I simply do NOT understand racism,

18 years ago

hatred or ignorance. And never will.

My girlfriend works at this store and found the note. It's about 6 blocks from my office.

Racist note rattles store employees

By Becky Kramer

Staff writer

December 18, 2007

A shaken employee showed Dharamjit Khehra the racist note she'd found tucked between the front doors of Piggie's Deli and Market in Coeur d'Alene.

Should she just throw it away, the employee wondered? No, call the police, replied Khehra, the convenience store's manager. "This is a very serious matter."

The note was discovered Thursday, as the staff prepared for the store's 5 a.m. opening. It said, "If it's brown, flush it down! Join the White Revolution," according to police. The note also contained a picture of a man wearing a sombrero and a slur against Hispanics.

A Latino man had worked the previous night's shift at Piggie's.

Khehra, a Sikh who wears a turban and cascading beard, said he feared the incident could escalate if it wasn't reported, with the perpetrator returning with additional threats. The store's security camera caught on tape an older white passenger car and a man getting out of the driver's side and leaving the note at 2:57 a.m.

The Coeur d'Alene Police Department is investigating the note as malicious harassment, a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000, or both, Sgt. Christie Wood said. Under Idaho law, victims can also bring civil suits against the perpetrators for punitive damages.

Khehra has managed Piggie's on East Sherman for three years. A native of India's Punjab region, Khehra said the note is the only racist incident he's experienced in the 13 years he's lived in the United States.

The note, however, is the third discriminatory action against Hispanics that has come to the attention of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations in the past eight weeks.

"These incidents all involve the same minority community," said Tony Stewart, a task force founder. "That's a deep concern to us. K They may be tied to immigration issues."

Racist incidents tend to flare up during economic downturns, when people are worried about their job security, Stewart said. "A lot of people hate out of fear."

One of the incidents involved a Hispanic man trying to pay for gas with a $100 bill, said JoAnn Harvey, president of the task force's board of directors. The store clerks kept asking him for identification. "They implied, Â¡Â¥Where would you get $100?'Â:" Harvey said.

She also saw three white men confront four Hispanic men in a drugstore's photo department. The white men made derogatory comments and told the Hispanic men they should leave, Harvey said.

Some of the incidents are subtle; others are deliberate and frightening, she said.

The Task Force on Human Relations formed to confront white supremacist activity in North Idaho. Beginning in 1981, many from throughout the United States and Canada gathered every July at the Aryan Nations compound near Hayden Lake for the three-day Aryan World Congress.

The group's leader, Richard Butler, lost the compound after he was hit with a $6.3 million civil judgment in 2000. Though Butler is dead, fighting discrimination is an ongoing battle, task force members said.

"I don't want our community to be this way," Harvey said. "People made a real effort to erase this racist tag we've had on North Idaho."

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Comments (7)

jennmonkey
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I don't understand either, some people are just ignorant. I remember always hearing when growing up (in Spokane) about all the white supremacist groups in Northern Idaho, but I always thought Couer d'Alene had avoided most of it. I took a trip to Montana once with my cousin and her boyfriend, who happened to be African American. He wouldn't even get out of the car in Northern Idaho and in alot of Montana too.
sheilajoyce_gw
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Last week's paper had an interesting article about some anthropological research on how man has physically changed since his arrival on earth. The article says mankind is currently changing faster than ever, and some of the recent changes they don't understand as to how it helps the species survive and thrive. However, I found interesting the explanation that lighter skinned humans developed as humans immigrated to northern Europe where there is less sunshine and lighter skin enabled humans to absorb enough vitamin D to survive. There was only one race till about 200,000 years ago (as I recall) when humans started to spread over the various climates of the earth. No human had blue eyes till about 20,000 years ago. Interesting.
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bestlawn
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
A whole lot worse than this is happening right now and always has been. I don't understand it either, but racist people somehow feel justified. If asked, not one of them can explain why they hate other races. They "just do" without reason. They were taught from childhood but never bothered to question. I was astounded by some of the racist things said here on the forum, but at least those people didn't try to hide behind exclamations like "Ohhh noooo, I'm not a racist!" Not that it makes anything okay, of course.
ntt_hou
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I STRONGLY agree with this and I'm glad that you brought this subject on. I still can't see the logic of this happening in the USA! I'm not saying this because I'm a foreigner but I'm saying this as an outsider.

Of all the countries in the world, USA has a very unique history. So to speak: Although, the Native Americans lived here in this land, there was not a united leadership or government throughout. This country was established by immigrants from Great Britain and soon after immigrants from other countries. It is the most diverse country there is.

Foremost, the Declaration of Independence which stated that "All men are created equal" was the theme of the birth of this country. If any country would have the least racism, I would think this is the one! After all, isn't United States means that we're in union?

I'm proud to become a US Citizen but I am ashamed from all the racism that is carried on in this country.

We should stop attacking one another regardless of how and where we came from. Think about it, if not for political reason of our original countries, or slavery, or poor conditions, etc., we wouldn't be having the lives, the opportunity, the benefits that we all have today here, in the United States.

So, let's all stop bickering about the past and about our skins and enjoy what we have. For this country has no "true" Americans, (except maybe for the Native Americans =o). All of us together make America the Beautiful.
joyfulguy
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
And if we aren't willing to share these benefits with others (substantially on their terms) - help them get a hand up - it won't contiue for us here in North America, either.

By the way, some say that Montreal, or Toronto or Vancuver, are the most cosmopolitan cities in the world.

The Berlin Wall didn't work. The one that Israel's building won't. And if "they" build one along the Alamo ... what odds are you willing to give on its success?

ole joyful
jannie
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I don't understand racism at all. Imagine all the genes that make us humans, and how miniscule the one for skin pigment must be. And, based on the part of the world where He was born, Jesus was probably not a blue-eyed blond like He is shown in the paintings done by Europeans.
joyfulguy
18 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Greetings jannie,

Christ was a Jew, after all.

I remember seeing a beautiul rendition that a talented artist did 50 years ago showing the family in a Korean style.

He's far more universal than is our image of Him.

I think that, could we hear Him speak to us today as He did to his followers while physically here ...

... that we'd be rather uncomfortable at some of the things that He'd say to us.

Herod, ruler of Judea under the Romans, wasn't enthused about getting rid of him, and it wasn't a big deal to Pilate.

Who were the folks who insisted that he had to go?

The Temple crowd ...

... there wasn't enough room in the world for his
ideas and the way that they understood religion to be - and it was his way that had to go.

If He appeared today ... I imagine that His ideas about life would set a lot of the good religious' folks' (especially the leaders') teeth on edge big time.

I suspect that we'd either ignore Him (as a dreamer and a fool?) ...

... or treat Him very much like the good religious folk did, last time.

Get rid of Him.

ole joyful

I simply do NOT understand racism,

Comments (7)

jennmonkey

sheilajoyce_gw

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