'Love not Hate' community event planned in Whitefish

A pair of friends upset with the negative attention a white-nationalist leader and an anti-Semitic blog have brought their hometown are responding with a free community block party and concert on Saturday, Jan. 7.

The event, Love not Hate, will run from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and is tentatively scheduled to take place on Central Avenue in downtown Whitefish between Depot Park and the O’Shaughnessy Center. Final permits had not yet been approved as of Tuesday afternoon.

Free food and beverages will be served, and Blackfeet Nation singer and storyteller Jack Gladstone headlines a list of performers and speakers.

Jessica Laferriere and Dominica Cleveras, Love Not Hate’s organizers, were spurred to action in November when they saw a video of part-time Whitefish resident Richard Spencer, president of the white-nationalist National Policy Institute, addressing his supporters. In that speech, delivered Nov. 19 in Washington, D.C., Spencer’s remarks included the line, “Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory,” to which some in the audience responded with a Nazi salute.

In recent weeks, members of the neo-Nazi blog Daily Stormer have posted pictures, names and addresses of some local Jewish residents along with violent, explicit messages and a call for followers to “take action.”

Laferriere, a Bozeman native who moved full-time to Whitefish three years ago, said the perception of her town as a hotbed for white supremacy inspired she and Cleveras to come up with a way to showcase Whitefish’s inclusiveness.

“There was a lot coming out about these white supremacist groups,” Laferriere said. “And we just wanted to bring the community together and show all sorts of people coming together in a positive way. We wanted to show that we are a loving and accepting community.”

A press release announcing the event described it as “a community-wide celebration of diversity and acceptance of all people regardless of their ethnicity, religious beliefs, gender and gender identification, physical abilities and socio-economic status.”

Neither Laferriere nor Cleveras have any significant event planning experience, and the duo began preparing their message without a sense for how enthusiastically people would respond.

“We spent a really long time crafting a letter explaining our vision for this event,” Laferriere said. “But we are not alone in feeling like the community needs to come together. We just feel like people, as soon as they heard our vision, were really excited to participate.”

Gladstone, a citizen of Blackfeet Nation and a 2016 recipient of the Montana Governor’s Art Award, is Love not Hate’s featured guest. Drummer Mariah Gladstone, Jack’s daughter, guitarist Jeremy Quick and students from the Halau Ka Waikahe Lani Malie hula school in Kalispell are also scheduled to perform. Whitefish Deputy Mayor Richard Hildner and Mennonite pastor Jeryl Hollinger will address the crowd.

Laferriere and Cleveras have received financial support for their event from several private donors, including $1,285 — as of Tuesday afternoon — from a GoFundMe campaign. The Montana Human Rights Network and Whitefish-based Love Lives Here, listed as co-sponsors, have also contributed financially to the event and offered advice to the novice organizers.

“This event has gained so much attention and so much positive support,” Laferriere said. “We’re floored by how many people are sharing it on Facebook and offering private donations.

“We really do hope that this becomes not just a one-time thing where people can come together as a community and celebrate the variety of people who are living in our town,” she added. “(We want) to show that the Flathead Valley is a place of acceptance and that we welcome all people to our town.”

More information on Love not Hate is available at www.facebook.com/events/169186313551133/. The event’s GoFundMe page is still accepting donations at www.gofundme.com/lovenothate-whitefish.