I watched this meeting, but I think the Twitter summaries pretty much say it all. The opponents threw up the usual fog of legislative ignorance — why not give Marshallese a path to citizenship? (as if the Arkansas legislature could do anything about that); why not just change rules instead of passing a law? (because it wouldn’t cover all circumstances). It was old white men against different people that they don’t understand and apparently don’t want to understand. Some members took a walk, which was important in the roll call, with 11 votes needed. A few spoke eloquently in support, incliding sponsor Rep. Megan Godfrey and Reps. Fred Love and David Whitaker

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A measure that would build trust in a community that has doubts about its acceptance ended up providing another reason to doubt the state’s good intentions.

(Briefly: You must be a citizen to be a police officer. Marshallese may live permanently in the U.S., a byproduct of this country’s ruination of parts of their Pacific island home by nuclear testing, but they may not become citizens. They’ve been victims of adoption scams and disproportionately suffered in the pandemic thanks to employment in poultry processing. They are welcomed and serve honorably in the U.S. military. But be a deputy in Arkansas? No, said several House members, most notably John Payton, Jack Ladyman, and Rick Beck.)

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UPDATE: There goes Jim Hendren again, being a human being.

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