The final installment.

August 16, 1999

This last week has once again made me ashamed to admit I’m from Washington State. As I feared, the terrorist who attacked the Jewish Community Center in California was connected to the spiderweb of racist/survivalist cults which hide in our mountains, and bought his weapons at a local (unregulated) gun show. This loophole–that no background checks are required by non-registered dealers at gun shows–is one we’ve been trying to attack for several years, and it’s been exploited again, with horrific results. So once again we in the Spokane/Coeur d’Alene area grieve for what someone who claims to be one of our own has done, and bear the weight of guilt by geography.

Spokane itself is no stranger to domestic terrorism. The Order, The Phineas Priesthood, and Richard Butler’s Aryan Nations live in our shadow. Several years ago, the valley office of the Spokesman-Review had a small bomb explode just as I turned into Shopko, half a block away. The courthouse, Planned Parenthood office, several banks and other facilities have also felt the shrapnel of their presence. In the past year Coeur d’Alene has been afflicted by two “parades” of Richard Butler’s neo-nazis. The last time several weeks ago, Coeur d’ Alene issued their permit (as required by law) but banned them to marching by the old landfill. Justly–I say with distaste but respect–a judge overruled that as infringement of free speech and assembly. So they marched down the main street to the boos of country-wide crowd.

The press has speculated that the LA shooting was designed as revenge against the Jewish activists who came to protest that last march. Rightly or wrongly, I don’t know. The workings of such a hate filled mind are beyond me.

Here is where I step out on a limb, and prepare to have it sawed off behind me. Bear in mind that I have the greatest respect for those who have made it their life’s work to fight anti-Semitism and racism whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head. I applaud them, and support them in my prayers. BUT…

I wish they would not come to Coeur d’ Alene when Butler’s Bigots make their publicity bids. Not because they bring media attention with them. Not because they tend to tar us all with the same brush. Not because I fear the guaranteed ensuing violence. Not even because I fear for their safety, which I do.

Because they grab a headline and then go home, letting the locals off the hook.

Given a chance to speak with them, this is what’ I’d say. How can we keep building the fight when the responsibility to fight is taken out of our hands? Why should locals show up to protest and make things difficult when it’s already been publicized that outsiders will be here to do it for us? They do this full time, so they must be better at it — more effective than we could possibly be, right? So the community fades into the background to become just another piece of the scenery, and an assumed part of the problem. And when the Big Guys go home, our problems remain, compounded by a new dose of guilt and impotence.

Fighting for justice is, of necessity, a grassroots struggle. It goes on quietly, day by day, within local churches and community organizations, person to person. The network is growing and becoming stronger with each fight. This isn’t about being “upstaged” by those from around the country, but about being given the wrong kind of help, irregardless of how good the intentions are. Send us representatives to serve on our human rights councils. Fly in to attend planning meetings and to host workshops. Give us the benefit of your experience gained over decades of work in the trenches and support us as we deal with it every day of the year, not just at major events.

But please don’t assume that we are passively approving bystanders who will roll over quietly and pretend it’s not happening. We are not, and will not. This is our fight–one we MUST fight–and it is a part of our daily lives. As long as someone else steps in, we don’t have to, and without that imperative, too many are allowed to keep it at a distance.

End of lecture for the day.

(Note 2006: Richard Butler is now dead and his hateful organization broken and scattered. Likewise The Order and Phineas Priesthood. But racism lives on in more covert ways and the battle continues.)