Some racists in Boise haven't gotten the message that this is the season of good will toward all. But as they have before, Boiseans are standing strong in the face of hate.
In this story from The Idaho Statesman, reporter Chereen Langrill tells how dozens of people showed up Wednesday evening to express support for volunteers who were cleaning spray-painted swastikas and racial slurs off the Jewish Education Center and neighboring Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church. An excerpt:
Boisean Nick Bayus held an American flag as he watched someone wash away the graffiti. Bayus, who said he didn´t know anyone from the Jewish community or the Greek Orthodox Church, brought his flag to send a message to the vandals.
“This stuff is so un-American,” Bayus said. “This has nothing to do with this country and everything to do with hate.”
Boise police say whoever committed the vandalism will be charged with a hate crime.
“This is huge priority for the department,” police spokeswoman Lynn Hightower said. “This is not a crime against a building or vandalism. This is a hate crime against the community.”
Like other cities around the country, Boise also is being targeted by extremist wingnut Fred Phelps and his Topeka, Kansas, based Westboro Baptist Church. Rev. Phelps is on a campaign to force communities to erect 6-foot granite monuments to hate, stating that Matthew Shepherd, the Wyoming college student murdered in 1998, went to hell because he was gay. According to news reports, Phelps plans to picket at a pro-Ten Commandments monument prayer rally in Boise's Julia Davis Park later this month because city officials have basically told Phelps: "Not in our town."
And over in Wyoming, former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson is standing up to Phelps' venom, too, proving that Democrats don't corner the market on compassion and inclusion. The Washington Post's Al Kamen reported Wednesday that the ever-crusty Simpson, blasted by Phelps for his support of the Republican Unity Coalition's "Cody Statement" for tolerance, fired back a letter that read: "I just wanted to alert you to the fact that some dizzy [expletive] is sending out mailings and e-mails from the Westboro Baptist Church -- and using your name! I'm certain that you would not want this to continue or some less-alert citizen might think that you, yourself had done it. We know that is surely not the case, because you are a God-fearing Christian person filled to the brim with forbearance, tolerance and love -- and this other goofy homophobe nut must be someone totally opposite. Quite Sincerely, Al Simpson."
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