Rally in Kootenai County on Saturday

There is a rally taking place in northern Idaho this week.

Speakers and citizens from around the northwest will be in attendance.

The “Liberate America” rally is being planned to celebrate freedom, liberty, and unity in the United States.

The idea for the rally came from Casey Whalen, a northern Idaho resident. Casey and others began working together to host the event at the Kootenai County fairgrounds.

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Idaho Dispatch asked Mr. Whalen what prompted the event and if it grew into something bigger than he expected and this is what he told us, “It was always about uniting the region as a show of unity to the nation. we have to prove the mainstream narrative is absolutely wrong and that we are united regardless of constant bombardment to divide us at every turn.”

Speakers at the event range from Rep. Heather Scott to Rep. Matt Shea, to Tom Deweese, and more.

Those wishing to follow the event can visit the Facebook event link for more details.

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The rally will take place from 12:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on June 13th.

Not everyone is excited about the rally, however.

Rebecca Cleveland-Schroeder is the Executive Director and CEO of a progressive group called “Reclaim Idaho.” She made a post on June 3rd voicing her displeasure with the Liberate America event.

Her main concern is that a large gathering is taking place and could make the Coronavirus worse in the Coeur d’Alene area.

Here is part of her post:

Large events are still not supposed to be taking place in Idaho under Gov. Little’s social distancing guidelines.

According to the Governor’s office, citizens are supposed to remain six feet apart and still wear masks. Perhaps this is what Schroeder is concerned with?

Interestingly though, a scroll through Schroeder’s public posts, and there is no mention of the recent protests against police brutality.

A recent vigil held in honor of George Floyd at the Idaho capitol had approximately 5,000 people in attendance. A large gathering in Coeur d’Alene also took place to support George Floyd.

No concern or condemnation of those events is mentioned by Schroeder, at least publicly that we can find.

We posted an article recently about the media treating the current protests over police brutality differently than they did the “Open Idaho” protest in April. Even though the Coronavirus is still an ongoing pandemic.

It would appear that Schroeder is taking the same route of criticizing one event that is taking place in a few days but not having the same concerns over the current George Floyd protests.

Does Schroeder believe that the Coronavirus will only attack those at the Liberate America event?

If the concern is over Coronavirus, then criticizing both events would be consistent.

However, that is not what Shroeder is saying. She is currently mounting an effort to try and stop the event at the time of this writing.

Despite her efforts, there is no indication that the event will be canceled.

If it does move forward, Idaho Dispatch will be on the ground this Saturday to report on the event.