Fliers in Sandpoint

Something as anonymous as a flier, cowardly distributed by night, leaves everyone in the dark as to what the activist’s motives are. Some people wish to create the sense of a well-organized white-supremacist presence in our area. Let’s caution ourselves to generalize and point fingers from any side, for any reason.

I think that those behind the fliers ought to be prosecuted for hate speech slander and intimidation. Some people derail the debate by claiming it’s not about race but about ideology, referring to another sociopolitical issue of late: refugee resettlement, but the fliers were clearly racist.

I was born and raised in a small, mostly white village in The Netherlands. I go back at least once a year and the refugee crisis along with terrorist threats have changed the feeling of the place. If anyone is interested in understanding the effects of refugee resettlement, talk to a European or a refugee.

Don’t get carried away in xenophobia, fearing something you do not understand.

Marjolein Nibbelink

Sandpoint