TASK FORCE: Open letter to the people of Shoshone County

We do recognize and support the U.S. Constitution First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech or the right of the people peaceably to assemble for all individuals and groups in America regardless of the content of their message. This same amendment protects our right to respond to acts of prejudice and bigotry. As you experienced Monday a visit from members of the Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka, Kan., (listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center), please know we stand arm and arm with you wonderful residents of Shoshone County to counter the purveyors of hate. We support the principles of the Declaration of Independence that reads in part “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal …” as well as the U.S. Constitution’s enshrined principles in the 14th Amendment that states: “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Westboro Baptist Church has taken this divisive and most offensive message to communities across America for years including protests at the funerals of America's soldiers thanking God for the death of America's brave soldiers and praising God for the death of individuals from the result of breast cancer. The WBC brought that message to Spokane and Coeur d’Alene on Oct. 21 and 22, 2010, that we countered with a large human rights unity rally in Coeur d’Alene on Oct. 22 of that year. This is the same type of horrific message they brought to the good people of Shoshone County.

Let’s follow the wise words of the late Eva Lassman, a Holocaust survivor, when she shared the remedy to inhumane actions by the purveyors of hate in her column to The Spokesman-Review on Feb. 15, 2011, when she wrote in part: “When we are able to instill in people a desire to respect and be tolerant of all humanity, we may eventually have peace. If not, we will continue to experience the inhumanity of war and terrorism, and the deaths of children and other innocent victims of violence.”

Every community in America should heed the advice of Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker when she wrote in her column April 17, 2010: “When you choose to remain silent, consider yourself complicit in whatever transpires.”

For over 42 years, the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations has been committed to joining communities across America to speak up and take peaceful actions to promote human rights for all people in the face of the purveyors of hate and discrimination.

We love the people of Shoshone County, and we stand with you.

Sincerely,

Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations

Christie Wood, president

Jody Hiltenbrand, vice-president

Scott Kennedy, treasurer

Tony Stewart, secretary