Community's future depends on banding together

In the late 19th century the well-to-do and those in power perpetrated a racial genocide against the native peoples by intentionally spreading infectious disease and cruelly exterminating their main source of livelihood, the buffalo. Today, we see a class genocide taking place nationwide, also in the form of spreading a contagion and waging an economic war intended to crush the common man. Closer to home, we see Sandpoint being taken from the native people once again.

It’s easy to be blindsided when it happens one square foot at a time. The livelihoods of many local residents are now lost with the sale of the Cedar Street Bridge, and our community is losing a historic treasure. It won’t be long until the bridge is off limits to the lower classes, conquered by its wealthy benefactors in the form of over-the-water luxury housing and upscale establishments. The lower class – just like the Native Americans – are but a scourge in the eyes of the wealthy, and to destroy us is no loss. A solution? We, the people, need to stop quarreling amongst ourselves and form connections of solidarity, no matter the color or creed. Our futures depend on it.

JIM LITTLEBIRD

Sagle