Annual march makes a call to action for all

SANDPOINT — “If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”

The quote from Martin Luther King Jr is about action, Sandpoint councilwoman and North Idaho Women’s March rally emcee Kate McAlister told several hundred people gathered.

“The strength, power and inspiration in this room will make change happen in our towns, in our state and in our country,” she said, garnering applause. “We are taking action and we’ll continue down this path to create a voice that will never be silenced again.”

That voice must be harnessed for action, especially when it comes to voting power. She urged those gathered to take the energy and passion they feel to make a difference to be a light of change.

“Fire up your passion for action for our communities, our state, our United States of America. This, in this room, is America. Black, white, gay, straight, women, transgender, men, young, old — WE are America and it’s time to thoughtfully, strategically, and non-violently move forward to be heard and to take action.”

With that, McAlister welcomed Rebecca Schroeder, executive director of Reclaim Idaho, to the stage, summarizing her work to make health care and education available to all.

Schroeder told those gathered she’d been at the rally and march three times, the first as a candidate for the Idaho Legislature, the second as an advocate for Medicaid expansion and now a third time as executive director of Reclaim Idaho, a group that worked with volunteers in a grassroots campaign to “enact the most massive legislative achievement that Idaho has seen in decades.”

While hard, it has been worth it to see how many Idahoans now have access to life-saving health care. But now there is another policy crisis facing the state, that of a lack of education funding.

Down the road from where she grew up in the rural Clearwater Valley, Kamiah has been on pins and needles to pass a levy, which failed several times. And now, as a result, Kamiah Middle School just closed its doors because of a lack of basic funding.

“For a long time, programs like band and sports have been facing cuts and now they’re gone,” she said. “They can’t cut any more and they can’t afford to keep the lights on and heat on and so that building has closed its doors.”

While personally important to her, it also point so the failure of Idaho’s constitutional obligation as a state to provide a uniform, thorough K-12 public education.

“Many of our school districts are in crisis and can’t cut any more,” she said. “Those supplemental levies are not supplemental, they are essential to the basic operations of these schools and when they don’t pass the worst happens.”

That education crisis has far-reaching consequences to Idaho’s economy. Last year, more than 7,000 science, technology, engineering, math jobs that were left unfilled in Idaho last year. “That’s more than half a billion dollars with a B in unpaid wages that did not go into the pockets of Idahoans,” she said.

The prioritization by the Idaho Legislature on tax giveaways to the state’s wealthiest corporations over textbooks and teachers salaries has to stop. And that, she said, is where Reclaim Idaho’s “Invest in Idaho” initiative comes in. Recently filed with the Idaho Secretary of State, the group has launched an effort to get it on the 2020 ballot.

Schroeder said the initiative would restore the corporate tax back to 8 percent and ask the state’s wealthiest individuals to pay their fair share. Only businesses that file as a C corporation, “the Walmarts of the world” would be impacted with 95 percent of Idahoans seeing no change to their taxes.

“The initiative would generate between $170 and $200 million annually and put that money toward our most urgent needs in Idaho public education,” she added.

Also speaking at the event was Democratic candidate Nancy Harris, who is running for the Democratic nomination to challenge Sen. James Risch.

Harris, a successful businesswoman, said climate change is a growing threat to the state, the country and the planet. “The climate crisis also impacts our global economy, resulting in mounting economic inequalities and sows seeds of discord and tribalism in communities where we’ve been,” she told those gathered.

While we are living in a time of crisis, it is one that can be averted.

“Today we stand at a crossroads where we must make momentous decisions. Either we make great strides toward a future worth having or we sit paralyzed in fear while catastrophe falls upon us,” she said. “We are not people of fear. We are people of bold imagination and courage. We are Idaho women.”

As we face the future, Harris said the state and country has a historic opportunity to choose a more noble path, one that leads to a clean planet, healthy ecosystems and thriving human societies.

“The Green New Deal offers us a road map for that path,” she added.

Wrapping up the speakers was Laura Tenneson, a Kootenai County resident and graduate of the 2019 Defending Democracy Fellowship with the Western States Center.

She told those gathered she felt something was missing from her life and began going to events, looking to volunteer. At first, no one called. So she kept showing up and soon her persistence paid off and she was presented with opportunities.

“Activism doesn’t require a specific degree or special skill set,” she said. “What it does require is dedication and passion.”

When she first started getting involved, Tenneson said the ugly racism beginning to rear its head in the region drew her attention. She was all too familiar with it, having attended high school and college in Coeur d’Alene during the rise and fall of the Aryan Nation. She had thought those days were long gone. “It is 2020 after all,” she said.

“What I learned is there are still small pockets of people in our communities who believe they are superior because of the color of their skin and, in many instances, because of their gender,” she added. “I knew I had to do something but I didn’t know what.”

However, before she knew it opportunities began to present themselves, among them the opportunity to apply for the Western State Defending Democracy Fellowship.

The center, which works to track hate group activity in the Western states, also responds to incidents of bigotry and discrimination and train community organizers counter white nationalism in their communities.

As part of her fellowship, Tenneson worked with local human rights task force to formulate a proclamation and Sept. 17, 2019, Coeur d’Alene Mayor Steve Widmyer issued a proclamation declaring the city as a welcoming community and condemning hate speech and discrimination. Then, another opportunity presented itself and Tenneson, along with three others, launched the Love Lives Here Coeur d’Alene campaign.

“We wanted to do something to fight back against the white nationalist flyers that were being hidden in local stores,” she said. ‘This is not the message we wanted our community to be known for so we set out to unite our community in a positive way over this negative issue.”

Since the campaign launched on Oct. 18, 2019, it has signed on roughly 150 business and organizations that condemn discrimination and pledges to stand up for the safety and security of all.

Following the rally, the participants marched from the middle school to Matchwood Brewing to call attention to women’s rights, human rights and social justice.