Meet the Real-Life Characters

Many of the leaders in Billings were involved in initiating and guiding the community response. I interviewed some of them to find out why they felt compelled to stand up and take action as they did. You can access their interviews below. I hope you find these interviews inspirational. You’ll find other interviews in the book, including one with Darrell Ehrlick, the former editor-in-chief of the Billings Gazette, and Tove Bamberger, a Jewish woman who was rescued from the Nazis as a child in Denmark in 1943.

There were many other people, not portrayed in my book, who helped make possible the extraordinary response to hate. Among them were Sarah Anthony, chairperson of the Billings Human Rights Coalition and Rabbi Uri Barnea who, in 1993, was the conductor of the Billings Symphony. Rabbi Barnea visited schools to talk about how music can be used to fight hatred and bigotry.

Reverend Keith Torney (former senior pastor of First Congregational Church, Billings)

I think Christianity has to do with a sense of kindness or sense of civility or a sense of goodness. I think what happened with this whole menorah thing… Read the Interview

Margaret E. MacDonald (former executive director of the Montana Association of Churches and former state senator)

I was with Tammie Schnitzer the night her home was vandalized.
We were having an emergency meeting of the Billings Coalition for Human Rights… Read the Interview

Wayne Inman (former chief of police, Billings)

I was a Portland, Oregon Police Bureau member for more than twenty-eight years. We didn’t call them “hate” crimes there. We had bias crimes… Read the Interview

Illustrations copyright © by Elliott Banfield