[Vision2020] 'Local Hero' Honored for Rights Advocacy

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (February 22, 2007) Spokesman Review -

While attending North Idaho College I had the privilege of attending
Political Science 102 (Contemporary US Government) taught by Tony Stewart,
an experience I will not soon forget.  He's got a soft and gentle nature, a
slow deliberate Carolina drawl, and a smile that could melt an iceberg.

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'Local hero' honored for rights advocacy 
Tony Stewart known for decades of dedication

http://www.tomandrodna.com/Images/Tony_Stewart.jpg
Tony Stewart, a political science instructor at North Idaho College, points
out memorabilia in his office relating to human rights events. (Photo
courtesy Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Review )

Meghann M. Cuniff 
Staff writer
February 22, 2007

Virginia Johnson first met Tony Stewart at a North Idaho College faculty
assembly meeting in 1970. Johnson had been an English instructor at the
college for a few years; Stewart was in his first year in the political
science department.

"In came this guy with a head of curly hair and very strong Southern accent,
and he was just talking to everyone and being so friendly," Johnson said. "I
thought, 'How did someone with a Southern accent get to Coeur d'Alene?' "

Nearly 40 years later, Stewart's hair is thinner, but his accent and
friendly demeanor remain. He's a staple of North Idaho College and a living
legend in the field of human rights in North Idaho.

He'll be honored Friday evening by the Idaho Humanities Council for
outstanding achievements in the humanities. Johnson, vice chairwoman of the
council, nominated her longtime colleague and friend for the annual
statewide award.

"He's built for the long haul. He does not give up, lose hope, abandon
anyone or any cause," Johnson said. "He's just sort of a local hero, and
rightfully so."

A native of Robbinsville, N.C., Stewart was a leader in the fight to expel
the Aryan Nations from North Idaho, and he remains the area's most prominent
human rights advocate. He came to NIC after earning a graduate degree from
the University of Tennessee, then doing a year of doctoral work at
Washington State University. 
 
"I thought I'd be here about three years," Stewart recalls. But the job
suited him, and he found causes that needed help. 

Now 65, Stewart is eligible for retirement. But he hasn't decided when he'll
do that. And when he does leave the community college, he said he won't stop
working. There's still more to be done - the human rights movement is never
over, he said.

"I have a very broad view of human rights," Stewart said. "I've just never
understood discrimination in any form."

Stewart's reluctant to talk about his life, calling himself "really, really
shy."

"But I love talking about my work," he said. And his work dominates his
life. Among Stewart's long list of accomplishments are his roles as a
founding member of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, the
Human Rights Education Institute and the Northwest Coalition Against
Malicious Harassment.

He said he'd be nothing without the support of countless others. "I have not
done anything by myself," Stewart said. "It's always a group."

But his colleagues are quick to cite Stewart's leadership.

"It has been a team effort, but Tony's been the dominant leader of that
team," said Doug Creswell, a member of the human relations task force and a
retired school superintendent.

Stewart sees a four-step process for combating racism and discrimination.
The first steps are ending slavery and segregation. The third is embracing
tolerance. "Number four is when I celebrate who you are," he said. 

Once tolerance is embraced, some tend to think "look how great I am because
I tolerate you," and that's an attitude that must end if true tolerance and
equality are ever to be reached, Stewart said.

His first experience with racism came when he was about 10 or 11, visiting
Charlotte, N.C., with family. He overhead two white boys insulting a black
boy.

"They were saying just terribly harsh things . and I never forgot that,"
Stewart said. "I just thought that was so, so awful."

He can't pinpoint what made him so passionate about human rights. He lived
in the South during the height of the civil rights movement and followed the
work of Martin Luther King Jr. closely. 

But he said, "No matter where I would have been, I think I would have this
same attitude and drive towards fairness."

It is because that attitude and drive have inspired and educated thousands
of others that Stewart will be honored Friday, Idaho Humanities Council
Chairman Ron Pisaneschi said. 

"The goal of the humanities council is to connect people with ideas. Who's
done that more than Tony Stewart?" Johnson said. 

"While he's this great Southern gentleman, he's also just fearless."

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"If not us, who?
If not now, when?"

- Unknown