Malicious Attacks Invariably Backfire

Whoever firebombed Lori Graves’ home and planted a burning cross in her front yard Tuesday morning is a coward and a fool - a coward because he tried to intimidate by resorting to violence in the dead of night, a fool because actions like this backfire.

A dozen years ago, Coeur d’Alene rallied around human rights leader Bill Wassmuth when white supremacists bombed his home. Coeur d’Alene went on to become a model community for combating racism. Wassmuth soon gained a national platform to espouse his cause as chief executive of the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment.

Appropriately, Moscow residents are rallying around the controversial Graves now.

The Spokesman-Review has criticized Graves for her involvement with the radical Earth First! organization, for defying Moscow authority by going topless last summer, for refusing to let police search her backpack and being arrested at the Aryan Nations July march in Coeur d’Alene. We haven’t changed our stands. However, we readily acknowledge she has a right to push the envelope.

Protest and demonstration were part of the American tradition long before angry college students took to the streets 30 years ago to protest the Vietnam War. In 1773, almost 225 years ago to the day, colonists dressed as Indians pushed this country closer to the Revolutionary War by dumping three shiploads of tea into Boston Harbor.

At this point, no one can say for sure what motivated Graves’ assailant, although the burning cross and a threatening note left in her mailbox point to racism. But that could be a dodge for someone who is trying to harass her for other outspoken stands.

It’d be ironic if supremacists were behind this attack, as they were in the 1986 bombing of Wassmuth’s home and the 1996 bombings of the Spokane Valley offices of The Spokesman-Review, Planned Parenthood and a bank. Area racists would be insisting on their free-speech right to march down Sherman Avenue to promote their foul creed; yet, they’d have resorted to violence - again - to discourage speech by their foes.

Commendably, Graves admits she’s frightened - who wouldn’t be? - but she won’t be silenced. “You can’t just run,” she said. “It’s empowering to them.” After what she’s been through, it takes courage to say something like that, far more courage than it takes to sneak onto someone’s property at 4 in the morning to deliver an obnoxious message.