White Supremacists Defy Rain, Jeers in Idaho

Bedraggled but defiant under a light rain, Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler and two dozen supporters carried banners and swastika flags through the streets Saturday, vowing that northern Idaho will remain a haven for the white race.

Facing a $6.3-million court judgment that will force the white separatist group to give up its 20-acre compound and church this week, Butler and his lieutenants were alternately jeered and applauded by hundreds of people who lined the wet thoroughfare for what was considered a farewell parade.

“Yes, they’ve won a round. They were able to steal a man’s property,” the 83-year-old Butler said after the march. “But we’re going to be here in this area . . . and those who don’t like it will have to lump it.”

The events were considered more symbolic than substantial, as the Aryan Nations already has announced plans to regroup under a new name, the Aryan National Alliance, and Butler has taken up residence at a house in a nearby town.

But the parade and an ordination that followed in the group’s Church of Jesus Christ Christian marked the end of an era that has seen some of the most infamous white supremacist figures of the last two decades visit the compound at its large annual congresses.

The annual retreats sometimes attracted hundreds of young skinheads listening to raucous white power music and featured addresses by such well-known racist leaders as Louis Beam, K.A. Badynski and Gary Rex Lauck. Attendance had fallen in recent years as younger, more charismatic racist leaders rose up around the country and the Aryan Nations gained a reputation in racist circles for being heavily infiltrated by the FBI.

The rural compound, with its watchtower, bunkhouses, publishing office and flag-draped chapel, will be handed over as early as this week to Victoria Keenan and her son, Jason, who won a civil judgment against the group after being assaulted by Aryan Nations security guards outside the compound in July 1998.

An Idaho judge last week upheld the verdict and denied Butler’s motion for a new trial, saying it was reasonable for the jury to have found that the organization knowingly retained individuals with a propensity for violence as security guards and then failed to adequately oversee them--conduct, the judge said, “so reprehensible that it is repugnant to anyone in a civilized society.”

Judge Charles W. Hosack said that, although he would have awarded much less in compensatory damages, the actual award does not “by any means shock the conscience of the court.”

Most organized civil rights groups stayed away from the parade Saturday, but they launched a major new campaign to have “Idaho: The Human Rights State” adopted as the state’s new motto. Billboards at businesses all over Coeur d’Alene carried the phrase.

Several church groups stood along the sidewalks during the parade, singing such songs as “Everyone Is Beautiful” and “Shalom.”

“We wanted to make sure there was a visible opposition to Richard Butler and his fascist thugs,” said Doreen McGrath, who traveled with several dozen members of an anti-fascist group from Seattle. “History has shown that if you ignore fascism, it just gets stronger,” she said, adding that it was rising public militancy against the Aryan Nations that was “why the jury felt strong enough to make the award against Butler.”

Their views did not have total support. Several Aryan Nations members and supporters shouted “Hail victory!” from the sidewalks. Other northern Idaho residents said they were not necessarily against the Aryan Nations.

“I don’t agree with the beliefs, but I think people like that should be left to believe what they want,” said Merrie Burgin of Hayden Lake.

Kevin Greer of Post Falls called the verdict “foolish, shortsighted and unrealistic.”

“There’s plenty of blacks in Spokane [about 30 miles west of Coeur d’Alene], but we don’t have the big gang activity, and there isn’t the real big racial tension.”

Carrying a large banner that said “Enjoy diversity,” uniformed Aryan lieutenants and black leather-jacketed skinheads marched down Coeur d’Alene’s main downtown thoroughfare, smiling and occasionally flashing peace signs.

“The Aryan Nations is not dead!” Butler shouted through a bullhorn as he rode in the back of a white convertible with two children, the daughters of Pennsylvania Posse Comitatus leader August Kreis III, on either side. “Communist Jews have not won the war, they’ve just won a battle!”

Neuman Britton, the Escondido Christian Identity pastor who is to take over the organization when Butler retires, also joined the parade, along with Rick Cooper of the Washington state-based National Socialist Vanguard.

In a meeting with reporters at what will undoubtedly be one of his last trips to the chapel and compound he worked to build over the last 25 years, Butler admitted he felt melancholy.

“What do you think, when you put 50 years of your life into something? When you work physically to build something, spend 25 years here, sure, it’s hard to go. And yet I’m proud that I’ve been able to stand in the face of adversity,” Butler said. “Remember, if you’ve ever worked for anything, if you ever stood for anything, you stand for it all of your life. They can take every material possession, but there’s one thing they can’t take from you, and that’s your honor.”

Vincent Bertollini, a former Silicon Valley millionaire who has become one of Butler’s strongest supporters in northern Idaho, bought a small bungalow for him in the nearby town of Hayden. The house stands in a neighborhood of young families, with a basketball hoop over the driveway.

“Richard Butler is fine, just fine. We bought him a house, we bought him a new car, we put new clothes on his back, and Morris Dees can take a flying leap,” Bertollini said, referring to the head of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups. “Morris Dees does not have the last word in north Idaho.”

Human rights groups, however, were making tentative plans for a massive celebration inside the compound’s gates as early as next weekend. “They’re going to be reconsecrating the ground at the Aryan Nations,” said Marshall Mend, a member of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations.