In 2015 , five months before the Charleston church shooting in South Carolina , Duda spearheaded an effort to abolish Robert E. Lee Day as a state holiday in Arkansas , celebrated on Martin Luther King Jr . Day , the national holiday , by lobbying lawmakers and speaking to the media . " I think having Lee day on MLK day is just a jeer to the memory of the man who fought for equality , " Duda told lawmakers . After two separate bills were drafted to end the confederate holiday , the proposed law failed four times to make it out of the Republican controlled committee . At the time , Arkansas was one of only three states ( along with Alabama and Mississippi ) that celebrated a Lee-King holiday
Charleston church shooting
Charleston church shooting
Kelly Duda