HREI re-opens with new Aryan Nation exhibit

COEUR d’ALENE — There is a water fountain in the Human Rights Education Institute that says “whites only.”

It is part of the institute’s new exhibit providing information about the Aryan Nation presence in North idaho and how the Kootenai County community fought against hatred.

Wednesday evening, HREI invited members of the community to attend its “grand re-opening.” The parking lot outside HREI has been under construction since March, preventing people from parking in front of the building.

Now that access to the building is back, HREI decided to throw a grand re-opening in honor of its new exhibit "Coming Face to Face with Hate: A Search for a World without Hate.”

“Throughout history we’ve had people who were filled with hate and they discriminated against people they did not like,” said Tony Stewart, a founding member of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. “That goes way back to slavery and what happened with the Nazis in Germany. And what happens when hate comes into a community, is our people are victims.”

The exhibit leads viewers through a series of standing poster boards detailing Aryan Nation goals and actions.

Each poster board was laced with documents and photos that were found in the Aryan Nation compound outside Hayden after members of the enclave had left.

When the Keenans were attacked outside the Aryan Nation Compound, the community and the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations fought to rid the area of violence and hate.

In 2002, the task force brought a civil lawsuit against the Aryan Nation and won. The group owed the Keenans $6.3 million. This bankrupted the Aryan Nation group and resulted in turning over its Hayden headquarters.

The Keenans sold the old headquarters to Gregory Carr, who destroyed the structures and created a peace park on the land. Before demolishing the compound, Carr let HREI take what it wanted.

On each poster board in the new exhibit, there is a copy of either a letter, photograph, certificate, etc., demonstrating the hateful vision of the Aryan Nation.

The first part of the exhibit gives viewers a little background about the Aryan Nation. The middle section talks about the Hitler Room within the compound, complete with photos and articles idealizing Hitler and his ideals.

The next part of the exhibit exemplified Aryan Nation hatred. This is where the “whites only” drinking fountain is on display, next to a board with a photograph of a black man and a white woman with a caption that reads “The ultimate abomination.” The shooting target is so riddled with bullet holes, it’s hard to make out the photo. The exhibit found another copy of the photo so viewers can see what the Aryan Nation had been shooting at.

The last part of the exhibit is about the efforts of the community to abolish hatred and how people banned together to make the area a better place.

Complete with photos from the demolition of the compound, the new exhibit brings its viewers through a thorough history about what happened in the late 1900s and what history no one hopes to repeat.

“It’s important for an organization like ours and the community to rally behind the victims and say to those that are peddling the hate and discrimination that we will not be silent and we will have victory because we will be sure that in the end everyone is treated with respect,” Stewart said.

Partway through the grand re-opening, Stewart and Norm Gissel, the official attorney for the task force, gave speeches, retelling the Keenans’ story and how the community banded together.

“The reason for this exhibit is to show what hate was like,” Stewart said to the crowd. “What are communities supposed to do when this hate happens in the U.S.? You have a moral and ethical obligation to help those victims.”

Gissel spoke about the lawsuit against the Aryan Nation and how the only way it worked was to approach it from the point of view of community values.

“We approached this lawsuit as a cultural movement,” he said. “We had to decide — in Kootenai County, where did freedom, equality and fairness of law land on our hierarchy of values? Our judgement was accurate.”

There were a few kids running around the exhibit and Virginia Shawver, with Americore Vista and the Atlas Program with the Coeur d’Alene School District, was glad she brought hers.

“I think it’s great to represent peace in a community that had pain for so long,” she said. “It’s nice to see the positive relationships and partnerships that came out of it. We are all in this world together and we should all be treated the same.”

Libbi Keyes, the vice principal of Coeur d’Alene High School and a new board member of HREI, agreed.

“I’m thrilled at all the young people here,” she said. “As an educator, I think it’s always a good time for kindness and learning how we treat each other. Schools are a fabulous way to teach tolerance and kindness.”

In October, HREI will showcase anti-bullying essays and artwork from students around the region 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.