Heart in the right place

Just prior to the media frenzy regarding Rachel Dolezal’s racial and ethnic heritage, Rachel invited me, as the co-founder of the Upper Columbia Human Rights Coalition of Northeastern Washington, to be her guest at an executive committee meeting of the NAACP. If I had not hit a deer on Highway 395 and wrecked my car, I would have been proud to be her guest.

Rachel was interested in a rural/frontier perspective when it came to civil rights and grass-roots organizing, a perspective her urban group might appreciate and possibly learn from. I admired Rachel’s belief in the value of everyone, and her hard work in the area of social justice for all people regardless of race, creed or ethnic background. I think I can detect a fake, and her heart-felt, rock-solid interests appeared very genuine to me and our group.

Rachel invited me based upon our group’s hard work, which started in 1992 with guidance from the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. People who attend church, I am surprised at how judgmental they have been toward her. Her heart is in the right place.

James Perkins

Upper Columbia Human Rights Coalition

Colville