Help Needed! Tell The Maine Senate, We Need LD 944 Because The Locals Are Out Of Control

A die-hard Skowhegan _____ Pride member laying down at the edge of a very busy road on Sunday, April 28, 2019.

As you may know, the school board in Skowhegan -- MSAD 54 -- has been targeted by the mob clinging to their now retired Native mascot and team name. Threats were shouted, specifically at Chair Dixie Ring, at their last meeting when they voted not to hold a referendum on the mascot issue. You can see this disgraceful treatment of the recently re-elected Ring of Canaan in this video.



(If the embedded video doesn't work for you, view it here on Somerset Community TV 11's YouTube channel.)

What you can't see:

* The drunk husband of a school board member who organizes Skowhegan _______ Pride threatening the wife of another school board member as he leaves the meeting (some say, was asked to leave by one of the five -- yes, five -- uniformed Skowhegan police officers on duty that night). It is now considered dangerous to hold a board meeting in Skowhegan without a strong police presence.

* Me peeking out the door to check if it was safe to go to the parking lot, seeing police officers and, as a white person, thinking, Yup, it's ok to walk to my car alone now.

* Another board member -- the one who sounds the most incoherent and angry in the video -- giving the middle finger to a Skowhegan Area High School teacher who favored change and was driving past the area where the S_P group protests on Sunday (see photo of one of them above).

How can you help?

Write to the Democrats in the Maine Senate TODAY.

I expect that they will vote on LD 944, An act to ban Native mascots in all schools, on Tuesday, so time is of the essence!

It will help quell the mob in Skowhegan if this bill, which has already passed the House, is enacted.

Here is a handy web page with a contact form for each Maine senator whose vote we need to pass this legislation:

If you copy and paste your message into each senator's form, it goes rather quickly.

Note that I heard back from Senate Majority Leader Nate Libby in the affirmative when I wrote to him a few weeks ago:

In case you think this is a slam dunk, the Republican senator representing Skowhegan got the vote on the bill delayed last week -- on the thin pretext that it was a day of mourning for Corporal Eugene Cole who was killed by a drug addict in nearby Norridgewock a year ago -- but really so that more arm twisting could ensue.

Please help the MSAD 54 school board, which has done the right thing at last, stand firm in the face of local control that is more like local out-of-control. Civil rights are at stake. Thank you.

Protesters Arrested Demanding BIW Convert To Building For Climate Solutions, Not Carbon Belching War Ships #LBJ25

Most of us who were arrested at Bath Iron Works war ship "christening" 4/28/19, after our release from the Bath Police Department. 

Jim Anderberg, who supported the protest as a photographer, posted this comment: 

The last Zumwalt class destroyer was launched at Bath Iron Works today. 25 people were arrested in a protest. A $7.5 billion boondoggle. 

Think what that money could be used for to alleviate our use of fossil fuels and address the global warming crisis.

The #LBJ25 are mostly Mainers: Natasha Mayers, Whitefield; Ginny Schneider, South Portland; Jim Freeman, Verona Island; Connie Jenkins, East Blue Hill; Meredith Bruskin, Swanville; Suzanne Hedrick, Nobleboro;  Dixie Searway, Parsonsfield; Ridgely Fuller, Belfast; Dud Hendrick, Deer Isle; Dan Ellis, Brunswick;  Carolyn Coe, Orland; The Reverend Mair Honan, Freeport; Ethan Hughes, Belfast (who returned home from Bath by bicycle!); Russell Wray, Hancock; Judy Robbins, Sedgwick;  Robert Shetterly, Brooksville; Jason Rawn, Lincolnville; Mike Donnelly, Brunswick; Mary Garvey-Donnelly, Brunswick; Mark Roman, Solon; and Lisa Savage, Solon.

We were grateful to be joined by several Veterans for Peace who traveled to Maine for the protest: Ellen Barfield, Baltimore, Maryland; Don Cunning, Old Bridge, NJ; Julius Orkin, Bergenfield, NJ; and Roy Pingel, Queens, NY.

Other supporters of the protest: Peter Baldwin of Waldo County Peace & Justice who brought his drum; VFP members Ellen Davidson and Tarak Kauff, who designed and produced the banners pictured above; VFP's John Morris and Ian Collins, logistical and jail support; song leader Rosie Paul of Peaceworks; BIW stalwarts Maureen and George Oestensen of Smilin' Trees Disarmament Farm and Akemi Wray of Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST); photographers Peter Robbins, Roger Leisner, Regis Tremblay, and Richard Kane (who was on hand filming for a documentary on portraitist Rob Shetterly of Americans Who Tell The Truth) and a sound technician with Kane whose name I didn't catch before I was arrested.

It would be impossible for me to name all of the 75 or so folks who turned out yesterday, but I love you all!

Suzanne Hedrick, the eldest of those arrested, was featured in this great video by Peaceworks.


(If you're unable to view the embedded video, you can see it here on YouTube.)

I departed suddenly from my role as MC at the rally where speakers noted the urgency of the need for conversion as the Pentagon and General Dynamics/Bath Iron Works barrel full speed ahead toward the cliff of climate catastrophe. I look forward to videos sharing both the first half of the rally and the second half, which I missed after moving into Washington Street to help halt traffic.



A partial list of the news coverage:

"Twenty-five protesters arrested near Bath Iron Works" Darcie Moore, Times Record & Portland Press Herald

"BIW Christening" Kennebec Journal & Waterville Morning Sentinel

Dud Hendrick, VFP, engaged in civil resistance (Photo credit: David Sharp, Associated Press)

"LBJ's Daughters Christen BIW Destroyer Ship Bearing Their Father's Name" Caitlin Troutman, carrying water for the military industrial complex at Democrat leaning news service Maine Public.

The LBJ 25 were charged with obstructing a public way and ordered to appear in court on June 18 at 1pm in West Bath. 

If you're in the area, we hope to see you there!

Civil Resistance Today At Zumwalt 'Christening' Will Demand Conversion Of BIW To Halt Climate Change

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Lisa Savage

207-399-7623

lsavage3@gmail.com

MEDIA ADVISORY: CIVIL RESISTANCE TODAY AT ZUMWALT CHRISTENING WILL DEMAND CONVERSION OF BIW TO HALT CLIMATE CHANGE

Statewide peace groups will gather to protest the “christening”[sic] of a Zumwalt class warship at General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works shipyard on April 27. The ship will be named for President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ), who was driven from office by anti war protesters over his conduct of the Vietnam War.

Suzanne Hedrick, who will turn 88 next month, spoke with Congresswoman Chellie Pingree in Augusta April 23 at the Youth Day of Action on Climate Crisis. Hedrick  indicated that she intended to risk arrest doing civil resistance at BIW on April 27.

“I spoke to her about the “christening” of this destroyer and its cost, and the ongoing role of the Military Industrial complex...I told Chellie that many in the peace community were upset with her inability to address the massive defense budget,” said Hedrick in an email.

Bob Klotz of 350 Maine said, "The United States is addicted to oil – and to war. These two addictions are inextricably linked, with the realities of climate change revealing the most profound and undeniable impact.”

“An intervention is called for. As with any addiction, we must become honest about the “unmanageable” (the definition of our bloated and destructive “defense” budget), boundaries must be established, abstinence practiced, responsibility taken and amends made.”

“We have a genuine emergency: all are at risk." A 2017 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report projected at least a six inch sea level rise by 2050.

Bruce Gagnon of Brunswick, a member of Veterans for Peace (VFP) said, “Our real security needs as a nation are to urgently address climate change and plan for sea level rise that is already underway. How will this affect BIW’s shipyard in Bath? Continuing to build expensive, provocative and polluting weapon systems like Zumwalt destroyers ignores climate change as the biggest threat to our collective safety.” Gagnon has helped organize protests at BIW for the past several years. In 2018 he fasted for 37 days to oppose a tax giveaway by the state of Maine to General Dynamics.

“Endorsing the Conversion Campaign addresses these truths and provides a rational “lens” through which to “see” an apocalyptic reality,” says Dud Hendrick of VFP, one of a dozen organizations sponsoring the BIW Conversion Campaign. “The absolute imperative of “Conversion” is all the more undeniable to us in Maine, having the longest coastline in the nation. And, a widely predicted collapse of the lobster fishery in Maine waters due to the associated rising water temperatures would be cataclysmic in every conceivable respect for my home town of Deer Isle.”

“Conversion” should influence every decision our Congressional delegates make in the conduct of their work as our representatives,” concluded Hendrick.

“Making warships at BIW is not even a good jobs policy. Researchers have consistently found that investment of the same resources in sustainable energy solutions like commuter trains or wind turbines would produce many more jobs,” said Mary Beth Sullivan of PeaceWorks of greater Brunswick. “We need conversion of the BIW shipyard now.” Sullivan referenced the UMass Amherst study in 2011, “The U.S. Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending Priorities: 2011 Update” by Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier (https://www.peri.umass.edu/publication/item/449-the-u-s-employment-effects-of-military-and-domestic-spending-priorities-2011-update).

Another PeaceWorks member has spent the past year gathering names of people willing to engage in civil resistance on April 27. Karen Wainberg of Brunswick says she had more than 50 names on her list at this time.

Organizations sponsoring the April 27 protests and resistance include Americans Who Tell the Truth, Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST), Durham Quaker Meeting, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Island Peace & Justice, Maine Natural Guard, Maine Veterans for Peace, Maine War Tax Resistance Resource Center, Midcoast Peace & Justice Group, Pax Christi Maine, Peace Action Maine, Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, Peace & Justice Group of Waldo County, PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick, Peninsula Peace & Justice and 350 Maine.

##

Maine House Passes Ban On Native Mascots, School Board Set To Say No Referendum

Yesterday the Maine House passed LD 944, An act to ban Native American mascots in all schools by a large margin, 88-54. 

Associated Press picked up the story which I saw in U.S. News & World Report including this local news: 

The Maine Education Department has urged schools to refrain from using mascots and logos depicting Native Americans. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and several tribal leaders have said Skowhegan's former mascot "Indians" harmed Native Americans. 

 
The school retired the nickname last month.

The action on this bill now moves to the Maine Senate.

Senate Democrats have an easy to use contact form for each senator. You can copy and paste your message into each senator's contact form to save time. The vote in the House was largely along party lines, with the notable exception of Democrat Rep. Betty Austin of Skowhegan who not only voted against the bill but spoke against it prior to voting.

Austin came out in favor of local control. Folks who know her call her a "nice lady" who was once their children's bus driver. Several have noted that she was under "a lot of pressure" which I'm pretty sure means she has been harassed and threatened by Skowhegan I#$%*# Pride members who have been doing the same to me and my sister since we spoke publicly in favor of retirement.

SIP will be on hand Thursday night for a school board meeting which will consider their request to hold referendums in the six towns of the district, MSAD 54. The meeting at 7pm at the Skowhegan Area Middle School will consider a petition submitted with allegedly thousands of unverified signatures asking for a referendum to overturn the March 7 vote to "respectfully retire" the mascot.



It is unlikely the board will vote to undermine their own authority by holding a non-binding referendum on a topic they have thoroughly researched and considered before rendering their decision. On January 8 they listened for three hours at a public forum on the mascot (video of that meeting can be seen here).

Supporters of a new sports name/nickname/mascot are asked to wear red as a show of silent solidarity with the March 7 decision. 

Invest In Life On Our Beloved Planet And Let A New Day Dawn

 As all world religions celebrate life with a spring holiday, it's a fitting time to look at transforming the U.S. government's addiction to death dealing, and to remember that we, the people, can rise above the cult of death. 

People have been writing letters to Maine newspapers about the possibility of converting the Bath Iron Works (BIW) shipyard to building something other than war ships. General Dynamics has their trolls at work ridiculing this suggestion on my Twitter account. Rather than feed them one by one, I offer this chart dispelling the notion that the fifth year in a row of increased military spending is necessary for the U.S. to be "safe" from the military might of other nations. 



As even the Pentagon admits, climate change is the biggest threat to everyone's safety.

Source: The New Yorker

The Pentagon is the biggest carbon polluter of any organization on the planet. Militarism is literally fueling climate change, and flooding of coastal areas worldwide is already underway as ice melts and water is released into the oceans.

Conversion is perceived as a threat by the insanely wealthy CEOs and other upper management of weapons manufacturers like General Dynamics, which owns BIW. They want to keep their yachts, their stock options, and they want to keep reinvesting their obscene profits in buying back their own stock (which increases the metrics for their millions in annual bonuses).

Who would Jesus support -- wealthy weapons corporations, or the people who live on this planet? I think we all know the answer to that.

Join us in Bath on Saturday, April 27 to protest the launch of yet another warship. We'll be there at 8:30am outside the gates of BIW as a procession of elected officials arrive to pay homage to big campaign contributor General Dynamics. Stand with us to demand conversion now, before it's too late.

You Okay With Over Half Your Discretionary Tax Dollars Going To The Pentagon? ('Cause CEOs Need New Yachts)

Or to put it another way,

Weapons are the US's #1 industrial export.  When weapons are your #1 industrial export, what is your global marketing strategy for that product line?


The good folks at National Priorities Project have done our federal budget homework for us again.

Tax receipt: https://www.nationalpriorities.org/interactive-data/taxday/average/2018/us/receipt/

Full Tax Day analysis and fact sheets: https://www.nationalpriorities.org/analysis/2019/tax-day-2019/

Here are a few of their sample tweets for April 15, 2019. They are basing their calculations on federal taxes paid in 2018 covering the year 2017:

Average annual U.S. tax bill for public housing: $9.79. We can afford more. #ShowTheReceipts #TaxDay2019

The average taxpayer paid $225 to military contractor Lockheed Martin, but only $9.79 for public housing.  #ShowTheReceipts #TaxDay2019

The average tax bill for welfare (TANF) is just $6.50 per month. Military contractors take $144 per month.  #ShowTheReceipts #TaxDay2019

The average taxpayer last year paid $180 for all diplomacy and foreign aid, compared to almost nineteen times as much — $3,395 – for the Pentagon and military. #ShowTheReceipts #TaxDay2019

President Trump wants to eliminate the Low Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program, which costs the average taxpayer just $16.32 per year. #ShowTheReceipts #TaxDay2019

Meanwhile, corporate fat cats (like "defense" contractors) are paying less and less of their fair share.

Join individuals and groups calling for conversion of General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works shipyard to address climate change. Sponsoring organizations include Americans Who Tell the Truth, Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST), Durham Quaker Meeting, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Island Peace & Justice, Maine Natural Guard, Maine Veterans for Peace, Maine War Tax Resistance Resource Center, Midcoast Peace & Justice Group, Pax Christi Maine, Peace Action Maine, Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, Peace & Justice Group of Waldo County, PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick, 350 Maine and Peninsula Peace & Justice.

Why The U.S. Government Is So Mad At Julian Assange And Chelsea Manning

Julian Assange is a journalist who changed the way journalism gets done. He was arrested in London this week at the behest of the U.S. government. Chelsea Manning is whistleblower who is back in prison for a second time, because she refuses to testify to a secret grand jury about Assange.

Their most famous revelation is probably this U.S. Army video of helicopter troops laughing and firing on Reuters journalists, a dad who went to their rescue, and the children riding in his van in Baghdad in 2007.



(If the embedded video doesn't work for you, see it here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0)

Wikileaks released the video with supporting documents on April 5, 2010 at http://collateralmurder.com.

Between the two, Assange and Manning have shone the light of public scrutiny on many dark dealings.

The U.S. government appears to be persecuting them, not because you can close Pandora's box, but as a lesson to other journalists and whistleblowers.

Stand up for Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange now, before there are no journalists left unmuzzled to stand up for them.

Free Chelsea Manning (again!) resources at Courage to Resist.

Local Control, Or Local Out-of-Control?

Me looking on as my sister Hope talks to the Waterville Morning Sentinel about why the mascot should be retired.
"Sisters taking up Indian mascot issue with Skowhegan school board" 11/19/18  photo credit: David Leaming

My sister Hope has a way with words. Her "I Listened" essay from remarks to the school board back in November currently has 7,698 views on my repost of it.

Yesterday, she sent emails to all of Maine's Democratic Senators.

Dear Maine Lawmakers, 

I write today urging you to pass LD944, a bill to ban the use of Native Americans as mascots.   

Lest you think I am “from away” as has been charged by those wishing to keep the SAD54 “Indian” mascot against those advocating for changing the mascot, let me say now I am a resident and homeowner in Skowhegan and live on the same block as my family has resided for eight generations.

Our dad Mark Elliott Savage (1932-1988) played many sports for Skowhegan.

My grandfather, Brooks Savage, served in the Maine Senate. My great nieces and nephews attend Skowhegan Area High School currently.  

Also not “from away” are the Penobscot Tribal Nation members, the original inhabitants of these lands, who have strongly asked that SAD54 refrain from insulting them by stereotyped usage of them as school mascots and pretending to be them, insisting it is an “honor” to be so used. It is because of the objection of the four tribes of the Wabanaki Federation that I advocate for the passage of this law.

Leaving this issue in the hands of locals has not been successful at resolving this civil rights issue. 

People who went to Skowhegan High School insist they be allowed to “keep our dear name” because it has always been used (though it was not in use when my grandfather attended SHS), and demand that Native Americans see it as an honor, despite being told it is insulting. 

Here’s how I see it...if your race has slaughtered another race in order to steal their land, banishing them and making laws prohibiting them from using their own language, religion and customs, stolen their children and put them in residential schools to train them to not act like their tribe..you don’t get to now pretend to be them and demand they feel honored by it.

Our Native American friends, neighbors and classmates deserve to be protected from being mocked, stereotyped and degraded by Maine’s educational institutions. 

We would not allow SAHS to call themselves Skowhegan Negros and have the gym floor depict a stereotype of a black man’s head!  This no different and the behavior of those wishing to continue using Native Americans this way make comments online like “we conquered them and can use them however we want."  A seated SAD54 school board member, Jennifer Poirier, hosts these hostile, racist comments on her Skowhegan Indian Pride Facebook page and actively undermines the school board’s vote to remove the mascot, against all ethics rules and agreements to which board members have agreed to be held. 

The level of racist rhetoric, on a scale of 1-10 in Skowhegan right now is 11.  High school students are flying confederate flags on their cars! Penobscot Nation representatives receive threats of death, gang rape and being traded for beaver grease and beer. Memes saying things like “My Indian Name Is Runs With Beer” depicting a drunk stereotyped Indian are common. Citizens are being harassed and threatened at their workplaces and in town for advocating for changing the mascot. So much for honor being the motive.

Local control unfortunately has led to local abuse and malfeasance. 

Let’s make sure our state can puts this behavior behind us by outlawing outdated racial abuse.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope you agree that racism has no place in our schools and vote yes on LD944.

Hope Savage

Skowhegan, Maine

Several Maine lawmakers have responded to me that they support LD 944, including Senate Majority Leader Nate Libby. Here's a reply Hope received from a senator she sent her message to:

Thanks to everyone advocating for the passage of LD 944. And special thanks to Skowhegan alumna Allison Dorko for permission to use a phrase she coined as my headline today:

Local control, or local out-of-control?

Protests At BIW Warship Launch On April 27: Convert Weapons Industry To Address Climate Change

This press release goes out to Maine news media this week. Please share!

MEDIA ADVISORY: PROTESTERS AT WARSHIP LAUNCH AT BIW WILL CALL FOR CONVERSION OF THE SHIPYARD TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE

Statewide peace groups will gather to protest the “christening”[sic] of a Zumwalt class warship at General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works shipyard on April 27. The ship will be named for President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ), who was driven from office by anti war protesters over his conduct of the Vietnam War.

Bruce Gagnon of Brunswick, a member of Veterans for Peace (VFP) who became a activist while in the Air Force during the Vietnam era, said, “Our real security needs as a nation are to urgently address climate change and plan for sea level rise that is already underway. How will this affect BIW’s shipyard in Bath?"

"Continuing to build expensive, provocative and polluting weapon systems like Zumwalt destroyers ignores climate change as the biggest threat to our collective safety.”

Left to right: Bruce Gagnon and Mary Beth Sullivan outside General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works shipyard, February 2018

Gagnon has helped organize protests at BIW for the past several years. In 2018 he fasted for 37 days to oppose a tax giveaway by the state of Maine to General Dynamics.

The Pentagon has identified climate change as the greatest national and global security threat---yet, at the same time, the Pentagon has the largest carbon footprint on the planet.

War machines endanger all life and exacerbate climate change.

A 2017 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report projected at least a six inch sea level rise by 2050.

Banner by the Artists' Rapid Response Team (ARRT!) of the Maine Union of Visual Artists

“Endorsing the Conversion Campaign addresses these truths and provides a rational “lens” through which to “see” an apocalyptic reality,” says Dud Hendrick of VFP, one of a dozen organizations sponsoring the BIW Conversion Campaign. “The absolute imperative of “Conversion” is all the more undeniable to us in Maine, having the longest coastline in the nation. And, a widely predicted collapse of the lobster fishery in Maine waters due to the associated rising water temperatures would be cataclysmic in every conceivable respect for my home town of Deer Isle.”

“Conversion” should influence every decision our Congressional delegates make in the conduct of their work as our representatives,” concluded Hendrick.

“Making warships at BIW is not even a good jobs policy. Researchers have consistently found that investment of the same resources in sustainable energy solutions like commuter trains or wind turbines would produce many more jobs,” said Mary Beth Sullivan of PeaceWorks of greater Brunswick. “We need conversion of the BIW shipyard now.”

Sullivan referenced the UMass Amherst study in 2011, “The U.S. Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending Priorities: 2011 Update” by Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett-Peltier.

Civil resistance action at BIW on April 1, 2017 resulted in nine arrests for criminal trespass; all defendants were acquitted of the charge, with the judge ruling that they were exercising their 1st amendment right to free speech.

Another PeaceWorks member has spent the past year gathering names of people willing to engage in civil resistance on April 27. Karen Wainberg of Brunswick says she had more than 50 names on her list at this time.

Mark Roman of Solon plans to be there representing the Maine Natural Guard, an organization dedicated to pointing out the Pentagon’s enormous carbon footprint.

“I cannot stand by and watch lawmakers waste our tax dollars on warships that are huge polluters when that money could be spent on climate change solutions, or on housing and food for the 43,000 children in Maine living in poverty,” said Roman.

He has been active in the Bring Our War Dollars Home campaign at BIW since 2009.

Naming the warship after LBJ supports the Pentagon’s attempt at revisionist history around America’s most unpopular war. VFP, which was founded in Maine by Vietnam War veterans, maintains a website called Vietnam Full Disclosure to counter the Pentagon’s efforts to whitewash that war. Several VFP members from around the U.S. are expected at the April 27 protest.

Organizations sponsoring the April 27 protests and resistance include Americans Who Tell the Truth, Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats (COAST), Durham Quaker Meeting, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Island Peace & Justice, Maine Natural Guard, Maine Veterans for Peace, Maine War Tax Resistance Resource Center, Midcoast Peace & Justice Group, Pax Christi Maine, Peace Action Maine, Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine, Peace & Justice Group of Waldo County, PeaceWorks of Greater Brunswick, and Peninsula Peace & Justice.

##