In the News

2 Arkansans travel to D.C., hear Trump speech

2/5/2020
Arkansas Democrat Gazette

WASHINGTON -- A Republican activist from Magnolia and a historian from Central Arkansas were among people with tickets to attend this year's State of the Union address.

Neva "Skeet" Baker, Republican Party chairwoman for Columbia County, was the guest of U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, a Republican from Hot Springs.

Brian Mitchell, an assistant professor of history at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, was invited by U.S. Rep. French Hill, a Republican from Little Rock.

Witnessing the biggest annual speech on the Capitol Hill calendar is a big deal, they both agreed.

"I've never been so honored and so excited in my life," Baker said Tuesday.

A lifelong Republican, she said she volunteered at party headquarters in El Dorado in the 1960s when she was still too young to vote.

"I had a very keen interest from early on," she said.

Her political activism was placed on pause after she got married and had five children. But years later, the political bug bit again.

She helped the Columbia County Republican Committee in 2004 -- a presidential election year -- and by 2005 was its vice chairwoman. She became chairwoman in 2007.

The Republican Party is ascendant in Columbia County, once a Democratic stronghold, Baker said.

She credits President Donald Trump with helping to revive the economy in her community and elsewhere.

"I'm very proud of the president ... [and] what he's done for our country and 'We the people,'" she said.

In a written statement, Westerman described Baker as a "champion for Republican values in Arkansas."

"Her work with the Columbia County Republican Committee inspires 4th District residents -- young and old -- to exercise their constitutional right to vote for faithful leaders on the state and national levels. I'm honored she will be attending this historic address with me, and I look forward to seeing all that she accomplishes in the year ahead."

Unlike Baker, Mitchell isn't a Republican Party leader, but he's worked extensively with Hill in recent years.

Mitchell has studied some of the saddest chapters in Arkansas history, including the Elaine Massacre in 1919 and the deaths in 1959 of 21 students at the Negro Boys Industrial School in Wrightsville. Padlocked in their dormitory, they were unable to escape after a fire broke out.

Mitchell and Hill worked together in 2018 to obtain medals for the family of Pvt. Leroy Johnston, a World War I veteran who was killed during the Elaine Massacre, Hill's office said.

They also have worked together to ensure that the bravery of black World War I service members is recognized, Hill noted in a written statement.

"Dr. Mitchell's partnership was instrumental in the World War I Valor Medals Review Act being signed into law in December," said Hill, referring to legislation he had sponsored in the House. "His work advocating on behalf of victims of past racial discrimination sets right injustices perpetrated against African Americans and other minority groups. Only by acknowledging tragedy can we begin to heal and move forward together towards a more hopeful future."

More recently, they've shared another aim -- increased recognition for Scipio A. Jones, a pioneering black attorney who successfully defended the Elaine Twelve, a dozen men who were sentenced to death by an all-white jury in the wake of the massacre.

Thanks to Jones' advocacy -- including a successful appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court -- all 12 lives were saved.

Asked what it's like to be attending the State of the Union address, Mitchell said, "It's surreal, actually."

Earlier in the week, he visited the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Today, he scheduled to visit the U.S. House of Representatives. The House agenda includes consideration of legislation authorizing a portrait of Jones to be placed at the Little Rock post office that already bears his name.