‘Local hero’ honored for rights advocacy

Virginia Johnson first met Tony Stewart at a North Idaho College faculty assembly meeting in 1970. Johnson had been an English instructor at the college for a few years; Stewart was in his first year in the political science department.

“In came this guy with a head of curly hair and very strong Southern accent, and he was just talking to everyone and being so friendly,” Johnson said. “I thought, ‘How did someone with a Southern accent get to Coeur d’Alene?’ “

Nearly 40 years later, Stewart’s hair is thinner, but his accent and friendly demeanor remain. He’s a staple of North Idaho College and a living legend in the field of human rights in North Idaho.

He’ll be honored Friday evening by the Idaho Humanities Council for outstanding achievements in the humanities. Johnson, vice chairwoman of the council, nominated her longtime colleague and friend for the annual statewide award.

“He’s built for the long haul. He does not give up, lose hope, abandon anyone or any cause,” Johnson said. “He’s just sort of a local hero, and rightfully so.”

A native of Robbinsville, N.C., Stewart was a leader in the fight to expel the Aryan Nations from North Idaho, and he remains the area’s most prominent human rights advocate. He came to NIC after earning a graduate degree from the University of Tennessee, then doing a year of doctoral work at Washington State University.

“I thought I’d be here about three years,” Stewart recalls. But the job suited him, and he found causes that needed help.

Now 65, Stewart is eligible for retirement. But he hasn’t decided when he’ll do that. And when he does leave the community college, he said he won’t stop working. There’s still more to be done – the human rights movement is never over, he said.

“I have a very broad view of human rights,” Stewart said. “I’ve just never understood discrimination in any form.”

Stewart’s reluctant to talk about his life, calling himself “really, really shy.”

“But I love talking about my work,” he said. And his work dominates his life. Among Stewart’s long list of accomplishments are his roles as a founding member of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, the Human Rights Education Institute and the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment.

He said he’d be nothing without the support of countless others. “I have not done anything by myself,” Stewart said. “It’s always a group.”

But his colleagues are quick to cite Stewart’s leadership.

“It has been a team effort, but Tony’s been the dominant leader of that team,” said Doug Creswell, a member of the human relations task force and a retired school superintendent.

Stewart sees a four-step process for combating racism and discrimination. The first steps are ending slavery and segregation. The third is embracing tolerance. “Number four is when I celebrate who you are,” he said.

Once tolerance is embraced, some tend to think “look how great I am because I tolerate you,” and that’s an attitude that must end if true tolerance and equality are ever to be reached, Stewart said.

His first experience with racism came when he was about 10 or 11, visiting Charlotte, N.C., with family. He overhead two white boys insulting a black boy.

“They were saying just terribly harsh things … and I never forgot that,” Stewart said. “I just thought that was so, so awful.”

He can’t pinpoint what made him so passionate about human rights. He lived in the South during the height of the civil rights movement and followed the work of Martin Luther King Jr. closely.

But he said, “No matter where I would have been, I think I would have this same attitude and drive towards fairness.”

It is because that attitude and drive have inspired and educated thousands of others that Stewart will be honored Friday, Idaho Humanities Council Chairman Ron Pisaneschi said.

“The goal of the humanities council is to connect people with ideas. Who’s done that more than Tony Stewart?” Johnson said.

“While he’s this great Southern gentleman, he’s also just fearless.”