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Truthful Tuesday Critiques Legislature; Plans Weekly Rally

Judge Wendell Griffen at Truthful Tuesday on the steps of the state Capitol in 2014.
Jacob Kauffman
/
KUAR News

Visitors outside the state Capitol Tuesday may have noticed a diverse band of people singing and speaking about what they see as the immorality of recent decisions made by the state legislature.

Tuesday's gathering was the first in a planned weekly event known as Truthful Tuesday.

Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen replaced his judicial robes with church robes, led call-and-response songs, and listed issues like voter ID laws, access to healthcare, and the prison-industrial complex as key concerns. He emphasized this is an inclusive movement.

“Black people and white people and brown people and yellow people and gay people and straight people and religious people and non-religious people, employed people and unemployed people, people who are young and people are young because they used to be, people who are healthy and people who are in poor health, because we are all justice lovers,” said Griffen.

Neal Sealy with Arkansas Community Organizations said they intend to keep meeting as the legislative fiscal session comes to a close.

“We felt in the last few legislative sessions that many just causes were either trampled on or not addressed. What we're doing is creating space for people to come. The session is over but we are in an election cycle and issues have to be addressed,” said Sealy.

Truthful Tuesday is modeled after similar efforts that began about this time last year in other southern states, most notably Moral Mondays in North Carolina with thousands regularly rallying.

Jacob Kauffman is a former news anchor and reporter for KUAR.
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