As Millennium Nears, Fear Likely To Increase Expect More Human Rights Abuses, Bill Wassmuth Predicts

Threats to human rights are likely to increase as the millennium approaches, a Northwest civil rights leader told an audience of about 200 on Wednesday.

Bill Wassmuth, executive director of the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment, said the coming of the year 2000 sparks panic, fear and confusion in some people.

Combining that with the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor can create a potentially explosive cocktail.

“It’s the basis of revolution, the basis for societal unrest,” Wassmuth said.

Wassmuth, a guest speaker at North Idaho College’s annual Popcorn Forum, told the crowd that extremist groups have seized on similar fears and dissatisfaction with government to spawn the Christian Patriot and militia movements.

Groups like the Militia of Montana and Hayden Lake’s Aryan Nations have gained strength in recent years by cloaking hate in more palatable anti-government rhetoric.

“They manage to continue their racism without saying they hate anybody,” Wassmuth.

The best way to fight back, Wassmuth said, is to combat fear and prejudice by “building bridges, building coalitions and expanding outside our own comfort zones.”

The former North Idaho resident, who now lives in Western Washington, even urged people to travel, if money and time allowed.

“I love Seattle and one of the reasons is there’s diversity there we don’t have here,” he said, adding that he liked stepping out onto First Avenue and hearing conversations in different languages.

Here, Wassmuth said, commissioners’ recent adoption of English as the official language of Kootenai County sends a message to minorities and immigrants that the region isn’t friendly to them.

But, he added, it doesn’t mean those who adopted the resolution are racist.

“You don’t have to have a racist intention to hurt feelings,” he said.

This weekend, Wassmuth’s organization and the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations will join forces with Coeur d’Alene business leaders to talk about ways to combat North Idaho’s racial problems.

The leadership gathering corresponds with business leader Duane Hagadone’s recent call for an “image summit” and the 10th anniversary of the Northwest Coalition.

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