I had not been to the new River Park Square Square before.  Spokane tries mightily to compete with upgrades in Seattle to keep the malls drawing the shoppers.  As one who strives to live as simply as possible, i found the venue offensive.  But i was open to the possibilities.  

The friend i came with found her Planned Parenthood table on the second level tucked back with the other tables that tended to more "liberal".  It was a nice educational display about birth control, sexually transmitted diseases and other information geared for young women in particular.  Being an elder now, most of the material no longer applies to me, but my daughter is 13, so i picked up relevant leterature for her.

I also learned that Planned Parenthood could not give out condoms, tho a nearby table addressing AIDS did.

I noticed several flyers promoting "abstinence", which struck me as strange. My friend also was told by the director of Planned Parenthood that she could not volunteer wearing her nose ring.  This was an indicater to me of capitulation to the religious right who seem not only overly concerned about human reproductive habits, but preoccuppied with appearance to the point of intolerance.  I asked my friend if the director would tell an east Indian woman wanting to volunteer that she must remove the nose ring she has had since birth.

As a true Hippie, i am very familiar with intolerance towards those of us who dress differently in a county known for it's attraction to white supremacists.  If i had known how this would develop, i would not have moved to Stevens County,  north of Spokane, back in 1975 with my multi racial son.  But the extent of the bigotry did not really become dangerously overt until the hey day of the militia movement preceding the Oklahoma City Bombing.  

I spent time walking around looking at all the displays.  I searched in particular for the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane table as they do wonderful fulltime work for authentic peace and justice.  I just did not see their table.  Instead, i noticed at least 3 displays emphasizing police work, several addressing security issues, nonprofit groups like Habitat for Humanity, Disability services, and many ephasizing abstinence, pro life, adoption.  It was not inspiring to me in the least.  I noticed an NAAACP table which was the only one i could find that obviously was by and for Black people.  

I talked to a Black woman at a table for the Spokane Regional Community Congress on Human Relations about what i have experieced in addressing white supremacy where i live, my daughter's skill in talking to kids who say racist things to her and my longing to work with others to educate my community.  She said the organization, originally founded after hate mail was received by African-American students enrolled at Gonzaga University's School of Law in l996, has been dormant for several years, but a planned September conference will hopefully revive it.  I felt a distance from her that i found somewhat alienating.  I can only guess the extremity of the situation existing in most of eastern Washington may have caused the edginess.  I just don't know.  She was the only Black person at that table.  I signed the volunteer sheet for the September gathering.

A Black man was the MC.  Most of those he introduced as speakers were white.  Each made references to Martin Luther King.  The crowd filled the area and there were over 100 Black people which is rare to see anywhere in Spokane.  I longed to hear words of courage and inspiration, but that was not to be.  I did not hear all the speakers, but those i heard did not even catch my attention.  Instead, i noticed that the many young Black people were not being engaged, were walking around in groups and one young girl i overheard say into her cell phone that she and her homegirl had been told to get out of there.  Ofcourse, i did not ask her what happened as i felt it might be intrusive and i really was simply an observer.  I also noticed an overabundance of police, all white. My heart ached as i see over and over again how people of color in this region have no voice unless they somehow replicate the behaviors of overeducated white males.  It is also true for women.  So what we contend with in this region is the legacy of exclusion.

At one point, i drove my friend's car to pick up my daughter and her two girls.  They walked around, but mostly wanted to shop.  Figures.  It struck me how little meaning such events have for youth.  This is immensely troubling.

As the event came to a close, the displays were being dismantled.  I found the PJALS table with literature to the side of a table where young women had been making masks and hats for children.  I found "Handful of Salt", their wonderful small monthly newsletter.  It had a frontpage editorial why they keep joining the MLK events, tho the message has been watered down.  The sadness in the piece struck me.  

Over the summer, skinheads attacked a group of Native American teenagers and a younger child who were at the beach along the Spokane river.  The bigots threw rocks at the youth from a bridge yelling at them to get out of their park. Then the skinheads came down to the park harassing them more.  Most of the Native Americans made it to their van, only to have one of the skinheads open the door and slash the seats with his knife.  He also broke the side mirror.  One young Native man was also physically attacked.  

The article that appeared in "The Spokeman Review" quoted Rusty Nelson of PJALS who was outraged by this attack.  No other group was mentioned.  The skinheads were eventually arrested in Montana.  

Few people in this area were aware of that attack.  I did what i could to educate people i know, but feel very alone in my concern.  I have had to battle for 14 years to address these issues.  My children have suffered and so have several friends of color who tried living here only to leave and never return.  As this is where i live, i feel a deep obligation to do all i can to insist on humanitarian progress.  But apathy prevails.  Then we also have had conflicts in the community with one particularly angy Native American who leveled accusations against liberals and Hippies.  Due to the lack of cross cultural understanding and dismantling bigotry skills, it turned quite ugly.  It is my hope that people involved in what little activism there is in this area will come together with a mediator to process the situation as well as to lay groundwork for anti oppression trainings.  It is one long haul.

Whenever i hear recordings of Martin Luther King's speches, it brings tears.  The depth of feeling he so profoundly inspired, the powerfully courageous actions and the lasting shift in this country must be infused with resurgence, nurtured, expanded.  We cannot let the numbing culture of fear and conformity prevail.  All of life faces premature annihilation.   How will those of conscience carry on?  What do we have to lose but a livable future for the children?   How urgent it is .....

In peaceful struggle, swaneagle harijan
NonIndian Supporter of Traditional Dineh and Hopi
Frontline Mother, Performance Artist, Gardener

Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane (Affiliate of FOR)
www.pjals.org  

Spokane Regional Community Congress on Human Relations
Co-Chair Kareem Wilcher kareemw@spokesman.com
Co-Chair Kristine Reeves reeves@gonzaga.edu