Proponents of Issue 3 on Arkansas’ Nov. 8 ballot claim it will protect individual religious freedom from violation by local and state government. Opponents say it clears the way for faith-based racial and sexual discrimination. “This is not about a…
Two key developments in voting rights rulings in Arkansas
Arkansas now finds itself at the center of the nation’s debate over what’s “election integrity” and what’s “voter suppression.” And a Baptist judge is one of the key players. Arkansas Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen (who also is a BNG columnist)…
‘Hateful faithful’ model paves the way for a fascist society
I was born, educated and live in Arkansas. Recently, white legislators in Arkansas responsible for redrawing voting districts in ways that fracture communities of Black and Latinx voters expressed dismay when Black and Latinx leaders denounced the re-drawn districts as…
Repeating Exodus through vaccine denial
At the beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency, I wrote a post warning that he was a threat to the United States and the rest of the world. We are about to see matters turn from bad to worse. Thanks to…
Texas takes the spotlight as statehouses across the nation seek to restrict trans teens and voter access
Some Texas legislators want to outdo Georgia and Arkansas with a combination of bills restricting transgender teens and voting access for poor and minority citizens. The Texas bills — four concerning transgender health care, six concerning transgender athletes and two…
Arkansas allows medical providers to deny service based on a provider’s own ethics or religious beliefs
Personal conscience now outranks the responsibility to provide medical care to all people equally in Arkansas, according to a bill passed by the state Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Asa Hutchinson March 26. Senate Bill 289, also known…
Alternative food ministry generous with the eats, but stingy on the stigma
“The coolest thing is that benevolence begets benevolence. They come for food and they get to vote on how to be charitable to others.”
Pastor, judge, activist, agitator: As he strives for justice, Wendell Griffen stretches the lexicon of adjectives
Wendell Griffen, 66, is all of these things. But his persona is so large, his reputation so loud, his “rightness” so locked in and eagerly defended, that the man’s depth can be lost in the shallows in which he must wade.
Racially diverse church occupies campus where Baptist pastor once proclaimed racist views
In one of life’s delicious little ironies, New Millennium Church now meets on the campus associated with one of Little Rock’s most ardent racists of the 1950s.
Photo Gallery: Wendell Griffen
View the photo gallery of Wendell Griffen.
At the center of Arkansas Delta’s fight against poverty and division: an 85-year-old swimming pool
Every June, that work culminates in the wildly-popular Swim Camp, where children and teenagers not only learn to swim but learn to pursue leadership through lifeguarding, volunteering and interning with Together For Hope.
Imagination is the greatest threat to Delta poverty, Together for Hope Arkansas says
With a precise focus on literacy and leadership development, Together For Hope continues to build children’s imaginations for what is possible beyond the limited view of poverty.