Should Civil Rights Be Subject To Referendum?

Middle school cheerleader Liz Turner addressing the board about how schools are governed. I admire her courage and respect her right to express her beliefs, but she was not well-informed on the topic. A kerfuffle in the crowd just after this point in the video causes one of four police officers to step forward to quiet SIP supporters who were hissing at my husband and others using their phones to record testimony. "She's a child, you need her parents' permission," was what I heard. Not sure they understand laws about public meetings, either. Full video on Somerset Community TV 11's YouTube channel here.

Oddly, now that the mascot has been retired in Skowhegan, supporters are coming out of the woodwork. Where were they when the debate was raging from November to March, including a public hearing in January that drew only eleven speakers for their side? It's unclear.

It may have taken the March 7 vote by the school board to activate their view of themselves as victims. 

Since most are undereducated, bewildered when they do testify, and possibly struggling to make ends meet, they do appear to resemble a MAGA crowd enabled by a national spokesman telling them what victims they are.

Their insistence on not accepting the board's considered decision was on full display at this week's meeting. The context is an unprecedented effort to put matters of educational policy to a referendum in the towns of the district.

The referendum request raises a very important issue: can civil rights be subject to local control?

To reason by analogy, what happened when school segregation under Jim Crow was subject to local control?



Now, Confederate flags are appearing on cars at Skowhegan Area High School.

This pic was shared with me by a parent whose child has been targeted with ugly language and violent threats (which can be seen here by scrolling down to a screenshot of a post by skowheganlegend1 on Instagram) because of support for honoring Native people's request to retire the mascot. The parent noted that Black students were entering the school at the time this photo was taken.

There is a great emphasis on loss in displaying this flag, as well as in the testimony of those clinging to the retired mascot. "It was taken away" or "ripped away" are typical ways this is expressed.

It's a theme that also emerges in this odd letter from board member Jennifer Poirier who "honors" Native people by lobbying the Maine legislature not to pass a bill changing Columbus Day to Indigenous People's Day.




Meanwhile, the bill to ban Native mascots statewide came out of committee and is making its way through the legislature. If passed, LD 944 would render the results of a referendum moot. I'll end with this encouraging message I received in reply to an email to Senate Majority Leader Nate Libby:

Congratulations, Senator Libby. You listened, you matured, and you changed your mind. I appreciate your leadership on this important civil rights issue.