'No FRC at UCA' Protest Simply Didn't Go Far Enough

I was disappointed last week when I found out that my alma mater the University of Central Arkansas had rented out its Reynolds Performance Hall to Arkansas Sen. Jason Rapert for a campaign event/concert that included an appearance by the Family Research Council.

The Family Research Council (FRC) has been listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-gay hate group and its leader Tony Perkins has publicly supported the sickening Uganda “Kill the Gays” bill that seeks the death penalty for LGBT people.

Instantly upon hearing that the FRC would be allowed on the UCA campus I wanted to voice by displeasure that the school would allow such a heinous group to take part in an event on its campus.

I was thrilled when I found out that “No FRC at UCA” protest was organized by a man named James Thweatt. I decided that this protest was something I wanted to take part in after I finished my shift at work.

The protest’s Facebook page announced that the protest would take place between 6:15 p.m. and 9 p.m. I clocked out from my job around 6:50 p.m. and headed on over to UCA to take part in the protest across the street from the Reynolds Performance Hall. When I arrived I saw a decent crowd of maybe 30-ish people and at least two local media crews. I walked up to the event where I joined a friend and noticed that the media crews were leaving. My friend had made three nice signs that read: “I don’t support bully politicians,” “more love, less hate” and “equality & hate don’t mix.” I picked up one of his signs and began to hold it over my head.

Within minutes I heard rumblings of people ready to call it a night. I thought it was strange because the protest wasn’t much more than a half hour old. Then the leader of the protest, Thweatt, announced he was leaving around 7:10-7:15-ish, just about 10 minutes after my friend and I had arrived. Within minutes of his leaving the entire protest had broken up.

This bothered me. It bothered me particularly because the protest was less than an hour in and it bothered me because the leaders bolted and thus their flock followed less than 10 minutes after the last bit of media left the area.

I couldn’t help but question some of the intentions of those protesting the FRC at UCA. I have no doubt that people were truly irritated and outraged by their appearance at the university, but I also wondered if they hadn’t just wanted to catch a glimpse of themselves on the local evening news. Why wouldn’t they stay longer and fight for what they believed in? Was an entire hour all they could give to their cause? Why would a leader of the protest set an event from 6:30-9 p.m. and be gone by 7:15? Hell, if I had clocked out at 7 p.m. instead of 6:50 I would’ve gotten to the campus and thought that there hadn’t been a protest at all. I wonder if this happened to others.

I don’t like to throw this charge around lightly, because I’m happy there was a protest of this horrendous group in the first place, but the “No FRC at UCA” protest came off to me as a bit of slacktivism. It just didn’t seem like it was enough. I don’t know Mr. Thweatt and I’m sure he did some good work in setting the event up and getting people to it (though I was somewhat disappointed more people didn’t come out in support), but I do have to question his leadership skills in leaving his own protest about two hours before he claimed it would end. A true leader would be the last one to call it a night. Mr. Thweatt seemed to be one of the first to say goodbye.

My friend and I realizing we were the only two willing to stay decided ultimately to go home. I don’t believe this is a decision that set well with either of us, because an hour later we had decided we would head back to UCA’s campus so we could be seen holding our signs and standing up for what we believed when the event let out.

Our three person protest (my fiancée joined in with us) may have paled in comparison to the larger group outside before the event began, but we got our message across. I think someone needed to be there when the event ended. Attendees walking out to a long dispersed protest would have given them an undeserved satisfaction.

Standing up for what you believe in is something that should not be taken lightly. I’m glad two dozen or more people decided to show their unhappiness in such a horrid group’s participation on campus last night, but I don’t think it was nearly enough.