An Idaho college town is mired in a familiar controversy after a resident greeted a visiting Canadian youth soccer team with a barrage of racist insults — the third such incident in 2024.
As with a previous case, local prosecutors have concluded the perpetrators broke no law and won’t be sanctioned.
According to the Castlegar News, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, police were notified after witnesses said a person in a truck shouted racist insults at the team’s diverse roster as they warmed up prior to a tournament game on May 12.
Coeur d’Alene police reported the beige Dodge Ram truck revved its engines as it drove by the field before slowing down. A passenger then allegedly yelled “kill Blacks” and another racial slur before exiting the area.
“He told me he was exercising his freedom of speech, never made any threats to harm anyone or target anyone but admitted to using the ’ N-word with a hard R,’” an officer on the scene wrote, according to Oak Bay News. It wasn’t the first time he had done this, the unnamed man told police.
There are six colleges in the town of Coeur d’Alene, including North Idaho College, Boise State University and Idaho State University.
An eerily similar incident in March involving the University of Utah women’s basketball team in town for an NCAA Tournament game led police to recommend a charge of malicious harassment. Players, backed by at least five witnesses, said they twice encountered a vehicle occupied by four men, at least one of whom shouted “racially disparaging words and threats.”
Team officials told CNN the incident left the players “deeply troubled and shaken.”
But despite the police department’s recommendation, the city’s deputy attorney said while the teen’s slur was “abhorrently racist,” it did not meet the state’s standards for disturbing the peace or violating the city’s disorderly conduct ordinance.
The prosecutor’s office did not comment on its decision in the soccer team’s case. Students at a Coeur d’Alene tribal school also reported racial harassment in May, the Castlegar News reported, but details have not been made available.
The incidents have made it difficult for Coeur d’Alene and northern Idaho in general to escape its reputation as a haven for white supremacists. It started when the Hitler-loving Aryan Nations racist sect settled there in the early 1970s.
Noting this history and the incident involving the Utah team, Coeur d’Alene passed its first hate crime law in July, adding a misdemeanor charge for hate speech. Punishment can include fines, jail time and community service.
However, the hate crime charge can only be applied when a person is found guilty of a related crime. Without a prosecution, the law isn’t applicable.
In a letter to the editor of The Coeur d’Alene Press, one former resident said the area faced “serious, serious problems” regarding race.
“You could see and feel the growing hate and bigotry in the city and region over the past few years even though those emotions and actions are clearly un-American, un-Godly, cruel, and deny the basic dignity and respect all Americans are promised under the Constitution,” Robert Marshall, who moved away in 2023, wrote.
Officers responding to the harassment of the youth soccer team also recommended a charge of malicious harassment.
In a statement, the Nelson Soccer Association declined to comment on the prosecutor’s decision or if its teams would continue to compete in Idaho. The organization said it is waiting for guidance on the matter from the sport’s provincial governing body, BC Soccer, as well as Canada Soccer. It is also reviewing its own policies related to incident reporting as well as staff and volunteer training.
