City commissioners in Great Falls passed a resolution Tuesday supporting the city and citizens of Whitefish.
Commissioner Bill Bronson read the proclamation to a packed house, stating Great Falls joins Montana’s top elected leaders, the Whitefish City Council and representatives of the broader faith community:
"In denouncing hate, bigotry and intolerance, which today masquerade under euphemisms such as white nationalism and the alt-right," says Bronson.
Several people and businesses in Whitefish have become the target of anti-Semitic online harassment, spurred on by a neo-Nazi website that claims it’s defending the parents of emerging white nationalist leader Richard Spencer.
At the Great Falls city commission meeting Wednesday night, Allen Lanning read a letter to Mayor Bob Kelly from his seven-year-old daughter, Sophia:
"Dear Mayor, we don't want bullies in Whitefish. Love Sophia."
People in Whitefish have organized a "Love Not Hate" rally this Saturday, January 7, to celebrate diversity.