November 19, 2009 in Idaho

Swastika pasted on CdA human rights center

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A swastika was found on the front door of the Human Rights Education Institute in Coeur d’Alene on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009.
(Full-size photo)

Employees of the Human Rights Education Institute in Coeur d’Alene arrived at work this morning to discover a swastika sticker on the front door.

Director of Operations Donna Cork took a photo of the two-inch-by-three-inch decal, then called the Coeur d’Alene Police Department, which is investigating the matter under Idaho’s malicious harassment law. The 1983 law makes it a felony to intimidate another person based on race, color, religion, ancestry or national origin.

The intimidation includes defacing property, which is defined in part as “the placing of any word or symbol commonly associated with racial, religious or ethnic terrorism on the property of another person without his or her permission.”

“It’s a felony,” said Tony Stewart of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, which has battled the white supremacy movement in North Idaho for 30 years.

Stewart said police collected evidence this morning at the institute. “We could get lucky and get fingerprints,” he said. “This is not a misdemeanor. We’ve had really good success over the years with the police and the prosecutors.”

The institute’s education director, Rachel Dolezal, locked up the building, located at 414½ Mullan Ave., around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Cork arrived around 8:30 a.m. today to open the doors and saw the sticker.

“I thought, ‘Oh, that’s a great way to start my day,’” Cork said, adding “then you get the heart clench.”

Dolezal said the sticker conveys a threat. “It’s a psychological form of violence,” she said.

The institute will turn over to police any evidence gathered on its surveillance camera, which is aimed at the lobby and front door, Cork and Dolezal said. “With the landscaping lights (outside), I would think there’s a possibility you could tell if it’s one or more people,” Dolezal said.

Sgt. Christie Wood of the Coeur d’Alene Police Department said officers will take fingerprints and search the premises for evidence.

“There’s also video surveillance and we’ll review that,” Wood said.

Four comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  rpmarp on November 19 at 1:48 p.m.

  Sorry, but that sticker is definitely not square.

• 

  Fixer on November 19 at 2:20 p.m.

  I’m surprised that the individual who put it there was even smart enough to work a sticker in the first place.

• 

  Shylock13 on November 19 at 4:10 p.m.

  Yet another “hate crime”! People who commit such flagrant violations by using the Nazi symbol and colors should be incarcerated and required to view the film “Night and Fog,” and read “The Diary of Anne Frank” and Elie Wiesel’s book “Night.” Then they should remain incarcerated until they can pass a combination multiple choice/true-false/identification of persons and quotations/and essay exam!

  When I was teaching at the college level (about forty years), I devised a self-scored test for each class of students. The first batch of questions asked them to put down: either an “X” if they were white, Protestant or Jewish, conservative, homosexual, had blond or white hair, had brown or hazel eyes, were taller than 6’, believed they were overweight, wore glasses or contact lenses, were over twenty-one, and were female, or a “Z” if they were non-white, Catholic-Islamic-or other religion (not Protestant or Jewish), liberal, heterosexual, had brown or red hair, had blue or gray eyes, were under 6’, believe they were not overweight, did not wear glasses or contacts, were under twenty-one, and were male. I then asked that all of them who had written down all “X”s raise their hands. I next asked all who had written down all “Z”s to raise their hands. In forty years and several thousand students, not a single one ever raised a hand!

  Then I gave them another self-scored quiz. I asked them to use an “X” if they would feel pain if they were stabbed, and a “Z” if they would not feel pain. The pattern was then “X” if “yes” and “Z” if no.
  The quiz then asked if they would feel sorrow at the death of a family member, sorrow at the death of a friend, pity for someone suffering, hatred for someone who abused children, fear in very traumatic circumstances, modest pride in solving a particularly difficult problem, love for a family member, love for a friend, love for a pet, and if they were capable of feeling romantic love for someone. When I asked them to raise their hands if they had all “X”s, everyone did.

  I then led a discussion about why their first answers were so variable, and their lat answers so consistent.

  Nearly all students came to realize themselves that it is not the differences among people that are important, but rather the similarities.

  Finally, this incident should, I hope, get the Spokane Mayor and City Council to form the Human Rights Commission.

• 

  majorpain on November 21 at 9:21 p.m.

  William,

  Have you ever lived as a minority? As in, a white kid in an all Black neighborhood? Or Hispanic neighborhood? Or as a white adult in a “minority’ neighborhood for that matter?

  You see William I grew up poor, my Mother was Icelandic and she had what she called “wander lust” as a result we moved a lot. Maybe if we would have stayed in one place our economic status would have improved, or if my Mother wasn’t an alcoholic, who knows. The point being as a result we usually were the only white family in “minority” neighborhoods.

  To say the least I endured constant racial slurs and usually every week I would have to defend myself from physical violence. On the occasion when we would live in poor White neighborhoods I noticed that the “minorities” Blacks or Hispanics were treated MUCH differently. They were included in social activities and befriended. Of course you would always have the racist idiots too, but nothing what I endured by far.

  The books you recommend are an example of white racism, you may want to include studies of the “black Panther Party” or “the Nation of Islam” or the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, or even the current genocide in Darfur. Or race hustlers like the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al sharpton and be sure to include any and all educational brainwashing in Universities through out this Nation, implying that racism is a white phenomenon.

  You contend that Spokane needs a human rights council as the one in Northern Idaho. I would whole heartily agree with you, if and only if it was a balanced look at racism in the country and abroad. If it would show that racism is a condition of the human heart regardless of “race”