Rep. Charles Blake
(D-Little Rock) will try again Wednesday morning to pass his bill that would say in statute that a fourth blue star added to the Arkansas flag in 1924 stands for the state’s rich Indian heritage, not for the Confederacy.

This should be easy. That it is not easy says a lot. As this clip posted by Blake on Facebook explains, context is everything. The star was added to the flag in 1924 at the behest of the Ku Klux Klan, then at peak of its political power. We might as well have a white hood above the word “Arkansas” as a blue star.

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In previous testimony, Blake met objections to his recounting of lynchings in Arkansas both before and more than a decade after the star was added. In context of that time, Blake argued, the star is arguably more a symbol of white supremacy than the Civil War.

He’ll try again at 10 a.m. Wednesday before the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee.

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BUT WAIT…..The Bully of Bigelow is preoaring to enter the flag fray:

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Removal of the star to return the flag to its original design would be a better course.

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