It’s difficult to respond to such off-issue, personal
attacks and the chest-thumpings of Idaho nationalism as Peterson’s
(HCN, 5/25/98) and Medberry’s (HCN, 4/13/98) – weak and flaccid as
they are, full of red herrings and other beneath-the-belt cow
droppings – but my point remains: Idaho doesn’t work for the poor,
for persons of color, or really for the average citizen, who should
expect more from his or her political leaders. In fact, the state
is so far removed from reality that it may have actually seceded
from the union. Tim Egan’s New York Times article of April 16,
which quotes from my essay, elaborates brilliantly on these points,
and I’ve also received many letters and words of support – some
from third-generation Idahoans, saying I didn’t go far enough.
Maybe I should have mentioned that Idaho leads the nation in rate
of suicide, or that Helen Chenoweth just announced that Oliver
North will appear at a Boise fund raiser on her behalf. I also
failed to mention a University of Idaho study that surveyed more
than 400 retirees that moved to Idaho in 1992-93. Twenty-five
percent of those listed “racial/ethnic composition” as a reason for
moving to Idaho. They were fleeing diversity and they chose Idaho.
And then there’s the 11.4 acres of roadless area that has been lost
every hour for the past decade, ensuring the death of another form
of diversity.
Even at the risk of upsetting the
denialists, I will continue to report and write about Idaho as I
have for almost 15 years, whether it’s about welfare families in
Bonners Ferry, toxic spills in the Little Salmon River, or (this is
for Peterson) the shameful history of Idaho’s Minidoka Relocation
Camp for Japanese-Americans during WWII. Peterson can read those
articles on Minidoka, but he will have to travel to California,
where my work is on permanent file at the new Japanese-American
museum in Los Angeles.
Stephen J. Lyons Outside of Idaho,
Somewhere in
America, Land of the Free,
Home of the
Brave
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Lyons answers his critics.
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