[Vision2020] Officials Counter Racist Acts

[Rosemary]

Tom is dead on to raise the alarm about this guy. Paul, your sense of white,
male, middle class entitlement is showing.  I guess you don't understand
that silence is assent - or you don't care.

Rose Huskey

-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Tom Hansen
Sent: Saturday, August 22, 2009 4:04 PM
To: Paul Rumelhart
Cc: Moscow Vision 2020
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Officials Counter Racist Acts

Have you taken a look at the "history" of Paul Mullet?

This worm is a real piece of work.

Turning our backs on him, thinking he will simply disappear, is wrong on
so many levels.

Mullet had publicly commented in the past, as the leader of the MInnesota
Aryan Nations, that the only thing wrong with Timothy McVeigh was that he
did not go far enough.

However, Paul (Rumelhart), if you feel comfortable simply ignoring it,
that is your choice . . . not mine.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

> I'm not sure this is the best way to handle this. By mobilizing and
> making a big thing out of it, you are legitimizing them to some extent.
> This does nothing but make them redouble their efforts. It makes them
> out to be more than they are, and acts as a lightning rod for those who
> agree with them.
>
> They are trying to intimidate people and they only succeed if you become
> intimidated.
>
> I wonder if the best way to handle this isn't to simply throw the
> pamphlets away that show up on your lawn, and to laugh a little and
> decline the ones they hand out in person. If they become a big joke
> instead of a dark presence then maybe fewer people will support them.
> Let them speak their messages of hate in obscurity, and crack down on
> them if they break the law.
>
> Paul
>
> Tom Hansen wrote:
>> Courtesy of today's (August 22, 2009) Spokesman Review.
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Officials counter racist acts
>> Flare-ups galvanize area leaders, who promise resistance
>>
>> Criminal citations and civil lawsuits are options. But a recent rise in
>> racist activity is best handled by a unified community dedicated to
>> rejecting discrimination and hate, leaders from across the Inland
>> Northwest said Friday.
>>
>> "We have been vested with the authority and the power to take action,
>> and
>> I assure you I will use that power and authority to take a stronger
>> stance
>> of boldness," Spokane police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said. "People who
>> are
>> hateful are bold. But stand by to stand by, because we are more bold
>> than
>> they are."
>>
>> City leaders and law enforcement from around the region joined members
>> of
>> the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations to respond to racist
>> fliers that have been appearing in residential yards since April.
>>
>> A man with extensive ties to hate groups, Paul R. Mullet, moved to Athol
>> from Ohio about five months ago and has promised to resurrect the Aryan
>> Nations. The group moved its headquarters from Hayden Lake after the
>> death
>> of its founder, Richard Butler, in 2004.
>>
>> Mullet and Kevin McGurre, who's listed in police documents as a
>> Manhattan,
>> Mont., resident, were ticketed for littering and Todd Weston, of Athol,
>> for aiding a misdemeanor Aug. 8 after neighbors in Coeur d'Alene
>> complained about the fliers to police.
>>
>> "We will not be known as places that allow hatred to dwell," Spokane
>> Mayor
>> Mary Verner said.
>>
>> Racist incidents crop up
>> The Kootenai County task force is credited with dismantling Butler's
>> Hayden Lake compound with a civil lawsuit that bankrupted the Aryan
>> Nations in 2000. The land is now a peace park.
>>
>> But racist activity has persisted quietly in the region. In 2007, a man
>> claiming Aryan Nations ties interrupted a talk by task force founders
>> Tony
>> Stewart and Norm Gissel at the Human Rights Institute. Three others
>> stood
>> outside the building handing out pro-Aryan literature. That summer, two
>> men reportedly screamed racial slurs and neo-Nazi mantras at Hayden
>> Lake,
>> and Silverwood Theme Park near Athol ordered a group of men with
>> swastika
>> tattoos to cover the markings or leave. The men left.
>>
>> In April, Coeur d'Alene residents awoke to fliers advertising the Aryan
>> Nations in their yards. Residents in Spirit Lake have gotten them, too.
>> Earlier this month, Coeur d'Alene police ticketed Mullet, McGurre and
>> Weston after a neighbor said they'd thrown the fliers to children
>> playing
>> in a yard. Less than two weeks later, Spokane Valley yards were littered
>> with the fliers, police said.
>>
>> 'Speaking out'
>> At Friday's press conference, Spokane Valley Mayor Richard Munson
>> encouraged citizens to reject Mullet and his "type of vitriolic
>> nonsense."
>>
>> Officials from Rathdrum, Spokane Valley, Dalton Gardens, Post Falls,
>> Coeur
>> d'Alene, Liberty Lake, Spokane, Sandpoint and the Coeur d'Alene Tribe
>> attended the press conference, which was held off Interstate 90 near the
>> state line.
>>
>> "We believe that where there's hate speech, good speech is essential and
>> it wins out in the end," said Stewart, task force secretary. ". I
>> think it comforts the people in the neighborhoods. They know we are
>> speaking out."
>>
>> Two assaults have been reported in Spokane and Coeur d'Alene in the past
>> month that police think may have been racially motivated, but detectives
>> say they have no reason to suspect members of the Aryan Nations. Idaho's
>> hate crime law makes it a felony to "intimidate or harass another person
>> because of that person's race, color, religion, ancestry or national
>> origin."
>>
>> Washington's malicious harassment law can be used to prosecute racial
>> intimidation.
>>
>> Mullet said in a prepared statement his organization will not violate
>> the
>> law.
>>
>> "For far to long ALL other groups have been able to spread there
>> messages
>> unchallenged and nay encouraged to have free speech but one group the
>> WHITE RACE!" the statement reads. "The media blitz this morning is
>> nothing
>> more than them stirring up a population of people to do nothing more
>> than
>> attack us for having the willingness to speak truth, granted to us under
>> the constitution of the United States!"
>>
>> Mullet has promised to fight the littering citation filed this month.
>>
>> ----------------------
>>
>> Tony Stewart, of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations,
>> speaks
>> Friday at a press conference attended by police and human rights
>> activists. "We believe that where there's hate speech, good speech is
>> essential and it wins out in the end," he said.
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/n4awq
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------
>>
>> More on Paul R. Mullet, Minnesota leader of the Aryan Nations can be
>> found
>> at:
>>
>> http://www.rickross.com/reference/hate_groups/hategroups326.html
>>
>> Seeya at Farmers' Market, Moscow.
>>
>> Tom Hansen
>> Moscow, Idaho
>>
>> "The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to
>> change
>> and the Realist adjusts his sails."
>>
>> - Unknown
>>
>>
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>>
>
>
>


"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown


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