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Northwest Arkansas citizens marched against racial profiling in Dickson Street businesses last week. The group echoed Attorney General Eric Holder's accusation that America is a nation of cowards when discussing race.


The group “Citizens of Northwest Arkansas against racial profiling on Dickson Street” is led by Lesleigh Creel, Corbin Blake, and Ana Lorena Hart. It is a local call-to-action to break out of what Holder calls the “race protected cocoons.”


Creel recognized the need for such a group when she witnessed racial profiling on different occasions. The prominent instance in her mind occurred at the Dickson Street bar Stir. Creel and her friends were dressed nicely in blazers and button up shirts, but one of her friends was rejected because he was wearing a hat. Before they were able to leave, a group of white males in baseball caps were permitted entrance to Stir. “That is exactly why I started this forum- to get dialog going, hear people’s thoughts, get ideas and move forward,” Creel said on the facebook group.


The group started as a vague idea between two friends, Creel and Blake. Through the comparison of various instances of racial prejudice, these two decided that action should take place. “This is a place for people to bring their stories to the table and discuss ideas for action,” Blake said. Creel came up with the idea for facebook publicity, but also had a few contacts in mind, such as Ana Lorena Hart. Using this as a base, the group grew through networking. Since then, members have exchanged and executed many ideas. “Citizens of NWA against racial profiling” has no spokesperson or official structure. Although Creel, Blake and Hart are the facebook group’s administrators and among the most adamant participants, Blake said that everyone has an equal voice.

In the short time since the group's formation, many things have been accomplished. A letter was sent to the mayor of Fayetteville to explain the situation. In it, the resident relayed his most recent experience with the bar Shotz, which is also owned by David Bass, the owner of Stir. The author of the letter went with his colleagues after work to Shotz for music, drinks, and socializing. All of these men were dressed in business casual, so a case could not be made that they did not follow the bar’s dress code which excluded sunglasses, hair nets, chains, hats, baggy clothing, jerseys, hoodies, and towels. Eventually, a bouncer asked them to leave because they were “making the female patrons of the establishment uncomfortable because of their presence there.” On several instances, the letter’s author and a group of his friends were not allowed inside Stir when they were told that the capacity was reached. Moments later, other groups of the same size were granted entrance.


Mayor Jordan was present at the march on Dickson Street and gave a speech, labeling Fayetteville an all-inclusive city against discrimination. Roughly 150-200 people attended, 25 of which were university students. After various forms of publicity on the march, the group’s membership increased to 771 members. Blake said that Bass silently watched the march as he stood in front of his bar.


In the past five weeks, Bass has failed to respond to various members of the group and to Mayor Lioneld Jordan. When confronted by reporters, he denied any allegations of racial profiling, chalking them up as “water-cooler talk.” As a local business owner, Blake said he honestly thought that Bass was simply unaware of the situation. “I tried to put myself in his shoes. If I were in his situation, I would say, ‘This isn’t going to happen, we’ll handle it,’” he said.

Hart works at Just Communities of Northwest Arkansas, which provides diversity education and training. A recent group discussion made informal plans to contact Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Teaching Tolerance,” a bi-yearly journal helping educators learn to deal with diversity issues.

A city council member, Matthew Petty joined the group to provide more insight on how to end the local racial profiling. As a result of his membership, the group has begun collecting detailed accounts of discrimination to pass along to the American Civil Liberties Union.


A Stir bartender said she has not seen any cases of racial profiling in the business and believes the entire story to be an escalated rumor. “I wish the newspaper reporters would come to Stir in the evening. If they did, they could see how multi-racial the crowd is,” she said. Instead of people being turned away based on race, she said people are turned away if they give the bouncer an unacceptable attitude. In regard to Creel’s hat incident, this bartender said employees are allowed to wear hats, as well as the patrons that are close friends of Bass, the bar owner. “We’re not allowed to turn away his closest friends, so the group that was turned away could have seen an employee or Bass’ friends,” she said. The employee asked to remain anonymous.