McEUEN: It's only land, people
So the throngs of people came out to make their voices heard about the fate of McEuen Field and Tubbs Hill. There was anger and passion which filled the room at Woodland Middle School that evening. Heated rhetoric and vitriol abounded; all over a piece of land and rock strewn hill.
Really? Seriously? Over a piece of land that lies between the library and The Resort? McEuen Field and Tubbs Hill are priorities? I hope this community is kidding. The passion for and against the McEuen project needs to be shown in helping our most needy and most attacked populations.
While many in Congress try to eliminate Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other social safety net programs are being attacked, and as our state government continues to attack state Medicaid and other organizations are being put to the cutting block, we here in Coeur d'Alene have decided to attack Fresh Start; a program that helps those who have fallen into hard times and find themselves homeless, and that is somehow acceptable?
How about the nasty vitriol coming from some in the community who are spouting their hate to a Vietnamese family putting in a store on Sherman Avenue. Universe Forbid! So many people around here are so proud of running the Aryan Nation out of the area; unfortunately, I guess people forgot to run out their philosophy of hate.
What else or whom else should we go after? Or will the citizens of Coeur d'Alene stop for a minute and start thinking about their fellow Human Beings? If you attack one group of people, you attack all people. If you push away one group of people, you push away all people. "Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere," as the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, and it is absolutely true.
Maybe it's time that this community get its thinking straight. Maybe it's time this community DO what is ethical and correct and start speaking up and standing up for PEOPLE rather than some chunk of land downtown. I believe the people of this city want a better, more livable city for all people, but the real question is: Will you fight for it? Will you fill up Woodland Middle School to fight for people's rights to live as good a life as they can achieve? Will you give your time and energy to help the organizations that help people? Will you offer your own positive solutions? Or will you remain part of the problem or part of those who complain and yet do nothing?
It is your choice Coeur d'Alene. I challenge you to walk your talk just as we Advocates do. So what will it be citizens of Coeur d'Alene? Same old, same old? Or Being the Change You Seek in this World? It's time you decide, it's time to either stand up or shut up, it's YOUR CALL.
PATRICK BLUM
Disability Rights Advocate/Independent Living Specialist
Disability Action Center NW