Community Organizer Running for Rogers City Council

Over Labor Day weekend, Aaron C. Williams, co-founder of the new Northwest Arkansas race reconciliation group, Bridge the Gap, traveled to Harrison to host a community cookout on the town square. In the days leading up to the event, Williams invited white nationalists from the region, including a local chapter of the KKK, to join him in finding common ground. A film crew from ABC Nightline was also on hand following Williams campaign for a segment scheduled for air Sept. 21.

Aaron William Clarke and Jessica Angelica, with over 80 other Black Lives Matter supporters, demonstrated in Zinc, Arkansas Sunday afternoon calling for the dismantling of the Ku Klux Klan, which has long operated a remote compound in rural Boone County. The peaceful protestors offered a BBQ meal to hundreds of armed Arkansas militia and White Nationalists as county law enforcement closely monitored and controlled the situation. 

Local Black Lives Matter activists organized a second protest on the Bentonville downtown square this weekend after an initial protest a week ago ended in law enforcement deploying tear gas on protesters. During this lastest protest, Bentonville Police Chief Jon Simpson joined protesters in a moment of silence for George Floyd, whose death has sparked BLM rallies across the region and the country.

The Public Policy Center at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture is providing unbiased election information in an effort to aid voter education. The center shares information about the voting process and ballot issues through a physical voter guide and a website.

Both the Washington and Benton County Clerks' offices will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Saturday in October to collect absentee ballots from voters who requested them. The ballots can also be mailed. The last day to register to vote in the Nov. 3 general election is Monday, Oct. 5.