in the KKK in the area have turned to the internet to rally other dim-witted cronies to come to town on Pride Day and take a dump all over progress.
Let's just say things are tense in Harrison right now...
Please keep these brave folks in your thoughts today as they try hard to enjoy the freedom of being themselves in the face of indecency.
Happy PRIDE and thanks for reading!!
Happy PRIDE and thanks for reading!!
nice share @jazzyfish every human has the right to live the way he or she wants...
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Thank you!
And I agree. Hopefully, one of these days, things like pride fests won't even be necessary.
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Right? I dream of a day when having a pridefest would be no different than celebrating the blue/green/brown color of one's eyes.
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There's too much hate in this world. We're all different. Celebrate diversity
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Absolutely! And this was organized by people under 25 years old! Only 15 years ago, we never would have even gotten approval to reserve the park for such a thing. My home town has come a long way!
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Awesome! I'm in Harrison all the time. Didn't realize this was going on! If I can get off work tonight, I'll be joining the festivities!
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I'm sure they would appreciate the support!
Here's the lineup:
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I come through Harrison for work on many occasions and sadly the hatred that is embedded in your town is one of the first things that come to mind when I am driving in. I have to say though, there have been times I needed help while in Harrison and everyone I met or talked to was so very friendly and not bothered to assist. Bravo to the people out participating, even with all the haters on the sidelines . Harrison is a good town with a good heart and it is progressing in the right direction.
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That's part of what's so frustrating about the whole ordeal. There is so much good in Harrison, but it always gets overshadowed by idea that the town is full of hatred. It really isn't!
It's a "few bad apples ruin the bunch" kind of thing.
When the media got wind of the billboard story, it just got worse. Of course, the media also always interviews the dumbest, most backwards person they can find to represent Harrison in their story. It's a mess.
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