An evening to remember

Sallisaw resident recalls ‘inspiring’ conversation with Hillary Clinton

Dr. Paula Haraway’s 61st birthday present is not one she will soon forget.

The gift from her best friend, Teresa Caves, for her Oct. 31 birthday was tickets to last week’s “We the People: The Radical Notion of Democracy” discussion series at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which included a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to view one of only 11 known original prints of the U.S. Constitution.

But for Haraway, the trip to the Bentonville, Ark., museum was like an episode of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” only without the pretension and ostentatiousness usually associated with Robin Leach’s over-the-top series featuring extravagant lifestyles few can imagine.

As one of an estimated 600 who attended the sold-out evening event, a woman whom Haraway thought looked suspiciously familiar struck up a conversation with the Sallisaw veterinarian. The friendly, unassuming woman who was hardly more than a face in the crowd was Alice Walton, heiress to the Walmart fortune, the second richest woman in the world and the 19th richest person overall.

That more than adequately took care of the rich part.

Then Haraway found herself enthralled by what felt like an intimate conversation between a couple of friends. Although the verbal exchange commanded the crowd’s rapt attention, Haraway admitted “they made you feel like you were just sitting in a conversation.”

Then Haraway, disarmed by the ease

Former Secretary of State, U.S. Senator and First Lady Hillary Clinton talks with moderator Dr. Angie Maxwell during the “We the People: The Radical Notion of Democracy” discussion series at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark.

and relaxed demeanor of the person she’s admired her entire life, noted with reverence, “It feels like she’s one of us. I love to hear her speak.”

Enter the famous: former Secretary of State, U.S. Senator and First Lady Hillary Clinton.

“It was amazing. We had the best time,” Haraway assessed.

“I’ve been a follower of the Clintons since I was little, because I grew up in Little Rock. I was really looking forward to it, really excited about it, the opportunity to see Hillary speaking in person,” Haraway said. “My history with [the Clintons] goes way back. The first campaign I ever remember working on was Bill’s attorney general race [1976] before he ran for governor. So I’ve had a long connection with them.

“We have seen her at other events. We’ve run into her kind of at random places, like the Presidents Day parade. One year we were in New York City, and when she was a senator, she was marching in the parade, and we saw her in that,” Haraway recalled. “And I’ve seen her in other things in Arkansas over the years when I was younger. We were at things with them, I just never got to personally meet her. But it’s the first time I’ve seen her speak live.”

While witnessing a conversation with Clinton was the clincher, the museum setting and the evening’s topic were a natural draw for Haraway.

“Of course, the Crystal Bridges facility is so amazing, I’ve been several times. The ‘We the People: The Radical Notion of Democracy’ series, we are really interested in that. “I hate it that we’re going to miss Liz Cheney (Dec. 19), but those tickets were already gone,” she said with disappointment.

“It was amazing. It seemed like a very close-knit group of people, and how all those people are connected. It was a diverse group. I’m sure there were a lot of people there that I didn’t recognize that had run for different offices,” Haraway said, noting that Arkansas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Jones was one of the attendees she recognized, and had her picture taken with him.

“It was very much my interest — the current threats to our democracy and what’s going on. She touched on everything — politically and some private things — so it was kind of a nice spectrum of just feeling like you’re sitting somewhere with her just talking. There was a lot of humor, trying to maybe make light of some of the really tragic things that are going on. The election threats that are currently happening — that was a big part of her topic — overturning Roe v. Wade, the threat of all the disinformation in our society and how it spreads so fast. She kind of touched on everything like that. It was really just an experience,” Haraway explained, reliving the evening’s highlights.

“It was encouraging because you listen to the news and there’s so much negative, it brings up a big level of anxiety to me to listen to all that’s going on and worrying about it. And then to listen to somebody speak like her — on the inside she knows so much — and for her to be hopeful and positive, optimistic, it’s encouraging, inspiring,” she said of the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.

Haraway said Clinton’s message was one everyone needs to hear, regardless of political affiliation.

“She never said the year [it was 2006], but when she was a senator, the Voting Rights Act was unanimously approved. And now, you don’t see that. The most obvious thing ever, and it’s so partisan. It’s not that far back that everybody was in agreement about these certain things,” Haraway said.

“There were some more, definitely, some left-leaning things. In general, because of what the series is about, there was a lot of it just protecting our democracy, which shouldn’t be political. It should just be what everybody wants,” Haraway opined.

Dr. Angie Maxwell, director of the Diane Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society at the University of Arkansas and author of several books, moderated the evening. And while the conversation between Clinton and Maxwell was crafted to examine how the U.S. Constitution and other foundational documents shape our lives, with a special focus on their impact on Arkansas and the South, Haraway said the message should resonate with Oklahomans, too.

“The questions were incredible. It was so enlightening and so inspiring.”

Although the evening was a far-reaching exploration of societal, cultural and political challenges that impact American democracy, Maxwell asked Clinton the question that was on everyone’s mind: Will democracy survive?

“Absolutely, yes,” Clinton proclaimed, but tempered her response with the admission that the impact of disinformation on our democracy is worrisome. “If you live in a world of disinformation and you have no idea who to believe and who to trust, by definition, a democracy can’t work.”

While Haraway’s connection to the Clintons can be traced back to the 1970s, she still proudly claims a continued association.

“My daughter is doing her masters at the Clinton School of Public Service right now, so we’ll be down at the Clinton School when she graduates in May,” Haraway said of Katie Napier, who owns Oasis Coffee House in downtown Sallisaw.

Haraway remains active on the Sequoyah County political scene — “I’m pretty sure most people know my [political] opinions around here,” she said with a laugh — and is spurred by a fading black-and-white photo she has taped to a door in the back of her van. The photo is of her younger sister Jacquelyn when she was valedictorian of her high school class, along with their mother (who celebrates here 90th birthday this week) posing with the Clintons when Bill was governor of Arkansas.

Envious of the brief proximity by her sister and mother to Bill and Hillary, Haraway asks rhetorically, “Why couldn’t that have been me?”

C’est la vie, Paula. Or as Robin Leach bade his “Lifestyles” viewers: Champagne wishes and caviar dreams.