by Gretchen Hellar

APRIL 27,1999

• 6PM MEMBERSHIP MEETING
• 7PM COMMUNITY FORUM
• COMMUNITY HALL

Please plan to attend the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force annual meeting. During the general membership meeting we will present a review of the projects carried out during the last year and electing board members.

This will be a time to find out future plans and learn how you can assist the Task Force to be even more effective. It will also be a time to meet other members and feel good about everyone's commitment to human rights.

Following the membership meeting there will be a short break before we present what we feel will be an interesting and important community forum.

The title of the forum is:

HOW TO BUILD A COMPASSIONATE COMMUNITY.

Creating a community where human rights are honored and supported is everyone's concern and represents a positive approach to dealing with human rights issues. We have put together an impressive panel of community leaders to present their ideas on this subject. Panelists include: Roy Rummler, superintendent of schools, Ginny Jensen, executive director of the Arts Council, Paul Graves, city council member and retired Methodist minister, Lama Yonton Gonpo, Tibetan Buddhist teacher of the local Buddhist group in Sandpoint, and Fredrick Weidemann, director of Unifying Fields Foundation and our moderator for this forum. We really believe that this will be a forum dealing with positive actions we as individuals and as community members can undertake. Please plan to attend and join in the discussion, as we will be taking questions from the audience. Hope to see you there!!

Again, this summer Richard Butler and his Aryan Nations adherents are planning to march in Coeur d'Alene in July. He is promising to have way more than the 92 marchers he was able to recruit last year. To achieve that number he had to engage in nationwide appeals. Do you think that the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force can get more than 100 of its members to march in the Sandpoint Fourth of July Parade? WHAT A STATEMENT THAT WOULD BE BY OUR COMMUNITY! What do you think? Would you be willing to help organize such an effort? Do you have ideas on a good theme for our march? Please let us know!

by Gretchen Ward

Through a generous anonymous donation, the Task Force is pleased to make available a $2000 scholarship to a graduating high school senior who has consistently shown concern for the rights and dignity of others. Students throughout Bonner County are invited to apply for the scholarship, whether they attend public or private schools or are home schooled.

The application consists of the Common Form used in the schools and two human rights-related essays. They may be picked up at the counselors' offices at the four county high schools. Those students not attending a public high school can receive an application by calling the Scholarship Committee at 265-4756.

The Task Force Board hopes that in future years, money will be forthcoming and the scholarship may become an annual award. We are very grateful for this year's generous donation which enables the Task Force to recognize and financially help with college expenses a student who has demonstrably contributed to the society we envision in our most hopeful moments.

by Margaret Simpson

Want to become an activist while spending only thirty minutes a month?

A group called Rural Organizing Project offers six to twelve of us a chance to do just that. Group members decide where and when to meet on a regular basis for one half hour a month, taking into account everyone's busy schedules.

ROP provides a short summary of a current issue, the problem and the action step needed. Group members then use their thirty minutes to write letters, make phone calls, etc., whatever is needed to complete a delineated action step.

Sound appealing? Good! Come to the annual membership meeting and sign up.'

by Gretchen Ward

The Task Force is trying to make a difference in a number of areas, among the most recent, on the legislative scene.

A Legislative Action Committee has been formed and, with Board approval, sent letters to our state legislators during this session. The letters expressed regret that the amendment to the Anti-Harassment Law to include sexual orientation and the issue of parity of medical coverage for the mentally ill would not be considered by the full legislature. The letter urged support on these issues next year.

Included in the letters were two resolutions which it is hoped might be offered by our legislators as "sense of the legislature" motions. They dealt with the use of offensive and stereotype-reinforcing names for sport teams, the most blatant being the "Maniacs" or Orofino (home of a state mental facility) and the marketing of cheap trinket-type souvenirs, such as plastic tomahawks, spears, bows and arrows, dyed chicken feather headbands and the like as representations of Native American culture.

The Legislative Action Committee hopes to work at all levels of government. At the county level it hopes to bring about a reinstatement of the "mental hold" at the hospital. Requiring the cooperation of the County Commissioners, the sheriff's department and the hospital, such a system works will in several Idaho counties and in fact used to be in effect in Bonner County.

The committee would like to hear from Task Force members who have an interest and/or experience in this area, or any other area of potential concern. Please call 265-4756 if you would like to be a part of this expanding effort of the Task Force.

By Marian Breckenridge

On February 1, Mayor David Sawyer issued a proclamation declaring February to be Black History Month in Sandpoint, and encouraged the community to accept this opportunity to learn as much as possible about the history of Americans of African descent. The response of the community was amazing - far beyond our wildest expectations!

The public library mounted a marvelous display of African-Americans who have made major contributions to every branch of our history. They also made available videos, magazines and bibliographies of materials that could be ordered by people who were interested.

The high school and middle school teachers used much of the materials that we provided them to supplement their history curriculum. The "Earth Beat Drumming and Dance" troupe presented two performances of African style dance for the senior class at Sandpoint High School. The students were very enthusiastic and mobbed the stage to ask about the instruments and music!

The Daily Bee published many of our articles, almost daily, in addition to weekly recipes reflecting African influence on American cuisine, and weekly reviews of books by and about the history of Americans of African descent. The local radio station broadcast two programs of African-American history. The enthusiasm and support that we received was absolutely wonderful.

We wanted to end the Black History Month on a high spiritual note - a true celebration of our one spirit. So our final event was the Bethel AME Gospel Choir concert at the Panida Theater on March 13. The concert was free to the public, but the theater was not. The theater rent, lighting and insurance costs were guaranteed by the Task Force. By selling refreshments those costs were covered. The coffee and food were donated by Safeway, Monarch Mountain Coffee, Yokes, Annie's Bakery and Walkers' Doughnuts. In addition, volunteers showed up with goodies. The generous food donations enabled us to give leftovers to the choir and to an upcoming animal shelter benefit.

The month was a mojor, solid gold hit. Thank you all for your support and quick response to requests for assistance. We are proud to be your customers and neighbors.

By Gretchen Hellar

Honoring diversity and providing a forum for our kids to address diversity issues brought together the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force, the Pend Oreille Arts Council (POAC), and the Community Assistance League (CAL). These community groups co-sponsored the Diversity Dance Workshops recent performance and Sandpoint High School. The Diversity Dance Workshop is composed of young adults between the ages of 18 - 24 who present programs around the Northwest designed to focus on current social issues and even more importantly hold small interactive workshops after their performances to discuss the issues presented and encourage to students to work for positive social change.

Your task force provided not only part of the funds to bring this troupe to town but also arranged for home stays for the participants. One of the major goals of your Task Force is to encourage, assist, and facilitate the efforts of other community groups in their efforts to honor the diversity of our community, nation, and world. We cannot be, do not have to be, and are not the only voice in our community which celebrates the positive aspects of our community's tolerance. If you belong to a group or community organization which would like to participate in or sponsor programs dealing with human rights issues, let us know. Maybe we can assist!

by Hal H. Hargreaves

"Chris said he was going to jump-start the race war, and he did." Chris and Timothy were young, strong and ready to act.

The Klan came to Clarendon County South Carolina in 1994 as the Christian Knights Invisible Empire. "Get the hell out of this county (homosexuals, Jews, and especially Blacks)," Horace King, Grand Dragon of the Klan. "People were being intimidated for a year before this (the burnings) ... How would you like to be Black and have a Klan meeting in your backyard?!"

"They are American terrorists," Tom Turnipseed, attorney. "I could join something that favored white folks," Lester Haley, former Exalted Cyclops. "There's a n____ - let's go get him ... I kicked him and kicked him again ... It just seemed like something to do." Tim Welch "These terrorists have never been funny to African Americans" Tom Turnipseed, attorney. "If you cross a Haley something's going to burn," Lester Haley.

"I honestly thought I was doing something good. I didn't feel sorry about it ... It was something that needed doing... it was a start," Tim Welch.

On June 20, 1995 at 5:4 AM the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church burned - twenty-four hours later the Macedonia Baptist Church burned. These two churches burned just eight weeks after the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing killed 168 people. More Black churches were burned in 1995-1996 than in the five previous years combined.

Airing April 29, 1999 on PBS, "Forgotten Fires" shows how alive racism is, and how it can be changed.

"I tell people that I'm Indian, Mexican, black, Irish and English - and all they ever say is, "You don't look black!" People always want to know what I really ëam.' I never answer, instead I ask, ëWhy do you need to know that?' - which, after all, is the real question." Danzy Senna, Author from Utne Reader, Sept./Oct. 1998