Join In With Some Hate-Free Parades

Tue., Aug. 24, 1999

By John Kafentzis johnk@spokesman.com (509) 459-5511

He’s just one man with an accordian but his dreams are bigger than a polka fest in Minnesota.

Gene O’Meara wants to march down Sherman Avenue in Coeur d’Alene next July on the date the Aryan Nations would be likely to hold one of its hate parades.

His plan is simple. If he has the parade permit for one or more weekends in July, the Aryans won’t be able to march.

Like many in North Idaho, O’Meara has seen prime summer weekends hijacked by Aryan parades the past couple of summers. Tensions run high. Lots of outsiders on both sides who have their own agenda and don’t give one whit about Coeur d’Alene show up to perform. And the national media focus their unblinking eyes on a very small minority, giving the rest of the nation the idea that we’re all like that.

In frustration, the Lake City invested $40,000 in an ill-conceived parade ordinance which is being ripped limb from limb by the courts because it tramples all over First Amendment rights.

There’s only so much the government can do to fight racism. It takes the whole community to win the battle against hate.

O’Meara’s plan is cheap, innovative and comes from the heart. He came up with the idea because he was tired of hearing himself and others say “somebody ought to do something” about the midsummer Aryan parades.

He said he respects the Aryans’ First Amendment rights, which are the same ones that allowed Martin Luther King Jr. to march in the 1960s. But he said he also feels for the downtown merchants who believe that hate group marches drive people away from stores in the make-it-or-break-it summer season.

So even though his musical repertoire is limited to “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” O’Meara is ready to take to the streets with an alternative to the Aryans’ message. In the spirit of the ”Lemons to Lemonade” movement, O’Meara’s plan could involve the whole community.

In fact, O’Meara hopes that his lead will inspire others to come up with their own ideas for parades. Instead of heated confrontations, downtown Coeur d’Alene could have a festive block party atmosphere all summer long.

It would be a shame if O’Meara’s was a one-man stand. A strong community response to his call for others to march with him would send a message loud and clear that Coeur d’Alene isn’t going to let its summer weekends be held hostage by a handful of Aryans.

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