North Idaho Human Rights Leaders Refuse To Let Tales Of Racism Discourage Them

The fight against hatred and bigotry in North Idaho is an incremental battle in which progress is hard to measure.

Leaders in the fight met here Saturday to discuss some of the recent skirmishes, victories and losses, as well as future tactics.

Among the recent discouraging events:

The harassment of North Idaho College human rights student leader Josh Buehner, who was called a racial slur and spit on by an unknown assailant.

The “blanketing” of Post Falls with Aryan Nations hate literature last week.

A Christian Identity speaker who drew 60 people to the Aryan Nations compound last weekend to hear his message of white supremacy.

The spread of fliers through Boundary County attacking the area’s Spanish-speaking community.

The anonymous mailing of videos denying the Holocaust occurred to Boundary County educators.

The decision of a mixed-race couple to leave the Sandpoint area because they didn’t feel welcome.

But human rights leaders didn’t seem overly discouraged by the reports and aren’t about to surrender.

As adult leaders from Boundary, Bonner and Kootenai counties brainstormed in one room, Buehner led a discussion with high school students in the next room.

“From my point of view, networking is the most important thing,” said Grace Siler, a member of the Boundary County Human Rights Task Force.

Since her group started meeting, and getting together with school and community leaders, its presence is better known and they have more credibility, she said.

One of the biggest challenges they face, Siler and others agreed, is to overcome the denial that many well-meaning members of their communities practice.

“There is an accepted kind of racism in our community we have to face,” said Brenda Hammond of the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force. “I’m sure there are some people who wish the human rights folks would just shut up.”

Instead, Hammond and other human rights leaders in North Idaho keep beating the drum for tolerance, awareness and confronting hate.

They’ve brought in Holocaust survivors and other speakers, marched in parades, offered support to victims of malicious harassment, and nurtured high school human rights clubs.

“We try to take a pro-active role rather than just react to the negative things that happen,” Hammond said. “We’ve done a good job of giving people an opportunity to take a stand.”

, DataTimes