Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations Scrapbooks 2005

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By SARAH KERSHAW

SEATTLE OWARD the end of his Life, the man who was once the nation's most visible face of white supremacy, a Naziuniform-wearing, jackbooted ideologue whom his critics called "the grandfather of hate," was a frail old widower gasping for breath in a tiny donated house in northern Idaho.

And when he died in his sleep on Wednesday at 86, Richard G. Butler, who founded the Aryan Nations in the 1970's, had already long ago lost his power and influence over the radical right, a collection of extremist subcultures, militias and neo-Nazi offshoots that his movement spawned.

Still, the death of one of the founders of the 20th century white separatist movement signals the end a chapter in the nation's social history. And it certainly marks the

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failure of Mr. Butler's ambition to create what he had envisioned as "an autonomous Aryan homeland" in the Pacific Northwest.

"Butler's death, in a way, marks the end of an era," said Daniel Levitas, author of "The Terrorist Next Door: The Militia Movement and the Radical Right" (St. Martin's Press, 2002). " But it certainly is not removing somebody from the scene who was actively playing a role of any great significance at the time of his death."

Mr. Butler's brand of white supremacy was based on a theology known as Christian Identity, combining a heretical interpretation of the Bible and a belief that Jews were Satanic and blacks " mud people." Before the seams of that movement began to come apart, Mr. Butler's 20-acr e compound in the pine-forested hills of northern Idaho was a gathering spot for white supremacists.

But Mr. Butler had become increasingly isolar.ed. "Christian Identity long ago lost its

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Members of the Aryan Nations and the Ku Klux Klan gather outside Twin Falls, Idaho, for a cross-burning in 1987.

kind of hegemonic sway within the radical right," Mr. Levitas said.

Most experts agree that though white supremacy may be ebbing, it has certainly not died along with Mr. Butler. Indeed, there are signs on the Internet and in rallies that it may still be thriving, from Washington State to West Virginia, although in new forms. "ls the radical right in trouble, faltering and fading away?" said Mark Potok, who tracks extremist groups for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala. "l don't think so. l think it's yet again starting

to morph."

Though it may have lost its dominance, Christian Identity is still strong within the white supremacy movement, particularly in the South. On the rise, experts say, are groups like one in Portland, Ore., called Volksfront, which says it champions whites' civil rights while rejecting racial violence.

In the Pacific Northwest, a bastion of white separatism, anti-government militias and survivalists, a new dogma has begun to spread, drawing on Odin ism, a pre-Christian theology that worships Norse deities and derives its name from the chief one, Odin.

There is some debate as to how prevalent Odinism is among white supremacists. People who are studying the cult say it has taken hold most notably in prisons. Skinheads and other separatist groups who have rejected Christian Identity are drawn to Odinism because it rids them of the messy problem of having to contend with Christian values like compassion and forgiveness a11d frees them to justify violence, said Randy Blazak, a professor of sociology at Portland State University and director of the university's Hate Crimes Research Network.

Mr. Blazak and other experts trace the

rise of radical subcultures like Odinism to the turmoil in the white supremacy move~ ~nt. For sev~ral years it bas been riven by mftghtmg, philosophical friction and falloffs in recruitment.

Today there are about 17 Aryan Nations chapters across the country with a total of 200 or so members, figures that are a third to a half of what they were in the mid-80's according to the Southern Poverty Law Cen~ ter. And Mr. Butler left no heir apparent when he died in a house in Hayden Lake, Idaho, that had been given to him by a follower after Mr. Butler went bankrupt and lost his compound.

Things got worse for the radical right after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the conviction in that attack of one of its members, Timothy J. McVeigh. The known paramilitary groups and militias with roots in places like Montana and Washington State numbered 171 in 2003, down from 858 in 1996, according to the law center.

"The militia movement suffered from an aggressive federal crackdown in the wake of Oklahoma City," Mr. Levitas said. He added: "Americans in this day and age are not at all keen on the idea of being recruited into violent revolutionary organizations whose mission is to assassinate public officials. It is not a very sellable idea in a post-9/1 1 world."

Still, there is debate as to whether the militias are experiencing a quiet resurgence ; a report released last week by the AntiDefamation League said that their numbers were rising in a "retooling of the movement" after a long hiatus, although not to anywhere near the levels of the mid-1990's.

While it is clear that white supremacy is not in its twilight, Mr. Butler's passing was certainly a big moment for northern Idaho.

"It's been a 25-year history and struggle," said Tony Stewart, a professor at North Idaho College who helped found a local human rights group that has battled Aryan Nations.

"The ¡transition of this was already under way. But no one can say he is still operating here. There's a real finality to it."

On Wednesday, after Mr. Butler's body was taken away for an autopsy, his relatives moved the belongings of his Aryan Nations roommates out of the house in Hayden Lake and placed them on the doorstep, a local newspaper, The Spokesman-Review, reported. Then they took down an Aryan Nations flag from a window.

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When Richard Butler learned he couldn 't convert northern Idaho into a hotbed of hate, he decided to import his own followers - many of them from the prison system - to drive Idahoans away, write Norm Gissel and Tony Stewart.

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Democracy on trial in Idaho

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he song of democracy never sounds so clearly nor resonates so far as when all of its citizens are equal in the eyes of the law and are fully enfranchised. Where each citizen shoulders all of democracy's obligations and receives in full measure democracy's great benefits, freedom and the rule of law.

Americans know this. We learned the hard way.

The Declaration of Independence contained the promise of universal equality of all citizens. The Declaration was a statement of political philosophy.

It ctid not carry with it the rule of law.

Philosophy became law shortly after the end of the Civil War when the 14th Amendment to the Constitution was passed.

The 14th Amendment was largely ignored after its passage in 1868. Jim Crow laws took over much of the South, and the separation of the races replaced slavery as the cultural and legal imperative throughout large portions of America.

In the 1950s, a small group of religious leaders, p ermanently fed up with the dreadful inequalities existing then, started the modem civil-rights move. ment. This movement demanded that the promise of the Declaration and the

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Idaho Commission on Human Rights: • www2.state.id.us/ihrc/ihrchome.htm

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law of the 14th Amendment be enforced.

The vast majority of Americans agreed.

What followed was a sea of change in the cultural and political life of America.

Millions of American s became, for the first time, truly full members of our great country. Civil rights, formerly a fringe concern, became almost overnight a mainstream concern of all Americans.

The promise of the Declaration in 1776 was quickly becoming the reality of modern American Society.

THE CIVIL-RIGHTS BACKLASH

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In a democracy, great cultural and political changes do not occur without a large array of opponents. The opponents to the Civil Rights movement came in the form of th e I{)an and other Klanlike groups. For the entire time of the civil

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DEMOCRACY From Page A? rights movement, they appeared to be permanently apoplectic and profoundly angry. They were willing to do anything to stem the tide of this historical moment in our history. There were political assassinations, murders, bombings, arson and a host of other criminal activities. The civil rights leaders did not flinch, nor did the American public. After it became apparent that there were beneficial changes in American society by virtue of the civil rights movement and that there was no turning back, many in the Klan started to pursue other activities. Still others re-entrenched themselves in their old Klan haunts in the South and began a defensive rear guard action. Yet another group looked for a new location to pursue their agendas of racial hatred and racial exclusion.

The Aryan Nation was one of the latter groups.

Through some social Darwin.ism of their own concoction, the Aryan Nation believed that the predominately white Inland Northwest, and particularly Kootenai County, were predominately white - not for historical reasons or for patterns of employment during WWII - but because we were here to escape the rest of American society with its rich religious and racial Kootenai Task Force: diversity. The â&#x20AC;˘ www.idal)ohumanrights.org Aryan Nation also believed that once we were exposed to their beliefs, we in the Northwest would gravitate to their cause in great numbers and gradually create an all-white society that would secede from the rest of Amenca.

The Aryan Nation soon learned that the peoples of the Inland Northwest were not gravitating to them in any numbers if at all. The Aryan Nation switched tactics. It began a prison ministry throughout the country, seeking out white prisoners to come to the Inland Northwest.

They believed that if they could not change the minds of the people living here, then they would import people who shared their beliefs. It was surmised that if enough criminals came to the Aryan Nation compound - the infamous "Campus of Hate" - to learn the doctrines of vitriolic racism taught there, and then enter our communities to preach their views, ultimately the culture would become so toxic with their venom that we ordinary Idahoans would be forced to leave.

This idea we bad to take seriously. There are many examples of successful voluntary enclaves in our large cities to force us to take this matter seriously. As the Aryan Nation recruited criminals to northern Idaho, not surprisingly we experienced a decades-long crime spree of stupendous size that included murdt:r, bombing, arson, bank robbery, armored car robbery, counterfeiting and felony assault.

The Aryans came to Idaho in the early '70s with some money, lots of time, an agenda and a virulent anti-American set of beliefs and placing all of us in harms way. Now they are leaving broke, demoralized and disorganized.

WRONG FOR THEM RIGHT FOR IDAHO The good citizens of Idaho and the Inland Northwest made the crucial decision in 1980 to organize and speak out aggressively in opposition to the message and activities of these hate groups and dedicate themselves to the promo-

NATION tion of human rights. The decision to organize the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations would result in a 24-year campaign to rally our people in support of human rights and the basic human desire to be judged fairly and with dignity. This movement sparked the creation of a significant number of other Northwest local and regional human rights groups in a successful effort to advance human rights and counter this virus of hate.

Early on we developed a vision that our challenge was to promote an evolving culture in which communities would both reject bate and build a society that embraced respect and dignity for aU people. In order to accomplish this goal, we made sure members from the religious, educational, business, labor, civic and political communities as well as families were included in au our efforts. It was essential to have a grass-roots response to this challenge. U we as a people did what was right, bate could not thrive in our midst, as has been proven again and again throughout history.

The task force made several important decis ions early in its history. We decided never to remain silent ii\ the face of hatred. History gives no examples of the benefit of silence when hatred is on the loose. Secondly, we adopted a policy of organizing counter events during Aryan activities, such as its World Congress and the marches they conducted over seve.ral years.

We never engaged the Aryans directly by being present at any of their events. We were proactive rather than reactive or confrontational. A close reading of the civil rights activities of Mohandas Ghandi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. suggested these tactics to us and ultimately proved successful here.

TWO DECADES OF FIGHTING BACK This planned vision led to more than two decades of a successfully coordinated effort in advancing human rights. Among the successes of this large coalition of individuals and organizations was the passage of a series of Idaho antihate crime laws, rallies, human rights banquets, press conferences, the lemons to lemonade Campaign ($35,000 raised for human rights grants to area schools}, a 20-year coordinated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. program series with the Coeur d' Alene and Post Falls school districts, creation of college and high school human rights clubs, speaking tours around th.e United States, assisting communities in their plans to counter various hate group activities in their cities and counties, and supporting victims such as Victoria and Jason Keenan with their civil court action that resulted in a $6.3 million civil award against the Aryan Nation in 2000.

One of our most recent endeavors was to defend and support Hayden Mayor Ron McIntire in the 2003 mayoral race, when bis opponent, Richard Butler, viciously attacked the mayor for his IDS religious affiliation.

Th.e recent death of the Aryan Nation leader brings to an end this challenging era and launches us on a new era with the building of a major human rights center in Coeur d'Alene, largely due to a generous $1 million gift from Idaho Falls native Greg Carr.

When the dust finally settles, when we can look back with clear maturity and judgment brought to us with the passa~e of time, we will be able to say that the final Victory over this dark and evil opponent here in Kootenai County, here in Idaho and here in the Inland Northwest was simply democracy: Democracy for each of us and to all of us.

Gln el and Stewart are members of the Kootenai

County Tllak Force on Human Relations. You can wrtte to them at 1424 Sherman Ave., Suite 100, Coeur d' Alene, 10 83814.

How Richard Butler changed us Richard Butler sought to build an Aryan homeland in the Pacific Northwest, beginning in Idaho. Instead, he forced Idahoans to choose sides - and they chose tolerance and diversity, writes Leslie Ruth Goddard.

Butler ·never defined Idaho suspect that Richard Butler would not be happy to know that the director of the human-rights commission is being asked to define his legacy. That may be the one point that Mr. Butler and l would have agreed on the 20-plus years he and I both lived and worked in this state. Our only other common ground was that we both held strong opinions - which happened to be on opposite sid.es of just about any humanrights issue you can name.

The Human Rights Commission first became aware of Richard Butler's activities in the early 1980s. At that time, be was preaching the gospel of innate superiority/inferiority based on race. He advocated that society should maintain wide racial divides. He demonized Jews and anyone of any racial, religious or ethnic background who spoke out against his messages of racism and religious intolerance. Butler had a dream to make the Northwest, apparently starting with Hayden Lake, into a "homeland" for Aryans. No one else would be welcome. From his headquarters in northern Idaho, he attracted a small band of followers. Some were later implicated in serious acts of violence against people who did not happen to share their viewpoints.

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For reasons that will forever remain a mystery to me, Butler was a magnet for publicity. When he spoke or marched down the streets of Coeur d'Alene with his white supremacist cohorts - sometimes as few as 20 individuals - the local, national and even international press covered the event. He tried to convey the message to the world that his influence was great; that be was speaking for a much larger group of people than he really was; and, worst of all, that the people of Idaho shared his sentiments and dreams.

We, of course, knew that wasn't so, but what an obstacle Idaho bas had to overcome. Travel anywhere in the United States today, bring up the fact that you are from Idaho, and see what it is that people "know" about us and our state. This is perhaps what Mr. Butler would see as his "legacy'' to Idaho, but I respectfully disagree. I think the story goes on.

You see, at the same time that Butler's group was proudly preaching its neo-Nazi messages, Idaho was developing its own understanding of human rights and growing its own band of human-rights activists. There were See DEFINED, Page AB

DEFINED From Page A7 giants such as John and Idaho Purce, Bill Wassmuth, Gayle Speizer, Tony Stewart and Marilyn Shuler, who labored diligently against all messages and acts of hate. separateness and intolerance.

They also began the important dialog about recognizing basic human rights of every· one, and speaking of diversity and inclusiveness as positive social values, not concepts to fear. There were also countless other people, whose names are less well known, who began to work quietly in their own com· munities doing human rights work.

Butler's role in the develop· ment of the human rights movement in Idaho is this: He exposed us face-to-face to neo· Nazism.

We saw his group up close.

They lived in our beautiful state. We heard directly the darkness of their message, saw the destruction that it left in its wake and were shamed

of all of us. By bis presence, he helped the voices speaking for human rights to come together and be heard.

Idaho's human-rights leaders have never sugar-coated their message. They acknowl· edge that human rights violations do occur here, just as they do i.n any state. But those Incidents do not define Idaho, anymore than Butler could.

Human rights activists have taught the rest of us many things such as: • Human rights are not limited in the sense that "if you get something, I lose." In fact, basic human rights can and must be available in equal measure to everyone.

• To ensure protection for human rights, we must be will· ing to speak out against acts of injustice or disrespect, even though the immediate consequences for us may be harsh.

• It is a good thing that we are not all alike. Only by recognizing and honoring our diversity will Idaho truly thrive.

Tangible monuments to their work are visible today, including a state law against malicious harassment, the

rights education curriculum to all schools in Idaho through the Idaho Human Rights Education Center, the beautiful Hispanic Cultural Center in Nampa and the Anne Frank Memorial in Boise.

In addition, today there are more than 100 human-rights groups scattered around Idaho that are committed to doing whatever it takes to assure that everyone in their commu· nity is treated with respect, dignity and equality.

I believe finnly that this is the real Idaho, and it is this work and direction that will be carried to future generations.

Gov. Dirk Kempthome said in a September 2003 letter, "We must remember that the advancement of human rights cannot be summed up with a single instance or event.

Rather, it is a continual, life· long cha.rge to enlighten the hearts of all men and women."

In a strange twist of reality, Richard Butler helped us see the wisdom of that statement.

Goddard Is director of the Idaho Idaho Human Rights

Commission. You can wrtte to her et P.O. Box 83720, 1109 Main St.,

Tom Ven Dyke / Knight Ridder

Eighty-year-old Rev. Richard Butler presides over the Church of Jesus Christ Christian in Hayden Lake. The northern Idaho church espouses the views of the Aryan Nations, a Nazi-derived philosophy of white supremacy. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, at last count, there were 478 racebased groups and 523 patriot organizations, which Include militias and common-law court activists such as the Freemen.

THE PRESS Thursday, December 16, 2004 A3

North Idaho

Banking on Rights

JEROME A. POLLOS/Press

Bank of America presented the Human Rights Education Institute with a check for $1 ,000 on Wednesday. Pictured, from left, are Mary Lou Reed, Human Rights Center program chairwoman; Kathy Taylor of Bank of America; Rhys Johnson, executive director of the Human Rights Education Institute; Kay Viebrock, Bank of America; and Heidi Souder, Bank of America.

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Thursday Nov. 18, 2004

Human Rights Center introduces new director Johnson has worked in Israel. East Timor

By TOM GREENE Staff writer

COEUR d'ALENE - With a background that includes working for human rights in the Gaza Strip through the 1990s and most recently in East Timor, the new executive director for

the Human Rights Center said one reason he came to Coeur d'Alene is because '1'm tired of war zones."

Human Rights Center program Chairwoman Mary Lou Reed said one of new executive director Rhys Johnson's priorities will be to reach out to other human rights organizations, religious institutions, elected officials, schools and the community.

"Rhys' style is collaborative. He doesn't want to be a rock star. He wants to be one of many, and I think he has

the personality to draw people to the cause," Reed said at a press conference announcing his appointment at North Idaho College Wednesday.

Johnson, who grew up in London, graduated from the University of Westminster with an international law degree in 1995. From 1995 to 2002, he helped establish the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and was assistant director of the IAW Society in Jerusalem, which he joined to support its stand against Palestinian Authority abuses.

Since January, be has been director of the Judicial System Monitoring program in East Timor.

Tony Stewart, president of the human rights education institute board, said Johnson's hiring is the culmination of a two-year "worldwide" search that began with about 80 applicants. The Human Rights Center was started with a $1 million contribution from philanthropist Greg Carr, who CENTER continued on A4

CENTER

continued from A 1

also donated the former Aryan Nations compound to the NIC Foundation to be converted as an outdoor science laboratory and a peace park.

Stewart said Johnson will work with local schools, sponsoring workshops, programs and bringing in guest speakers for the center. Learning the community and laying foundations for future programs will be Johnson's first order of business.

"In a year, I hope people from around the world would come to Coeur d'Alene," Johnson said.

Johnson said there is a "real opportunity for dialogue" in Coeur d'Alene and would eventually like Coeur d'Alene to be a host city where polarized groups can communicate.

Johnson said he began his career believing human rights was about laws and policy, but he has learned it's really "about absorbing (human rights) into communities." ''It's interesting to see real democracy that occurs here when you go down to Hudson's and hear about this, that and the other," Johnson said.

JOE BUTLER/Press

Rhys Johnson, the new executive director of the Human Rights Center, was introduced to the community Monday by area human rights leaders, including Mary Lou Reed, Human Rights Center program chair.

AN ED IT I ON O F

'JltE SPoKEsilAN¡RIMEW

-REVIEW

Right man, rights job Rhys Johnson named Hu'flUJ,n Rights Education Instit:ute director

By Erica Curtess Staff writer

In some ways Rhys Johnson is the essence of diversity. He speaks six languages, his mother is from Calcutta, his father is English and he has worked to deliver human rights around the world, including the Middle East.

Now, as the recently hired executive director of the Human Rights Education Institute, he is making Coeur d'Alene home.

Arriving fresh fJ;om a seven-month assignment to build a judiciaJ system in East Timor, Johnson. 38, is enthusiastic

to help set a human rights vision not onJy for Coeur d'AJene and North Idaho, but the entire Inland Northwest and perhaps internationally.

And that vision includes a lot more than just telling the story of how Kootenai County conquered and bankrupted the Aryan Nations. It's about ensuring that hate never can get another foothold in the region. And it's about focusing on a larger definition of human rights, which can include everything from poverty, homelessness, Continued: Johnson/ A7

FAST FACTS

Rights center Part of his duties will be overseeing the creation of a Human Rights Center planned for the edge of City Park where the old battery building currently sits.

THURSDAY

NOVEMBER 18, 2004

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New mivocate for human rights

Jesse llnsley/llle Spokesman-Review

Rhys Johnson, left, speaks to reporters and human rights activists as he Is Introduced Wednesday morning as the new executive director of the Human Rights Education Institute In Coeur d'Alene. At right Is Tony Stewart, who serves on the board of the Human Rights Education Institute.

Johnson: Will work for acceptance of diversity Continued from Al

drug abuse, domestic violence and women's rights.

"These are all human rights issues," said Johnson during a press conference Wednesday at North Idaho College to announce his hire.

"In our pleasant society where we have Hudson Hamburgers and go off in our car, we don't see that."

He wants the institute to develop an education program that would work with school districts, provide workshops and speakers to help people understand acceptance and for communities to absorb and respect diversity. Even though Johnson has worked with international conflicts, he said strife exists locally - not just over race and genderissues, butover environmental and other issues, too and that people must begin to communicate with each other despite their differences.

"It's important that America has

that sense of community that's here in Coeur d'Alene and the Inland Northwest," Johnson said. "We need to accept differences but still make decisions. We need to think about the environment and future generations."

The Human Rights Education Institute hired Johnson after a two-year, worldwide search that snagged 80 applicants. Part of Johnson's duties will be overseeing the creation of a Human Rights Center planned for the edge of City Park where the old battery building sits. The institute is raising money to match the $1 million donated by Greg Carr, an Idaho native and fonner chairman of Prodigy Inc., to realize its vision and build the center.

Until then, Johnson wiU work from office space in the Coeur d'Alene Mines building. The institute plans to soon hire another staff person.

Coeur d'Alene was an attractive move for Johnson, who said he is tired of war zones and wants to learn how to ski.

"He's a collaborative person," Institute President Tony Stewart said.

"He brings people together and is very modest, humble and sincere. He can do remarkable things."

Stewart said the bankruptcy of the Aryan Nations and recent death of leader Richard Butler has closed a chapter in North Idaho. People are ready to move on and address areas of human rights that were often overshadowed by the Aryan Nations presence, he said.

Johnson, who has an international law degree, grew up in London in extreme poverty of the kind depicted in Charles Dickens novels. As a child he experienced violence, prejudice and injustice - all things he said led to a career in human rights.

"People should live happily and develop happily," Johnson said.

"That's what human rights is about." â&#x20AC;˘ Erica Curless can be reached at (208) 765-7137 or by e-mail at ericac@spokesman.com.

C10 THE PRESS Tuesday, December 28, 2004

'Rights' On! Michelle Fink, vice president of North Idaho Title and board member of the Human Rights Institute Task Force, presented a $5,000 check from the company to Tony Stewart, board president of the North Idaho Human Rights Education Institute. The money will go into the institute' s general fund.

RICK THOMAS/ Press

North Idaho

PAGE A 6

e Students to hear IF YOU GO

Task force gathering â&#x20AC;˘ The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations will commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a social gathering from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Jan. 17, at the Highlands Day Spa, 4365 E. Inverness Drive In Post Falls. The event includes food and auctions. lickets cost $25. Write checks for tickets to KCTFHR, P.O. Box 2725, Coeur d'Alene, ID 83816.

Monday, January 10, 2005 The Spokesman-Review Spokane, Wash/ Goeur d'Alene, Idaho

g's message

Event aims to have them learn haw segrega"tion felt

By Cynthia Taggart Staff writer

The days black Americans were shoved to the back of the bus and into movie theater balconies away from the white population are hard to imagine for today's kids.

People of all colors dine, watch movies. shop and cheer at football games together so comfortably that segregation is a bizarre

concept for a 10-year-old to grasp.

But fifth-graders in.Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls this week will gain a better understanding of what black Americans faced in their struggle for civil rights.

Kids will travel back in time 50 years with Living Voices, a Seattle-based performance group that blends acting with newsreels to pull audiences straight into history. Living Voices

will perform "The Right to Dream, Share the Struggle," the story of a black American growing up in Mississippi between 1954, the year Brown v. the Board of Education was decided, to 1968, the year of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. 's assassination.

"It will allow fifth-graders to witness what it was like to be part of the movement that ensured every American his or her right to equal treatment under the law," Skyway Continued: King,/A7

Monday, January 10, 2005

Page A7

REGION

King Readings of his works set Continued from A6

Elementary Principal Pam Pratt told teachers in both districts in preparation for activities to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This year marks the 20th King Day celebration the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations has organized for area fifth-graders. The task force also will honor King with a social gathering on the Jan.17 federal holiday.

Other events this year include readings of King's works Sunday in Sandpoint and an address Wednesday by Yolanda King, the civil rights leader's daughter, in Pullman. King will speak at 7 p.m. at Washington State University's Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum.

Admission is free.

For 20 years, the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations has focused its message of human dignity for all on children. ''What I celebrate so much is the huge number of students who have been through the programs," says Tony Stewart. one of the 24-year-old task force's longest serving members. "They have an appreciation of dignity of all people from the program. We'U never know how far they take that lesson."

Each year, the task force culminates a week of events in the schools ,vith a program for fifth-graders in North Idaho College's Schuler Auditorium.

Children sing, dance. read essays they've written on human rights and

listen one last time to a message from the special guest who performed in their schools during the week.

"One mom called me the day after the program and told me her son was a changed person," says Pratt. "If it affected just one that way, it's certainly worth it."

Stewart suggested Living Voices for this year's program. The group has performed in a few North Idaho schools and received great reviews.

Performer Amber Wolfe will portray the black American growing up in Mississippi and trying to understand why her father is treated as a second-class citizen after he returns from military service during World War II. Wolfe's friendships with white kids are discouraged and her understanding of racism grows as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. enter her life. Wolfe's pathway to civil rights leads her to the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), a major drive to register black voters, the March on Washington, Freedom Summer and the Alabama march from Selma to Montgomery.

As Wolfe explains her experiences, newsreels behind her show footage from the actual events, includipg two quick images of lynchings. Racial slurs are worked judiciously into the script to stay true to the times. Pratt sent letters to the parents of fifth-graders advising them of the lynchings and language in the program.

"We're not asking permission, just letting them know," she says. "If they don't want their kids to see it, they don't have to."

Wolle will perform throughout the Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls school districts and for Woodland

Middle School eighth grades. She'11 say a few words at tbe final program Friday at Schuler Auditorium, but that program belongs mostly to the students.

That day, 14 kids chosen by their peers will read their essays on their dreams for human rights. Kids will dance to Diana Ross and sing "Love Can Build a Bridge," by the Judds.

The Human Rights Institute, the educational arm of the task force, raised the $2,400 for the week of activities. ' The Bonner County Human Rights Task Force organized Sandpoint's Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemoration on Sunday at Di Luna's Restaurant, 207 Cedar, at 4 p.m. The free event will include readings inspired by King's speeches and writing, the reading of a play with audience participation, an open microphone Limited to civil rights themes, and music by jazz guitarist Bruce Bishop and clas.c;ical guitarist Leon Atkinson.

The Kootenai County Task Force will wind up Martin Luther King Jr. Day events with a party Jan.17.

Human rights supporters are invited to the Highlands Day Spa, 4365 E. Inverness Drive in Post FaUs from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. for food, drink and silent and live auctions. The annual party raises money for the task force's human rights banquet in the spring, grants for special programs, conferences, the task force newsletter and to assist victims of human rights violations.

Past auctions have included car detailing, phone book ads, architectural software, art. rounds of golf at the Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course. Party tickets are $25.

For tickets, write checks to KCTFHR and send to P.O. Box 2725, Coeur d'Alene, ID 83816.

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Page 83

Spokane, Wash. / Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

A light far rights Sabrina Gonzales, a fifth.grader from Borah Elementary, lights one of 14 candles at the end of the 20th annual Human Rights Celebration at North Idaho College on Friday morning. The candles represent the 14 elementary schools Involved In the program.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesm.an-Re'llew

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Sunday, January 16, 2005

Page F7

AT A GLANCE

Martin Luther King Jr. Day events Here's a schedule of events planned in the region to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day:

Today 4 p.m.: A remembrance service will be held at Holy Temple Church of God-in-Christ, 806 W. Indiana Ave. in Spokane. The Rev. Tawan Davis, a graduate student at Harvard University, will speak.

4 p.m.: The Bonner County Human Rights Task Force commemoration will be at Di Luna's Restaurant, 207 Cedar, In Sandpoint It will include readings, an open microphone on civil rights themes, and music by jazz guitarist Bruce Bishop and classical guitarist Leon Atkinson.

Monday 9:30 a.m.: Spokane's downtown event begins at River Park Square with a community resource fair, and a ceremony at 10 a.m. Elisha Mitchell will sing, and the Rev. Happy Watkins will deliver King's "I Have A Dream• speech. The Unity March through downtown Spokane begins at 10:30 a.m. (See map for route.) The resource fair and entertainment continues until 2 p.m.

Noon: The Rev. Happy Watkins will deliver King's ·1 Have A Dream· speech at Holy Family Hospital's Health Education Center, 5633 N. Lidgerwood St in Spokane.

5 p.m.: The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations will commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a social gathering at the Highlands Day Spa, 4365 E. Inverness Drive, (the old Highlands golf club) in Post Falls. The event includes food and auctions. Tickets cost $25 and are available at the door. For more information, (208) 765-3932.

6 p.m.: A "Help Light the Way" celebration starts at Pioneer Park in Lewiston and continues with a candlelight procession to the Lewis-Clark State College Activity Center and entertainment by the KuUmba African Drummers, dance troupe POWER-UP, and the Spokane Community Gospel Choir. The Rev. Happy Watkins will deliver the "I Have A Dream· speech. For more information, call (208) 743-1535 or (208) 792-2812.

Tuesday 10 a.m.: Keynote speaker Edgar Hargrow will present "Like a Mighty Army: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement in America, 1955-1968," at the JFK Library Auditorium at Eastern Washington University in Cheney.

11 a.m.: A Celebration of Diversity will take place in Lewis-Clark State College Solarium in the Student Union Building in Lewiston. The event includes panel discussions and entertainment For more information, call (208) 792-2084.

Wednesday 11:30 a.m.: Dorothy Webster, director of administrative services for the city of Spokane, will speak at a luncheon at Spokane Falls Community College. The event will be in the Student Union Building lounges A, B and C, 3410 W. Fort George Wright Drive. Tickets are $7. For more information, call 533-3240.

Page 4

Saturday, January 22, 2005

ED,, CAT ION NOTEBOOK

Fifth-graders get histoty lesson through Living Voices Correspondent

Through the magic of an interactive performance by professional actor Bob Williams of Living Voices, all of the Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls school district fifth-graders recently got a glimpse of America's fight for civil rights, as part of the Unda celebration of Martin Ball Luther King Jr. Day. Living Voices, a Seattle theatrical group, was brought to the area by Skyway Elementary Principal Pam Pratt.

Williams opened the program at Borah Elementary by asking the ~ mbled students, who were joined by Dalton Elementary students, ''What is a right?'' He explained basic human rights and used the Red Cross as an example of a human rights agency and descnbed its work, including the disaster relief under way in tsunami-stricken South Asia.

Then he explained civil rights, and that there was a time when not everyone was treated equally.

"What does segregation mean?" Williams asked..

Borah student Tiana Simmons raised her hand and replied, "It means when you're separated.·· Williams gave the students a brief refresher on the fight for equality, beginning with slavery.

He talked about African Americans' struggle for the right to vote and access to education and how African American soldiers in World War II had to fight in segreg~ted units even though they were fighting for the.same cause as

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Bob Wllllams of UVlng Voices gives a presentation at Borah Elementary School Jan 12.

the white soldiers - to defeat an eneiµy who professed to be of the master race.

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tha11 they did in their own country. With that, WilJiams began the video, which contained often graphic photos, to create an experience for the students of what it was like be a part of the fight for civil rights. "The Right to Dream: Share the Struggle" involved watching and listening to the video and to WilJiams as he acted out the part of'a young black activist named Ray, a composite character based on true stories.

The character remembers how he wasn ·t allowed to ride the bus, and how when be was 12 years old, Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of the bus. He attends sit-ins and nonviolent demonstrations, even as the violence is escalating. Ray is threatened that his mother will be harmed if be doesn't stop the activism.

The depiction of "Bloody Sunday," March 7, 1965, when some 600 civil-rights marchers in Alabama were attacked with clubs and tear gas. was fairly graphic, but the students handled it well. The story does have a happy ending with African Americans winning full civil rights.

William's delivered the story with poignancy and enthusiasm. When the floor was opened for questions, one student asked about discrimination against other races. Williams talked a little about discrimination against Irish immigrants and Asians. One Living Voices program titled "Within the Silence: Share the Courage," deals with Japanese Americans interned during World War Il. Williams got involved in Living Voices after seeing a performance of '"Through The Eyes of a Friend: Share the World of Anne Frank." He has been with the group since 1997.

Borah Elementary Principal Bob Shamberg

reminded the students of the importance of history.

"We need to learn the lessons of 1:tistory, so the world can be a better place," he said.

Students of the Month Tunberlake Junior High School has announced its students of the month for December.

Seventh-grader Mathew Radenz of Athol enjoys basketball, archery, coin collecting and fishing. Megan Rakowski of Spirit Lake enjoys horseback riding, basketball and raising rabbits for 4-H and is a member of the American Quarter Horse Association.

Eighth-grader Jarrod Crump of Athol enjoys water-skiing, boating and camping. He also acts and plays the piano. Rebecca Radenz of Athol enjoys volleyball, cheerleading, cooking and art.

• The students of the month for December for Lakeland High School are as follows: Sophomore J.T. Sharrai enjoys soccer, golf and skiing. He plans to attend college-after high school.

Junior Andrew Bear enjoys hanging out with friends, playing sports and going to the movies.

He is planning, to major in business in college.

Senior Jared Eby also enjoys hanging out with friends, sports and playing his guitar. He will attend either Boise State University or University of Idaho next year and study math.

• Inside our Schools is a weekly feature of Handle Extra. If you know of something interesting going on at a Kootenai County school, contact Linda Ball at Hndab@spokesman.com or by phone at 765-7129.

OUR VIEW Proposed Aryan Congress will hm;e to find new location.

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In his final years, Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler lived for his annual racist conferences and downtown Coeur d'Alene parades, where he would surround himself with like-minded disciples and thumb his nose at the community that overwhelmingly rejected his foul creed and him.

Unfortunately, his sad-sack movement didn't die when he did last fall.

Jim Ramm, an Oregonian who spent considerable time with the ailing racist, is planning to honor Butler at a whites-only summer gathering on 5 acres near Athol, Idaho. Time will tell how serious Ramm is about staging a July event because he has a history of not following through on announced plans. Ramm's notice may be no more than a grandstand play to gain traction as he and other supremacists struggle to claim Butler's leadership mantle.

Ramm's announcement, however, underscores an important fact: He has no place of his own in North Idaho upon which to stage a significant event.

Obviously, the annual Aryan Congress can't take place at Butler's old compound above Hayden Lake. It's gone. Every building has been leveled. Every trailer has been moved. Every symbol of the Aryan Nations removed or destroyed, including trees that had swastikas carved into them. Wisely, local human rights activists seized Butler's land and buildings as part of a $6.3 million civil verdict that bankrupted Butler and the Aryans more than four years ago. By razing Butler's 20-acre compound, the activists denied refuge and a shrine to a new generation of white supremacists, like Ramm.

As he was dying, human rights activist Bill Wassmuth said he regretted deeply that he hadn't sued Butler and his organization after three Aryans bombed his home in 1986. WassJ]luth realized that the Aryans would have scattered sooner without a hate center. After Butler died, the Aryan Nations remnant moved its headquarters and post office box to Lincoln, Ala. Imagine where Kootenai County would be today without the civil trial that broke Butler.

If Butler had kept bis property and bestowed his mantle on a young turk, like Ramm, Kootenai County might be facing a never-ending fight against racism, rather than an annual annoyance.

Butler's compound might have continued as an educational center for hatred and staging area for hate crimes. Freshly minted ex-cons, with a racial chip on their shoulder, would have continued to visit North Idaho for indoctrination as well as free room and board.

Whether or not Ramm carries through on his gathering, he served notice, by bis announcement, that Butler's hateful propaganda found some fertile soil. Ramm relies on the Internet, the media and propaganda drops at odd hours to get his racist message out. He has no headquarters to do that in the lnJand Northwest.

In the end, we can thank Wassmuth and other leaders of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations for their dedicated, disciplined war against racism - a fight which ultimately claimed the racists' foothold as spoils. â&#x20AC;˘ "Our View¡ represents the editorial voice ofThe Spokesman-Review. It is written by members of the editorial board, who are listed on this page.

REGIONAL NEWS

Briefly

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Compiled from staff and wire reports

Aryan Nations documentary updated An updated documentary on the Aryan Nations will air Tuesday on the History Channel.

The program, which was filmed years ago, left viewers with the impression that the white supremacy group was still active in North Idaho, according to a press release from North Idaho College.

Tony Stewart, an NIC instructor and member of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, was recently contacted by the History Channel to help update the footage.

The documentary wiIJ now include information about the trial that bankrupted the hate group and forced Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler to turn -0ver his compound, which is now a peace park.

"Nazi America: A Secret History" will air Tuesday on the History Channel.

Check local listings for times.

Schedule Thursd aÂĽ, March 3, 2005 4:00-6:00

Opening Dialogue:The United States and the International Order

Professor Jordan Paust & Professor Abraham Sofaer 6:30

Reception

Friday, March 4, 2005 I0:00-12:00

Panel:The Rise and Fall of International Actors

Professor Leila Sadar: Professor Mon,ca Sdiurtman: Dr. Karen Kaiser: Professor Russell Miller 1:30-2:30

Panel:The Use of Force and the World's Peace

Professor Bnan Foley: Peu Valek; Luke Davis 4:00-6:00

Panel: International Jurisdiction and International Jurisprudence

Professor Cesare Romano:Dr. Betsy Baker; Professor Melissa Waters; Kelly Parker 7:00-9:00

Dinner - Keynote Address

Professor Barry Corter

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Sah1rday, March 5, 2005 I 0:00-12:00

Panel:World Trade, Development and Environmental Protection Professor Steve McCaffrey: Professor Amy Sinden: Professor Rebecca Brarspies; Professor U Chen; RomuakJ A[atdiao

1:30

Panel:The Challenge of International Human Rights Professor Mayo Moron: Professor Hori Osofsky: Professor Penl'l'f Andrews; Pia Carozo: Daniel Luker

4:00

Reception

The panel on Human Rights and the reception to follow have been generously supported by: Carr Foundation.

Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, Washington State University Center for J;{uman Rights.

The Annual Idaho International Law Symposium ,s made possible by the continued support of Dean Donald Burnett

THE PRESS Tuesday, April 5, 2005

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North Idaho

Documentary on Aryan Nations in Idaho airs and demolition of its Hayden headquarters. The previous version ended with the Aryans continuing a presence

By JOE BUTLER in the area.

Staff writer The "Nazi America: A Secret History'' program airs COEUR d' ALENE at 5 a.m. and 11 a.m. today, Starting today, the History and will likely be repeated Channel will air "the rest of over the next few weeks. The the story" about the rise and show is two hours long. fall of the Aryan Nations in "I'm very pleased that the Idaho. network wanted to complete The channel recently added the story by talking about the new footage to a documentary victory in the trial and the it created years ago, showing creation of the peace park by the civil trial of members of the Greg Carr Foundation," the white supremacy group said Tony Stewart, a North

New footage has been added to prior story

Idaho College instructor and member of the Kootenai Task Force on Human Relations. ''It gives us the opportunity to tell the nation about our victory over hate."

Stewart said that ever since the original program came out, viewers had the idea that the Aryans were alive and well in Idaho. But the new version shows that things have changed.

In 1998, a Kootenai County jury reached a $6.3 million verdict against Richard Butler and other Aryans, stemming from two people claiming they

were shot at and assaulted outside the 20-acre compound.

Jason and Victoria Keenan were awarded the compound and sold it to the Carr Foundation, which donated the property to North Idaho College. The college plans to use it as a peace park.

Video footage and photos for the new production were provided by Dianna Gissel, president of the task force, and wife of human rights activist Norm Gissel.

The History Channel is 34 through Adelphia.

Activist: i

Spokane, Wash. Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

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NIC professor Tony Stewart says group's fall Is given short shrift

ans film not corrected enough

By Nicholas K. Geranlos Associated Press

The History Channel's documentary on the Aryan Nations didn't have enough recent history for northern Idaho residents who were reluctant neighbors of the neoNazi group.

So they were happy when the cable network updated its oft-rerun show, "Nazi America: A Secret History," to include the news that the Aryan Nations' founder was dead and his compound was kaput.

The new version, which first aired last Tuesday, is OK, but gives short shrift to the demise of Aryan Nations in northern Idaho. said Tony Stewart, a civil rights activist who provided information to The History Channel. " It helped but it wasn't as complete as it could have been," said Stewart, a North Idaho College professor and a co-founder

Saturday, April 9, 2005

of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. "Unless you were following closely, it might not be completely clear that the Aryans are gone."

"We appreciate the fact they did update it, but we were hoping the casual viewer would get a clearer message," Stewart said.

Only a few moments at the end of the two-hour program were devoted to rbe 2000 triaJ that bankrupted the Aryan Nations, the subsequent sale and destruction of its compound, and the 2004 death of founder Richard Butler, Stewart said.

The bulk of the program was the history of the neo-Nazi movement in the United States, from its origins in the 1930s.

Lynn Gardner, a spokeswoman for The History Channel, said the five-year-old documentary needed to be updated to add the deaths of Butler last year and Wit-

liam Pierce of the neo-Nazi National Alliance. who died in 2002. There are no plans to add additional information, she said. " [t won't run in prime time because it is old," she said from New York City, but the program will likely air again in other hours.

The original documentary was filmed when Butler still had his 20-acre compound near H ayden that served as a magnet for anti-Semitic, white supremacists.

About two weeks ago, producers for The History Channel asked Stewart to provide information and pictures of the destruction of Aryan Nations.

The new version of the documentary noted the trial and Butler's death and showed a bulldozer tearing into a building with a swastika on the roof. Stewart said.

It also contained a quote from Butler

Page 83

The Aryan Nations maintains a Web sitefrom Alabama, but its members are locked in a feud over who controls the group now. talking about how his group would endure in northern Idaho, wbich could give viewers the impression it still exists, Stewart said.

The Aryan Nations maintains a Web site from Alabama. but its members are locked in a feud over who controls the group now.

Stewart said the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations will produce its own documentary to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the task force, and wilt spend more time on the demise of Aryan Nations in northern Idaho. It will be offered to PBS stations.

Butler died in his sleep last September at the age of 86. For three decades his neo-Nazi group was among the dominant public images of northern Idaho. lo 2000. a Coeur d'Alene jury ruled against Butler in a $6.3 million lawsuit filed by two people who had been attacked by bis security guards. The verdict pushed B utler into bankruptcy, forcing him to relinquish L1is land.

The land was sold to multimillionaire human-rights activist Greg Carr, who had the buildings burned and the grounds converted into a peace park. ¡

Idaho

-Aryan Nations film gets update History Channel adds Richard Butler's death, seizure of compound

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS

Associated Press writer COEUR d'ALENE - The History Channel's documentary on the Aryan Nations didn't have enough recent history for North Idaho residents who were reluctant neighbors of the neo-Nazi group.

So they were happy when the cable network updated its oft-rerun show, "Nazi America: A Secret History," to include the news that the Aryan Nations' founder was dead and his compound was kaput.

TI1e new version, which first aired last Tuesday, is OK, but gives short shrift to the demise of Aryan Nations in North Idaho, said Tony Stewart, a civil rights activist who provided information to TI1e History Channel.

"It helped but it wasn't as complete as it could have been," said Stewart, a North Idaho College professor and a co-founder of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. "Unless you were following closely, it might not be completely clear that the Aryans are gone."

i'We appreciate the fact they did update it, but we were hoping the casual viewer would get a clearer message," Stewart t said.

Only a few moments at the end of the two-hour program were devoted to the 2000 trial that bankrupted the Aryan Nations, the subsequent sale and destruction of its compound, and the 2004 deatl1 of founder Richard Butler, Stewart said.

The bulk of the program was the history of the neoNazi movement in the United States, from its origins in the

1930s.

Lynn Gardner, a spokeswoman for The History Channel, said the five-year-old documentary needed to be updated to add the deaths of Butler last year and William Pierce of the neo-Nazi National Alliance, who died in 2002. There are no plans to add additional information, she said.

"It won't nm in prime time because it is old," she said from New York City, but the program will Likely air again in other hours.

The original documentary was filmed when Butler still had his 20-acre compound near Hayden that served as a magnet for anti-Semitic, white supremacists.

About two weeks ago, producers for The History Channel asked Stewart to provide information and pictures of lhe destruction of Aryan Nations.

The new version of the documentary noted the trial and Butler's death and showed a bulldozer tearing into a building with a swastika on the roof, Stewart said.

It also contained a quote from Butler talking about how his gr oup would endure in Nortl1 Idaho, which could give viewers the impression it still exists, Stewart said.

The Aryan Nations maintains a Web site from Alabama, but its members are locked in a feud over who controls the group now.

Stewart said the Kootenai

THE PRESS Saturday, April 9, 2005

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Associated Press fi le

Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler, who died in 2004, is shown in Hayden in this Oct. 1, 2003, file photo. The History Channel's documentary on the Aryan Nations didn't have enough recent history for North Idaho resident s w ho w ere reluctant neighbors of the neo-Nazi group.

County Task Force on Human Relations will produce its own documentary to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the task force, and will spend more time on the demise of Aryan Nations in North Idaho.

It will be offered to PBS stations.

Butler died in his sleep last September at the age of 86.

For three decades his neo-Nazi group was among the dominant public images of North Idaho.

In 2000, a Coeur d'Alene jury ruled against Butler in a $6.3 million lawsuit filed by two people who had been attacked by his secw¡ity guards. The verdict pushed Butler into bankruptcy, forcing him to re linquis h his land.

TI1e land was sold to multimi Jlionaire human-rig hts activist Greg Carr, who had the buildings burned and the grounds converted into a peace park.

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OEUR D'ALENE, Idaho - This

is not a hate-filled communjty, and never has been. But for more than two decades Coeur d'Alene, a wmmunity beautifully nestled between mountain slopes and an alpine lake, was nearly synonymous with the ugliness of racism.

Coeur d'Alene and Bozeman share many similarities. The two cities are roughly the same size. Built on logging and agriculture, the cities are bener known now for amenities like outstanding scenery Coeur d'Alene, and outdoor recreation. They've both Idaho, went grown fast in recent head-to-head years.

Coeur d' Alene's with the Sherman Avenue, the city's main eastAryan Nations west artery, slants down through the and won. historic and wellpreserved downtown to hotels and boat docks and North Idaho College, all on Lake Coeur d'Alene. Lt's an idyllk scene, as stunning as Bozeman's setting against the Bridger and Gallatin Ranges.

One thing the cities don't share is Coeur d'Alene's intense, decades-long battle against white supremacist groups including the Aryan Nations.

That community's response would ultimately change Idaho law, change the way hate (More on Hate , page A9)

AP/ CHRONICLE ILLUSTRATION

Above, counter demonstrators greet members of the Aryan Nations at a rally of t he white supremacist group in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, In 1999. Below, Coeur d'Alene sits nestled between treeded hllls and the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene, with a population of 36,259 residents.

INSIDE

SEAN SPERRY/ CHRONICLE

• Quick response needed to check hate groups page E1 • Groups are wolves in sheep's clothing page E2

Hate/from page A1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - groups were dealt with and become a model for response for other communities across the country. Coeur d'Alene, a city which to many outsiders bad come to epitomize intolerance, in 1990 became Idaho's first AllAmerica City. It won the award because of its human rights work.

But that came later, after years of battles, after white supremacists had held marches, harassed and assaulted residents, and bombed homes and businesses.

A quiet beginning Richard Butler moved to Coeur d'Alene in 1973. He bought 20 acres of land near Hayden Lake, about 10 miles north of Coeur d'Alene, and called it the world headquarters of his Aryan Nations.

For the next seven years the compound was pretty quiet.

Locals knew he was there and that be was recruiting members.

They occasionally saw Aryan Nations members in the area.

The wakeup call for Coeur d'Alene came one night in late 1980. Vandals tagged a restaurant owned by Jewish businessman Sid Rosen witb Nazi slogans and anti-Semjtic slurs.

The same day Rosen discovered the vandalism at rus restaurant, about 20 community members met there in the everung to show support for rum.

Marshall Mend, a local real estate agent, was there, though he downplays any noble motives for his immediate involvement.

"Here I an1, a Jew in Northern Idaho;â&#x20AC;˘ Mend said.

"My first response was looking out for No. 1, looking out for me."

He knew the incident could mark the start of a dangerous time.

Soon after the Rosen's Restaurant incident, a second ugly threat emerged. A man named Keith Gilbert began harassing a multi-racial Coeur d'Alene family. He took to following one of the boys home from school.

SEAN SPERRY/CHRONICLE

A swastika Is shown that was recently spay painted on a Durston Street sidewalk In Bozeman.

" If you can imagine, threatening a child's life, but he did it:' said Norm Gissel, a Coeur d'Alene attorney who also became involved in the human rights movement.

That harassment so outraged Mend that he became committed to fighting the white supremacists.

He and other residents formed the Kootenai Comity Task Force on Human Relations.

' Present at the first meeting were the incoming Kootenai County prosecutor and the incoming undersheriff.

That early involvement of law enforcement was important, Gissel said.

Battling perceptions as well as Nazis The national media had learned what it knew about civil rights violations covering the desegregation battles of the 1950s and l 960s. ln the South, racist activity went on with the tacit approval of the "white ruling elite;' said Gissel, who bad spent part of his military career in Mississippi in 1963.

"So the national media knew that when there was Klan activity, there was support from the ruling elite from their community," Gissel said. "The default presumption of the national media was that it was (in Coeur d'Alene) just like it was in the south. It was our job to make a Lie out of that, to make sure the ruling elite did not support ( white supremacists)."

Mend said they succeeded. "(Supremacists) never got that support," Mend said.

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instead law enforcement prosecuted vigorously.

Father Roger LaChance is pastor at St. Pius X and a member of the human rights task force. His predecessor at St. Pius had also been a leader in the human rights task force, and had been the target of a pipe bomb attack at the church rectory.

"People would say, 'we're not coming to northern Idaho because of hatred and prejudice:" LaChance said. "That's insanity.

It's a great community. That's why to be painted with the racism brush is really tough."

In 1983, the task force was instrumental in getting Idaho's Malicious Harassment Act passed, which made it a felony to harass anyone. In 1987, Idaho passed the Civil Remedies Act, which made it possible for victims to sue the harasser for actual damages, punitive damages and attorney fees. The same year, Idaho's Domestic Terrorist Act made paramilitary training by two or more individuals punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Other laws restricted explosives, mandated reporting by law enforcement of hate crimes and prohibited filing false liens.

"Then one day we looked up, looked around and we had the

BOZEMAN DAILY CHRONICLE, Sunday, April 3, 2005

A9

SEAN SPERRY/ CHRONICLE

Pastor at Coeur d'Alene's St. Plus X, Fr. Roger LaChance sits recently In the church's sanctuary.

The stance of the church against the Aryan Nations and Its Involvement with the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations may have lead to the bombing of the church rectory In the '80s.

best anti-hate statutes in the u.s.:· Gissel said.

Out-front and vocal Tony Stewart has been a political science professor at North Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene since 1973. Stewart is a cheerful man, with pale blue eyes and thinning white hair, and a slightly mischievous demeanor, as if he has something surprising to say and is just waiting for the right moment.

By 1980 be was known in Coeur d'Alene for his annual issues forum and a radio show. So the human rights task force organizers asked Stewart to come to the first meeting. He's been involved ever since.

From the very first meeting, the task force adopted two main strategies, Stewart said.

First, they decided that they would be "very out-front and vocal," Stewart said. They did not believe, as some in the community <lid, that just ignoring the racists would make them go away.

Second, no matter what Richard Butler did, "We would never attend anything he did, but whenever he did something, we would do something of even greater magnitude:· Stewart said.

For example, in 1985, when Butler held his world congress meeting in Coeur d'Alene, the media came from all over the

nized and enjoyed the power of this humorous - and productive - plan. The news media loved the neat triumvirate of possibilities and trumpeted it in ~merous stories and broadcasts.

Butler's march lasted 27 minutes.

"When it was all over, we'd raised $35,0oo:• Stewart said.

And the best was yet to come.

The task force divided the money up and arranged to make grants to civil rights groups around Kootenai County. They "Lemons to Lemonade" stretched the awards out over months, calling a news conferButler had announced he was ence each time they issued a going to lead a parade through grant. downtown Coeur d'Alene.

"And every time, we'd say, The Kootenai County Task 'We have to say Richard Butler Force on Human Relations came raised this money for human up with a plan they called rights:" Stewart said. "To me "lemons to lemonade," and held that is much better than standa news conference of its own. ing on the sidelines and yelling Individuals and businesses, for 27 minutes;' task force members explained, Richard Butler died in had pledged to donate money to September, 2004. By that time the task force for every minute he'd seen bis Aryan Nations lose the Aryan Nation march lasted. its compound in a multi-million Butler had three choices, the judgment in a lawsuit brought task force announced: by a woman and her son who had been assaulted by neo-Nazi • Cancel the march, which would be good for the commuguards. nity, but wouldn't raise any The 20 acres was given to money for human rights.

North Idaho College. Every • Lead the marchers really, building was razed, every sign of really quickly through town, its former purpose buried or which would raise some money carted off. After allowing time for human rights. for the land to "heal:' a college official said, the property will • March very slowly, which become a peace park. would raise a lot of money for human rights.

Ron Tschida is at rtschida@dailycl1ronicle.com People immediately recog-

country and Butler drew about 300 followers to his rallies.

Meanwhile, at a city park some distance away, the community held a peace rally that drew 1,000 people.

"We did something but we didn't go out and stand by the gate with a protest sign:' Stewart said.

But probably the most satisfying response the community came up with occurred in 1998.

About a 30-mlnute drive from Coeur d'Alene, the former world headquarters for the Aryan Nations sits padlocked and gated off. The land was given to North Idaho College after a multl-mllllon dollar Judgment bankrupt the Aryan Nations. The 20 acres Is now used for a few classes and cattle grazing. All of the former bulldlngs and signs were removed, erasing the Aryan Nations' presence from the land.

OEUR D'ALENE, Idaho - Bozeman must re pond quickly, vigorously and persistently t the arrival of National Allian e repre entative Kevin McGuire, say those who've dealt with white suprema i t in other communities.

The National Alliance on it Web site lists among its goal creation of a "white Living pace" free of the" ickne of multiculturali m;' and a ociety based on Aryan valu . ft says it i working for "a thorough rooting out of emitic and other non-Aryan values everywhere."

The Anti-Defamation League has linked the Nati nal Alliance to violent acts and has called it "the mo t dangerous organized hate group in the coun-

try."

Alliance member have distributed leaflets in everal area of B zeman and McGuire ha filed for a eat on the Bozeman chool Board.

Tony Stewart a political science profes or at North Idaho College, helped form a human rights ta k for e in C eur d'Alene, in re ponse to threat by such groups in the 1980s.

The National Alliance is "testing your community;' tewart aid, probing to ee what level of support they might find.

"You need all egment of your community coming together," tewart said.

That means not just a human right group and lergy, but business people, educators, law enfor ement - everybody.

T

here i always debate about whether fighting u h group publicly help d feat them or merely give them free publicity, said Mar hall Mend, a Long-time real e tate agent in Coeur d'Alene. He had several bu iness people tell him he hould quiet down.

Mend ha nod ubt which ide he falls on: let them know they're not welcome.

"The louder it is, the better it is:' Mend said. "I've been trained in sales, and one of the things I've learned is silence gives consent." uman rights activists in Bozeman organized a rally on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which drew more than l,000 supporters, an action that drew praise from Robert Jacobs, Pacific Northwest regional director for the Anti-Defamation League.

That sort of visible community reaction is important, Jacobs said.

"Otherwise it's been somewhat of a slippery slope. It starts with leafletting, then graffiti and property damage and then if there's no community response saying, 'We don't want you in our community,' we have seen in at least three cities in my region, which is five states, actual violence."

That's why any level of racist activity requires a response, Mend said. "If you let them hang around, that's what's going to happen."

Rigorous law enforcement also is key to success, said Norm Gissel, a Coeur d'Alene attorney and human rights activist.

Every misdemeanor infraction, every felony offense should be prosecuted, the Idaho contingent said. In Coeur d'Alene, officials were able to put one Aryan Nations member in prison for welfare fraud.

Communities dealing with racist groups should form a human rights task force if one doesn't already exist.

One thing Gissel learned is that the media is always looking for someone to speak "for the other side."

"If the national media comes, you want an educated 'other side.,,, Gissel said. "A task force serves the purpose of explaining the reality of a racist event.

You can't always rely on the sheriff or the prosecutor."

Ron Tschida is at rtschida@dailychrot1icle.com

H

Tony Stewart, a polltlcal science professor at North Idaho College, helped organize a human rights group In Coeur d'Alene In response to Aryan Nations activities In the 1980s.

Story by RON TSCHIDA Photography by SEAN of the Chronicle

SPERRY

With a population sllghtly larger than Bozeman's, Coeur d'Alene boasts many slmllarltles to Bozeman, Including a well-developed downtown area.

SUNDAY, APRIL 3, 2005

: E2

BOZEMAN DAILY CHRONICLE , Sunday, April 3, 2005

SUNDAY

~Fighting hate: One city's response

Realtor Marshal Mend became an active member of the Coeur d'Alene human rights task force after a Jewish restaurant In Coeur d'Alene was spray painted with swastikas.

Attorney Norman Gissel sits In his Coeur d'Alene law office where he has battled white supremacist groups for the past 25-years.

Stories by RON TSCHIDA Photography by SEAN of the Chronicle

SPERRY

Hate groups look for welcome signs OEUR D'ALENE, Idaho - White su- dience, such as a cross-burning or a factory premacist groups don't target commu- closing, he said. A factory closing means outnities at random, says Norm Gissel, a of-work and possibly disgruntled people.

Coeur d'Alene attorney who has battled neo"As humans we normally look for someNazi and other white suone else to blame our premacist groups. They woes on," Roy said. come to a particular comGroups like the National munity because they see Alliance offer a target: something that indicates minorities. they might be welcomed Gissel has traveled there. around the United States Gissel said he has no to talk to communities idea why Kevin McGuire, about his experience a National Alliance memfighting hate groups. He's ber, chose Bozeman. But seen some patterns in he's convinced McGuire is their methods. not here by accident. " They start as service Joe Roy, who works for groups:' Gissel said. They the Intelligence Project at attempt to gain some levthe Southern Poverty Law el of legitimacy. The mesCenter and tracks hatesage tends to morph togro up activity, said such ward anti-government - Norm Gissel, rhetoric and then to activity sometimes springs Coeur d'Alene attorney racist attacks. up just because someone already living in a com"They become the munity starts believing in the message of a racial gatekeepers of the community," Gissel group such as the National Alliance. said.

Roy's not sure either why McGuire chose to Roy wasn't surprised to learn McGuire had try to gain a footing in Bozeman, but he's seen filed for School Board in Bozeman. chapters of the National Alliance and Neo-Nazi "That used to be looked at as the exercise groups spring up all over the country. of the day (for white supremacists)," he said.

"Sometimes an incident will bring them "They used to encour age their members to in," Roy said. seek office where they might gain legitimacy."

They watch the Internet for something Ron Tschida is at rtschida@dailychronicle.com that indicates they might find a welcome au-

C

"They start as service groups. They attempt to gain some level of legitimacy.

The message tends to morph toward anti-government rhetoric and then to racist attacks."

National Alliance numbers on decline in recent years C

OEUR D'ALENE, Idaho - The National Defamation League. In the 1990s, the Aryan Alliance, a white supremacist group with Republican Army was responsible for a string of headquarters on a West Virginia farm, may be on violent acts using tactics adopted from The Order. the ropes, according to one watchdog group.

People who have adopted the ideas promoted Joe Roy, who works for the Intelligence Project by these groups - anti-Semitism, white suat the Southern Poverty Law Center said in a re- premacy- will look for like-minded individuals cent interview that the death of if their own organization folds.

National Alliance founder William "Like if you're a gun enthusiast Pierce in 2002 has left the organiza- "The thing to be and your gun club doses, you tion reeling. look for another one;' Roy said alarmed about "It's on shaky ground," Roy said.

Unfortunately, he added, there "It's gone from 1,500 members (na- is that they're isn't a shortage of such groups to tionwide) to 500 or 600 members. choose from.

They've gone from 17 paid em- recruiting."

Robert Jacobs, Pacific ployees up at their compound R Northwest regional director for - Joe oy, the Anti-Defamation League, said down to two or three volunteers:' Intelligence Project the National Alliance still is the But while the organization seems to be limping, Roy said it's too early largest white supremacist group to write it off. in the country. And while there has been in-fight"The thing to be alarmed about is that they're ing among its members, the organization seems recruiting," Roy said. to be regrouping, he said.

The National Alliance targeted Bozeman be"One problem we have seen is they're becomginning last fall, distributing leaflets and meming a lot more media savvy;' Jacobs said. bership applications in various parts of town.

At least one National Alliance chapter even Kevin McGuire, who recently filed for a school participates in the "Adopt a Highway" program. board seat, claims to be the local representative of Roy said he sees basically three possibilities for the National Alliance, whkh advocates a whites- the National Alliance. only society.

It's apparently being run by committee now The National Alliance Web site is still quite ac- with a fair amount of infighting, but a new leader tive, having been updated at least 13 times in the could emerge to reinvigorate the National past month. It serves as a propaganda and reAlliance. cruiting tool, and Web-casts programs.

Or, some members could start a similar group Another point that argues against complacen- under a new name and entice as many National cy is the tradition of cross fertilization between Alliance chapters as possible to join their fold. various hate groups.

"That stands a pretty good chance of happening," For example, Robert Mathews, leader ofterRoy said. rorist gang The Order in the early 1980s, was preThe third possibility is that the organization viously a Pacific Northwest representative for the could just colJapse.

Ron Tschida is at rtschida@dailychronicle.com National Alliance, according to the Anti

WEATHER

Partly cloudy High 74, Low 46 A2

Saturday April 23, 2005

Civil rights award surprises winner 83-year-old honoree grew up in grip of the Depression

By LYNN BERK Staff w riter

tant award.

"I wonder who is going to get it this

time?"

When her name was announced as recipient 1,,.; of the Kootenai County COEUR d'ALENE -The last Task Force on Human thing Ida Louise Hawkins remembers Relations "Civil Rights . about that March night was turning Award" in March, her Hawkins to her friend, Evergreen State College mouth dropped open.

President Thomas "Les" Purce, and '1 had no idea," she said. "I was in saying, "This is a very, very imporcomplete shock. I didn't know what

to do. I covered my face, and I didn't know what to say."

Previous winners include Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the organization that brought the Ku Klux Klan to its financial knees; former Gov. Phil Batt; and the voters of Hayden for their record turnout opposing the Aryan Nations.

Tony Stewart, secretary for the task force, called Hawkins a "wonderful, wonderful woman.

"It's interesting that in all these

many years she wasn't recognized for her work," he says. ''We were delighted to have that chance, especially in front of 400 people."

The 83-year-old woman grew up in Idaho in the grip of the Depression and never learned how not to accept someone different from her.

'1 always looked at people," she says.

"I never looked at color."

WINNER continued on A3

WINNER

continued from A 1

"I always wanted

She doe n't like to talk to be somebody about it Any kind of perwho would help onal publicity embarra se Hawkins badly. And yet the people. I just don't root of her commitment to want to talk about civil and human rights are burmyself." ied deep in those days when an extra plat was alway avail- Ida Louise Hawkins able in the family household.

"My family wasn t a affected a other p ople by the Depre sion - my dad State Medical Advisory always had a job - but what Board for Title XIX Social and I realized back then wa that there were so many people on Rehabilitative Services.

• Project director, Kootenai poverty.

County Youth Services System "We were on poverty, too," Project she say . "But we didn't know • Member of Idaho it, becau e there wa alway food on the table. We lost a lot Juvenile Justice Delinquency in the Depres ion, but nobody Prevention Advisory Council. came to our house and left ••• hungry. Hoboes would om knocking on our door. We In sixth grade h began alway had chi ken and milk taking clas e in hi tory and and a garden. If kid came to ocial ciences. play with me who didn't have "I wa always a very sensishoe , my dad made ure th y tive per on, and that was when did when they left."

You just helped people, she my feeling of ju tice bloomed," she says. 'That's when I startsays. ed tl1inking that everybody And as far ba k a he had a right not to be hungry. can remember, that' what Everybody had a right not to Hawkin wanted to do. be homeles .' ' I alway wanted to b She was fa cinat d by a omebody who would help erie of books called the people. I ju t don't want to talk Child' Rug erie that was about myself. ' later, he says, yanked out of She doe n't have to: She the s hools. But those books spent 30 years working in the linked history and geography field of juvenile ju tice and the li t of her volunteer a tivi- together in a way that hadn't been done before - in a way tie alone take up two ingle that put the microscope on not spaced page : just social problems but their • Human re our e tate causes as well. chairwoman for th Idaho Those books, along with a League of Women Voters. "marvelous" history teacher • Author of "Poverty in Idaho " documenting the prob- named Mr. Dean and her work lem of welfare, employment, a a debater, honed her interaging, housing and health est in tho e problems.

"I debated socialized mediand used a a blu print by the Office of pedal Services in cine," he says with a chuckle.

Boie.

'I till have my debate notes.

• Member of the tate But you start doing things like Human Re ourc project that and you gain an awarefunded by the Office of Equal n s. My grandmother, she Opportunity in cooperation wa part Indian and a midwife. with th As ociation of Idaho My grandfather, he was a Citie . deputy heriff for Kootenai • Member of the Idaho County.

'They did things to help people. That' what you should do. You hould help people."

The bigge t changes he' een in her life were tho e in civil right , tarting with Brown vs. the Board of Education that opened up the South to integration, and going on through the poll tax abolition, the voting rights act, the right to equality.

"I was always an activist," she says. "You have to understand when you talk about civil rights that I lived through all of that, tarting in 1954. I lived through all the civil rights acts.

"Lyndon John on was probably one of my heroes, not only in civil rights but because he also believed that children have the right to be clothed, the right to be fed."

But it started she says with Thurgood Marshall, the first black Supreme Court Ju tice and legal director for the National Organization for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). 'vrl1at was the beginning," she says. '1t was all because of . " h un.

And becau e of Ida Louise Hawkin , other lives have chang d a well.

"One NI student at the banquet aid to me, 'I would love, 50 year from now, to have done what she did,"' said Steward. "And another woman, a member of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, aid the whole banquet was a life-changing experience for her. ' But she al o aid that Ida Hawkins made her want to dedicate her life to working more for human rights. Ida became a connection there between generation ."

But in spite of her years working for civiJ and human rights, Ida Louise Hawkins' philosophy is pretty simple.

"If you see an injustice," she says, "you have to act on it."

Lynn Berk can be reached at 664-8176, ext. 2016, or at lberk@cdapress.com.

Human

rights director • resigns Rhys Johnson says he, board differ on direction of Institute

By Erica Curfess Staff writer

The director of Coeur d'Alene's Human Rights Education Institute recently resigned, saying he and the board have differing views about the direction of the institute.

Rhys Johnson's July 22 resignation comes just eight months after he was hired, ending a nearly two-year search that netted more than 70 candidates.

"They weren't matching me, and I wasn't matching them," Johnson said Tuesday.

Yet Johnson said his short stay in Coeur d'Alene was successful because be helped create a vision for human rights that went beyond the story of how Kootenai County conquered and bankrupted the Aryan Nations.

"I've helped to enliven the idea of human rights now that the Nazis are gone,·· Johnson said. "But I don't see a future for myself Continued:

Johnson/ 83

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Johnson: Group · is still taking baby steps Continued from Bl

in this institute."

Board member Mary Lou Reed called Johnson a "wonderful visionary" but said that developing the institute is going lo take time and a lot of groundwork is still needed.

"I think his vision perhaps was more global than Coeur d'Alene,'' Reed said. ·'We are still thinking a little more regionally. It's slow. We are going to have to move in a little bit more of baby steps."

The board hasn't yet decided whether it will launch another worldwide search for a director. Johnson's assistant, IO Hackworthy, will act as director through December, .,said board chairman Jerry Gee. The nonprofit institute was created in 1998 to provide educational opportunities about human rights, not just in

schools but in the public. It is currently raising money to match the $1 million donated

by Greg Carr, an Idaho native and former chairman of Prodigy Coe., to Johnson realize its vision and build a center, to be located in the fonner railroad battery building at the edge of City Park.

"In a perfect world we would love to have this be an international center to provide information and celebrate diversity and human rights," Gee said.

"To gel there. there are lots of key steps that need to take place. We are still in our infancy - still trying to take those first steps."

Johnson and the board agree that one of his major accomplishments was helping the Lake City High School Human Rights Club put on the World Dollar Day fund-raiser. The club de. signed the fund-raiser around the idea that most people - including students

with only a small allowance-could afford to give a dollar.

"Human rights can be as small as giving a dollar,·· Johnson said.

Johnson, 39, came to North Idaho fresh from an assignment to build a judicial system in East Timor and had spent nearly a decade working in the war-tom Gaza Strip and Jerusalem.

At the time of his !µring, he said that human rights is about ensuring that hate never can get another foothold in the Northwest. And it·s about focusing on a larger definition of human rights, wnich can include everything from poverty, homelessness. drug abuse, domestic violence and women's rights, Johnson said. He wanted the institute to develop an education program that would work with school districts. and to provide workshops and speakers to help people understand acceptance.

Tilis also would help communities absorb and respect diversity, he said.

Even though Johnson has worked ,vith international conructs, he said strife exists locally - not just over race and gender issues. but over environmental and other issues, too - and people must begin to comrounicare other despite their differences.

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Thursday Aug. 11,2005

Rights institute head resigns Johnson says differing opinions over agency's role led him to leave

By TOM GREENE Staff writer

In Rhys Johnson's world, the realm of human rights reaches far beyond black and white borders.

Because not all of the members of the Human Rights Education Institute agreed with him, Johnson said, he COEUR

d' ALENE

-

recently returned from vacation to find "things had reached a head and a separation was inevitable." . Johnson's resignation was effective July 22, but the Institute did not acknowledge the separation until contacted by Johnson reporters this week.

Board member Mary Lou Reed said the board "talked about" sending out a notification of Johnson's resignation, but nothing ever came of it.

Johnson, who celebrated his 39th

''They didn't really know who I was, where I came from. There were huge trust issues."

RHYS JOHNSON, forme! executive director of the Human Rights Education Institute birthday Wednesday, said he holds no hard feelings despite moving here from overseas for the job just eight months ago. Johnson recently purchased a house in Coeur d'Alene, which he said Wednesday he'll soon put up for sale.

He said his vision of how to lead the fledgling, nonprofit organization was

just too dillerent from his board's.

"I felt that what's needed is a shift from white people and black people to broader human rights issues," he said, citing all citizens' safety, health and ability to work together as more productive JOHNSON continued on A4

JOHNSON

continued from A 1

common goals. "I tried to take this to a place that was meaningful and relevant. They (members of the board) didn't really know who I was, where I came from. There were huge trust issues."

Johnson also acknowledged that his direct communication style didn't always coincide with the way some board members communicated.

"I'masimple,straightforward person who speaks straightforwardly about the one thing I know - human rights," said Johnson, who emerged from poverty as a child in London to earn his law degree and work on human rights issues for a decade in the Middle East.

As an example of differences, Johnson said not everyone on the Institute's board was pleased that he had become involved in low-level discus-

sions involving Coeur d'Alene's divisive Sanders Beach dispute.

The city, county and property owners close to Sanders are embroiled in a legal battle over ownership of the small stretch of beach, which has become a poster child for broader access and ownership issues.

Because of his¡training and familiarity with individuals on both sides of the dispute, Johnson stepped forward as a low-level mediator, simply relaying messages from one side to the other in hopes of averting the contentious, litigious fight that has since divided the community.

"It's about how we understand our shared needs, our shared wants," he said. 'There were lots of opportunities to make solutions. Lots."

Reed said Johnson helped broaden the board's definition of human rights. Under his definition, she said, this would include the environment and Sanders Beach, but she wasn't

sure Sanders Beach was an issue the Institute should get involved with.

'This doesn't mean we as an organization can get involved in every concern that comes before us. It's important to us as an organization to keep our eyes on the task ahead - to create human rights programs that will expand people's understanding and respect for differences," Reed said. "It's important for the public to know we're still on course."

KJ Torgerson was a program manager for the institute and has been appointed by the board as acting director until at least the end of the year, she said, although she expects to go on maternity leave in the next month. She said she will not pursue the director's job.

'Toe job description is to have 10 years of human rights experience and I don't have that," said Torgerson, whose background is in charities and nonprofits.

Torgerson said she will focus on "structural and organizational" needs for the institute in the meantime. She said the institute intends to kick off a capital fund-raising campaign for "building, instruction and endowment." Tue institute is in the planning stages for the building across from Memorial Field, which could be a focal point for the city's Four Corners urban renewal project.

"Before we do a campaign we need to have all the organizational infrastructure in place," Torgerson said.

Institute board chairman Jerry Gee said the board has not discussed what qualities

,

they would like to have in the next director.

"Any time you have a resig- , nation you need to step back and say 'Where do you need , to go and do you need to make changes?' As a board we just haven't done that yet," Gee said.

Gee said Johnson had a positive impact on the Institute dur- , ing his time as director, but "the resignation was just the way to go."

"Sometimes fit depends on timing. We're a very, very , young organization. Sometimes when you have a young organization trying to move forward, it bas different needs than a more mature organization," Gee said.

The institute was created in â&#x20AC;˘ 1998 and received a $1 million , donation from Greg Carr, president of the Carr Foundation, in 2002. , Raising money is on the ~ board's radar, Gee said. ¡, 'That's one of the things we're working on currently .,' - trying to find grants," Gee . said. "Any organization that ' needs to survive and meet its goals needs to have money to survive."

Johnson said he hopes to move soon to Spokane and remain active in human rights issues throughout the Northwest He said he's;~ applied for jobs in New York,~ Washington, D.C., and New~ Zealand, but that he'd like make this region his home~ base. !~ Asked what qualities he~ thinks the board should seek~ in his replacement to bettei~ ensure a successful working~ relationship, Johnson smiled.

"Someone who is like them,: ...: he said.

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Institute needs local executive You must read between the lines somewhat to understand why Rhys Johnson was dumped as director of Coeur d' Alene's Human Rights Education Institute.

Johnson, who'd been on the job only eight months as the institute's first director and local human rights activist talked about differences of vision. an inadequate fit and the need for more groundwork to be laid.

Typically, board members downplayed the bump in their road, saying Johnson's vision for the institute may have been too big.

Johnson, meanwhile, told The Spokesman-Review he'd been successful in his short stay because he helped provide focus for a human rights vision that went beyond the story of how Kootenai County bankrupted the late Richard Butler's Aryan Nations.

Neither side was candid, although a careful listener got the impression that Coeur d'Alene was too parochial for the well-traveled, blunt Johnson, who arrived in town last November after working for seven months to build a judicial system in East Timer. The fledgling institute, on the other hand, was surprised to learn that Johnson's expanded idea of human rights included some involvement in the ongoing Sanders Beach property rights dispute.

The ousted director may have given the best hint to what his removal was about when he told the Coeur d'Alene Press that board members wanted "someone who is like them."

That isn't such a bad idea. Rather than spend another two years in a worldwide search for a director, the institute might be better served by looking for an executive from the Northwest - someone with extensive human-rights involvement and an understanding of the nuances of small communities. The institute's parent organization, the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, has been successful for 25 years in North Idaho because it respected the way small towns operate. was patient in educating others about human rights and developed a consistent message.

For years. the task force relied on local activists, attorneys. law enforcement. business owners and local activists to prevent white supremacists from gaining more than a foothold in North Idaho.

Through trial and error. the late Bill Wassmuth, Tony Stewart, Norm Gissel. Marshall Mend and others developed a model plan of resistance for the Coeur d'Alene area that they shared with other towns facing an invasion. In 1987, their efforts were rewarded with international recognition when the Raoul Wallenberg Committee oftbe United States presented Coeur d'Alene with its first community award for human rights.

In seeking to establish a broad education scope, institute members may have been too impressed with Johnson's battle for human rights in the world's hot spots to consider how he'd fit in North Idaho after the Aryan Nations. But institute supporters can take comfort that Johnson's brief tenure has helped them focus on what they want.

The institute should consider its parting of ways with Johnson to be no more than a stumble that shouldn't hamper its worthy mission to spread the word about human rights.

• "OurViewff represents the editorial voice of The Spokesman-Review. It is written by members of the editorial board, who are listed on this page.

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Aryan aura in Idaho on auction block Organization's decllne In Northwest attributed to racist's death last year

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The North Idaho home and former national headquarters of the Aryan Nations will be sold at public auction next week - ¡ another indicator, experts say, of the decline of the white supremacy group in the region.

With one exception, this summer was the first time in a quarter century that there wasn't an Aryan Nations World Congress in North Idaho and an accompanying, highly disruptive parade of racists through downtown Coeur d'Alene.

Experts who track hate groups say the disappearance of the Aryan Nations in the region is attributable to the death last September of the group's founder, Richard G. Butler.

Continued: Aryans/ A13

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FROM THE FRO NT PAGE

Aryans: Group

now operates from Alabama Continued from Al

The 86-year-old racist, known around the globe, died of a heart attack in the Hayden suburban rancher that served as the Aryan headquarters after Butler lost his prized 20-acre compound in the aftermath of a $6.3 million civil judgment.

After: his death, no one made the monthly mortgage payments, promptJesse TinsJeyfThe Spokesman-Review ing the lender to initiate a foreclosure The Hayden rancher that was the home of Richard Butler Is going up for auction. action.

Butler's former home at 10137 N. Sunview Lane in Hayden is to be sold elsewhere," Gissel said. operations, largely on the lntemet, With the organization now based in and conducted weekly church services to the highest bidder at a public auction at 11 a.m. Wednesday at First Lincoln, Ala., Gissel said "what we're in the suburban rancher.

American Title, 1866 N. Lakewood witnessing is a racial Diaspora."

Just weeks before his death on Sept.

Drive, in Coeur d'Alene.

"They're careening through the Un- 8, 2004, Butler hosted his last Aryan ''He was the glue of the Aryan Na- ited States, looking for their place, and gathering at a private campground tions movement in the Northwest, if they haven't found one. And, I predict, near Cataldo, east of Coeur d'Alene.

Weakened by heart disease, he sat not the country," said FBI agent Norm nor wiU they."

Brown, supervisor of the lnland Butler, an aeronautical engineer in a lawn chair in the back of a pickup Northwest Joint Terrorism Task from California, moved to North Ida- truck on July 17, 2004, for his final Force, which tracks terrorism. ho in the 1970s and built his Church of Aryan Nations parade.

"As a result of his death, we've seen Jesus Christ Christian, also known as This year's gathering, scheduled for a marked decrease in Aryan Nations Aryan Nations, on a 20-acre rural site Sept.16-18, wiU be held in Scottsboro, Ala., not far from the Southern Povactivity in the Inland Northwest," north of Hayden Lake.

Brown said Friday.

Beginning in 1981, racists from erty Law Center, the well-known civil But even with the disappearance of throughout the United States and Ca- rights organization that financially the Aryan Nations, bate crimes and ra- nada gathered every July at the com- toppled the Aryan Nations. cists haven't completely vanished. pound for the annual, three-day ''They have moved their operations Two racists claiming to have Ku Klux Aryan World Congress'. The gathering down here," said senior investigator Klan connections were arrested last included cross-burnings and, in more Joe Roy, who monitors hate groups weekend after a violent attack on a recent years, a parade through down- for the law center in Montgomery, group of Native American teens swim- town Coeur d'Alene. The one excep- Ala. ming in the Spokane River. tion when there was no annual gather"For years," he said,"Butler was the Norm Gissel, a Coeur d'Alene at- ing was 1985 when a splinter faction only magnet who had any success torney and longtime member of the from Butler's church, known as The holding that group together in the Kootenai County Task Force on Hu- Order, was indicted for racketeering.

Northwest." man Relations, said he believes the But Butler lost his prized racist With his passing, others in the Aryan Nations "is now an extinct en- landmark after be was bit with a $6.3 Aryan camp looked for a more centity in this region." million civil judgment in 2000 and was trally located place and picked AlabaThe racist message of the Aryans forced to sell the property after filing ma, Roy said. "The southeastern Unwas "thoroughly rejected by the good bankruptcy. ited States is more historically the crapeople of the Inland Northwest," GisIn the fall of that year, millionaire dle of liate. I don't see that changing sel said. racist Vincent BertoUini moved Butler anytime soon."

"If there's no public support for and the Aryan Nations operation into Instead of one man, the Aryan Natheir beliefs, and that's what happened a house at 10137 N. Sunview Lane in tions is now led by Clark "Laslo" Pathere, groups like the Aryan Natioi1s go Hayden. The hate group continued its terson, of Talladega. Ala.; Jonathan

Williams, of Conyers, Ga., who is Web master and communications director; and longtime Butler confidant Rick Spring, of London, Ark., who is security director.

By moving to Alabama, Butler's Aryan successors walked away from a sizable equity in the home in Hayden.

There is an unpaid balance of $91,486 on the newer ranch-style home - now surrounded by waist-deep weeds and a front yard tree apparently felled by an act of nature. Real estate experts say the home, if cleaned up, would bring $200,000 to $220,000 in today's market.

In 2000, according to public documents, Bertollini made the down-payment and arranged a mortgage through Indy Mac Bank in Pasadena, Calif., allowing Butler to move his Aryan Nations operation into the Hayden home.

The 86-year-old Aryan founder continued making monthly mortgage payments until last Sept. 8 when he was found dead of an apparent heart attack in his bedroom. The mortgage company filed a "notice of default" on April 19 - the date of Adolf Hitler's birthday, which Butler so fondly celebrated each year with skinhead gatherings.

The foreclosure action against the home continued on June 27 when First American Title Co. of Coeur d'Alene, acting as the agent for the lender, filed a notice of trustee sale.

Kim May, a title officer with First American. said notices of the foreclosure action were posted on the home and mailed to Bertollini.

But the former Sandpoint man, who used his millions to help promote Butler's racist message, is now a federal fugitive. If he is apprehended and returned to Idaho, he faces the possibility of serving a mandatory two years in prison, if convicted, for another drunken driving arrest.

Bertollini is believed to be living outside the United States, perhaps in Ireland, authorities said. â&#x20AC;˘ Bill Mortin can be reached at (509) 459-5444 or at bi II m@spokesman.com

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LEN:E NIC receives human rights gift from Stewart C1

Thursday Sept. 1, 2005

The Press, Thursday, Sept 1, 2005

For news or story ideas: Call City Editor Bill Buley at E-mail: bbuley@cdapress.com

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Michael Burke, left, president of North Idaho College, and Tony Stewart, from the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, watch a video presentation on Wednesday highlighting past human rights events held at the college.

NIC receives human rights gift Library staff will put collection into accessible format to be shared

By MARC STEWART Staff writer

COEUR d' ALENE Tony Stewart's gift to the college is impossible to put a price tag on: history.

The North Idaho College instructor and well-known human rights leader turned over his personal collection materials that documented

the region's struggle against hatred and bigotry to the college library. , "I think it's a time for celebration," Stewart said Wednesday. "It's all very personal and very important.

It felt like the right time to do this."

Stewart, who was helping provide materials for the regional Public Broadcasting Service's upcoming nine-weekseries documenting the 25year history of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, realized he had valuable materials that could help others learn.

"I am a pack rat," Stewart said.

"I kept ever ything. This collection needed to be shared with the citizens that helped win this fight for human rights."

The collection includes more than 70 albums, files, and videos that chronicled the struggle for human rights in the Cnland Northwest. It documents the struggle against the Aryan Nations, a white supremacist group that was founded in the 1970s

by Richard Butler, who died last September.

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NIC

continued from C1

Stewart basked in the moment of helping root the Aryan Nations out of North Idaho and seeing human rights prevail over hatred.

"It's time for a celebration," Stewart said. "We still have a lot more work to do, but it's time for reflection."

The albums include newspaper articles, photographs, and personal letters from religious, political, and civil rights leaders from across the country.

NIC's President Dr. Michael Burke was pleased with the gift.

''We appreciate the gift and we'll be diligent stewards of those records," Burke said.

"We will treat them with the significance they deserve."

NIC Public Services Librarian Denise Clark said the library staff will put the collec-

tion into an accessible format to be shared with other learning institutions.

The PBS TV series is scheduled to be completed in October and aired across the Northwest and Western Canada in early 2006.

Also, NIC's Popcorn Forum will hold a series of events this fall dealing with human relations and building communities.

Here's a run down: • The Idaho Department of Correction and NIC Popcorn Forum will co-sponsor a presentation called "Safe Communities: Planning for the Future" at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 8 at the college. The topic includes prison population growth, increasing numbers of offenders in communities, treatment, and sex offender supervision. The panel includes Idaho Department of Correction Director Tom Beauclair and Kathy Baird of the Sex Offender Classification

·Board.

• Documentaries: The film "Not i,n Our Town," a documentary abut the residents of Billings, Mont., who responded to hate and violence, will be shown on Sept. 12. Some of the film's producers will be in attendance to hold a discussion after ward.

• NIC will hold a forum called ''Principles of the U.S. Constitution," a celebration of the 218th birthday of the U.S. Constitution, will be held on Sept. 16. Stewart will lead the discussion.

• The Autry National Center in Los Angeles will sponsor a two-week pilot project featuring a handful of professional Native American actors from California. The actors will perform plays on Oct. 10 in NIC's Boswell Hall Schuler Auditorium.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information call, 769-7782.

liJ'4 f/"e.>..>

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Richard Butler's former home sold Woman, sister plan to work on house, sell it

By MARC STEWART

Staff writer COEUR d' ALENE Richard Butler's legacy is going, going, sold.

Cali Nieland bought the former home of the Aryan Nations founder Wednesday in a foreclosure auction.

The Dalton Gardens woman and her sister, Cobi Straub, paid $167,700 for the split level home in Hayden.

"It's just an invesbnent," Nieland said Wednesday. 'The yard needs some TLC, but I don't know what the inside looks like. We're going to turn it around and sell it" Neither Nieland nor Straub seemed concerned about the property's infamous owner or that it was formerly the headquarters of the white supremacist organization.

"It's just real estate," Straub said.

"We're going to rehab it and sell it for more money than we bought it."

Former Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler's home in Hayden was auctioned off Wednesday for $160,700.

JASON HUNT/

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continued from C1 A crowd of about 40 people watched the auction on the steps of the First American Title building in Coeur d'Alene, but only a handful participated in it.

There was a total of 61 bids on the property, which opened at about $103,500. Some investors grumbled that media attention

drove the price of the home up.

Joe Jungen of Coeur d'Alene made more than a dozen bids, but was unable to buy the house.

"I am disappointed that we didn't get it," Jungen said. 'We were hoping to get it at a good price. I know that the house has some water damage. It's going to take some work to get it to its potential."

The county assessed the 1,548square-foot home and property at

$138,400. Tor â&#x20AC;˘>U <:f' sits on .262 acres and v.

1991.

The J,,JlllL ....eds to be cleaned, and the yard is waist-deep in weeds.

Real estate appraisers said the property could fetch up to $220,000 if it were in better condition.

Butler, who created the white supremacist group in the 1970s, lived out his final days in Hayden before dying from heart-related complications at age 86 last September.

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Forum series

puts focus on human rights

By Susan Drumheller Sraff wrirer

Announcement of events coincides with auction of Aryan Nations leader's home

Local human rights leader Tony Stewart chose the day that Richard Butler's home was in a foreclosure auction to announce several events celebrating North Idaho's commitment to human rights.

The foreclosure auction was a footnote to Butler's infamous legacy in North Idaho, where he held court at the Aryan Nations compound - th.e "campus of bate," as Stewart calls it - in Hayden from the early '70s until it was lost through bankruptcy in 2000.

Now the compound is a peace park and Butler is dead.

His most recent residence belonged to another notorious white supremacist, Vincent Bertollini, who authorities believe fled the country in 2000 to avoid a possible prison term for a third drunken driving arrest.

Stewart, a North ldaho College instructor and founding member of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, plans to document the task force history and downfall of the Aryan Nations in a multi-part documentary to be shown in January and February on Public Forum, a weekly NI C production that he hosts on public television.

In addition to the documentary, Stewart announced Wednesday that he was donating his personal human rights collection to the NIC's Molstead Library.

Both the donation and the documentary are in commemoration of the task force's 25-year history. And this fall 's annual Popcorn Forum series is dedicated to human relations, too.

"We bad a wonderful victory in getting rid of the campus of bate," Stewart said. "Everywhere we (the task force members) go, we say, 'This is our story. What we've done is trial and error' ... We're so proud of our victories."

Stewart's collection includes dozens of videotapes and DVDs of press conferences, rallies, speeches and other Continued: Forum/ BS

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events through the years; plus numerous albums of newspaper clippings and documents detailing the community's effort to battle hate; dozens and dozens of letters from supporters; copies of resolutions from nearly 200 cities and counties around the Northwest; and a three-page, framed "Open Letter to Humanity" from Buckminster Fuller, urging passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, written when he visited NIC for a Popcorn Forum shortly before his 1983 death.

Stewart brought a few of the items to Wednesday's press conference, including a Halvoline motor oil box tied with string packed full of letters the task force collected during its 1998 Lemons to Lemonade campaign. The campaign raised $35,000 from people who pledged money for each minute the swastika-clad Aryans marched

down Coeur d 'Alene's Sherman Avenue.

"I'm a pack rat and I've kept everything,·• Stewart admitted. "This is all very personal to me, but it's all very important. People have been so supportive of our struggle for human dignity."

Stewart was praised for his foresight in saving so much and then donating it to NIC. "This institution bas been a partner and leader in this essel)tial struggle," said Diana Gissell, president of the Task Force on Human Relations.

"Students will use these documents and this honorable story to give them hope and courage as well as guide their journey for a world that embraces equality,justice and freedom. " Stewart, who has taught political science at NIC for 35 years, also helped found the Popcorn Forum and used the looming 25th anniversary of the task force as a theme for this year's fall series.

The series events will address issues of diversity and communities struggling with differences.

The first of the series is Sept. 8, when the Idaho Department of Correction brings experts to discuss over-

IF YOU GO

Popcorn Forum • ·sate Communities: Planning for the Future,· a presentation and discussion with experts from the Idaho Department of Corrections from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Sept. 8.

• "Not in Our Town" documentary and discussion about how residents of Billings, Mont., responded to hate, 9 a.m. Sept. 12.

• "The Fire Next Time· documentary and discussion over how residents of Kalispell, Mont., dealt with conflict in their town, 10:30 a.m. Sept. 13.

Segments from both films will be shown during a discussion on conflict in communities at 7 p.m. Sept 12.

• "Principles of the U.S. Constitution,• a discussion with Tony Stewart celebrating the 218th birthday of the Constitution, is scheduled at 11 a.m. and noon Sept. 16.

All the above events will be in the Lake Coeur d'Alene Room of the Edminster Student Union Building.

• Native American actors. sponsored by the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, will perform 5- to 10-minute one-act plays written by local young playwrights with the Coeur d'Alene Tribe at 1 p.m. Oct 10 in NIC's Boswell Hall Schuler Auditorium. An earlier performance is planned for school children.

crowded prisons. the growing number of parolees being released into communities, convict treatment and sex orfender supervision.

"Corrections and community are so integrated and most of us don't even know it," said Teresa Jones. Department of Correction spokeswoman.

"All offenders come from a community and all offenders return to the community, except for maybe 1 or 2 percent.·· • Susan Drumheller can be reached at (208) 765-7129 or by e-mail at susand@spokesman.com.

KOOTENAI COUNTY TASK FORCE ON HUMAN RELATIONS PRESIDENTS FROM 1981-~ ;t oo.S1981-1983 Rev. Rick Morris (3 years) Pastor First Christian Church, Coeur d' Alene 1985- Through June, 1988 Father Bill Wassmuth (3 Yi years) Pastor, St. Pius X Catholic Church, Coeur d' Alene From July 1988-1990 Norman Gissel (2 Yi years) Attorney, Coeur d' Alene 1991-1995 Tony Stewart (5 years) Political Scientist, North Idaho College 1996 Linda Payne (I year) Community Activist 1997-2001 Doug Cresswell (5 years) Former Superintendent of the Coeur d'Alene School District 2002-Present Diana Gissel (Presently serving her 3rd year) Spanish Interpreter for the Idaho Courts *Presidential terms run from January through December