COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – The Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations is offering new information on racist harassment against the visiting University of Utah women’s basketball team during the NCAA Tournament.
According to a statement released by the taskforce, the team was walking to dinner when the driver of a truck with a confederate flag started screaming the N-Word at them.
The team’s meal took place at Crafted Tap House according to the Spokesman Review.
The Utah players were reportedly greeted by additional men shouting racist slurs when they exited the restaurant, who followed them all the way to the Coeur d’Alene resort where they were staying.
Head coach Lynne Roberts says it is not the first time her team has faced hate crimes.
“We had several instances of some kind of racial hate crimes toward our program,” Roberts said.
The Utah team coordinated with Gonzaga to stay in Spokane rather than Coeur d’Alene the following two nights.
Coeur d’Alene mayor Jim Hammond argued that the racist harassment was an isolated incident during a Tuesday press conference.
The Kootenai County Task Force instead set the event within the broader context of hate crimes which have taken place in northern Idaho over the past several decades.
“This is once again a stain on our community that we have worked so hard to erase since the early days of the Aryan Nations,” the task force said.
The Kootenai County organization went on to condemn the placement of confederate flags on vehicles.
It is currently unclear whether the men who harassed the University of Utah women’s team were part of an organized hate group.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there were 1,225 hate groups operating in Idaho in 2022.
The Coeur d’Alene Police Department is coordinating with the FBI to investigate the incident. Witnesses are asked to call (208) 769-2320 to share information with law enforcement.
