Groups Can’T Resist Protest From Quakers To Buddhists, Foes Of Nazis To Show Up At Parade

Nazis can’t go unopposed, a growing contingent of people says.

That’s the message many want to send Saturday in Coeur d’Alene, not only to the Aryans marching downtown but also to those watching from around the world.

“We are representing the people of other colors, other ethnic groups, other sexual orientations who can’t be there and shouldn’t be there because it’s too dangerous,” said Skip Kuck of the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force. “This is a vigil.

“Somebody has to show the country and show these groups we aren’t afraid of them, and that will take some of their power away,” Kuck said.

Quakers, veterans, Native Americans and other people from Portland to Libby, Mont., have told the Bonner County group they will be in downtown Coeur d’Alene during the Aryan Nations parade. It’s not an organized effort but something that grew spontaneously out of a feeling that they need to stand up and be counted.

The anti-Nazi protesters will wear yellow shirts or yellow ribbons and carry banners declaring “Citizens of North Idaho declare this a hate-free zone” and “Local and regional people say no to racism and yes to justice and human rights.”

A group of Buddhists also will join the protesters. “When the parade arrives at our location, we simply intend to turn our backs on it and leave,” said Yontan Gonpo, a Buddhist priest from Spokane.

“We think it’s important to express this face of bigotry and neo-Nazis is not the face of North Idaho.”

Attending the parade goes against the advice of everyone from law enforcement to the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, Kuck and others acknowledge. The Kootenai County Task Force is organizing a caravan to Spokane and joining a human rights rally at Gonzaga University.

“Our strategy for 17-1/2 years has been, when they have an event, we don’t attend,” said Tony Stewart of the Kootenai County Task Force. Considering that the policy is drawing taunts from the Aryans, Stewart is more convinced than ever that not showing up is best.

The Aryans faxed the task force on Wednesday, saying leaders of the Kootenai County group “don’t have the nerve to face us. Chicken.”

Everyone has to make their own decision, said Gretchen Albrecht-Hellar, also of the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force. Attending the rally in Spokane isn’t wrong.

People can meditate, pray, or come to the parade.

“You have to respond,” Albrecht-Hellar said. “You can’t go out and play golf and pretend nothing is going on.”

Albrecht-Hellar and others said they want to be sure the national media records something other than a message of hate when they arrive in Coeur d’Alene on Saturday. News crews from ABC and the British Broadcasting Corporation are expected to attend the parade.

People are welcome to sign the Bonner County group’s banners, so they can participate in protesting the parade without being downtown on parade day, she said.

Other Aryan protesters, who are not connected to the Bonner County group, say they believe going to a rally in Washington isn’t wise.

“So long as they can have marches down Main Street in Coeur d’Alene and the worst show of disapproval is 30 miles away in Spokane, it shows this is a white homeland,” said Chandra Gair, a fourth generation Idahoan who teaches Spanish and Japanese. “I don’t want any more of them moving here and I feel if we ignore them and don’t draw media attention to them, they will grow stronger.”

Moscow and Pullman residents also are attempting to charter a bus to bring non-violent protesters to the parade.

“We are going up there to look them in the eye, to tell them we’re ashamed,” said Cass Davis, who co-hosts a public radio show in Moscow where the idea was born. “The people of North Idaho may be a little ignorant and a little uneducated, but they aren’t Nazis.”

That Moscow group will include the direct descendents of men who fought for Nazi Germany. “My hindsight is very strong,” said Robert Hoffmann, who runs a small Internet firm. “I’m basically a blond-haired, blue-eyed anti-racist.

“Nazis are nothing we can make legitimate, nothing we can view in a nostalgic light.”

Human rights groups will score roughly $50,000 if the Aryan Nations group marches for an hour in downtown Coeur d’Alene, according to the pledge tally Wednesday afternoon. More than 1,600 people have promised to make donations, totaling $830 a minute. People who want to add to that effort can fax their name, address and pledge amount to: (208) 772-3891. They also can call (208) 765-3932 or mail their pledge to the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, P.O. Box 2725, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83816.