SPLC Labels Idaho Gangs White Supremacists

I’ve lived in 4 states and have visited another 30 and have a solid conclusion.  There are knuckleheads everywhere.

It doesn’t tell us much about the overall character of any state to look at a subset and make some generalizations.

The liberal Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has a story about two Idaho gangs being busted up by federal prosecutors.  The gangs are both white-centered and originated in prison in the 90s and then the last decade.

The gangs deal drugs, mainly in the Boise area, and some members are also facing weapons charges.  There are no counts related to any homicides and for now I suppose we can be thankful things aren’t worse.

The trouble is, the SPLC describes the gang members as supremacists, when it appears the gangs formed as a means of white inmates protecting themselves from other prison gangs from other ethnic backgrounds.  People are tribal and mutual defense is a normal human endeavor.

Now, I wouldn’t want to run afoul of any of these people but keep in mind they formed gangs as a means of protection from other violent and often racist gangs.  You would think SPLC could acknowledge there are bad people in a great many places beyond Idaho and beyond white skin.