Idaho is still better known for potatoes than diversity

BOISE, IDAHO — Bukky Ogunrinola’s mom taught her years ago to use caution in how she dressed and presented herself in public. Being a young black woman in Idaho meant living in a world where she’s sometimes greeted with suspicion.

Still, the 16-year-old was stunned to wake up one cold January morning to see the windows of her family’s SUV smashed and the words “go back” in white paint splashed across the vehicle.

“I’m a woman of colour, and I’m an athlete in Idaho. That’s not that easy. I mean, I think there’s three of us in Idaho?” said Ogunrinola, whose family emigrated from Nigeria 14 years ago. “It feels like people in Idaho want to watch us play sports, but they don’t have our backs when push comes to shove.”

Community leaders are collecting stories of violence and discrimination in the wake of a sexual assault of a disabled black athlete by his white teammates that shocked not only a small town, but residents across the state. They hope to identify possible policy changes or improvements to community outreach. The effort is being launched in a state better known for its potatoes than its diversity, but that isn’t stopping advocates from working to identify solutions to limit acts of hate.

“We are coming together as a community,” said Kelly Miller, director of the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence. “We know healing from discrimination and pain begins when we’re heard and when we understand the impacts of violence in communities.”

According to Idaho State Police statistics, hate crimes in the state have gradually declined since 2011, with 22 hate crime incidents being reported in 2015. But nearly half were against a person of colour. Current census data shows Idaho’s population is 89 per cent white and just 0.6 per cent black. Another 5.1 per cent identifies as other.

The effort began after John R.K. Howard and two teammates were charged in 2015 with sodomizing a black teenage boy with a clothes hanger in the locker-room of the high school in the tiny farming town of Dietrich, known for its deeply religious population. The sex assault charge against Howard, who was 18 at the time of the attack, was later dropped. Instead, he was sentenced in March to probation for felony injury to a child.

News of the lesser charge sparked outrage and confusion. Critics argued the judge in the case failed to recognize its racial implications and was too lenient during Howard’s sentencing. As the case moves through civil court, others are working to ensure communities and schools remain safe spaces.

Last week, roughly a dozen advocacy groups held their first forum in Boise, the state’s capitol and largest city, to allow people to share their personal stories of discrimination and what resources they used to move forward. The event attracted roughly 100 people. “I don’t want to be the next hashtag,” Ogunrinola said. “But if I put this hood up, I could be next.”