'The Color of Conscience'

COEUR d'ALENE - In a new, hour-long documentary, Idaho Public Television's Marcia Franklin explores the story of North Idaho activists who mobilized to oppose a white supremacist/neo-Nazi group that set up a compound near Hayden in the early 1970s.

The documentary tells how the Aryan Nations influenced its members and associates to commit many crimes, including bombings in Coeur d'Alene, Spokane and Boise; bank robberies, and the murder of radio host Alan Berg.

Franklin documents the 1981 creation of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations and the group's efforts to confront the messages and activities of the Aryan Nations near Hayden.

"We are convinced that Franklin's 'The Color of Conscience' documentary is the most current well researched and in-depth account telling the 30-year struggle to combat hate and promote human rights in Idaho and even beyond the state's borders," said KCTFHR spokesman Tony Stewart.

"As the late human rights leader Bill Wassmuth told me," Franklin said, "It's the people on the street and the people at the grocery store checkout counter who make Idaho a good place for everyone, or a scary place for some people."

The broadcast of "The Color of Conscience: Human Rights in Idaho" will be Wednesday at 7 p.m. on Idaho Public Television.

The Wednesday broadcast will be followed on Thursday evening by a one-hour panel hosted by Franklin and her guests to continue the discussion begun in "The Color of Conscience" documentary on Idaho Public Television at 7 p.m.

"Franklin's documentary will serve as an essential and invaluable source for future historians, students, educators, civil rights activists and the public who are seeking to understand this significant period in the human rights movement in Idaho and the region," Stewart said.