In small towns across America — places like Harrison, Arkansas — we depend on neighbors willing to serve. These people volunteer their time on city councils, school boards, planning commissions, and yes, as mayors. They don’t do it for fame or fortune. They do it out of commitment to their communities. Lately, however, a troubling trend has emerged — one threatening small-town leadership’s very heart.
I’m talking about the steady drumbeat of online attacks, misinformation, and personal smears aimed squarely at those who serve. It’s happening in Harrison, and it’s happening in towns just like ours across the country.
Let me be clear: criticism comes with public service. That’s fair, and it’s part of the job. But what’s happening now isn’t fair. We’re seeing a small but loud group of individuals using social media to attack, not just decisions, but public servants' character, families, and reputations. And they do so under the broad misinterpretation of “free speech,” as though the Constitution is a permission slip to lie, slander, or vilify without consequence.
It’s not.
The First Amendment protects speech from government censorship. It doesn’t protect falsehoods from being challenged or outrageous attacks from being called out for what they are: destructive, toxic, and wrong.
Here’s the reality: if we allow these voices — often unaccountable, often anonymous, and usually completely misinformed — to dominate the conversation, good people will stop stepping forward. And if our community's decent, balanced, thoughtful members walk away, guess who’s left? The very people doing the attacking. That’s a recipe for chaos.
I know firsthand the toll it takes. As mayor, I’ve seen the baseless accusations, the twisted half-truths, and the keyboard cowards who tear down what others work hard to build. And I’ve been expected — like all public servants — to take it on the chin, be the “bigger person,” and respond calmly.
But I’ve come to believe that silence is not professionalism. It’s surrender.
We must call out this behavior for what it is. It is not civic engagement, patriotism, healthy dissent, harassment, or slander. It’s poisoning the well of small-town leadership.
If we want better leaders, we need to start being better to the leaders we have. That begins with honest conversations, civil disagreement, and mutual respect. It means holding people accountable for the tone and truth of their words, not just in office but online and in our neighborhoods.
Harrison, like many small towns, has so much potential. But we will never reach it if we allow a few loud, destructive voices to drown out the many quiet, hardworking ones. Let’s not wait until it’s too late — until there’s no one left willing to serve.
Let’s take our town back — not just in policy or progress — but in decency.
Mayor Jerry Jackson
Jerry Jackson moved to the community in 1980 and was voted Mayor in 2018. He ran and won re-election in 2022. Email info@harrisonar.gov to contact the mayor’s office.