Sundown towns are defined as all-white municipalities or neighborhoods in the United States that practice racial segregation by excluding non-whites via some combination of discriminatory laws, intimidation, or violence directing non-whites, mainly Blacks, to leave the town by sundown.
Sound familiar?
Last week in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, a group of racists revving their truck engines, spewing racial slurs, and waving their confederate flag at the University of Utah women’s basketball team. An act that, since the turn of the century, has been a tactic of intimidating people of color.
Last year, the Spokane NAACP received an email from a concerned community member who had received a flyer calling for a “Northwest American Republic” in Post Falls, Coeur D’Alene, Liberty Lake and the surrounding area. As the flier described, this Northwest American Republic is “a cradle for renewed civilization and white rebirth.” The flyer goes on to give the tainted illusion of a white supremacist utopia free of non-whites, high Christian values, and a true nation spanning from Washington to Montana where young whites can seek refuge from the “woke” rhetoric and anti-white laws that are supposedly taking over the country. While it may sound ridiculous and farfetched, it’s happening right before us, and for Spokane, it’s right next to us.
How does the “Northwest American Republic” form?
It happens when elected officials are complacent about having purely white communities without intentionally seeking to diversify their communities and systems.
When a local prosecutor has extreme numbers of convicting Black and Brown justice-involved citizens and a wife who is a proud white nationalist, the region becomes a harbor for hate.
When the Idaho police chief, sheriff and other officials and business owners hold a press conference and are in pure denial of the racism and consistent racist undertones of the region, it becomes a harbor for hate.
A Northwest American Republic forms when they ban DEI books in local libraries and school curricula. A “Northwest American Republic” forms when Juneteenth is banned from the Kootenai County Library system as a holiday.
Lastly, they create a “Northwest American Republic” through acts of intimidation, such as the incident that happened to the University of Utah women’s basketball team.
It seems that there is a robust agenda, and the acts of racial intimidation that the basketball team experienced are just one of the many tactics in the arsenal of keeping these regional towns exclusively white-mirroring an America that is reminiscent of the Jim Crow era.
And it’s not just Idaho; the racism that Spokane experiences is just as appalling, despicable, and at times cleverly disguised under “liberal” and “progressive” rhetoric. At the beginning of March, Wilson Elementary School deployed a newsletter to parents promoting a music program, “We Haz Jazz,” that called for students to dress like “hobos” and “slaves” as part of the performance. Slaves? To dress any child, white or Black, as slaves is dehumanizing. It is a dog whistle to the days of performing in “Blackface” and “Minstrel” shows. While some may argue that was not the intent, the impact of the suggestion should make it clear that it was hurtful and insulting. Slavery was not a period in time in our country to turn into cosplay for music class. The insensitivity of those involved in deploying that newsletter is a clear indication of implicit biases that saturate our community. Trivializing past wrongs and harm makes for fertile soil to repeat them.
Our NAACP vision calls for an inclusive community rooted in liberation, where all persons can exercise their civil and human rights without discrimination. We are committed to a world without racism, where Black and Brown people enjoy equitable opportunities in thriving communities. That is what we fight for here in Spokane and the region. Liberation is where all persons can exercise their civil rights and have opportunities to thrive.
However, in 2024, in the Inland Northwest, we are fighting yearly, weekly and daily the overt and implicit biases of our communities. In a city where the first Black City Council President was elected, we have our basketball teams visiting neighboring schools and towns where they’re being called racist slurs, and they’re forced to still perform under the emotional and mental strain of racism.
Spokane, in the 1980s, was proud to have the first Black Mayor in Washington State, yet last summer, Mission Park was vandalized with graffiti of anti-Black racist slurs. When we think we’re progressing, racism rears its ugly head. NAACP cannot eradicate racism. NAACP cannot prevent racism, but what we can do is continue to educate, be allies and protectors, and advocate, agitate, and litigate for our rights. Together, with organizations, neighborhoods, businesses, schools, and elected officials on both sides of the aisle, we can be vigilant, intentional, and pro-equity in our efforts to stand against racism.
The beautiful cities of Spokane and Coeur d’Alene must wake up and not deny the racism, discrimination, implicit biases and micro-aggressions that are plaguing our region. National news has highlighted our region’s bad behavior. This is another wake-up call for everyone to listen to what people of color have been saying for years in this region. We are still a safe harbor for hate – and it’s past due time to destroy this harbor for good.
Spokane City Council passed an ordinance proclaiming, “In Spokane, We all Belong.” Well, Spokane, now is the time to prove it. It is time to help protect our community and region from anti-Black racism; help stop Asian hate, find our kidnapped Indigenous sisters, stand up and speak out against any threats of border patrols in our schools, protect our community mosques and synagogues, be in community with people of color and help to drive out hate.
Racism is taxing on our emotions and mental health, and soon, the region will find out it will be taxing on your economy, because this type of blatant act of racism drives people away, drives opportunity away, drives economic benefits away. Let’s drive away the hate Northwest American Republic and groups like it bring to this region.
NAACP co-founder Ida B. Wells once said, “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” So let’s work together as a region to bring truth to light and shine the brightest light we can to right these wrongs.
Our Spokane NAACP community stands with the Utah Women’s team – we hear you, we see you, and we are sorry you had to experience the harsh realities of our region firsthand when you were only here to give us your best and play to win your tournament. We will continue to rally against the hate you experienced here in hopes we can awaken our region to stop harboring hate groups and electing officials who live and condone this hate.