Racist incident against Utah basketball team part of ‘troubling trend’ in northern Idaho, researcher says
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The racist harassment the Utah Women’s Basketball Team say they faced in Coeur d’Alene last week served as a reminder that northern Idaho has long been a hub for extremist groups, including white nationalists and neo-Nazis.
Even when local leaders tried to apologize for what happened, they were interrupted on Tuesday by what local media described as a “far-right agitator,” who heckled them leading to the abrupt end of the press conference.
Idaho officials apologize to Utah women’s basketball team
Lindsay Schubiner, director of programs at the Western States Center, a civil rights organization that focuses on counting white nationalism, said that incidents of bigotry such as what happened to the Utah basketball team become more likely when “racism is normalized in local politics.”
According to Schubiner, the agitator at the press conference was Dave Reilly, a far-right organizer who’s become increasingly involved in local politics. She said his influence led in 2022 to members of the white nationalist group Patriot Front trying to disrupt a Pride event, which ended with more than 30 arrests.
“He has a track record of organizing intimidation against people in Coeur d’Alene,” Schubiner said, adding: “It’s part of a troubling trend that we’re seeing.”
Coeur d’Alene police and the FBI are still investigating what happened with the Utah Women’s Basketball Team. Local media reported that investigators obtained one video of the incident, but they are still asking for more.
According to city officials, the Utah team was walking to a restaurant in Coeur d’Alene ahead of an NCAA tournament game against Gonzaga when a person in a pickup truck with a confederate flag began yelling racist slurs at them, including the N-word.
When the players and other school members left the restaurant, more truck drivers were outside, yelling at them and revving their engines. City officials described such intimidation as a “serious threat.”
Utes ‘deeply troubled and shaken’ by racist incident
The team moved hotels the day after, and Utah head coach Lynne Roberts told the media that her team experienced “racial hate crimes.”
“It was a distraction, and upsetting and unfortunate,” Roberts said. “This should be a positive for everybody involved. It should be a joyous time for our program. And to have kind of a black eye on that experience is unfortunate.”
Coeur D’Alene Mayor Jim Hammond apologized to the players, as did the Idaho Gov. Brad Little.
“We, all of us, stand with you,” Hammond said to the players on Tuesday. “We embrace you, we celebrate your accomplishments and strongly denounce any malicious treatment toward you.”
Schubiner said the mayor should be commended for his statement, but she urged more local leaders to speak out against racism and bigotry.
She noted that although Idaho has a history linked to extremist groups, the state and its citizens have also defeated them in the past, such as when the compound for the neo-Nazi group Aryan Nations was dismantled.
“In north Idaho and across the region, many people have experience pushing back — often times successfully — against efforts by white nationalists and other bigoted and anti-democracy actors,” Schubiner said. “At the same time, this continues to be a dangerous trend in this region, and we have yet to see the scale of pushback we need to.”
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