Beautiful Sandpoint, Idaho. The sky is blue, birds are chirping, life seems peaceful enough. But something dark is brewing in Sandpoint, Idaho. As a matter of fact, something dark has been brewing there for quite some time. It is no wonder Sandpoint is currently one of the whitest cities on the continental US – it is only some 40 miles away in Hayden Lake, Idaho where the late Richard Butler, a known white supremacist and founder of the neo-Nazi group Aryan Nations, bought a 20-acre compound in the 1970s which served as base for the group.
There he hosted his first (and eventually annual events,) Aryan Youth Conference, first Aryan World Congress, and even a commemoration of Hitler’s birthday. It is here that Butler started advocating years ago that the Pacific Northwest become a homeland for whites. In 2001, after losing a lawsuit and paying $6 million in punitive damages, Butler’s Aryan Nations was bankrupt and forced to give up its property, but the damage was already done. Parts of Idaho have remained hot spots for various racist movements, hate crimes and blatant bigotry.
Richard Butler also happened to be a pioneer in the Christian Identity movement, a religion that believes salvation is solely for whites, that people of color are soulless, and that Jews are the spawns of Satan. It is no secret that Christian Identity has infiltrated and is very popular in extreme right wing circles, adding religious zeal to their bigotry, a combination which over time proved to be explosive – literally.
A follower of Butler, Robert Jay Matthews, along with others whom he met at the Aryan Nations compound, formed the terrorist group The Order which became infamous for armed robberies, bombings and the assassination of a Jewish radio host. And even though Butler was never convicted of these crimes, Christian Identity’s influence was undeniable and the movement got stuck with a bad reputation that got harder and harder to shake off.
To distance themselves from these violent actions, Christian Identity leaders have become masters of double talk. They now claim to be “separatists, but not racists; segregationists, but not supremacists” [Bowman, 1997], a distinction without a difference which nobody is buying anyway. What brings us back to Sandpoint, Idaho today is of one such church, America’s Promise. Despite being listed on SPLC’s website as a hate group, it is hosting its annual conference on July 2-4, 2010 and is very proud to announce its brand new addition: “lots of youth classes!” For Christians who believe it is blasphemy for Jews and people of color to even step foot in a Church, it is fairly easy to guess the kind of conference this is shaping up to be.
Branching out is at the forefront of the Christian Identity movement today. TV is one way it plans to do so. The other involves spreading the message of hate to the young, white generation by educating them on their ‘god given heritage’ and ‘superiority to every other race’; and teaching them that race mixing is an abomination in the eyes of God and only punishable by death.
Those are the core beliefs of Christian Identity that are going to be implanted in the minds of these young kids. Under the simplistic and innocent cover of America’s Promise Ministries, a new generation of racists is about to indoctrinated.
Idahoans should stem the spread of hate by strongly opposing this. It’s time for Idaho to break away from its controversial past.