About 200 people marched in Spokane, a city with a fraught racial history, after the decision not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in November. YOUNG KWAK / THE INLANDER
I’m not going to argue that the story of Rachel Dolezal isn’t newsworthy or doesn’t make for great TV. But pull back from the media circus for a minute. Spokane and North Idaho wrestle with a very troubled racial history. That’s why Dolezal’s effort to reenergize the local NAACP chapter was so welcomed. It’s also why her deceit was such a shock and why the region’s activists are so anxious to get back to work.
Only 2.3 percent of Spokane’s population today is African American. The infamous white supremacist compound in North Idaho has been turned into a “peace park,” but its history is never far from anyone’s mind…
