HREI: It's all about education

Dan Lepow's resignation has given the Human Rights Education Institute an opportunity to examine its structure and its reason for being.

We have determined that our reason for being is sound and still as relevant as it has always been. True, the Aryan Nations is no longer a large presence in our area, thanks to the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations and the work of Tony Stewart, Norm Gissel and Ken Howard. (See Tony Stewart's reply to Mike Patrick's editorial.) The Aryan Nations compound no longer exists and their organizational structure has been dismantled. But the attitudes that allowed this group of white supremacists to carry on their work are still with us. The Task Force focuses on hate crime response and victim support. HREI is all about education: raising awareness and deepening understanding in order to make Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai County and the Inland Northwest a safe, nourishing place for all people - people who are black, brown, red, white, yellow or green; people who are male or female; people who are hetero-, homo- or bi-sexual; people who are rich, people who are poor, people who are highly educated, people who are not, people who are old, people who are young. We may look somewhat white as a community (and even this is beginning to change), but we are diverse in many less obvious ways. The more diverse we are, the richer the possibilities for our community. HREI is committed to teaching respect, appreciation, courage, trust, integrity and compassion as well as hard core skills for getting along and working together to make this community the best it can be.

We're still exploring the optimum structure through which HREI can serve this community. Meanwhile, we are carrying on with our two-year program focus, "Peace Lives Here: A Challenge for the 21st Century." We will be involved in summer camps throughout the area and will offer family activities at the HREI Building (SE corner of Sherman and Government Way) throughout the summer. In the fall we will be offering a Living Voices production, "Through the Eyes of a Friend," to augment the eighth-grade curriculum on Anne Frank, and launching a Values Project for high school students. Stay tuned. We have much more in the works. We greatly appreciate the support (your words of support, your presence at our events and your donations) this community gives to HREI and the mission we serve: We celebrate diversity and promote human rights by educating, raising awareness and inspiring transformation in our community.

MARILYN MUEHLBACH

President, HREI Board of Directors

Coeur d'Alene