Does Coeur d'Alene have a Skinhead/NeoNazi problem? (Hayden, Hayden Lake: bankrupt, live)

[FloridaMD]

I was talking about this town to someone recently and they told me a while back that the town was unfortunately having some notoriety for several NeoNazi groups in the area. Is this true? Does racism seem to be a big problem in the area?

[fearnofish]

The 'headquarters' for the skin heads USED to be in Hayden Lake but they went bankrupt and had to sell everything (to a human rights group..funny long story) and are now gone. I see more skin heads/racists in the Bay Area when we go down there than you will ever see in North Idaho.

[Sage of Sagle]

To append to that...

I think because of having to deal with those clowns, folks in this area have a heightened sensitivity to that stereotype. At the same time, there is little racial diversity here, and it's very culturally homogenous, while being racially tolerant and pretty accepting (WAY MORE than SoCal where I was a cop and saw more racism DAILY than you'd believe).

Up here, folks are just folks. And if they act like good neighbors, they're treated well.

[RUBIES77]

Originally Posted by FloridaMD

I was talking about this town to someone recently and they told me a while back that the town was unfortunately having some notoriety for several NeoNazi groups in the area. Is this true? Does racism seem to be a big problem in the area?

You will find them in Fallbrook, California, where the Head of the Aryan Nations have lived for decades. This is a very racist town.............. even though it has lots of Latinos, but myriad Whites.

[David Aguilar]

That's an old stereotype. I have seen a few scary looking fellows in CDA, but scary looking fellows can be found most anywhere.

[Sage of Sagle]

Originally Posted by RUBIES77

You will find them in Fallbrook, California, where the Head of the Aryan Nations have lived for decades. This is a very racist town.............. even though it has lots of Latinos, but myriad Whites.

Absolutely.

The most racial tension and unrest I have ever seen was in some cities and unincorporated areas in South Los Angeles County, It was about 1/3 black, 1/3 latino, 1/3 korean back in my day, and like a dang powder keg waiting to blow every weekend.

[voivod]

if by problem, you mean a dozen or so punk ass skinny white boys making stupid noise about once a year....okay...

[FloridaMD]

Originally Posted by voivod

if by problem, you mean a dozen or so punk ass skinny white boys making stupid noise about once a year....okay...

That's kind of what I figured. EVERY town in America has these types. I have heard about northern Idaho at least twice now in regards to this element, so when you hear it from somewhere else, you star to take notice a bit more. I am still very interested in checking out the area, as well as some other points west (Oregon as well). I am a primary care doctor looking to relocate out west probably next year, and just trying to find an area that I like, where I'm needed and will feel comfortable with the other folks around me.

[voivod]

north idaho made the news because MORRIS DEES AND THE SPLC gets govt money for neo-nazi hunting, and the hunting was easy about a decade ago in north idaho. north idaho is the most beautiful place on earth. i worked side by side with blacks fighting a fire in athol about 2 years ago. there is virtually NO open rascism there.

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Originally Posted by voivod

if by problem, you mean a dozen or so punk ass skinny white boys making stupid noise about once a year....okay...

Even the once a year parade stopped 5-6 years ago after the Aryan Nations were bankrupted and moved. I went down to CDA during one of their parades just to see what kind of kooks were there, and to see what really was going on vs what the news reported. There were more protesters, with fouler mouths, than there were ANers. I spent some time chatting with the cops about which groups were worse, the paraders or the protesters, sounds like it's about equal. The AN idiots wanted their 5 minutes of attention, the JDL, SPLC and others want to provoke a confrontation. Glad their out of here now.

Even during those days, that was a tiny group of people in a good sized area. They aren't representative of the community. Like voivod says, other than those nuts I have seen no open rascism here. On the other hand, as a middle aged white dude, I probably wouldn't encounter it.