KXLY interviewed Ira Tankovich, the man who was convicted of conspiracy to commit disturbing the peace yesterday in the first hate crime trial in North Idaho in years. The trial stemmed from a tense encounter between three Tankovich brothers (the other two were not convicted in court) and a Latino man in Coeur d'Alene last August. Kenneth Requena says their exchange was racially charged and that the brothers called him a "beaner."
In the jailhouse interview with KXLY, though, Tankovich insisted that he's not a racist. But what about your Aryan Pride tattoos, asked reporter Sally Showman. His response?
"I know its ties and what other people assume it means ... In California it doesn't have that meaning ... I looked itup in the dictionary and it said 'nomadic tribesman' and it applied to mynomadic lifestyle with my wife Connie."
Right, and "Kill Whitey" just refers to a disdain for former Kansas City Royals manager Whitey Herzog.
Tankovich says he intends to get the tattoo removed. "I started regretting this tattoo," he said. "I thought 'Wow, I better get thisremoved.'"
Read the story here. Or check out the video, above.
