Letters to the editor: Racial injustice, bear baiting, rugged individualism, Mayor McLean

Racial injustice

I admire the young Black Lives Matters protesters in Sandpoint. As a mother of three sons, George Floyd’s story breaks my heart. Fortunately, my sons are all white. Two open carry and one was protecting local businesses.

I reluctantly have learned to honor people’s right to bear arms. However, accounts of harassment of young peaceful protesters by camo-clad men with semi-automatic rifles and guns using racial slurs crosses the line for me. So does blanket labeling of open gun carriers as “gun toting idiots who are trying to bully us all into submission” who are bent on starting a fascist movement similar to Nazi Germany. White supremacy presence doesn’t mean that we label everyone who open-carries an irresponsible vigilante.

Racial injustice is not meted out by bad individuals or events. According to Dr. Robin DiAngelo, it is a systemic discrimination by one group that doesn’t perceive itself as a “race” — sanctioned by legal authority and institutional control. As whites, we all perpetuate racism whether we split ourselves into good/tolerant progressives and bad vigilantes/racists or good patriots and bad antifas/communists. I commend Sandpoint Police Chief Corey Coon for holding a community meeting and hope that Bonner County Sherriff Daryl Wheeler does the same.

Gabrielle Duebendorfer, Sandpoint

Bear baiting

I just returned from a trip in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. June is also a time for bear hunters and bear baiters to visit these lands. I separate the two into distinct groups because the latter dumps food on the forest floor and waits until a black bear visits the pile before shooting it. That is not hunting. You can call it slob-hunting or immoral, disgusting, and littering. Idaho calls it legal. What isn’t legal is baiting bears near a campground or campsite and that is what I observed near the Bear Creek pack bridge. The pile contained oatmeal, granola bars, chili, etc. and my dog was instantly attracted to it.

After photographing the bait pile I heard the buzz of an airplane. People along the trail told me that bear baiters from Indiana had just departed after flying in for the week. As I stood along the river and watched the plane fly away I had thoughts of anger, sadness, and disgust for both the individuals in the plane and for the decision makers that permit this at the Idaho Department Fish and Game and the Forest Service. The Wilderness deserves better, the bears deserve better, and so do we.

Brett Haverstick, Missoula, Montana

Rugged individualism

The word “hoax” sure gets thrown a lot these days. I have been convinced during the Covid-19 pandemic that the real hoax is this idea of “Rugged American Individualism.” During World War II, not that terribly long ago, you could not buy a new car or tractor in this country for four years. Good luck if your fridge died. Better get pretty good at patching tires, finding new ones was nearly impossible. We understood that we were individuals, blessed with inalienable rights, but that we were also links in this wonderful chain. This chain would hold this incredible experiment of democracy and freedom together. No none wanted to be the weakest link. Today we sit in our spit shined pick-ups, new tires on our shiny rims, and whine like petulant children because we can’t get a haircut. We load up our automatic weapons and storm state houses when our bars can’t reopen. (I’m sure this is what the founders had in mind while crafting the 2nd amendment: “Give me my tavern or give me death!”) Rugged? Individuals? We are soft and weak lemmings. And you think a mask makes you look weak?

Lee Harville, Star

Mayor McLean

I had a recent conversation with an out-of-state family member who saw Lauren McLean’s so-called liberal manifesto in the national media. They assumed Boise had converted to a progressive bastion by the invading hordes of liberals moving here from Portland, Seattle and the state of California. Many of the new residents of Idaho that I have met actually moved here to flee communities with a declining quality of life and do not wish to replicate similar circumstances in their newly adopted home. Mayor McLean was elected by Republican and Democratic voters in large part because the former mayor pursued projects contrary to the wishes of his constituents. I’m hopeful for Mayor McLean’s leadership as Boise manages unprecedented growth and recovers from the human and economic damages of the COVID-19 virus. The mayor likely is not only listening to the suggestions of her focus groups but also the still predominantly conservative voices of all of us who live in this great city.

Kelly Temple, Boise