Learning about race from the good folks of the Flathead

It’s been an unexpected pleasure to get to do part of the reporting on the Inter Lake’s series on black history in the Flathead, and as we wind up the series today, I wanted to reflect on some of what we learned.

First of all, I would say that my bias has been confirmed — and that is my bias that Montanans are extraordinary people who have plenty to teach the rest of the country.

It has never escaped anyone’s notice that there is not much of a minority population in Montana. We are more white than almost anyplace in the country, but that doesn’t make us racist. I’ve lived in almost every section of the country — the East Coast, the South, the Midwest, the West Coast and the Southwest — and without a doubt racism and bigotry are much more common and even accepted in all of those areas compared to Montana.

That doesn’t mean blacks, Indians and other minorities don’t face challenges in Montana; they certainly do, but they have the advantage of growing up in a state where people are judged more by their character and accomplishments than by their parents or ancestry.

I suspect that’s because life in Montana, especially in earlier years, was a mix of loneliness and communality. With all the space between us, we emphasized ingenuity, independence and self-reliance, but we also learned to value our neighbors, no matter who they were. Often, they could be the difference between life and death.

Learning about race relations in Kalispell from the 1920s through the 1960s, the main impression I got was a sense of mutual respect. You saw that in the obituary tribute written by early town leader Sidney Logan to the former black slave John White Sr., who had helped to school local children in dignity and decency during his many years as the custodian of Central School. You saw it in the choice of “Zip” Rhoades to come to Montana to finish his high school education because he and his family recognized the quality of life here compared to the East Coast. You saw it in Raella Kelley’s all-American life — Girl Scout, cheerleader, model student, 56-year marriage.

Yes, there were a few incidents that could be attributed to racism, but none of the people I talked to — either white or black — revealed any memories of the kind of endemic racial division we read about today in our country. It makes me wish I could isolate and identify the qualities in our Montana culture that make us more tolerant and accepting of each other. If I could, I would inoculate the entire world with the resulting vaccine and try to put things right.

Listening to “Shorty” Stockard talk about prejudice, you get the perspective that it’s just one more thing that comes along that you need to put in perspective. Name-calling? A 2-by-4 can take care of that. Passed up for a job? Get a better one. For that matter, just be better. Be better than any small-minded individuals who try to bully you or oppress you. That’s the best revenge. Maybe that’s why Shorty always seems to have a smile on his face. He’s lived a good life, and didn’t let anyone slow him down.

It’s been a pleasure, too, to hear from some of our older residents about their memories that have been heightened by reading about Doug Thompson, Howard Gibbs and Zip Rhoades.

Maybe one of the oldest was Merle Baldwin, a 93-year-old who’s been living in the Egan community east of Kalispell since 1928. He phoned on Thursday to let me know he had vivid memories of the Gibbs boys — Howard, Mike and Charlie.

“The old Gibbs place is still out there on Holt Stage Road,” Baldwin told me. “I’ve lived here all my life and I went to school with Mike and Charlie.”

The Gibbs boys were all athletic, and so was Baldwin.

“I used to play football for the high school. Played on the team in 1940 as a junior. The next year I didn’t play ’cause it was too hard to get a ride back to home. I wasn’t that good a football player anyhow.”

But the Gibbs boys were, especially Mike. “I graduated in 1942. Mike was two years ahead of me, and Charlie was two years behind me. Mike was a four-year letterman.”

Howard was older, and had graduated in the 1930s.

“He used to do some boxing up there in the Opera House above Western Outdoor” in Kalispell, Baldwin remembered.

Howard had already opened his shoeshine business on Main Street by the time Baldwin was in high school. That’s partly how he and the Gibbs boys became friends.

“Charlie was always running with the gang I ran with. Mike and Charlie were around the shoeshine shop a lot because that was a gathering place for athletes. After high school, I used to go into Howard’s shoeshine shop and get my shoes shined. He charged 10 cents a shine. One time I went in there and Howard had his boxing gloves up for sale, and I think I bought them for $2. I still have those gloves, and that’s what inspired me to call you.”

Merle couldn’t recollect any real bad episodes of discrimination in those days, and he didn’t seem to see anything unusual in the fact that he had a couple of good friends who were black.

They were just neighbors.

Now that’s an old idea that really ought to get a little traction.

Frank Miele is managing editor of the daily Inter Lake in kalispell, Montana.