BUTTE — The interstate system that passes through Butte connects the country from the East Coast to the West Coast and from the North to the South but this past weekend, an overpass in town carried a message of hate when three masked men decided to show up with white supremacist propaganda.
Now, people in the community are speaking out and they say this kind of messaging cannot be tolerated and that Butte is for everybody.
"It’s very disheartening to see someone take these kind of actions and I think that we need to stand up and say 'Not in our town!” We don’t want that here. We want to be a town that welcomes everyone," says Josh Peck, a member of the "Not in Our Town Butte, MT" Facebook group.
Peck says the individuals posting hate signage simply do not understand Butte’s history as a melting pot.
"For a hundred and fifty years, we’ve been a melting pot and we have welcomed people from all over the world to come here and work at our mines. There were 'No Smoking' signs that hung in our mines that had 67 languages on them," says Peck.
The racist display is not the first time masked individuals have posted up with white supremacy slogans around town. Members of the Not in Our Town group have been taking down signage plastered in public places for years.
"Unfortunately, we’re at a point where just ignoring them isn’t the solution. We need to be able to say in one voice that we don’t want that here. That’s not what we’re about," says Peck.
The group is planning a rally for Aug. 31 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Father Sheehan Park located next to the I-90/I-15 interchange in Butte.
"We just want to get together and share our overall feelings on welcoming people to our community, on being proud of our community the way it is, and we don’t need to change that and we don’t need to add any unwelcome nuisances," says Peck.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misstated the planned date for the rally at Father Sheehan Park. It is scheduled for Aug. 31, not Aug. 24.
