The Legacy of the "Hate State"
They twisted Christianity, worshipped Adolf Hitler, committed domestic terrorism, and damaged the reputation of an entire state.
As the crowd booed and jeered, dozens of white supremacists from the “Aryan Nations” marched in downtown Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in 1998, carrying Confederate flags, performing Nazi salutes, some sporting Ku Klux Klan hoods and gowns.
For decades, the Aryan Nations, a domestic terrorism group that wrapped itself in a false mantle of God and country, was a preeminent white supremacist organization in the United States based in northern Idaho and giving a bad name to the state.
Founded in the 1970s by right-wing ideologue Richard Butler, the Aryan Nations’ 20-acre compound was based just a few miles north of Coeur d’Alene in the town of Hayden Lake. It also served as a gathering place for numerous white supremacist groups, including the Klan and neo-Nazis, as well as hosting an annual "Aryan World Congress.”
Considered the "spiritual godfather" of the white separatist movement, Butler also headed the “Church of Jesus Christ–Christian,” which spread a racist religious ideology steeped in Naziism.
For more than 25 years, Butler preached hate and prejudice as his movement expanded from northern Idaho to create chapters in 27 states. The Aryan Nations actively recruited members, including neo-Nazis and skinheads, and operated a prison ministry that distributed racist Christian Identity materials to inmates in correctional facilities nationwide.
Given its connection to domestic terrorist activities by splinter groups, including bank robberies, bombings, and murder, the Aryan Nations was ultimately classified as a terrorist threat by the FBI.
But things fell apart in 2000 after security guards at their compound shot at and assaulted a woman and her son. As a result of a subsequent lawsuit, Butler and his organization went into bankruptcy and lost the compound.
But the hate and prejudice of white supremacists continue to be a stain on the state of Idaho.
Following Butler's death in 2004, the Aryan Nations splintered into various factions that remain active today.
The majority of Idahoans abhor them, but the hatred and prejudice persist, and many observers continue to view Coeur d’Alene, and the state as a whole, as a haven for white supremacist hate groups.
In 2021, Boise’s Anne Frank Memorial was defaced with swastikas.
In 2023, thirty-one members of a group called the “Patriot Front” were arrested and charged with conspiring to riot during a Pride Festival event in Coeur d’Alene.
Last year, the University of Utah women’s basketball team, which has many Black and Latino players, was staying in Coeur d’Alene while playing in a nearby NCAA tournament.
The team was harassed with racial slurs by young men in pickup trucks as they went out to dinner, and again as they returned to their hotel. A local far-right activist disrupted a subsequent news conference about the incident.
This past Sunday, 20-year-old Wess Roley fatally shot two firefighters in an ambush after he started a brush fire near Coeur d’Alene to lure them in.
According to three former classmates, Roley displayed "Nazi tendencies” while in school, sketched pictures of swastikas in a notebook, and was "obsessed with guns."
Cutting funding to combat domestic terrorism
Right-wing attacks and plots have accounted for the majority of all terrorist incidents in the U.S. As a result, in 2020, the FBI elevated the threat to its highest priority.
Under the Trump administration, however, funding for domestic terrorism investigations and related programs has been reduced or eliminated altogether.
This includes:
Reducing funding for federal agencies involved in public safety and terrorism prevention.
Cutting a national database tracking domestic terrorism, hate crimes, and school shootings.
Terminating funding for research projects on counter-terrorism to predict and prevent future domestic terror attacks, particularly from the far right.
In the aftermath of the January 6th Capitol attack, federal investigators identified individuals affiliated with various extremist and white supremacist groups among the rioters, including Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, QAnon adherents, avowed white supremacists, and neo-Nazis.
All of the rioters were pardoned this year by President Trump.
Postscript:
As a result of its history of white supremacist groups, Idaho has often been characterized as the “Hate State.”
Rightfully distressed by this characterization, residents hoping to change that image have embraced the slogan "Idaho is too Great for Hate."
In 2021, a proposal to create specialty license plates featuring the slogan was rejected by the GOP-controlled Idaho Legislature.
Resources:
After Firefighter Ambush, Idaho Commissioner Rejects Focus On White Nationalism ~ Idaho Statesman
The History Of Hate Groups In Idaho ~ Boise State Public Radio
Suspected Idaho Shooter Showed 'Nazi Tendencies' In School, Ex-Classmates Say ~ USA Today
Neo-Nazi Builds North Idaho Compound to Replace Defunct Aryan Nations ~ SPLC
Anne Frank Memorial In Idaho Defaced With Nazi Swastikas ~ NBC News
Christian Identity's New Role On The Extreme Right ~ Middlebury Institute of International Studies
Aryan Nations/Church of Jesus Christ Christian ~ Anti-Defamation League
Idaho Police Are Investigating Racist Harassment of Utah Women’s Basketball Team ~ NBC News
Trump Administration Cuts National Database Tracking Domestic Terrorism ~ Washington Post
Members Of Right-Wing Militias, Extremist Groups Are Latest Charged In Capitol Siege ~ NPR
The Fourteen Words ~ Perspectives
Who Created the Immigration Crisis? ~ Perspectives
They Are Human Beings ~ Perspectives
Let us never Forget who these people are and the evil they stand for.