Arkansas lawmaker, civil rights attorney John Walker dies

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — John Walker, an Arkansas lawmaker and civil rights attorney who represented black students in a long-running court fight over the desegregation of Little Rock area schools, has died. He was 82.

The Pulaski County coroner said Walker died at his Little Rock home Monday morning but the cause of death was not yet known. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Walker, a Democrat, had represented a Little Rock district in the state House since 2011. He had been involved in some of the state's most high-profile discrimination and civil rights cases, including the desegregation case, which stemmed from a 1982 lawsuit the Little Rock school district filed against the state and neighboring districts over racial disparities that remained decades after the 1957 integration of Central High School.

"What he did in this state made a difference for everyone in this state," state Sen. Joyce Elliott, chairwoman of the Legislative Black Caucus. "I don't think everyone will realize the full measure of that for quite some time."

Read more: http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/arkansas/story/2019/oct/28/arkansas-lawmaker-civil-rights-attorney-john-walker-dies/801724/