The Town and the Label
How Harrison, Arkansas came to be called “the most racist town in America,” what the record shows about its past and present, and how an October 2026 interview with the Klan leader who lives nearby revived the label. The file covers the City’s 23-year answer, the media cycle, and the open mayoral race.
Who is involved
Pop. 13,802 (2025 estimate), seat of Boone County. Says it is fighting a “widespread and long-lasting perception” that it is “dominated by bigotry and racism.”
Mayor since 2019. Leads the city’s public answer to the label. Not seeking re-election; his term ends this year.
Clergy and volunteers convened by Mayor Bob Reynolds. Co-founder Layne Ragsdale is its public voice.
State commission led by Dr. DuShun Scarbrough. Has worked with Harrison since about 2011–2012.
National director of the Knights Party, formerly the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, since 1989. Lives near Zinc and uses a Harrison post office box.
Retired Buffalo National River superintendent and Task Force member. 2019 Trailblazer Award from the King Commission.
Filmmaker. His July 2020 video gave the label its most-watched form.
Correspondent whose Oct 4–5, 2026 report from Boone County started the latest wave of coverage.
Timeline
Newest first. Entries before 2026 are background and are dated.
Upcoming. Harrison elects a new mayor. Jason Watts, Mitch Magness, and Rhonda Watkins are running. We have not found any candidate’s public position on the Task Force or the King Commission partnership. We will add them if they are stated publicly.
The City hosts a fair housing seminar at City Hall with Iverson Jackson, director of the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission. It covers tenant rights, low-interest loans, and housing counseling. This is context: the City did not present it as part of its race-relations work.
The three mayoral candidates debate at Camp Jack, answering questions submitted by residents. The paper’s summary does not say whether race relations came up.
The Al Jazeera report spreads. Raw Story, Baller Alert, and IBTimes UK run it on Oct 4. Yahoo News and The Nerd Stash follow on Oct 5, Atlanta Black Star on Oct 8, and syndicated copies through Oct 20. Most headlines lead with Robb’s claim of growing support. See “How the story spread.”
Al Jazeera’s Phil Lavelle reports from Boone County. Robb says “support for us is growing” but gives no membership figure, and calls the group “not strong at all.” Asked whether a Black person would be welcome at the group’s church, he answers: “No. Because this is a white nationalist church.” Harrison residents interviewed name paying bills as their main concern.
Mayor Jackson attends a Task Force meeting to thank its members. The City’s post says the Task Force was established in 2002.
In a City essay, Jackson says Harrison “has spent nearly 50 years fighting an unfair and untrue perception.” He says that of the people in the 2020 video, the City could identify only three: one he describes as having a disability, one who said he was set up, and one who “admitted to being racist and proud of it.” He adds, “One is still one too many.”
At a national MLK commissions conference in Little Rock, the King Commission gives Jackson and the City its 2026 Torch of Nonviolence Award. Secretary of State Cole Jester recognizes the “15-year partnership” among the City, the Task Force, and the Commission. Jackson hands out a booklet titled “The Truth About the ‘Most Racist Town in America.’”
Jackson announces he will not seek re-election and will finish his eighth year in office.
CBC Radio visits Harrison. Kevin Cheri, a Black resident since 2007, says: “As a Black man, don’t tell me this is the most racist town in America. That’s not true.” He also says the Task Force got all but one of the newer racist billboards taken down.
Rob Bliss posts “Holding a Black Lives Matter Sign in America’s Most Racist Town.” It shows passersby shouting slurs and threats at him. Mayor Jackson responded the next day that it unfairly represented the city.
Kevin Cheri receives the King Commission’s Trailblazer Award. The Task Force received the Commission’s Dream Keepers Award in 2016.
North Arkansas College in Harrison investigates reports that fans made racist taunts at Black players from a visiting Kansas team.
White supremacists put up billboards in Harrison, including one reading “Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white.” The Task Force answers with a “Love Your Neighbor” campaign of billboards, T-shirts, and yard signs. In 2014, Mayor Jeff Crockett leads a mock funeral march to “bury racism and hatred.”
After a 2002 incident in which visiting athletes of color mistook a ghost costume at a McDonald’s for a Klan robe, Mayor Bob Reynolds convenes the Task Force. Its formation was announced in March 2003.
Thomas Robb takes over the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the faction David Duke founded in the 1970s.
White mobs drive all but one Black resident out of Harrison. This made it a “sundown town,” a place where Black people were unsafe after dark.
Where the evidence is thin
- Is the last billboard still up? The most recent firsthand account we found is from 2020. We need a 2026 photo or a statement from the City.
- Where did the label come from? The Daily Mirror article is confirmed (Nov 2016), but it was not first: an Uproxx post from Jan 2015 already described Harrison as one of the most racist towns in America. We have not searched earlier print sources, so the true origin is still open.
- What do the candidates say? No mayoral candidate has a public position on the Task Force or the King Commission partnership that we could find.
- How big is the group? There is no public membership figure. Robb would not give one.
- No full transcript of the report Al Jazeera has published only the video and a written summary. Quotes here come from Al Jazeera and the outlets that carried it.
- What does the reputation cost? Lost tourism and investment are firsthand accounts. No study measures them.
Disclosure
The Cultured Scholar did communications planning on Harrison in 2018 (see Why this story matters to us). That plan is not published here and is not used as evidence. Research leads also came from our working notes and an outside tracking sheet. Every line on this page was checked against the sources linked.
Claim ledger
| Claim | Made by | Grade | Basis for the grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riots in 1905 and 1909 drove nearly all Black residents out of Harrison. | Historians; the City | Reported | The Encyclopedia of Arkansas documents both riots from court records and period newspapers. Only one Black resident remained after January 1909. The City’s own page says the perception’s roots “lie in our history.” We have not inspected the 1905–1909 newspapers ourselves. Encyclopedia of Arkansas: Harrison race riots City of Harrison: Race Relations |
| Harrison’s population is overwhelmingly white today. | Census data | Verified | Census QuickFacts lists Harrison as 93.2% white alone and 0.3% Black alone. Boone County is 92.7% white alone. These are survey estimates with margins of error. U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts |
| More than 2,800 Boone County residents are not “white alone.” | City of Harrison | Verified | This matches the Census. 7.3% of the 2025 estimate of 38,628 is about 2,820 people. City of Harrison: Race Relations U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts |
| The Klan is headquartered in Harrison. | National headlines, older reference entries | Contested | Robb told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 2019 that he lives about a mile from Zinc, which is outside Harrison. The group uses a Harrison post office box. NPR, CBC, and the Mayor all describe the same arrangement. The headquarters is near Harrison, not in it. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 2019 NPR, May 2014 CBC Radio, Oct 26, 2020 Mayor Jackson: The Harrison They Never Hear About |
| The Klan compound is a short drive from Harrison. | Various | Contested | The figures conflict. Scarbrough told THV11 the Klan leader lives “six miles” outside Harrison. CBC said 24 km, the Democrat-Gazette said 15 miles east, and Scripps said 15 miles north. Robb’s own account to the Democrat-Gazette supports about 15 miles. THV11, Aug 27, 2026 CBC Radio, Oct 26, 2020 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 2019 Scripps News |
| Robb’s arrival is when the modern reputation began. | Mayor Jackson; KATV; FOX16 | Contested | Jackson told THV11 that “one guy” created the perception “and goes back to 1975.” KATV and FOX16 place Robb’s move in the 1980s. Robb took over the national group in 1989. The start date is unsettled, but every source ties the modern label to Robb. THV11, Aug 27, 2026 KATV, Aug 27, 2026 FOX16 Al Jazeera, Oct 5 |
| Robb said “Support for us is growing.” | Thomas Robb | Verified | Verified that he said it, on camera to Al Jazeera. The claim itself is graded below. Al Jazeera video, Oct 4 IBTimes UK |
| Klan support is growing. | Thomas Robb | Unverified | Robb gave no membership figures, and said “Maybe we’re wrong. Maybe everybody hates us. I don’t know.” He called the group “not strong at all” and “a voice in the wilderness.” No independent count supports growth. IBTimes UK Baller Alert Yahoo News |
| Black people are not welcome at the group’s church. | Thomas Robb | Verified | Robb said so in the Al Jazeera report: “No. Because this is a white nationalist church.” Al Jazeera, Oct 5 |
| The group has rebranded as the Knights Party around family and faith. | The Knights Party | Claimed | Members told Al Jazeera this. The name change and Robb’s title change from “grand wizard” to “national director” are documented. That the group has changed in substance is its own claim, and Robb’s answer about the church cuts against it. Al Jazeera, Oct 5 Yahoo News |
| Harrison was first called “the most racist town in America” by Britain’s Daily Mirror. | Arkansas Times, 2018 | Contested | The Mirror article is real: Christopher Bucktin’s piece of Nov 24–25, 2016 calls Harrison “America’s most racist town” (Mirror; Arkansas Times, Nov 25, 2016). The “first” part does not hold. An Uproxx post by Dustin Rowles dated Jan 2, 2015, nearly two years earlier, is headlined “Harrison, Arkansas Continues To Be One Of The Most Racist Towns In America,” and its page title reads “Is Harrison, Arkansas The Most Racist Town In America? Maybe.” Its text already treats the label as an existing reputation the town was trying to shed. The Arkansas Times said the Mirror “coined” the phrase (2018); the Mirror popularized the superlative, but it did not originate the idea. We have not searched earlier print or broadcast sources, so we cannot name who said it first. Bliss’s 2020 video title spread the phrase far wider (Rob Bliss on YouTube). |
| The 2020 video misrepresents Harrison. | Mayor Jackson | Contested | The video shows real people saying racist things, and Jackson concedes “one is still one too many.” His case is that a few people do not represent a town of about 13,000. The footage and his reading of it are both on record. Rob Bliss on YouTube Mayor Jackson: The Harrison They Never Hear About CBC Radio, Oct 26, 2020 |
| Only three people in the 2020 video could be identified, and one said he was set up. | Mayor Jackson | Claimed | This comes only from the City. We have no independent account of the City’s search. Mayor Jackson: The Harrison They Never Hear About |
| Every racist billboard in Harrison has come down. | Some summaries of the city’s work | Unverified | In 2020, Cheri said one remained. The National Civic League also said one remained. In August 2026 Jackson said the community “was able to remove three.” We have not confirmed whether the last billboard still stands in 2026. CBC Radio, Oct 26, 2020 National Civic League KATV, Aug 27, 2026 |
| The City, the Task Force, and the King Commission have a 15-year partnership, and the City received the 2026 Torch of Nonviolence Award. | City of Harrison; Arkansas MLK Commission | Verified | Reported by KATV and THV11, and in the City’s own account of the conference. Jackson’s essay dates the Commission’s visits to 2012, so “15 years” is a round figure. City of Harrison, Aug 31, 2026 KATV, Aug 27, 2026 THV11, Aug 27, 2026 Mayor Jackson: The Harrison They Never Hear About |
| Harrison has spent decades fighting the perception. | Mayor Jackson | Claimed | The commitment is well documented. The number of years changes with each interview: 15 years (5NEWS), 24 (KATV, on the Task Force), 25 (KATV), 40 (OzarksFirst), “nearly 50” (City essay), and 50 (KATV). We treat these as round figures, not a single timeline. 5NEWS KATV, Aug 27, 2026 KATV, Aug 2026 conference OzarksFirst Mayor Jackson: The Harrison They Never Hear About |
| The reputation costs Harrison money: tourists, employers, and franchises stayed away. | Task Force, via National Civic League | Claimed | Ragsdale says the issue “was affecting our pocketbooks.” The examples are firsthand accounts, not data. We have found no study that measures the cost. National Civic League |
| Robb said “Being racist isn’t illegal.” | The Nerd Stash headline | Unverified | The article’s own text attributes the words to a social media commenter, not Robb. The headline misattributes the quote. The Nerd Stash |
How the story spread
One Al Jazeera report from Boone County on Oct 4 became a week of national headlines. Each row links to the original item. The labels describe the outlet’s focus, not a political grade. The “Their angle” column is what the item emphasized.
| Date | Outlet | Format | Type | Their angle | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 4 | Al Jazeera (Phil Lavelle) | Video, web | Original report | Robb’s growth claim, set against his admission that the group is weak. Includes residents focused on the cost of living. | Al Jazeera video, Oct 4 Al Jazeera, Oct 5 |
| Oct 4 | Raw Story | Web | National, progressive | Headline calls it a “pro-Trump interview,” based on Robb’s praise of Trump’s border wall. | Raw Story |
| Oct 4 | Baller Alert | Web | Black culture and news | Leads with the growth claim. Keeps the “not strong at all” quote. | Baller Alert |
| Oct 4 | IBTimes UK | Web | International | Headline says “allegedly” and notes there are no membership figures. The most careful framing we found. | IBTimes UK |
| Oct 5 | The Nerd Stash | Web | Entertainment, aggregator | Headline puts a commenter’s words, “Being racist isn’t illegal,” next to Robb’s name. | The Nerd Stash |
| Oct 5 | Yahoo News | Web | Aggregator | Rebrand angle. Adds Robb’s remark that Michigan-born Abdul El-Sayed is not American. | Yahoo News |
| Oct 8 | Atlanta Black Star | Web | Black news | Leads with “Black people still aren’t welcome.” | Atlanta Black Star |
| Oct 19–20 | News.net | Web | Syndication | Regional copies of the rebrand story, two weeks later. | News.net |
National coverage is about Robb. Local coverage is about the Task Force. A post office box and a nearby compound are enough to make the town’s name stand for the group, which is the point the Mayor makes.
Most October headlines lead with “support is growing” and leave out “not strong at all.” One puts a commenter’s words next to Robb’s name. The story gets sharper as it travels, and the underlying report does not change.
The distance to the compound ranges from 6 to 15 miles, and the years of reform work range from 15 to 50. Neither side is necessarily inaccurate, but a story told often from memory loses precision, which gives critics of both sides an opening.
The Al Jazeera report landed five weeks after the City’s award and a month before an open mayoral election. We see no sign of coordination, and record it only because it shapes what audiences see first.
The City’s most visible spokesman leaves office in January. Whether the partnership continues is now a question for the next mayor, the Task Force, and the Commission.
Live signal: Harrison and the Klan in the news Live
Pulled every three hours from national, wire, and Arkansas outlets, including KATV, THV11, the Arkansas Advocate, and the Harrison Daily. Newest first. Anything older than 72 hours is tagged. Quiet days are normal for a local story.
Social Pulse
Coverage, past 72 hours
Top public threads
Why this story matters to us
In 2018, The Cultured Scholar Strategic Communications drafted a preliminary communications plan for a Boone County effort to change Harrison’s reputation. We have kept watching the town since. This section is our own analysis, not a graded claim.
We found that searches for the town were dominated by “most racist town” stories, and that saying “we are not racist” would not change that. We said lasting change had to come from the community rather than from PR alone. We recommended listening to residents, teaching the town’s history honestly, and having the race relations task force and the mayor speak for the effort. The city has since done similar things in public, through its race relations page, its partnership with the Arkansas MLK Commission, and its fair housing seminar. We do not claim credit for any of those steps.
Our position was never to endorse the Klan’s racism. It was that Harrison cannot pretend these people do not exist. Their speech is legally protected, and they are not leaving. Driving them out by force is neither lawful nor something any serious person proposes. That realism still holds. What we would change is the language. Words like “embrace,” and listing the Klan leader as a possible spokesperson, blurred the line between accepting that he is there and accepting what he stands for. Outsiders would read that as endorsement, whatever the intent.
A realistic way forward
Saying the right things is not a strategy. Neither is pretending a hate group will disappear if a town looks away. The Cultured Scholar challenges the comfortable answer. Here is what the record suggests actually works when a group cannot be legally removed:
- Start from the law as it is. Under Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), a case that began with a Klan rally, the government cannot punish advocacy unless it is meant to incite, and likely to produce, imminent lawless action. A town cannot ban the message. It can enforce the law against threats, harassment, and vandalism promptly and the same way every time.
- Separate the person from the ideology. People do leave. Musician Daryl Davis says about 200 Klan members gave up their robes after getting to know him (NPR); that count is his own. The exit program Life After Hate served more than 150 clients under one federal grant, according to a DHS-funded evaluation. Long-term outcomes are still poorly measured, so this is a door to keep open, not a cure.
- Do not hand over the microphone. Research for Data & Society found that even critical coverage of extremists can make them more visible and influential than they would otherwise be (The Oxygen of Amplification). Harrison’s own coverage shows the pattern: each national story replays the Klan leader’s quotes. Town leaders can decline to debate him and pitch their own story instead.
- Make the contrast visible and shared. In Billings, Montana, in 1993, after a brick was thrown through a Jewish child’s window, thousands of households displayed paper menorahs. Organizers said attackers “could not target thousands,” and the incidents stopped (Facing History). A task force, a civil rights partnership, and visible local leaders are Harrison’s version of that.
- Measure instead of assuming. Survey residents, track what searches return, and watch who moves to town and who leaves. A reputation changes when the facts change and someone can show it. This case file is part of how we keep watching.
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