Spokane7
30°
A day of demonstrations has begun on this Martin Luther King Jr./Idaho Human Rights Day, as an array of social-justice groups released “Facing Race, 2009 Legislative Progress Report on Racial Equity” at a rally on the east steps of the Capitol. The groups, the ACLU of Idaho, the Applied Research Center, Idaho Community Action Network, Idaho Human Rights Education Center, Idaho Women’s Network, the Interfaith Alliance of Idaho, and the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations, contend that state lawmakers could do more to promote equity and racial justice in their policy-making.
At the groups’ rally, a crowd of about 75, including many teens, held signs with slogans including “Opportunity for All,” “Unequal Race has *No* Place in Idaho,” and “One Voice, Multiple Colors.” Amy Herzfeld of the Idaho Human Rights Education Center told the group, “Idaho’s elected officials may not intend to perpetuate institutional discrimination,” but she said that’s been the result of the state’s decisions. The groups cited the defeat of legislation to allow school districts to offer pre-kindergarten, which they said is disproportionately unavailable to children of color; the defeat of a bill to expunge criminal records of innocent people; and the enactment of legislation last year to cut funding for the Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs, among other pieces of legislation last year. This year, Gov. Butch Otter is proposing eliminating state funding for that commission, along with the Idaho Human Rights Commission, the Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and several others in a four-year phase-out.
While they rallied, a few older people holding a bright-green sign saying “No Govt Health Care” showed up, then turned back and went back around to the front of the state Capitol. They were headed for the “Tea Party Convergence on the Capitol” rally, scheduled to start at 11 a.m. with a decidedly different agenda. Also set for today are the state’s official Martin Luther King Jr./Idaho Human Rights ceremony at noon in the second-floor rotunda; and the annual BSU civil rights march, which will rally at 11:30 at Boise City Hall, while the Capitol’s south steps are taken up by the Tea Party group.
999 W. Riverside, Spokane, WA 99201
P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210
Main switchboard: (509) 459-5000 • (800) 338-8801
Newsroom: (509) 459-5400 • (800) 789-0029
Customer service: (800) 338-8801
© Copyright 2012, The Spokesman-Review
Terms of use • Privacy policy • Copyright policy
fortboise on January 18 at 4:39 p.m.
“…a few older people holding a bright-green sign saying ‘No Govt Health Care’ showed up…”
What do you mean by “older”? (That category keeps moving away from me. :-) Older than the participants of the human rights rally, older than you, old enough to be on Medicare?
Anyone in the latter group holding a bright green sign is a bright red herring, unless they’ve opted out of Medicare and are lobbying for its elimination.
I’m guessing a good portion of the 55-65 cohort were sorry that the idea of extending the existing program down to include them didn’t go anywhere. For others, I’d love to hear what they’d like to have happen when they turn 65 different from what’s planned now.
juice000 on January 25 at 5:53 p.m.
Seriously. This expungement law in Idaho is nutty. I was driving through Idaho about 10 years ago and was pulled over. The officer said my eyes look funny. I have a medical condition where I have larger pupils than most and higher light sensitivity. Anyhow it’s not like I’m a freak and I look like any normal individual. He decided to charge me with DUI and he made me take a urinalysis and Alcohol breath test. I blew 0.0 and my drug test came back negative for everything. So the Prosecutor dismissed the case as it should be. Now everytime I have a job background check they ask me about this dismissal of DUI that shows on my record. Do I still get the job, yes. But can you imagine this being a way to start out a job being questioned about things like this. Idaho’s expungement law is cruel and this needs to be changed. How can it be voted down. What is wrong with people?