“Hate has no place here”

The premise behind Love Lives Here’s initial campaign was a simple one.

By inviting businesses to sign a declaration of kindness and nondiscrimination, and supplying them with a sticker for their storefront, Love Lives Here CDA hoped to send a message: “Hate has no place here.”

But sometimes a simple statement is a strong one.

Christina Lee, a board member of the Human Rights Education Institute, knows this well. Recounting a time she was in a car accident in Kootenai County, she remembers her father telling her not to leave her car.

“I later learned it wasn’t the drunk driver he was concerned with, but rather the business establishment I was in front of,” Lee said.

“As a person of color who deals with discrimination often, something as simple as a sticker provides a message of hope,” she said “A message that says, I see you, you are welcome here.”

“It gives people a visual representation of all the love that truly does exist in Coeur d’Alene,” said Love Lives Here CDA co-founder Ali Orjala

“Imagine that moment again today,” Lee added. “A sticker in the window acknowledging a commitment to not tolerate hate, a safe place, changes the scene.”

Love Lives Here was launched last October following an incident of white supremacist fliers being left beneath a soapdish at Mountain Madness Soap.

Founders Shawn Keenan, Suzanne Marshall, Lauren Tenneson and Orjala were working on the idea for Love Lives Here during the summer of 2019 after noticing “an influx of some hate language in and around Coeur d’Alene.”

After the racist flier incident, they decided to launch early.

“It felt like the right time,” said Orjala. “And it was so insanely well-received that that first two months we were kind of trying to keep our heads above water to keep up with the businesses that wanted to sign on.”

Less than a year later, the group is again increasing work sooner than expected. The program had taken time off to sort out their new partnership with the HREI.

“We are going to start this campaign [this month] and really relaunch hard because of the climate of the region right now and the things that are happening in our nation,” said Laster.

“Just with the current national climate we’re really gonna hit the ground running again,” said Orjala.

“I know it is sort of a simple thing we’re doing…but also the businesses feel very much involved because this is hitting home to them so much,” she added.

In the initial rush of sign-ons, Orjala said the group found more businesses had been experienced incidents than they realized.

“I cannot tell you how many of the downtown businesses…had been targeted, especially with pamphlets and flyers tucked in purses and jacket pockets,” she said.

“So we were discouraged to hear that, but we also knew that that meant this was the time. And we were glad that we were trying to at least have a voice against that.”

“We personally meet with every business that we sign on,” said Orjala.“We actually read through our declaration…just word for word to make sure it all makes sense to them and they know what they’re signing on to.”

By signing onto the declaration, businesses commit, in part, to uphold and protect “the civil rights of all individuals…[and] denounce any acts of racism, bigotry, xenophobia, religious discrimination, anti-Semitism and acts of discrimination based on a victim’s gender, sexual orientation or gender identity.”

The declaration ends with the statement, “We declare that all are welcome here!”

Over 150 businesses have signed the declaration so far.

“Honestly so many of the businesses downtown have wanted to sign on,” said Orjala.

“They have had a really strong response from the community,” said Laster.

“I expect that that number will double [in the coming weeks] the businesses rather quickly in a few weeks… because the community wants some way to have action and this is one way that they can do that.”

“But we have definitely a little more meat to our bones than that,” said Orjala.

They also give out incident reporting guides. The guide, coupled with the confidential reporting form on the Love Lives Here website Lovelivesherecda.com, give businesses an action to take in case of a hate incident, such as a swastika being carved into a business’ wall or white supremacist flyers being left in a shop (both of which have happened to downtown businesses). Orjala says the form will also help to aggregate data on any instances in the future.

The group also decided to partner with the Human Rights Education Institute.

“Campaigns tend to be fairly singular, but we decided to join up with the Human Rights Education Institute,” said Orjala. “And we’re umbrella-ed under their nonprofit.”

Through their partnership with the HREI, Love Lives Here hopes to offer education.

“It is still their program that they drive and steer, but we want to offer that support to them and to ensure that it gets–that it has that collaboration with education as well as the kindness campaign,” Laster explained.

Laster describes the dynamic between Love Lives Here and the education institute as a partnership that led to ongoing programming. She emphasized that Marshall, Keenan, Tenneson and Orjala still “drive and steer” the campaign, although it is now a program under the HREI.

“I’m really proud of the team, the four of them… without their vision for what that campaign could look like, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

Through this partnership, Love Lives Here will offer Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and other workshops to teach businesses how to handle issues such as discrimination in the workplace. They also hope to train volunteers to assist in spreading the kindness campaign.

“We just want the public to know that what has started as a small campaign is now morphing into something greater it is because of its traction and the receptiveness of the community and the need for it in the community it is growing,” said Laster.

“One of the goals beyond connecting with businesses and just creating a really loving visual presence in the community was to offer education events around hate and hate incidences,” said Orjala.

Partnering with the education nonprofit will help Love Lives Here to do that.

Love Lives Here CDA is also helping to launch a chapter in Sandpoint this summer. There is also a pre-existing Love Lives Here in Flathead, Montana with a similar mission. Orjala says the Coeur d’Alene group took its name (with permission) and modeled some of its reporting process after the Flathead group.

“I think sometimes people think, especially when you say ‘white supremacy,’ that that issue is sort of a thing of the past…I agree with that, but there’s still there’s like an after-residue of that that still exists. And it’s kind of bubbling up in different ways now.”

Still, Orjala feels optimistic.

“But the best thing about this campaign, I cannot stress this enough, is that little residue for some reason has a really loud voice, but when you actually talk to people, 95 percent of people are so loving and amazing and are so accepting and that’s really what we want to bring forward.”

For individuals looking to get involved, Orjala says you can volunteer with Love Lives Here CDA by reaching out on either the Love Lives Here or HREI websites. Mountain Madness Soap, Calypso Coffee Roasters and The Corner Store all sell small stickers for the general public. While donations are also helpful, she says even the purchase of a small sticker supports education efforts (not just monetarily).

“I know it sounds very silly, but if that sparks a conversation with a friend of yours about serious things that are happening in your community, that is helping our mission, right?” Orjala explained.

“Those little simple things can make a really huge personal impact.”

“It’s a great opportunity right now to ensure that each citizen and each business owner has the ability to come on board with the campaign,” said Laster, “and for us to know how our community really is a loving community and that we don’t appreciate discrimination and we stand against hateful actions and discrimination and racial disparity.”

For more information, to sign the declaration, or volunteer visit their Facebook page or Lovelivesherecda.com. You can also visit Hrei.com/volunteer-internships.