Volume 1, Issue 1 (2002) Inaugural Volume

Dedication

This inaugural issue of The Journal of Hate Studies is dedicated to William "Bill" Wassmuth. For more than twenty years, Bill has been a leader in the fight against hatred and prejudice in the Northwest. In the early 1980s, he assumed a leadership role with the Kootenai County (Idaho) Task Force on Human Relations in the Task Force's efforts to combat organized and militant white supremacy in northern Idaho. In 1986, Bill's home in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho was bombed by members of the Aryan Nations. Unbowed, he continued to lead and speak out publicly against hate and violence. In 1988, after receiving many awards, including Idaho Citizen of the Year, Bill left Coeur d'Alene to help establish the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment in Seattle, Wash. As director of the Coalition, he again placed himself in the cross-hairs of those who hate. The Coalition grew to become a formidable force in the fight against hate-violence in the Northwest and beyond. In 1997, convinced that academic and scholarly resources should be brought to bear in a focused way to combat hate, Bill inspired and helped found the Gonzaga University Institute for Action Against Hate, the publisher of the Journal of Hate Studies. He has since served both as a member and chair of that organization's Board of Advisors.

A simple framed commendation hangs on Bill's office wall. It is surrounded by other, more impressively framed awards, plaques, and honorary degrees. But this one is his most treasured. It reads: "Stick Your Neck Out ... The Giraffe Project herewith declares Father Bill Wassmuth to be a Giraffe, whose courageous Actions illumine all our Lives, making manifest the Truth that people who believe in Themselves and care for Others can meet any Challenge Life presents."

The Institute for Action Against Hate is pleased to dedicate this issue of its new Journal to a man whose leadership, courage, and friendship place him, like the giraffe, head and shoulders above the rest.

Bob Bartlett, Chair & Board of Advisors, Gonzaga University Institute for Action Against Hate