Afternoon traffic was heavy on US 65/62/412 as we were leaving Ranch House on Saturday. Ideally, we wanted to make a left turn and head south. I decided instead to turn right, then turn right on Arkansas 43, and turn right again on Arkansas 7. That’d bring us back to the secondhand-furniture shop where we planned to buy a table and chairs for the cabin.
Besides, along that alternate route was something I wanted to see for myself.
At the intersection of Route 43 and Route 7 is National Auto Trim, a great truck-accessories shop that did a lot of work on the Wrangler and Silverado while we camped in Harrison. We’re familiar with that area — various small businesses clustered along Route 7 to the north, with hay fields, rolling pastures and woodland to the east.
That’s not what I saw on Saturday.
Behind the National Auto Trim property, northeast of the intersection, there’s been massive excavation (much more than appears in the satellite image, above). About ten acres was dug-up, in preparation for development.
An industrial park? Retail? A bunch of tidy houses with the wooded hills as a picturesque backdrop?
Nope — it’s to be the site of a 30-unit apartment complex, subsidized “affordable housing,” with an associated “call center” allegedly providing employment for 50 residents.
But wait, there’s more.
The project is being undertaken by a non-profit spearheaded by a carpetbagging Harrison City Council member (she moved to Arkansas from Alaska 12 years ago) and a guy who happens to be the uncle of a black man who died four years ago while being detained by Minneapolis police. The organization they founded is dedicated to celebrating the life and legacy of George Floyd.
They’ve said repeatedly that they chose to build in Harrison to rehabilitate the reputation of what a sleazy UK website once labeled “the most racist town in America.” Never mind that Harrison and its residents didn’t ask for (nor do they need) any sort of rehabilitation.
Residents overwhelmingly oppose the project, and for myriad reasons having nothing to do with race. But the development can’t be stopped — it’s just outside the city limits, not subject to zoning and other municipal regulations. Besides, the organization behind it claims to have upwards of $10 million at its disposal, courtesy of “anonymous donors.”
So-called “Gateway Harrison,” a woke monument to an addict and criminal who lived and died three states and 500 miles away, is a fait accompli.
Why am I telling you all this?
Because no matter where you are, no matter how fundamentally American and tradition-steeped the culture in which you live, there are people out there working relentlessly to take what you have. They mean to rehabilitate you, re-educate you, re-shape your world into what they, not you, deem acceptable.
Woke will find you. Woke is playing the long game.
Harrison fell because complacency is more common than vigilance. Unwelcome as the project was and still is, there are just enough people with just the right amount of fear of being labeled “racist” to open the door a crack. That was all the reimagineers and fundamental transformers needed.
“Gateway Harrison” will come to pass for much the same reason that over three million illegals have entered the US every year for the last four. Sinister forces bent on unmaking American culture require only a smidgen of “white guilt” in order to get what they want.
Remember the first time you looked around, didn’t recognize your country, and wondered why?
That’s why.
Most folks go through life at the mercy of their emotions. They’re stupefied by compassion. We’re in the fix we’re in because of that.
It’s up to people who operate on principle and intellect, who value facts over feelings and traditions over trends, to stop woke invasions before they start. The fundamental transformers can’t be permitted a foothold or allowed to gain momentum.
Whatever it takes.
Now take a good look at your town, your community, your neighborhood. Where are you vulnerable? What threats have you been ignoring? Who’s reaching in to steal what you and generations that came before worked to build?
You need to fix that.
Deb left those two Revere Ware saucepans, bottoms-up, on the table in the cabin. She knew I’d see them when I walked in — the two-quart she’d worked hard to make bright and shiny again, right next to the still-scuzzy three-quart I’d promised to restore.
Challenge accepted.
As I said yesterday, she used vinegar and salt. I thought I’d try using the first suggestion offered on the Revere Ware site — a lemon, cut in half, and salt. I knew I couldn’t hurt it, even with the Bar Keepers Friend I used for the second step (after the lemon and salt took the tarnish off).
I put about 20 minutes into it, rinsing over the sink a few times. I think it came out pretty great.
I don’t mind the scratches one little bit. If I did, I’d buy new.
And I don’t intend to clean it like this after every use — or often, or maybe ever again. I’m kinda lookin’ forward to that patina comin’ back. Like those scratches, it adds character.
I mean, I’m walkin’ around with a few scars and a little tarnish myself.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB