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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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History of Hate

Racist vandalism and literature continue to crop up in the Inland Northwest nearly a decade after the bankruptcy of the Aryan Nations in North Idaho and the death of its founder, Richard Butler. Beyond the hate, however, the region has its share of stories about groups and individuals who have stood up against racism, such as Tony Stewart and the founding of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. Read more about the issues here.

News >  Crime/Public Safety

Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office won’t retry Black man whose convictions prompted charge of racism by appellate judge

Deputy Prosecutor Preston McCollam filed paperwork with the Washington Court of Appeals on Friday requesting the existing resisting arrest charges be dropped against Darnai Vaile. The majority opinion issued May 11 by a three-member panel of the Court of Appeals found that the judge and prosecutors had denied Vaile's right to defend himself by not playing for the jury audio of his arrest outside a Spokane Valley bar in August 2019. 
News >  Crime/Public Safety

Black man’s resisting arrest conviction overturned by Court of Appeals; judge says case is indicative of racism in Spokane County

The unpublished, 80-page opinion handed down by a three-judge panel of the Division III Court of Appeals vacates the conviction of Darnai L. Vaile, now 26. In statements Thursday, both the current and former sheriffs of Spokane County called the charges of racial bigotry inappropriate, inaccurate and disrespectful to law enforcement and women who are victims of assault.
News >  Religion

For years, she never told anyone her husband was an Aryan Nations leader. Now, her posthumous book explains why she stayed

In “Torn: Married to a White Supremacist,” Chris Eddy writes about how her husband moved their family from California to North Idaho and eventually became the spokesperson for Richard Butler’s neo-Nazi church. She writes about how her Catholic faith kept her loyal to her husband, and how she was able to separate the man she loved from his beliefs, which she despised.
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News >  Idaho

After prodding from Otter and reminder of Idaho’s experience, Labrador breaks silence, condemns racist violence

Gov. Butch Otter recalled Idaho’s experience with neo-Nazi white supremacists, when the Aryan Nations was headquartered in North Idaho–and called on Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador, who had remained mum for 3 days, to join the other three members of Idaho’s congressional delegation in denouncing white supremacist violence. Tuesday evening, Labrador did...
News >  Idaho

Nampa man pleads innocent to federal hate crime charge in killing of gay man

An Idaho man charged with a federal hate crime in the beating death of a gay man has pleaded not guilty in Boise's U.S. District Court on Tuesday. A March trial was set for 23-year-old Kelly Schneider, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in state court Monday. He was indicted earlier this month on the hate crime charge...
News >  Idaho

Idaho man charged with federal hate crime in fatal beating

A southwestern Idaho man has been charged with a federal hate crime after prosecutors said he lured a gay man to a remote location and then badly beat him, causing the man's death. Twenty-three-year-old Kelly Schneider of Nampa was indicted by a grand jury earlier this month, but the case was kept under seal until he was taken into federal...
News >  Idaho

Confronting hate 1 stroke at a time

In his column today, Shawn Vestal/SR comments on the racist graffiti spray-painted on the side of the Spokane children's center named for Marting Luther King Jr.
News >  Idaho

Redoubter blames media for image

Steve Cameron of the Coeur d'Alene Press interviewed two white Christian veterans re: the controversial American Redoubt movement. Ex-Californian Don Bradway, a local GOP precinct committeeman who was quoted extensively in a Washington Post article about Redoubters, says his cause has no connection to the former Aryan Nations.
News >  Idaho

Aryan ghost haunts us still

A Press writer opines that Cda is still tainted with an Aryan brush. Agree or disagree? Cindy "...people who have never set foot in North Idaho seem to think we’ve all retreated to bunkers with our racist pals, waiting for war — or the Apocalypse, or collapse of the government, or “progressive traitors” trying to repeal the Second Amendment."
Sports >  Outdoors

North Cascades lake renamed to avoid racist term

GEOGRAPHIC NAMES – The federal government has renamed a lake and a creek in north-central Washington to honor an African American miner who staked claims in the area 125 years ago, the Associated Press reports. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names approved the name...
News >  Spokane

Harpham loses latest appeal

Kevin William Harpham, the man who planted a bomb laced with rat poison along the parade route on Martin Luther King Day in 2011, has lost his most recent appeal of a 32-year prison sentence.
News >  Idaho

Spokane NAACP asks police to continue hate mail investigation

The Spokane chapter of the NAACP released a statement today asking the Spokane Police Department to continue its investigation into allegations of hate mail sent to the chapter. Police announced last week that they were suspending an investigation into a claim made by former president Rachel Dolezal that she received a package of threatening material in the chapter’s post office box. Documents released by police last week showed that the envelope was not stamped and had not been mailed.
News >  Idaho

The second “War Pigs” letter sent to Dolezal was an apology, not a threat

Much of the recent news about local NAACP President Rachel Dolezal was sparked by the news that a letter allegedly dropped in the NAACP's P.O. box had no postal date stamp or barcode, raising questions about whether the letter had been delivered to the P.O. box at all. Forensics did reveal some unidentifiable male DNA on the letter, but as of yesterday, the Spokane police suspended the case pending further investigation.
Crime

Hate crime alleged in attack on gay teen

Two teenage boys are accused of damaging a Spokane Valley teenager's property because he is gay. Andrey A. Babakov, 17; and Svitoslav A. Liashedko, 16; pleaded not guilty Monday to first-degree burglary, second-degree theft and malicious harassment - a hate crime - for an alleged...