Silence is not always golden.
March Madness came to northern Idaho — and not in a good way. Because of two major athletic events happening simultaneously in Spokane, three women’s basketball teams in the NCAA tournament were housed in Coeur d’Alene. The University of Utah was one of them.
On March 21, the University of Utah women’s basketball team, made up of Black, white and Latina members, fled Idaho for safety in the state of Washington. While the team, band members, cheerleaders and boosters walked the streets of Coeur d’Alene, they were subjected to racial slurs and intimidation by occupants in a pickup truck. The multiple incidents have been supported by a Coeur d’Alene police investigation and coordination with the FBI.
The University of Utah coach, Lynne Roberts, characterized the incident as “racial hate crimes.”
This incident has ripped the scab from a festering wound of local bigotry and hate that goes back to the 1970s when the Aryan Nations set up headquarters in Hayden Lake. The Aryan Nations was committed to antisemitism and the establishment of a white enclave in northern Idaho.
In 1981, Kootenai County residents saw the destructive nature of the Aryan Nations and formed the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations (idahohumanrights.org/about.html) to show across-the-spectrum disgust with the poison invading their county. The KCTFHR led to the regional human rights group, the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment (bit.ly/3xEgDuI) formed in 1987.
Both entities are still active although the Aryan Nations was bankrupted and dissolved. It shows what a community can do when it is united by love and common purpose.
Unfortunately, the ugly seeds planted in the ’70s are still geminating, and hate groups continue to flourish in Idaho (bit.ly/3TZzKHc). Idaho gets one black eye after another, and the University of Utah incident was just the latest. The local and regional human rights coalitions strain to keep up with the growth of imported hate.
Astonishingly, each member of the Idaho congressional delegation has remained silent about the University of Utah racial incident in Coeur d’Alene.
Check it out for yourselves.
Idaho’s two senators and two members of the House of Representatives have highly paid staff to share formal statements for us and the media. No effort was made to share their thoughts on this important issue. Here are the links to their congressional newsrooms and news releases:
Sen. Mike Crapo — crapo.senate.gov/media.
Sen. James Risch — risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases.
Congressman Mike Simpson — simpson.house.gov (bit.ly/3xO5t6s).
Congressman Russ Fulcher — fulcher.house.gov/press-releases.
Your search will uncover collective concerns over the COVID-19-era operating hours at the Porthill Port of Entry. This is viewed as a northern Idaho economic issue, ignoring the negative impact fueled by the recent incidents with the University of Utah.
These political figures have been involved in Idaho issues for decades. Risch has held political office since 1974. Crapo and Simpson were first elected in the mid-1980s. Fulcher was first elected to the Idaho Senate in 2004.
Among them, they have accumulated 130 years of public service.
When Risch, who at 81 is one of the oldest members of the U.S Senate, was first elected to office, Idaho’s population was 808,000. He has held county, state and federal positions for more than half his life. He touts his Idaho values. He recently participated in a Washington, D.C., news conference on the hostages held by Hamas. But he cannot find time or craft words to share his views on rising hate crimes in Idaho. Why is that?
Crapo holds town hall meetings every six years when he’s campaigning. But he cannot fit into his schedule a stakeholder meeting in Coeur d’Alene to assist in the healing of these raw tensions. Why is that?
Simpson is passionate about conservation issues and routinely delivers project funding with federal dollars throughout Idaho. He stretches across the political spectrum and draws right-wing opposition, which he easily dispatches. He wanders into dam, port and fish issues in Idaho’s 1st Congressional District but doesn’t comment on hate crimes in Coeur d’Alene. Why is that?
Fulcher is closest to Idaho’s right-wing political base as a member of the House Freedom Caucus and he is firmly aligned with the anti-education Idaho Freedom Foundation. Fulcher was the warmup act for his ideological soulmate, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., when she brought her conspiracy theories and venom to Coeur d’Alene in February 2023. Fulcher has time on his hands to dine and opine with the John Birch Society wing of the Idaho GOP. But he apparently doesn’t see the need to make a statement on acts of hate in his own congressional district. Why is that?
The delegation members’ silence is even worse because they are effectively turning away from an issue that draws national attention and burns in collective memories. Has the delegation so effectively trashed the media, judiciary, FBI, doctors, scientists, educators and GOP moderates that it fears speaking out against hate incidents? Are demonstrations of self-declared leadership only shared behind closed doors with special interests and on safe media outlets?
Here’s a suggestion: The Idaho congressional delegation should quickly convene a true and conventional news conference in Coeur d’Alene to answer questions from the regional media on the recent racist incidents. While they’re at it, they can discuss the loss of doctors practicing obstetrics and gynecology in Bonner County, the attacks on North Idaho College, the rise of Christian nationalism in Idaho and their party’s alignment with the John Birch Society.
Quit ghosting us. Speak to us.
LaRocco, of Boise, represented Idaho’s 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1991-95.
