Don’t let politics kill the music

The Coeur d’Alene Arts and Culture Alliance organizes free summer concerts at Riverstone Park. These evenings of music feature the best local and regional performers, and are sponsored by community groups and businesses. The Kootenai County Democrats have sponsored them for three years. However, this year the concert was canceled because a splinter group of people objected to the sponsorship coming from Democrats.

Last week, messages from the splinter group appeared online and led the band Nu Jack City, whose Motown rhythms rock the night for concertgoers, to back out. North Idaho News, a locally run website, hosted these opinions. The messages stated that the Fourth of July parade and fireworks were canceled so why is this event not canceled? They ignored the fact that other concerts, like Handshake Productions and the Arts & Culture Concert Series, continue, with significant health and safety measures in place. It became obvious that the hidden concern was not for health and safety, but rather about the Democrats being allowed to sponsor it.

Sadly, these comments were inflammatory. They mentioned exercising Second Amendment rights to intimidate the crowd and to protest in opposition to Democrats. Some of the comments contained racist content. They were screen-shot and saved before they were removed from the website.

Kootenai County Democrats looked forward to this event. We were prepared to offer root beer floats to all who attended. It is disheartening to believe that some people would curtail a community group’s right to contribute to a fun summer evening event. The animosity created by these hate-filled comments led the band to cancel. They felt they had to protect themselves and their fans. Until this occurrence, Nu Jack City has always felt welcome.

Ham-handed bullying should not victimize our citizens; nor should we be deprived of a popular musical performance at a safe and carefully planned outdoor event. Our local businesses should not be deprived of the much-needed tourist dollars generated by events like this one.

Democrats believe Idahoans are sick and tired of racism, bullying, and other methods used to create division and hatred. Kootenai County is better than this. We long for leaders who convey a message of acceptance and inclusion. It’s incumbent on our elected officials to publicly condemn this behavior and to reassure Nu Jack City that they are always welcome in Coeur d’Alene.

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Evan Koch is Chair of the Kootenai County Democratic Central Committee.