Little Rock, Arkansas, has long had a civil rights background, with legends of desegregation such as the Little Rock Nine forever etched in the memory of the United States.

As the education system in Arkansas once again draws the nation’s attention, I can’t help but think about the capital city’s onomatology.

The “Little Rock” is a survey marker, honoring its reputation as an indicator of the “lay of the land,” with a history dating back to the early 1800s. Even though the original landmark has eroded, it is still memorialized with a bronze plaque and recognized by the National Register of Historic Places.

That particular history is ironic, considering the Arkansas Education Department’s efforts to discredit an Advanced Placement African American Studies course, saying the class won’t count toward graduation. In true Little Rock fashion, six schools are moving ahead with the class in spite of the state board’s disapproval.

Where the physical Little Rock has worn down, the same cannot be said for the members of the Little Rock Nine, who are still fighting many years later. Elizabeth Eckford, a woman who is literally the picture of desegregation in Arkansas, gave a name to the lifelong specter of racism in her city and country. Recent events in Arkansas are part of age-old efforts to create a “boogeyman,” she told Essence magazine.

On Fox News, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said AP African American Studies pushes a “leftist agenda teaching our kids to hate America and hate one another.”

In that view, Ms. Eckford sees “attempts to erase history.” 

Attacks on critical race theory and classic folk songs of protest for racial equality, such as “Fables of Faubus,” are not mere foibles, but are reflections of systems that don’t value Black people or African history. At once, these regiments are the sediment in this country’s foundation, and the waves crashing against the little rocks of our fragile history. What looks like merely a temporary riptide to some is a timeless battleground for others – a challenge to see which ideas will erode first.