I ended up at Miss Laura's in Fort Smith became of neighboring Fort Chaffee. And I became aware of Chaffee because it was a place where the US had both resettled and imprisoned Cuban nationals who had come to the US as part of the Mariel boat lift in 1980.
Arkansas is a long way from the Florida shores where these folks' boats landed. The story of how this group of Cubans ended up here goes something like this: a few years earlier, in the mid-1970s, Chaffee had served as a resettlement location for Southeast Asian refugees from the US war in Vietnam. Many Vietnamese refugees did in fact resettle in the Fort Smith area, but resettling the Cubans, I was told repeatedly, was an entirely different experience. In short, 1980 was an election year (Carter v. Reagan) and the economy was in the tank. A mass migration by sea of over 125,000 people in a short window of time became another symbol of flagging US power. Moreover, the media portrayed these Cubans as entirely different than the freedom lovers fleeing communist oppression. Castro had let some people out of prison, along with others whom the US also considered as "undesirables."
Riots by Cubans at Chaffee in 1981, protests outside the facility by the Klan, and broader public disapproval spelled doom for Governor Bill Clinton re-election bid. He lost his position, and the crisis also contributed to Carter's weak-kneed image that Reagan promised to fix. And incoming President Reagan promised the new Arkansas governor to take care of the situation and close the facility. (And the rest of that story is part of a book I'm writing with Alison Mountz.)
Arkansas is a long way from the Florida shores where these folks' boats landed. The story of how this group of Cubans ended up here goes something like this: a few years earlier, in the mid-1970s, Chaffee had served as a resettlement location for Southeast Asian refugees from the US war in Vietnam. Many Vietnamese refugees did in fact resettle in the Fort Smith area, but resettling the Cubans, I was told repeatedly, was an entirely different experience. In short, 1980 was an election year (Carter v. Reagan) and the economy was in the tank. A mass migration by sea of over 125,000 people in a short window of time became another symbol of flagging US power. Moreover, the media portrayed these Cubans as entirely different than the freedom lovers fleeing communist oppression. Castro had let some people out of prison, along with others whom the US also considered as "undesirables."
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| Klan prostesting outside Fort Chaffee |
Riots by Cubans at Chaffee in 1981, protests outside the facility by the Klan, and broader public disapproval spelled doom for Governor Bill Clinton re-election bid. He lost his position, and the crisis also contributed to Carter's weak-kneed image that Reagan promised to fix. And incoming President Reagan promised the new Arkansas governor to take care of the situation and close the facility. (And the rest of that story is part of a book I'm writing with Alison Mountz.)
As with other ‘processing’ and detention facilities used at the time (and still now), Chaffee was an old World War II military base. The stone portico that still serves as an entrance has the look of the Works Progress Administration facilities then being constructed. Unfortunately, the barracks where most refugees (and later Hurricane Katrina evacuees) were housed burned a few years ago, and now the land's been graded for development.
The hospital compound also burned down, so the few historic structures remaining and open to the public include the barbershop where Elvis got his induction haircut (!!), and which chronicles the history of the base, and the building that was turned into a stockade for troublesome Cuban detainees.
That building now is used as a haunted prison for Halloween -- enough said.
The hospital compound also burned down, so the few historic structures remaining and open to the public include the barbershop where Elvis got his induction haircut (!!), and which chronicles the history of the base, and the building that was turned into a stockade for troublesome Cuban detainees.
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