Task force steps up its game for 2017

By DAVID GUNTER

Feature correspondent

SANDPOINT — The Bonner County Human Rights Task Force turns its gaze toward 2017 buoyed by what one board member called “a renewed spirit in the air.”

Certainly, there are questions marks, too, as the group enters the New Year, mostly based on what surprises might come along with a new administration and its priorities. What they’re finding in the interim is a swelling tide of residents who seem to share common ground with the group.

“A lot of people are wondering, ‘What do we do now as a country? As a community?’” said Brenda Hammond, secretary for the organization.

“People are joining the task force, giving us donations,” said Sharon McCahon, the group’s treasurer.

“And they’re calling us to ask, ‘How can I help?’” Hammond added. “They’re coming to the task force saying, ‘We want to do something.’”

That has been the way of it since the task force was founded in 1992, the same year that Ruby Ridge thrust North Idaho in the national headlines and in the same time period when the Aryan Nations was on the rise — not so much for the growth in its actual membership as for the amount of negative media coverage that besmirched the region in their wake.

Into that fray stepped the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force, holding meetings, going door-to-door, standing silently in opposition as a handful of skinheads marched through the streets of Coeur d’Alene in 1998, when the Aryan Nations staged a parade there. While there were only about 30 task force members physically present, they held banners emblazoned with the names of hundreds more citizens who stood beside them in spirit, not to mention ponying up cash for the cause.

“To me, that was a pivotal point for the task force, because we realized there are lots of ways to show your support,” Hammond said.

As the 20th Century drew to a close, the organization found itself engaged in a contest of hate group whack-a-mole, despite having successfully thrown its weight behind the lawsuit that resulted in the closure of the Aryan Nations “compound” in Hayden Lake.

The year 2000 arrived with overtly racist mailings showing up in mailboxes of the northern counties. Those screeds crossed the line, according to task force members, when they named individuals — including founders of the task force — the sender wanted targeted by white supremacists. By that time, the human rights organization had developed powerful ways to respond, but not in kind.

“The task force has always stood for not creating more division in what we do,” McCahon said.

They chose the path of unity and citizens queued up in force to get behind them. With the hate mail still flowing, the task force held a contest with prizes given for the most creative ways to recycle it.

“We also took out a full-page ad and, in three days, we had the names of about 800 people who wanted their names included as we stood up to say, ‘No more — we won’t be silent any longer,’” said Hammond.

A second ad scheduled for the following week bore the names of more than 1,100 people willing to look hate in the face without blinking. Not coincidentally, money started pouring into the task force as others wrote checks in support of its work in the community. And for every check they cashed, the group sent a thank you card to the person responsible for the public outcry.

“The cards said, ‘As a result of your mailings, we have received yet another donation to the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force,’” Hammond said.

The mailings dried up, but the perpetrator couldn’t dry out — within a year, he fled Bonner County in order to avoid prosecution for his third drunk driving offense.

By 2001, the organization was instrumental in helping similar groups take root around the nation, as well as going on to sponsor teacher training, underwrite student scholarships and collaborate with the Pend Oreille Arts Council for the middle- and high-school-centered Art For Human Rights exhibit, now entering its 10th year.

The last eight years have been productive ones for the task force, with the causes of poverty, mental health and sexual orientation coming under the human rights umbrella. Concurrently, Sandpoint became the first of 13 Idaho cities to pass an ordinance protecting the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender individuals.

Granted, there were a few more moles to whack, what with the occasional threat of another compound cropping up or an avowed white supremacist running for elected office, but things were, in the main, fairly smooth.

At the cusp of 2017, the group is taking nothing for granted, primarily concerned that progress made until now could be at risk of being dismantled. The erosion of laws that guard against discrimination for things such as access to health care, housing, employment or the ability to live one’s life in freedom affect the broader population, McCahon noted.

“People forget that those rights are there to protect everyone,” she said. “Not just people of color, or women, or gays and lesbians — everyone.”

On Jan. 21, the task force will take part in a symbolic “march” from the Panida Theater to the Statue of Liberty at City Beach. Another group will spend the day praying and meditating for peace, according to McCahon.

“People are out there and they are finding their voices in powerful ways right now,” she said.

“We’ve been here before,” Hammond added. “This is not a time to sit around; this is the time to step up. And we are going to step up our game.”

This spring, the task force will host an event called, “Sing Out! for Human Rights” — open to all songwriters and designed to raise money through a live concert that will result in a live CD compilation of original material. The event will be held in a classic, coffeehouse setting meant to capture a Folk Era feel.

Having mobilized the public in many ways in the past — art, humor and human dignity among them — the task force now turns to another proven medium to get the job done.

“We want to take advantage of the power of music to inspire people and bring them together,” Hammond said.

For information on attending or taking part in the upcoming concert event, to learn more about the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force or to make donations to the group, call 208-290-2732 or visit online at: www.bchrtf.org.