Wassmuth Center for Human Rights

Idaho, the Environment, and Latinos: New Stories for the Past and Future

Dr. Emily Wakild, Cecil D. Andrus Endowed Chair for the Environment and Public Lands, Boise State University

Wednesday evening at our June Speakers at the Center event Dr. Emily Wakild guided us through the most amazing history of Latina/os in Idaho and their impact on our environment, our history, and our lives today. We learned about Idaho’s deep connections to Mexico and Tejano roots and that Hispanic students currently account for 19% of our student population today. It was fascinating to learn about the long History of Mexico National Parks and how that country's vision and history has influenced conservation in Idaho as well.

This history and impact is important. We as Idahoans need to make sure that we are learning and sharing accurate histories and stories of Latino/as roots in Idaho. This event was informative and inspiring. We all left feeling like we can do more to honor the stories and impact of our fellow Latino/a Idahoans, but also, we left in awe of the Latino/a legacy and history in Idaho.

We feel so honored to be able to share such amazing speakers with you and our August speaker will be another event that you will not want to miss. Join us as we learn together and work towards creating truly inclusive communities for our future.

Register here to join us: https://tinyurl.com/536h6c7j

The pink triangle went from a N**i concentration camp badge to a global symbol of pride. That history didn't happen by accident — and neither did the backlash we're seeing today.

Join Dr. Jake Newsome, author of 'Pink Triangle Legacies,' for "Never Again is Now: Learning from LGBTQ+ History to Fight for the Future." He'll walk through 10 key lessons from the N**i persecution of LGBTQ+ people — and what they demand of us right now.

📅 Tuesday, June 16 | 1:00–2:00 PM MDT

💻 Free online event

🤝 In partnership with Holocaust Center for Humanity, Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, and Tucson Jewish Museum and Holocaust Center

Register: https://tinyurl.com/SpecialSpeakerJune16

Whether you're an educator, a professional, a student, a parent, or someone who wants to live with greater clarity and compassion, this course was designed for you.

This six-module, fully online experience offers more than knowledge. It offers a framework for living with intention with practical information to turn shared values into everyday action. You'll learn alongside a cohort of fellow learners from across the globe, all seeking to connect, learn, and create just and joyful communities. 

Summer Session details:

Six human rights-themed modules, released every 1–2 weeks

Flexible and self-paced

Open to learners everywhere

Investment: $100

Registration closes June 7.

Register today: https://tinyurl.com/SummerHumanRightsCertificate

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Will we see you there?

Join the Wassmuth Center in June for opportunities to connect, learn, and create alongside members of the community.

Wednesday, June 3
Speakers at the Center | 6:30 - 8:00 PM

Emily Wakild, Idaho, the Environment, and Latinos: New Stories for the Past and Future.  By examining the stories of the Latina community within Idaho and providing examples of testimonies and experiences of this crucial and significant group of people, Idaho’s past becomes richer, and the landscapes around us become embodied with personal stories.

Thursday, June 4 
First Thursday at the Center | 4:00 - 7:00 PM 

An evening of art, music, and reflection. Experience the powerful work of artist Tom Callos as he unveils 24 portraits from his striking “Upstander” series.

Tuesday, June 9
Generations for Justice Book Club | 6:30 - 8:00 PM

You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson
In this collection of poems, the late Andrea Gibson explores the vastness of the world and human experience.

Saturday, June 20
Wassmuth 30th Anniversary Celebration | 1:00 - 3:00 PM

Our gathering will feature several family-friendly activities: “Meet the archive” outdoor museum, crafts & resources, speakers & musical performances, anniversary treats. Come celebrate with us!

Tuesday, June 23
Hope & Humanity Book Club | 12:00 - 1:00 PM & 6:30 - 8:00 PM

The Small and the Mighty by Sharon McMahon
A book that explores how the most remarkable Americans are often ordinary people whose lives never made it into textbooks—telephone operators, schoolteachers, poets, and mothers whose courage quietly shaped history.

⭐Drop-In Discovery Hours: June 12, 26 from 12:00 – 4:00 PM
Drop in for an afternoon of art, conversation, tours, and connection.

⭐Drop-In Memorial Tours: June 6, 13, 27 from 11:00 – 1:00 PM
Drop in to learn more about the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial.

For more than a decade, a Pride flag flew outside Boise City Hall. On March 31, Governor Brad Little signed HB 561, banning this flag from government property. Within minutes, the city lowered its flag. A week later, city workers wrapped the building’s three flagpoles — base to banner – in the colors of the Pride flag. Not flown. Wrapped. In full compliance with the letter of the law and full defiance of its spirit.

Pride is the opposite of shame. And shame depends on invisibility to do its work — every euphemism, every law written to make a community disappear. The people who first claimed the word pride for this fight knew that. On June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. Patrons were supposed to comply quietly, as they always had. This time, they refused. The uprising lasted days. One year later, thousands took to the same streets in the first Pride march. They chose the name because they demanded to be seen.

Fifty-seven years later, the distance between safety and danger remains staggering. The Equaldex Equality Index ranks 197 countries on a scale of 0 to 100, measuring legal protections alongside public attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people. Iceland sits at the top. Marriage equality, adoption rights, and hate crime protections — nearly every safeguard is in place. In a 2024 Gallup survey, 93 percent of Icelanders said their community was a good place for gay and le***an people to live. In 2009, the country elected Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir as prime minister, the world’s first openly gay head of government. Her sexuality was barely a headline. That is what arrival looks like: belonging that requires no announcement. Belonging that welcomes us for who we are.

Somalia, at number 197, is on the other end. Homosexuality is punishable by death. There are no protections of any kind. Equaldex lists no public opinion data; the questions cannot be asked safely. The United States sits at number 33, somewhere in the uneasy middle, where on issue after issue — housing, adoption, gender-affirming care — the entry reads the same way: varies by region. Sometimes law determines opinion. Sometimes culture leads law. But neither moves without someone willing to go first.

Idaho has been here before. In 1994, the Idaho Citizens Alliance placed Proposition 1 on the ballot. The measure would have barred LGBTQ+ people from anti-discrimination protections, restricted library materials, and prohibited schools from affirming that gay and le***an people are normal. It lost by 3,098 votes out of more than 450,000 cast. That margin was razor-thin, but it held. And the energy from that fight did not dissipate. A year later, a coalition of Idahoans came together to build something lasting. In 1996, they founded the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights. The conviction at the Center's core was simple: when exclusion rises, you answer it not just with opposition but with the long work of building a community where everyone belongs.

That work is not finished. HB 561 was written to remove a symbol. But you cannot legislate people out of sight — not in 1994, and not today. This June, the poles on Capitol Boulevard still stand tall, wrapped in every color the law tried to prohibit. They are not decoration. They are a promise that the people in this community will be seen, and safe, and ours to defend.

Speakers at the Center: Wednesday, June 3 from 6:30 - 8:00 PM
 
Idaho, the Environment, and Latinos: New Stories for the Past and Future
 
Dr. Emily Wakild, Cecil D. Andrus Endowed Chair for the Environment and Public Lands, Boise State University
 
Latinos have been shaping Idaho since before it was a state, contributing to the land, to conservation, and to the communities we know today. Yet too often, these stories go untold.
Dr. Emily Wakild is working to change this. A historian of Latin American environmental history, Dr. Wakild explores the deep connections between people, place, and the more-than-human world. She asks what those connections reveal about who we are and who we can become.
Drawing on profiles from ‘Nosotros: Latinas in Idaho’, which she co-edited with María González Cárdenas, Dr. Wakild will weave together environmental and Latino histories in our state. Through testimonials and experiences of influential Latinas, she will help us understand how Idaho’s past grows richer and how the landscapes come alive with personal meaning when we listen to the stories that have always been here.
Join us for an evening that expands our understanding of Idaho’s history and deepens our connection to the land and to one another.
Register here to join us: https://www.wassmuthcenter.org/speakers-at-the-center/
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Thoughtful conversations and meaningful connections were shared by all who joined us to discuss our May Hope and Humanity Book Club pick. Our discussion of 'The Correspondent' by Virginia Evans created a powerful space to explore the story of a retired lawyer who spent her life in correspondence, by writing letters to the people in her life. While the premise of this book is simple-a woman writing and receiving letters, the content and recipients of those letters is what this story is really all about. Through Sybil’s letters we touched on topics such as immigration, our justice system, women’s rights, mental health, and much more. Every character in this book opened up a perspective and/or life experience that not only Sybil herself learned from, but we all did as well. Thank you all for adding such important conversation and questions to our discussion.

Our selection for June is 'The Small and the Mighty' by Sharon McMahon.

Sharon McMahon shows that the most remarkable Americans are often ordinary people whose lives never made it into textbooks—telephone operators, schoolteachers, poets, and mothers whose courage quietly shaped history. Through meticulous research, she brings to life unsung figures. As these lives unfold—marked by injustice, resilience, surprising fortune, and small acts of heroism—they reveal how ordinary people can challenge cruelty, protect the vulnerable, and illuminate the path toward a more just, peaceful, and free world. In McMahon’s hands, history becomes a chorus of improbable champions whose stories remind us that greatness is found in everyday courage and human dignity.

The Small and The Mighty is available and . Join us as we discuss this beautiful story together on Tuesday, June 23 from 12:00-1:00 PM or 6:30-8:00 PM. Register here to join us.

https://www.wassmuthcenter.org/human-rights-book-clubs/

We can’t wait to launch our summer camp programs! These one-of-a-kind camp experiences offer children a creative space for friendship, adventure, and deep thinking about big ideas. Through collaborative inquiry and creativity, children build confidence in their ability as changemakers. Campers engage thoughtfully with important issues, using science, writing, performance, and play to imagine a more just and compassionate world. 
 
This June, children will gather for two camps!
• TWO SPOTS LEFT Kindness Camp is a gentle, joyful introduction to compassion and teamwork through creativity and play. This camp is for 4 - 6 year olds and meets June 8 - 12 from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM. 
• REGISTRATION IS FULL for Camp Impact, a brand-new program in partnership with Discovery Center of Idaho. This full-day camp invites 9 - 13 year olds to explore how the intersection of empathy, community, and science can help us build a better world. Camp Impact will meet from June 22 - 26 from 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM.
 
Looking ahead, we’re also thrilled to offer two camps in July!  
• ALMOST FULL Shine Your Light Camp is specially designed for curious 6 - 9 year olds who love to sing, dance, and create! In partnership with Idaho Shakespeare Festival’s extremely popular Camp Broadway, this joyful, full-day camp culminates in a performance at the Wassmuth Center! July 13 - 17 from 8:30 AM - 3:00 PM
• REGISTRATION IS FULL for Voices and Visions, a full day of creativity, exploration, and writing. Perfect for 10 - 12 year olds, campers will spend mornings at the Wassmuth Center and afternoons at The Cabin. July 27 - 31 from 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Jim Everett has spent forty years betting on people — and winning. As a member of the Wassmuth Center board, he brings a lifetime of proving that when you give people a fair shot, they do amazing things.

That belief took root in Detroit, where Jim grew up with Motown as the soundtrack and the civil rights movement as the backdrop. He watched people with nothing but conviction change the course of a nation, and he never forgot it.

Jim spent a career proving that out. He transformed the Treasure Valley YMCA from a single branch into the largest provider of child care and youth services in Idaho. He co-led the College of Idaho to record enrollment, welcoming students from more than 100 countries. Over four decades, he helped raise more than $250 million — not for buildings, really, but for what happens inside them.

When Jim talks about leadership, he points to two people. Marilyn Shuler, a polio survivor who never raised her voice but never flinched from injustice. Governor Phil Batt, a proud conservative who fought for farmworker protections because he believed rights belong to everyone. From both, Jim learned that principle matters more than power, and quiet conviction outlasts everything else.

Now Jim — married to Linda for nearly 53 years, surrounded by grandkids and rescue animals — brings that same energy to the Wassmuth Center. He would love to see Idaho become the most welcoming place on earth. He's spent a lifetime working on it, and he's not done yet.