In October 2000, Charles Edward Beckham III, the Republican candidate for Arkansas State Senate District 12, was a Senior at the Mississippi School of Math and Science (MSMS) when he committed an act that his former classmates have called “shocking” and “horrifying.”
Beckham and two of his classmates marched into the girls’ dorm at MSMS wearing what appeared to be Klu Klux Klan robes and hoods and interacted with other students while wearing the KKK attire during a school sponsored Halloween event, according to initial reporting by the Arkansas Times and a subsequent confirmation of the story by an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette investigation.
The Arkansas Times spoke to five of Beckham’s former classmates who said Beckham had worn the KKK regalia. The Times’ initial story says Beckham declined to comment; however, in a statement issued to the Democrat-Gazette, Beckham denied the allegations of his classmates.
“First of all, I unequivocally denounce the KKK and any like minded hate group,” Beckham is quoted as writing in an email to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “It is sad that the Democrats will do anything and say anything to try to win. The accusations that have been made about me are not only baseless and false, but disgusting.”
The Democrat-Gazette subsequently investigated Beckham’s school career further, and went on to publish court records confirming the incident, including an appeal to Beckham’s dismissal from MSMS filed by his family.
Student testimonies in the records stated that some students were so upset, “it resulted in students crying, shaking and even fearing for their safety.” Beckham continued to claim that the allegations were “baseless and false,” according to the Democrat-Gazette, but conceded to having made “mistakes” as a teenager.
“I do sincerely apologize for any angst or grievances that I have caused anyone as a minor, as that is not the man that I am today,” Beckham is quoted in the Democrat-Gazette as saying. “I continue to unequivocally denounce the KKK and any like minded hate groups and the rumors that I am or have ever been part of the KKK are absolutely ridiculous. I am a Christian, a husband to my loving wife of 8 years as well as a father of two and am proud of the life that we have built in McNeil, Arkansas.”
Several of Beckham’s classmates shared their recollections of attending school with him, including their memories of the KKK robes incident, with the Banner News.
‘It would be an insult to the school and the people who attended that school to say it was just a childish mistake’
“I remember being stuck, just in shock. Fight or flight came in and I remember going back to the dorm and just crying. I think I was just petrified,” said Victoria Crocket Brown. “I was a little black girl from Mississippi. We know that the Klan is something that is supposed to strike fear and terrify.”
Brown, a Black woman now living in Virginia, was a junior at the time of the Halloween incident. She stated that she didn’t want to continue with Halloween celebrations after she saw Beckham and his two friends in the Klan attire.
“He saw it (the allegations) as a bald-faced lie. He immediately said it was untruthful and baseless. That was his initial reaction. Which means that an event of him dressing up as a prank, as a gag or for humor as the Klu Klux Klan was either something so familiar to him it could so easily leave his mind that it happened or it was something that he was so aware and so much of a memory for him, he decided to blatantly lie about it. Either one of those isn’t a good one,” said Brown.
“He looked like he was trying to intimidate people,” said Eric Seymour, another classmate of Beckham’s. “He was a bit of a bully; it was not surprising to me that he was displaying that kind of behavior because he was always kind of mean to me.”
Seymour, a white man now living in Washington State, was a senior at the time when the incident occurred. Seymour said his sexuality was under attack by Beckham during high school; he remembered being called a homophobic slur by Beckham and said the candidate bullied him until his expulsion from MSMS.
“When given the opportunity, he denied it and attacked the students who spoke up. It really speaks to his character. If you want to make the argument that 20 years ago this was something he did foolishly — he clearly hasn’t learned anything from it and is acting pretty unethically by trying to deny it when there is clear proof,” said Seymour.
“It was very well known that he was the big racist on campus,” said Safira McGrew. “I remember when I set foot on campus as a junior in August, the seniors were telling us to stay away from this dude named Bubba. He had the big truck with the Confederate flags all over it, he dressed in jeans and cowboy boots every day with his baseball cap (and) he had Confederate flags in his window that you had to walk past every time you walked to the boy’s dorm and he refused to pull them down.”
McGrew, a Black woman now living in California, said that she was getting ready to go Trick-or-Treating, waiting in the lobby for the rest of her friends and a student came to the door saying that Klan members were coming. She and her friends ran away from the dorm and stopped in front of the boy’s dorm to console each other, she said.
“People saw him in the hood and told him not to wear it but he did it anyway. That was not a childish mistake,” said McGrew. “I saw Mississippi burning when I was little. Everybody knew the significance of what those ‘costumes’ were. He knew what he was doing.”
“It’s a little hard to talk about, and I’m white. I was afraid,” said Megan Jourdan. “There was no denying the violence and intimidation. I remember students crying and when I saw his face, I started trembling.”
Jourdan, a white woman now living in Washington State, said that the incident was traumatizing but it was not out of line with Beckham’s typical behavior. She said the KKK robes were not an isolated incident from Beckham, alleging that he would call Seymour a slur, a friend of hers a “Jew” and an Indian student a “sand n-word.”
“It was a pattern of behavior and it was one he never apologized for and denied,” said Jourdan. “There is a history of violence to black people in Mississippi. His family appears to have been somewhat supportive of him by suing the school district for it. That’s the reality. As a lawmaker, you are held to a higher bar. You are expected to keep people safe and to lead with peace and love. I don’t see him fit for leading in a position of power for making fair decisions that keep their constituents safe.”
“I remember that some of the friends that I was with ran. Some of my African American friends were crying and shaking from the situation,” said Jennifer Jackson. “It was kind of a surreal moment. You don’t expect to see that. Naturally, it was a very scary situation.”
Jackson, a white woman living in Mississippi who was junior at the time of the incident, said that she would describe Beckham as a bully. She stated that he was constantly in trouble, with two-level three violations before the incident occurred. She said she remembered while in school, there was an incident where he had chased a female student with a cattle prod in an attempt to scare her.
“If he had indeed changed, there would have been some remorse. He blatantly denied it until there was evidence proving that we’re telling the truth about the situation,” said Jackson, “I understand we have all made mistakes as a child, but if he had truly grown as a person, he would not have had a problem admitting that the incident had happened. It was a big event and he and his family fought hard for him not to be dismissed from the school.”
“Suddenly, him and two other guys rounded the corner in the KKK outfits and everybody was yelling at them,” said Bazile Lanneau. “Everybody was (mad) and tried to shoo them away from going down that wing of the dorm.”
Lanneau, a white man now living in California, was in the same grade as Beckham when the incident occurred. Lanneau said that the outfits did not appear to be haphazardly thrown together and that there was zero ambiguity in what Beckham and his friends were trying to represent. He went on to say that nobody expected that specific thing to happen, but once the hoods were off and it was obvious who the students were, he was not surprised.
“A senior in high school is not a child. It is not at all remotely plausible to say that any of us would not have understood the harmful impact that doing something like that would have on your classmates,” said Lanneau. “Certainly, I get that racism is taught; but the fact is that when we called out what he did, he denied that it happened. He called us liars. I think he has demonstrated that he has not changed and there is no reason to think he a person of character
“As a Black person, (Beckham) was somebody to stay away from,” said Alana Nichols. “These looked like authentic gowns. I remember seeing a red emblem on the front, a pointed hat and white robes. He marched past us, didn’t speak to any of us, and marched directly into the girl’s dorm. We didn’t know who it was initially, but after we found out who it was, it wasn’t a surprise.”
Nichols, a Black woman now living in Alabama, was a junior at the time of the incident. She stated that she began school at MSMS only a couple of months before the incident occurred and was warned by other students about Beckham’s behavior and to stay away from “Bubba” and his crew.
“None of us are currently in Arkansas, none of us have a foot in this race,” said Nichols. “We tried to get him to hold himself accountable. We posted on his campaign specifics about this, but as soon as those comments popped up he would delete them and block who sent them. There was zero accountability. (He) just flat out lied and tried to undermine the accounts of five people who said what happened and now (he) is in the double digits.”
“Several of the girls came running down the hallway, and they were like ‘buddy, buddy you need to see this, you need to do something about this,’” said Derick Sterling. “They (Beckham and one friend) were standing there with these big smiles on their face. (Beckham) had his arms out like, ‘what’s up Buddy!’”
Sterling, a Black man now living in Georgia, was a senior who had spent time around Beckham. Sterling said he would not have considered himself good friends with Beckham, but he was sociable with him. The two had classes together and took trips off campus together in Beckham’s truck. Sterling said that when he saw Beckham in the outfit, he was completely blown away and felt that it was insulting that Beckham felt comfortable wearing the robes in front of him.
“MSMS (had) the top ten if not the top five percent of intelligent students in the state of Mississippi. Our courses were equivalent to college courses and we studied under professors with doctorates in multiple disciplines. We excelled academically,” said Sterling. “It would be an insult to the quality of education and students there to say that we were childish. The amount of competition and the rigor of our curriculum, a childish person couldn’t survive, and he survived his junior year and part of his senior year. It would be an insult to the school and the people who attended that school to say it was just a childish mistake.”
“The image I remember the most is seeing a Black classmate, who I believe was friendly with at least one of these three boys (Beckham and his friends), with just a look of betrayal and pain on his face,” said Brownen Haskel. “That’s what really stuck out to me, was just how hurt he looked.”
Haskel, a white woman now living in New York, was a junior at the time of the incident. She said that Beckham was a bully and was very vocal about his southern Confederate pride and that he and his girlfriends seemed to treat it as part of their identity. Despite all of this, Haskel stated that it was still shocking to see Beckham and his friends in the KKK robes. She said she would not have expected anyone to do that.
“There are steps that have to be taken to show that you have grown and learned from the stupid thing that you did and Mr. Beckham has clearly not grown at all,” said Haskel, “He is just completely unfit to represent people in an elected office. As far as I can tell, he is behaving exactly the same way he did when I knew him. His apology is pro-forma and he doesn’t mean it.”
“We saw Bubba and two others marching in a procession straight into the dorms, very determined. It was horrifying, I couldn’t believe someone would dress in KKK robes,” said Courtney Foley.
Foley, a white woman now living in Washington D.C., was in the same grade as Beckham when the incident occurred. She said that Beckham’s interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette showed that he was a liar and that he backpedaled when the records proved his denial false. She also spoke about how this has come at a time of racial injustice in the United States that needs to be addressed.
“He should apologize for his behavior and drop out of the race. He needs to be a candidate for everyone and not just the far right,” said Foley. “His initial reaction was to deny it. You need someone who is going to be honest and tell the truth. If he’s not going to be honest with his future constituents - I just don’t know how in confidence you can support someone like that.”
The Banner News reached out to Beckham and his campaign for comment; a spokesperson for his campaign said that Beckham has “made all the statements he will on that incident from 20 years ago already.”