When we brought the white supremacist affiliations of Butte legislative candidate Shawn Stuart to the media's attention, we felt it was information that Montanans needed to know. We're glad that the press agreed. The state's newspapers provided a needed service when they ran the article on Stuart over the weekend. They helped shine the light of public scrutiny on the racist and anti-Semitic beliefs of Stuart and the National Socialist Movement. Public and critical exposure is a valuable tool for communities trying to keep hate groups from taking hold. Unfortunately, those of us who help expose the agendas of hate groups often become targets ourselves.

Following publication of the article, Stuart's National Socialist Movement began targeting Montana Human Rights Network employees. It began with harassing phone calls and continued with postings on National Socialist Movement websites. One website features my home address and telephone number, as well as those of my fellow Network coworkers Ken Toole and Christine Kaufmann. Websites for the National Socialist Movement are also smearing the Network's reputation, saying that we engage in "terrorist bombings and arsons."

These actions by the National Socialist Movement illustrate the tactics hate groups like to use -- intimidation, threats of violence, and misinformation. White supremacists prefer to use these tactics under the cover of night and anonymously. In other words, they are bullies and thugs who feast on public apathy and target those of us who stand up to them. Many people do not take the hate movement seriously, since the number of hardcore racists is relatively small. However, just like the school yard bully, they will continue trying to intimidate us until the larger community publicly condemns them.

Montana's history is full of examples of racist and anti-government bullies trying to run roughshod over communities. In the early 1990s, a group of neo-Nazi skinheads terrorized Billings' Jewish community. It began with cemetery vandalism and escalated to a brick being thrown through the front window of a Jewish home. In the mid-1990s, the Montana Freemen formed their own illegal courts and issued death warrants for criminal justice employees in Eastern Montana. In 2001, David Burgert and Project 7, a militia group, compiled hit lists containing personal information about criminal justice employees and their families in the Flathead area. Beginning in 2004, Kevin McGuire, a racist recruiter in Bozeman, posted false and misleading propaganda about local citizens on racist websites before running for the local school board.

The logical question to ask in all of these cases is, "What happened?" With the Montana Freemen and Project 7, group activists were arrested and sentenced to prison. In Bozeman, Kevin McGuire has had problems following the law, but he remains on the streets. However, thanks to the network and its Bozeman affiliate, the people of Bozeman have a clear picture of who McGuire is and what he represents. The community of Billings came together and opposed the neo-Nazi skinheads in the "Not in Our Town" campaign, which has been replicated in cities across the nation. The citizens of Billings emphatically stated that racist and anti-Semitic beliefs did not represent their values. They stood up to the neo-Nazi bullies together.

All the Montana examples reveal a common theme. White supremacists and anti-government bullies cannot win if we stand together. It is up to us to tell those who target our communities that we will not look the other way and be complacent. Instead, we will tell them that, if they target one of us, they will have to answer to all of us. Right now, it is our staff that is under fire from the National Socialist Movement. Tomorrow, it could be a local judge, elected official, or business owner. Montana now has the opportunity to say, "Not in our state."

Travis McAdam is the Montana Human Rights Network's research director. The network can be reached at PO Box 1222, Helena, MT 59624, or network@mhrn.org.