A Lonesome State
After a 2004 Aryan Nations march in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, a member of the hate group Aryan Nations gives a Nazi salute while passing by protestors, including one holding a sign saying “Jesus is color blind.” Photo courtesy of Cole.
On June 29, 2025, in Kootenai County, Idaho, local firefighters were called to fight a brush fire on Canfield Mountain. However, upon arriving on the scene, they were ambushed by twenty-year-old Wess Roley, who opened fire on the firefighters, killing two and injuring a third. Later that night, he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The day before his ambush, Roley had left his father a note confessing to the attack: “Tomorrow I shall go into battle, if I survive, it would be the utmost dishonor.” By his signed name, he drew two symbols linked to Nazi ideology. Growing up, Roley’s classmates knew him as someone who was obsessed with Nazism, the military, and guns. Midway through his sophomore year of high school, Roley moved to northern Idaho with his father. The move placed him in an environment that allowed his discriminatory views to fester. The area is one of the most conservative regions in America; in Northern Idaho, there are five Republicans for every Democrat. Within the state legislature, there are 9 Democrats out of 70 total members in Idaho’s House and only 6 Democratic senators out of 35 in the Senate. Of these Democratic representatives, they all come from districts in the south of the state. Northern Idaho has also notoriously been home to many exclusionary hate groups, including its most infamous: the Aryan Nations. The region’s historical and continual isolation and exclusionary behavior will be detrimental. It is limiting itself to a cyclical trap of repeating history, a trap that can only be escaped by the diversity of ideas, people, and beliefs.
Idaho has historically drawn individuals looking to separate themselves from the modern world. This sense of remoteness and the privacy that Idaho’s natural geography provides have helped hate groups flourish in the state. The region’s lack of racial and ethnic diversity has also been attractive to the groups. In the 2020 census, eighty-nine percent of Kootenai County’s population identified themselves as white, compared to the national average of around sixty-one percent. Within this homogenous and private environment, white Christian nationalist groups have been able to build and expand their followings with minimal pushback.
The Aryan Nations was created in the 1970s by Richard Butler, who had dreamed of creating an exclusively white community. Its infamous yearly conferences brought together members of various hate groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, to take classes in guerrilla warfare and urban terrorism. Throughout the country, members coordinated bombings, armed robberies, and other racially motivated attacks. All of these efforts helped to establish the hate group as a dominant force both in northern Idaho and throughout the nation.
However, in 2000, the Aryan Nations were sued by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit organization focused on the research and dismantling of hate groups. In the fallout of this case, the group was forced to sell its property in a federal bankruptcy sale. On the former compound, local firefighters used the land and buildings to create controlled burns as a training exercise. The burns destroyed the remains of the headquarters, demolishing buildings including a commissary with a large swastika painted on its roof, Butler’s church, and guard towers.
Roley’s attacks fell on the 24th anniversary of the day Idaho firefighters burned down the compound. While not directly related, both Roley and the Aryan Nations attempted to reject modernity. While Butler created the Aryan Nations compound to be his idealistic and isolating whites-only community, Roley was attempting to disrupt the social order supporting our country. Both men wished to live in a reality separate from the rest of the nation. Roley proved this in his goodbye to his father, writing, “I beg that you do not fall into the traps of modern existence, with media and other false pleasantries that plague the minds of individuals today. Propaganda of sorts.” Ultimately, Roley and the Aryan Nation’s violent attacks were drastic defiances against the progress of American civil rights.
Northern Idaho’s isolation from opposing ideas has allowed for the legacy of the region’s historical hate groups to live on. At a pride event in Coeur d’Alene in 2022, thirty-one members of the white-nationalist group Patriot Front were arrested for planning a riot and possession of at least one smoke grenade. In February 2025, Kootenai County made national news when a woman was forcibly dragged out of a Republican town hall for protesting against legislators. There are at least six different hate groups active in northern Idaho today. The groups’ biases range from anti-LGBT, anti-government, anti-semitism, and white nationalism. These demonstrations of hatred are part of a larger trend of rejecting acceptance of others in favor of preserving a skewed idealism of the past. However, not only are they violent and dangerous, but they also limit the region’s growth. The hostility discourages others from moving into the community, which in turn limits the new ideas that are brought to the area, stifling its development and ability to adapt to the present.
While Idaho has not directly helped support its hate groups, the state’s inaction in preventing their spread has allowed them to flourish. Since the early 20th century, when white Idaho residents blamed an economic downturn on the recent influx of immigrants, white supremacy has grown within the state. A 1923 Ku Klux Klan parade through the state capital, Boise, also helped to promote the normalization of racial discrimination and segregation in Idaho. While largely pared back, this exclusionary behavior has continued into the modern day. In early 2025, an Idaho teacher was prohibited from hanging a poster in her classroom that displayed a series of hands of different skin colors underneath the phrase “Everyone is Welcome Here.” The school district and other Idaho leaders claimed this poster violated House Bill 41, which prohibits flags or banners that may display political opinions in K-12 schools. When asked about the legitimacy of the “Everyone is Welcome Here” poster within the limitations of House Bill 41, the Idaho attorney general’s office issued a statement saying, “These signs are part of an ideological/social movement.” The bill also banned government buildings from flying any non-official flags, a stipulation targeted towards pride flags. In a mark of defiance, the city of Boise adopted the pride flag as an official city flag so it could continue displaying it. In June 2025, a bar owner based in Eagle, Idaho, hosted “Hetero Awesome Fest,” a fair located on the lawns in front of the state Capitol as a protest against LGBTQ+ Pride Month. Within Idaho’s Human Rights Act, there are still no written protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, leaving the opportunity for these actions to continue.
All of these policies and actions were designed to oppose outsiders and different beliefs. While much is created in fear of change, Idaho's reluctance to become more inclusive is dangerous. Not only does it create an unwelcoming and even dangerous environment for those who differ from the state’s social norms, but it also endangers those who follow and support the policies. A lack of diversity limits new ideas and beliefs from spreading, restricting creativity and the growth that a region could have.
Instead of bringing in new ideas and beliefs to the state, Idaho mainly attracts those of similar thinking. Within the past few years, the state has seen an influx of new residents coming from California, and according to a 2023 report from the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office, 75 percent of these new residents are registered Republicans. From all other states, except for Vermont, of those who moved to Idaho, the number of Republicans outweighed the number of Democrats. The state’s pull of similar-minded individuals creates an environment less likely to attract those from different backgrounds, trapping it within a continuous cycle of homogenous thinking.
As a state, Idaho is a demonstration of the dangers of isolation from different beliefs. Its history of hatred exemplifies the dangers of exclusionary behavior. Not only does the state’s legislation deter others from moving to the state, but it also directly harms the community that is currently in the state. Roley’s attack and the Aryan Nation’s troubled past are examples of the violence that results from exclusionary thinking. By continuing to tolerate and promote discriminatory behavior, Idaho is jeopardizing itself and its citizens.
On a national level, America could learn from the mistakes that Idaho has made. Without recognizing the dangers of its exclusionary thinking and properly correcting for it, Idaho enhances its risks. Throughout the country, as book bans and anti-DEI policies grow more popular, more communities may look like Northern Idaho–unwelcoming and unfriendly to outsiders and different beliefs. With such deep-rooted hatreds, both Idaho and this nation at large have a responsibility to prevent this thinking from carrying into the future.
Already in the state, there are demonstrations of how this historical hatred can be dismantled. Walking down the streets of Boise, you will see yard signs of the miniature version of the “Everyone is Welcome Here” poster. In mid-July, the Boise School District announced that it would support its teachers who hung the posters in their classrooms. In its statement, the school district clarified that the posters “affirm a foundational principle of public education–that every student, regardless of their background, is legally entitled to dignity, respect, and a sense of belonging in their school community.”
Yet, more than just individual steps to combat exclusionary thinking, the state has to make some changes. It could include provisions for discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity within the Idaho Human Rights Act. The inclusion is necessary to ensure equal protection for all of Idaho’s residents. Within Northern Idaho specifically, the region could recognize its historical contributions to the state’s exclusionary practices. While small steps, Northern Idaho could teach students about the past or fund museums and monuments to educate the public. The region could follow a path similar to Germany’s Culture of Remembrance, which encourages its citizens to be educated on history so as to prevent it from repeating.
Some of these changes are already starting to happen. On the land that used to host the Aryan Nation’s compound, philanthropist Greg Carr and the North Idaho College Foundation had initially planned to establish a “peace park.” However, they have now decided to sell the land, promising to donate the proceeds towards an endowment for human rights education. In a region that tends to cling so tightly to the past, this sale is representative of a movement towards the future. While acknowledging the dark history of the area, the sale is allowing residents to build something new.
Ella Hummel (CC ‘28) is a staff writer at CPR studying political science and comparative literature.