Zinc (US-AR)
_a.jpg)
Zinc is a town near the east-central edge of Boone County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 103 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Harrison Micropolitan Statistical Area. A chapter of the Ku Klux Klan operates a training and information center in Zinc.
Zinc mining in the area gave the town its name. Zinc and lead mining began in the 1890s and peaked during World War I (1914-1918). A post office was established in Zinc in 1900 and the town was incorporated in 1904.
The town had a number of business establishments and a school in the 1920s, but a flood in 1927 caused damage to homes and businesses. Zinc's population was 188 in 1930 and declined thereafter. The last store closed in Zinc in the late 1960s and the post office closed in 1975.
Zinc, in the 21st century, became the headquarters of a chapter of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), classified as a hate group by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center The "Christian Revival Center" near Zinc belongs to a preacher who is also the leader of the Knights of the KKK. The center hosts events connected with the KKK, including in 2013 a "Klan Kamp" called the "Soldiers of the Cross Training Institute" to instill "the tools to become actively involved" in the "struggle for our racial redemption"
Other activities of the KKK near Zinc include the erection of signs along highways with messages such as "Diversity is a code for #whitegenocide".
