The Hate State
A brief history of racism and white supremacy in Idaho
Graphic by Badlands
In 2000, Idaho defeated a hate group called the Aryan Nations in a major court case, resulting in the destruction of their white supremacist haven. The American Defamation League and the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations got to physically tear down their compound in Hayden Lake, Idaho (just outside of Coeur d'Alene) and turn the land into a park. This was a huge win for Idaho as tourism was at an all-time low due to Americans not wanting to visit "The Hate State" that housed a compound of neo-nazis. The large group terrorized Idaho for 20 or so odd years. They bombed a synagogue, defaced Mexican restaurants, tried to assassinate a Catholic priest, bombed buildings in Coeur d'Alene and even held right-wing summer camps. After the compound came down, tourism rose again, the stigma of Idahoans as racists fell, and everything went back to normal. Idahoans put up the Anne Frank human rights memorial in Boise! They marched for Martin Luther King Jr. day! White neighbors put "Idaho is too great for hate" stickers on their Subaru's! Idaho said no to hate and no to racism.
Right?
Then why are armed men with Nazi symbols tattooed on them showing up at peaceful vigils and protests at Boise's City Hall? Why are armed men lining the streets of downtown Coeur d'Alene - the very town where hate was apparently eradicated?
Men like Richard Butler, the white separatist brain child and leader of the Aryan Nations and the men and women who showed up as counter-protesters at the Black Lives Matter - Boise protest on 6/30, have always existed in Idaho's history-and have yet to be confronted. The state was founded by white men who fought off native tribes, stripping them of their land, religion, livelihood, etc., murdered Chinese miners, relegated Black families in Boise to live in the River Street district, held Japanese and Japanese Americans in internment camps in Minidoka and excluded people of color from getting any sense of a foothold in Idaho.
Idaho has yet to be honest about its racist past, isolating entire groups of people who wish to live safely and meaningfully in Idaho. Political leaders who were around during the reign of the Aryan Nations pretended like the white separatist machine up in the backwoods of Northern Idaho didn't represent the state...except that they did and still do. Idaho has political leaders who cater to the gun-toting, all American blue bloods who believe that they still live in the Wild West. Just as Governor Brad Little used Wild West, cowboy imagery in his campaign, the Aryan Nations used the same to rally farmers, ranchers, loggers, and everyday Idahoans to support its brand of white separatism.
Idaho politicians have done the absolute bare minimum to prove that Idaho is too great for hate. Even when Idaho made a great showing of kicking out the Aryan Nations to improve tourism and change its bad reputation, Idaho politicians dragged their feet when it came to passing Martin Luther King Jr Day. Idaho was one of the last states to pass the holiday and still only refer to it as "Idaho Human Rights Day" because actually celebrating MLK was too divisive. And now even recently, 28 Idaho politicians opposed the Boise State University diversity programs saying that it went against the "Idaho way."
So, what is the "Idaho way"? Is it allowing neo-nazis to set up summer training camps in Northern Idaho? Is it allowing heavily armed men and women to assault peaceful protesters in front of Boise's City Hall?
The only way to find out what the "Idaho way" is, is to admit our racist past and to keep pushing, fighting, and voting for politicians and leaders who are willing to put in the work to make Idaho a better place to live. ■
Alisha Graefe is an archivist and historian studying white separatism and the Aryan Nations. She is the author of the "American Hatred: Wild West Myths, Color-Coded Rhetoric, and the Shaping of the Aryan Nations" thesis published in October of 2018. She has an MA in history and is currently working on an MLIS.
References:
Graefe, Alisha. "American Hatred: Wild West Myths, Color-Coded Rhetoric, and the Shaping of the Aryan Nations". (2018). Boise State University Theses and Dissertations. 1470.
Gill, Jill K., “Idaho’s ‘Aryan’ Education: Martin Luther King Jr., Day and Racial Politics.” (2011). The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, V 102.
KTVB, 28 Idaho Lawmakers Oppose Boise State Diversity Programs, July 12, 2019.