Students gather for annual Human Rights Celebration

Just saying “no” to racism was not enough for the people of Kootenai County; they also said “never again.”

For the past 22 years, the community has been ensuring that message endures through its children, specifically its 10-year-olds.

Every year, in a sort of rite of passage, all 14 fifth-grade classes in Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls gather at North Idaho College’s Schuler Auditorium for the annual Human Rights Celebration.

As of Friday, more than 26,000 students had participated in the program, according to Tony Stewart, of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations.

“The first ones are now 32 years old,” Stewart said, “and some of their children are here today.”

More than 1,200 fifth-graders filled the auditorium to capacity on Friday. Teachers were asked to give up their seats to students. The NIC auditorium soon may not be able to accommodate this celebration.

The youngsters had already met the keynote speaker, Marilyn Shuler, former director of the Idaho Human Rights Commission, who visited all 14 elementary schools this week.

She told them that the Aryan Nations tried to make North Idaho a place only for white Christians.

Instead, white Christians were among those who stood up and said “Idaho’s for everyone.”

“Those people are heroes,” Shuler said. “There are heroes right here.”

She pointed out several members of the Task Force on Human Relations among the audience.

Martin Luther King Jr. told us his dream, Shuler said, that people should be judged “by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.”

The students, she said, told her their dreams this week. Some of them want to be doctors and cure the world of illness. Some want to end discrimination. When Shuler said, “Some of you want to end war,” her speech was interrupted by spontaneous applause from the children.

“You children here can change the world,” Shuler said. “I know you can do it.”

It was the children who stole the show, particularly when Chelsea Miller, of Atlas Elementary School, sang the national anthem, and Cheyenne Fisher, of Skyway Elementary School, sang “Colors of the World,” the theme of this year’s celebration.

It appeared many teachers put in a lot of overtime on the celebration, which was directed by Pam Pratt, Coeur d’Alene School District director of elementary education.

At the heart of the program was a presentation by 14 students, one from each school, who delivered “I Believe” statements.

“Even though we all think differently, look differently and act differently, we are all the same people,” said Jose Hernandez, of Ramsey Elementary School. “Until we can learn to not judge others, we won’t see them for who they are and how they enrich our world.”