If the city of Longview were to deny a white supremacist church a permit to rent the McClelland Arts Center, it would expose the city and individual council members to the risk of a lawsuit, Longview City Attorney Marilyn Nitteberg-Haan said at Thursday's council meeting.

"The city has no choice but to grant the permit," Nitteberg-Haan told the audience that packed council chambers and overflowed into the hallway.

The United States was founded on the principal of religious freedom, she noted. Although she and city staff members strongly oppose the white supremacists' views, "the viewpoint is protected, and it's protected for a very good reason," the city attorney said.

The Aryan Nations-affiliated Church of Jesus Christ—Christian has applied for a permit to hold a membership recruitment rally at the city-owned McClelland Arts Center the night of Dec. 9.

Mayor Dennis Weber told the council about the permit application at the last council meeting and asked the community to convey the message that racism and hate groups are unwelcome in Longview. Outraged politicians, churches and activists quickly mobilized, organizing a march through the city on Dec. 9 followed by a daytime community picnic at Victoria Freeman Park, which is next to the arts center.

Thursday night, the council adopted a resolution reaffirming the value the city places on embracing diversity and eschewing discrimination.

"We encourage each person to respect and celebrate the ethnic, racial, cultural, religious and social diversity that add richness to the community," the resolution states, in part.

The resolution also calls upon all citizens to report hate crimes to law enforcement and support police investigations of individuals and groups associated with racially motivated harassment and intimidation.

Members of the public took the podium to applaud the city's stance, decry the white supremacists' views and share personal experiences as victims of discrimination. Some said they were glad the issue arose because it's bringing the community together. Others encouraged the council to deny the permit.

Pastor Larry Russell, spokesman for the Longview-Kelso Ministerial Association, pointed out that although the Aryan Nations group goes by the name of Church of Jesus Christ—Christian, its message of hate is contrary to the life and teachings of Christ.

Russell, whose association represents 67 congregations, presented a petition containing 1,500 signatures that affirms the value and dignity Christians place on every race. Many church members are wearing red ribbons to silently declare the unity of all people — who all bleed red, he said.

This isn't the first time the city has been approached by the "cancer" of racial supremacy, Russell said. He reminded the audience of the Ku Klux Klan's visible presence in Longview in the 1920s — and that few people spoke out against it, including the churches.

Now, he said, we "need to stand as one people and one voice to close the door to the spirit of racism."