Idaho's fight against the far right, then and now
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — The mass arrest earlier this month of 31 white nationalists allegedly en route to riot at a Pride event in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, drew attention to the unprecedented increase in threats to the LGBTQ community. But the events reminded locals of another time when far right extremists sought to use their turf as a national stage to promote intolerance and hatred – and how their community fought back.
"We're not going back to the days of the Aryan Nations," said Coeur d'Alene Mayor Jim Hammond, two days after the Patriot Front arrests on June 11. Hammond was referring to a neo-Nazi group headquartered in that region between 1974 and 2000.
But many Coeur d'Alene residents said the events that day, and the hostilities that built up to them, felt eerily similar to that earlier chapter in the region's history.
"There's a lot of people that know what's going on and they know something's not right," said Jessica Mahuron, with the North Idaho Pride Alliance. "I have heard people say it feels like when the Aryan Nations were at its peak. It feels like that."
