Arkansas Peace and Justice Memorial Movement

09/23/2025

Even when there’s a difference of opinion, people can be united.

A coalition of 40 Arkansas faith leaders from more than nine denominations is urging Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to halt plans for executions using nitrogen gas, calling the method “torture.”

“There’s a general injustice to executions,” said the Rev. Dr. Clint Schekloth, the pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Northwest Arkansas. “A person could be innocent. There are methods to implement a humane death. Also, it does not give people a chance to find redemption, to seek forgiveness, and to repent. Certain crimes are punishable by death, but if the state kills, there’s no opportunity to find out.

A coalition of Arkansas faith leaders and death row inmates are challenging Act 302, calling nitrogen gas executions “torture” and unconstitutional.

09/22/2025

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/returning-to-the-land-how-why-a-white-separatist-colony-invaded-arkansas-tickets-1657481755549

In Sharp County, Arkansas, a new land development scheme has emerged that has White Christian Nationalists flocking to Arkansas.

09/16/2025

"Our community is deeply saddened by this loss. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of all those impacted by Tre's loss," said Delta State University President Daniel Ennis.

Delta State University police Chief Michael Peeler said Reed was found just after 7 a.m. Monday hanging from a tree on the central campus of DSU near the school's pickleball courts.

"Pending an investigation, further investigation and also from the medical examiner's office, we won't have more information until that part has been done," Peeler said.

Delta State University has identified the person found dead on campus as Demontre "Tre" Reed, 21, a student from Grenada.

09/16/2025

“There have been a lot of people found hung in trees around the country. There was just a situation around twin boys, young teenagers that were found down south under a tree,” said local activist Salka Valerio. “They’ve been ruling them as suicides, and a lot of people in the black community are not feeling that they were. And the investigations are not happening.”

The community in Binghamton is joining others around the state, voicing their concerns over a death of a black man in Albany that they believe is suspicious.

09/16/2025

The 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed in an act of terrorism in Birmingham, Alabama.

09/16/2025

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09/11/2025

Rabbi Barry Block of Congregation B’nai Israel in Little Rock told Sojourners that the prospect of state executions via gas was a particularly traumatic one for Jewish people. He said that a lack of hope is a major contributing factor to violent crime and other maladies in the state. That would make instilling hope within communities a guiding solution, and he said the duty should not be relegated to faith leaders alone.

“Our state needs to do a much better job of addressing poverty, of addressing health care, of addressing education, in particular education disparities, which are only being worsened by current policies in the state,” Rabbi Block said. “In particular, it needs to provide hope in communities that are underserved, in minority communities, in rural communities where there is a great deal of despair. I think that that includes … communities that are so frustrated and hopeless that they feel like the only choice is to go with an authoritarianism that puts even more people in prison and death.”

For Block’s part, serving to bolster hope in his community means working on the board of a homeless shelter, staying involved in movements relating to education equality, and staying in conversations with his congregants as their fears of antisemitism in the modern political landscape rise.

A multi-faith coalition called on Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders to instead prioritize addressing poverty, health care, and other systemic issues.

09/11/2025

Learn more about our history of racial injustice.

09/02/2025

Unrepresentative juries exclude and marginalize communities of color.

09/02/2025

Orwoll compares Return to the Land to other intentional communities formed by Black and indigenous groups as a way to preserve cultural identities.

“There was a Black intentional community in Georgia. The mainstream media had no problem with it. The Muslim community in Texas — that’s a little more controversial among conservatives, but they’re being allowed to proceed,” Orwoll said. “There are Native American reservations and there are many Jewish intentional communities in this country. So when other people do it, the mainstream people says nothing. When white people want to do it, in a mostly white area, suddenly it’s a huge issue.”

Kwami Abdul-Bey, a noted African American civil rights activist in Little Rock, is the founder of the Arkansas Peace and Justice Memorial Movement. He disagrees with Orwoll’s assertion that white people have the right to establish exclusive communities to preserve white culture.

“And if you choose to look deeper into the historical significance of Black communities like Elaine, Arkansas, Greenwood, Oklahoma, and Rosewood, Florida, you’ll see that they were created as a result of Blacks being excluded from the general white population through law and custom,” he said. “Yet at some point, these same white populations attacked and destroyed those excluded intentional communities.”

Arkansas has long been a landing spot for white supremacist groups, Abdul-Bey said.

“I read and researched this Return to the Land compound,” Abdul-Bey said. “It’s built upon a mixture of greed, criminality and opportunism, fueled by social deviants coming into Arkansas from all over the nation. Here in Arkansas, we have a history of these types of intentional communities.”

Eric Orwoll certainly isn't the first white separatist to set up shop in Arkansas, but he's currently the buzziest.

08/22/2025

Dear Governor Sanders,We, the undersigned faith leaders from Arkansas, urge you not to restart executions in our great state. We are especially concerned abo...