HREI marks grand re-opening with new exhibit
After an extended period of construction around the gallery, the Human Rights Education Insitute announced it will hold a grand re-opening at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Exhibits are scheduled through December that support the HREI message and vision to "Tell the Story of Human Rights."
The first exhibit will tell the story of community members’ reponse to acts of violence by Aryan Nation members, efforts that paved the way for a 2002 civil lawsuit that resulted in the disbanding of the group’s Hayden headquarters.
Tony Stewart, a founding member of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, said the theme of the exhibit is triumph over hate.
“And it was the good people of this region and all the people of Idaho who said, ‘We are not going to be silent,’” Stewart said.
The exhibit, titled "Coming Face to Face with Hate: A Search for a World without Hate," includes 138 items that will illustrate what happened in Kootenai County and how it can be a model for any community in the United States.
“We have some items we’ve never shown before,” Stewart said.
One of the items was a gift from former Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson. Several years ago, while on a trip to Mississippi with his wife, Mary, Watson came upon a sign “whites only” in an antique shop. It once hung over a drinking fountain. Watson and his wife bought it and donated it to the task force, and until now, it has been in storage.
Most people have never seen something like this, especially the younger ones, Stewart said.
“It’s just such a powerful piece,” he said.
Another item that will be on display is a board with a photograph of a black woman and a white man on it. It was found in a field.
“It was used for practice shooting,” Stewart said.
Guest presenters Wednesday evening will include Stewart and Norm Gissel, a retired attorney and the official attorney for the task force. Stewart and Gissel will recount the story of the Keenan family, who were attacked by members of the Aryan Nation on July 1, 1998. That sparked an immediate response by the task force and resulted in bankruptcy of the Aryan Nation in 2000 with a $6.3 million judgement.
"History is the only lamp that illuminates our path forward into the future," Gissel said. "What we did in '98 was to evaluate the history of the Nazis, the clan, and made a deliberate decision to move forward in this case based upon the sum of all that history. Had we not had that historical relevance, we easily could have made decisions that would not have benefited our community so completely. This decision was an effort to educate our local communities to the sense of history that we had and that they must have as our further generation. Culture grows on history, and if we don't have that, then we fail furure generations and our place in history."
The exhibit is free and open to the public through Sept. 30, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. The HREI building is located at 414 Mullan Road in Coeur d'Alene, adjacent to City Park.
In October, students from the region will showcase anti-bullying essays and artwork in recognition of National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month. November will bring together a community partnership between HREI, the Salvation Army Kroc Center and the Coeur d'Alene Tribe celebrating Native American Heritage Month, which will take place in several locations throughout the month. For full listing of activities during the month of November, visit the HREI website at www.hrei.org.
HREI is looking for volunteers from the community with unique family heritage to help with the December display featuring "Holiday Traditions from Around the World." For details, contact the HREI office at 292-2359.