Hate is My Neighbor

by Tom Alibrandi, Bill Wassmuth

During the early 1970s to the mid-1990s, white supremacists—under the umbrella of the Aryan Nation and Reverend Richard Butler, Minister of the Church of Jesus Christ Christian—sought to create an all-white homeland in north Idaho. Untold numbers of white nationalists, holocaust deniers, white supremacists, neo-Nazis, a far-right Christians gravitated from all over the US to Hayden Lake and Coeur d’Alene, and eastern Washington.
Due to the clear dangers of this existential threat, a group of local citizens assembled a Task Force on Human Relations composed of Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Christians, Jews, freethinkers, blacks, whites, Asians, Native Americans, Hispanics, and others. In the face of murders, death threats, bombings, high-profile armed robberies, and extreme harassment, this group of courageous and steadfast ordinary people, under the direction of a Catholic Priest, Bill Wassmuth, rallied their community with their unwavering positive messages and nonviolent actions of saying no to bigotry and violence and yes to inclusion. As a result of educating the public, and aided by federal and state convictions against the white supremacists, the Task Force efforts were instrumental in causing the number of white supremacists in north Idaho to decline and forced the Aryan Nation into bankruptcy.
Almost twenty years ago, Hate Is My Neighbor was published, which chronicled the struggle in north Idaho. As it has been said, prologue many times becomes the present. This seems to be evident today in the United States with the current rise of hate crimes, white supremacist activities, neo-Nazi demonstrations, and even denial of certain high-ranking government officials of such harmful and divisive activities and their resultant prospects. It is instructive for the reader to revisit and understand the tactics and methodology of this north Idaho human rights group of concerned citizens who peacefully and legally turned back the rise of hate groups in their midst. In doing so, they saved their community from further violent victimization at the hands of a small army of bigoted white supremacists.
On the other hand, history is replete with grim and tragic lessons of doing nothing.

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty quick and easy, told in a very easy to follow narrative with pretty memorable characters. While the Aryan Nation may not be as much of a problem today, the cornerstone of their ideology is. This idea of western (white, Christian in actuality) exceptionalism is the foundation of modern right-wing rhetoric. It’s present especially in organizations like the KCRCC, so while yes, progress has been made in fighting hate, I think this book highlights how much there is to be done.

[Tammy Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is a must tell...I took particular interest as an Idahoan, and extreme interest as an American, especially in our current political environment. The importance of the story gets a "5" from me...just downgraded it a bit for the quality of the story telling.
I can't over rate the remarkable strength of character of the real life heroes in the story...those who relentlessly countered RELENTLESS violent, insidious racism and antisemitism in the Northwest. Thank God for them, and thank God they didn't give up. Bill Wassmuth is an American hero.

[Mark T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talk about Deja-vu. This is a compelling true story about a good community beating modern day Nazis in rural Idaho over 25 years ago. They showed again in Virginia in 2018 and in our capital in January '21. Good barely won....at a huge cost.

Here we are again in 2025. Will it end like before? The lesson is in unity.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though it was published over 20 years ago, this book is particularly timely right now (unfortunately). Surprisingly easy to read (I read it in 2 days) it flows almost like seeing a movie.

[Molly · Rating 1 out of 5]

I very rarely put a book down after I've started it, but this one was too grueling and contrived to believe. Not the subject matter, per se, but the way it was put together in the book seemed to assume that the reader was an idiot. Using a conversation between a lawyer and a police officer (the officer supposedly was uninformed) to explain who Rosa Parks was? Not likely to have been necessary, and it certainly wasn't necessary here, either.