COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Nearly 1,000 T-shirts with the message "North Idaho Rejects Hate" were given away Friday in the Runge Furniture parking lot and the Coeur d'Alene Public Library.
The shirts were created by the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations. The task force said their goal is to have as many residents as possible wear the shirts to Coeur d'Alene's Fourth of July Parade and other upcoming local events.
The T-shirt campaign was launched in response to the June 11 arrest of 31 members of the Patriot Front group, a group with ties to white nationalism. The task force has issued a call to action to community members to get involved and unite against hate.
Thanks to donations from local supporters, the shirts are free. However, the task force also accepted $10 donations for the shirts to help fund future projects during their event.
"This is Idaho and hate doesn't belong here," Coeur d'Alene citizen Timothy Fennell said. "It doesn't belong in the United States. There's enough hate in the world we don't need it here."
"Well there's a lot of things you need to do to rally as a community to say no hate in our community, no crimes in our community, based on anything, essentially hate," Kootenai County Task Force Secretary Tony Stewart said. "And therefore this is a great way to advertise that we do reject hate."
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