Idahoans Resolve To Fight Bigotry Batt Addresses Hundreds At Statehouse Celebration

Democracy is a dynamic thing and Americans cannot assume that racial equality has been achieved forever, said observers of Martin Luther King Jr.Human Rights Day in Idaho.

“The best difference we can make is to resolve that we will never let this wonderful nation to submit any of our people to humiliation or subjugation merely because of the color of their skin or their ethnicity or their religion,” Gov. Phil Batt on Monday told hundreds attending a celebration of the slain civil rights hero in the Statehouse.

Batt said he witnessed little bigotry in Idaho as he was growing up.

But when he served in World War II in Mississippi, he saw it firsthand.

Rep. Jesse Berain, R-Boise, a Hispanic lawmaker, said backing civil rights is even more important today with a resurgence of hate groups and the nation’s perception of Idaho as a haven for white separatists.

But an Idaho Citizens Alliance member said that until more is known about King’s personal life, Pocatello leaders should not name a city street after him.

Kurtis Olson said he will take his case to the City Council on Thursday when the panel decides about the street.

“There’s no need to rush into this,” said Olson, who said he was speaking for himself.

“They’ve only got one side of the story.”

The council last week heard from supporters of renaming a two-block portion of Terry Street for King.

Olson contacted the staff of U.S. Sen. Jessie Helms, R-N. Carolina, and received information on King’s political and personal life. Many federal files on King’s life have been sealed.

“The federal government already shoved on us a national holiday,” Olson said.

“Martin Luther King, his politics just left a lot to be desired.”

Olson said he is acting on his own part, not the alliance, which campaigned unsuccessfully for Idaho’s anti-gay proposition last year.

But Marvin McCall of the King committee in Pocatello said King’s critics have tried to smear the black pacifist’s credibility for years.

“It’s old news,” McCall said.

“All those things have been brought up by people who want to exaggerate and enhance and discredit Dr. King. They go at something that’s minuscule and unsubstantiated.”

xxxx