Not in Our Town

It began in Billings, Montana, in the fall of 1992. It started with hate-filled fliers slipped into newspapers, stuffed into mailboxes, tucked under windshields.

Then, on December 2, 1993, the hatred turned into violence. Someone hurled a cinderblock through a child's bedroom window. Taped to the window was a paper menorah to commemorate Chanukah, a Jewish holiday.

The hate-filled fliers marked the start of a campaign to make Montana and other western states a "white homeland." Then came intimidation--racial slurs, death threats, and the harassment of Jews, Hispanic Americans, Indians, African Americans, and gays.

As the attacks escalated, people in Billings began to take a new look at their community and themselves. This is the story of what they saw and what they did.