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.

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?

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.

Governor Weighs In On Banning Native American Mascots. Or Does She?

I don't have time to do a proper blog post about last night's board meeting in Skowhegan. So I'm going to paste in my live comments from last night, plus a few from others who attended. I'll finish with an email I received from Governor Janet Mills expressing support for banning Native mascots in school sport, but falling far short of saying she intends to sign LD 944 if it makes it to her desk.


(My posts to Skowhegan Indigenous Peoples Day group on Facebook in real time 4/4/19)

We are here at the Skowhegan school board meeting. They have gone into executive session to consult their lawyers (again, we're guessing this time about the request to hold a referendum to overturn the March 7 mascot retirement). Chair Dixie Ring read us the riot act first thing, stressing decorum. Lots of SIP here in their Outlaw gear. One tepid performance of the Skowhegan fight song thus far. Local press is here plus three uniformed police officers.

Oops make that 4 officers, one in each corner.

100 people we estimate.

Dixie allowing 6-7 speakers. First one claiming her 6 year old said mascot was retired by people "who don't like Indians."

Next speaker talking about "we get our rights from our Creator" and then immediately cites 1st amendment. I could be wrong but I think he's wearing a Dale Earnhardt hat.

Now a young woman is making an inclusion argument to say if someone is offended that is their personal problem "and they should work on that." She is confused and confusing. Now she says "we are hurt and disappointed."

Girl in full cheerleader regalia Liz Turner middle school student speaking now. She starts by sharing that she is from away. Also very confusing. She has on quite an outfit and people near us are hissing angrily at Mark taking her photo as she addresses the board. "She's a child, you need her parents' permission to take her picture." Hmmm wonder if the journalists got that?

Now another student pointing out "if you notice a lot of people here are wearing Indians."

SIP is done. Board has not yet taken up referendum nor did any speaker mention it.

Lynda Quinn just said referendum would be futile and a big waste of $ because non-binding and LD944.

Now lawyer is talking. Legislature gives school boards right and duty to make all decisions regarding schools. Public speaks via elections.

Jenn Poirier wants the non-binding vote. So she and Lynda Quinn, who both voted to keep the mascot, have split on this issue.

Todd Smith wants to know what the cost will be. Notes "the state issue could go one way or another and no doubt it will."

Harold Bigelow says vote to retire was influenced by outside elements. Gets applause from crowd, admonished by chair.

Both Bigelow and Jean Franklin have alluded to budget not being approved by voters.

Dixie: has to be a 2/3 vote to add an agenda item. (Later note: This was in reference to Bigelow and Todd Smith wanting to hold a vote on whether to hold a referendum, without prior notice to board members who were absent last night.)

Amy Rouse asking where were the people in the audience tonight when we had the public forum in January?

Poirier says her constituents just expect her to know what they're thinking without sitting through a 3 hour meeting.

Peggy Lovejoy: most of the calls I got before the vote were in favor of change. Since the vote most have been against the change.

Nancy Blaisdell Baxter Board caved and agreed to put the Referendum question on the April 25th agenda. Colbry said at end of session to friends in audience that "this was a $3000. meeting".

To: Lisa Savage

April 4, 2019

Subject: Message from Governor Mills

Thank you for contacting me about legislation to ban Native American mascots in public schools. I appreciate your views on this issue.

Maine has a long history of strained tribal relations. I am committed to improving communication and trust between the four Tribes, the state, and local governments so that together, we can improve the lives, opportunities, and wellbeing of all our people. As Governor-elect, I sent a letter to the Skowhegan School Board urging them to end the use of “Indians” as their mascot, and was pleased by the March 7th vote to do so.

I believe that offensive names for teams, schools, and mascots have no place in our society. According to the American Psychological Association, the use of Native American mascots has harmful effects on Native American youth and perpetuates the marginalization of Native people. That is why the Maine Department of Education asked schools statewide to avoid the use of hurtful mascots and to develop policies and procedures in that vein. As Governor, I will work with everyone to respect and maintain the cultural identity and the right of self-governance of Native Americans in this state.

It is time to heal the divisions of our past and bring the State and Maine’s tribal communities together to build a future shaped by mutual trust and respect. Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your concerns.

Janet T. Mills
Governor

Native American Mascots: Local Control Or Civil Rights Issue? You Be The Judge

The group in Skowhegan still clinging to their now retired mascot/team name has had a rough week, so at least one of them has reached out to people from away for advice. The screenshot above is acknowledgement that the struggle has now moved from the local school board -- which voted March 7 for retirement -- to the Maine legislature.

LD 944, An Act to Ban Native American Mascots in Maine Public Schools, advanced yesterday from the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs to the House of Representatives.

It was amended to explicitly include public universities before the 8-5 vote along party lines to advance the bill with an Ought to pass designation. Rep. Michael Brennan (D-Portland) offered the amendment and also his view that banning Native school mascots is a civil rights issue that supersedes local control.

Penboscot Tribal Ambassador Maulian Dana was on hand for the committee's work session and reported:

Skowhegan Indian Pride was chastised quite publicly and explicitly for their behavior and lack of civility....SIP members were criticized for their behavior at the public hearing not the work session. They were very quiet today.

Some of the lack of civility referenced was reported by a speaker on deck who witnessed the harassment of an MSAD 54 school board director who was at the podium. A SIP supporter passed directly behind him and hissed an obscenity concerning his own mom in a stage whisper.

Barry Dana and daughter Maulian spoke respectfully on the occasions when they addressed the legislature or the MSAD 54 school board about the mascot issue. Barry has written of Wabanaki people, "Being fierce warriors didn't work out so well for us...we've been trying to be diplomats for 500 years."

And then there was the SIPster who identified herself as a tutor at Skowhegan Area Middle School (staff there told me she is not actually an employee but does sometimes work as a substitute). As reported by Maine Public Broadcasting's coverage of the public hearing:

Gloria Gordon of Skowhegan went a step further. A middle school tutor who is white, Gordon said the bill is another example of how Native Americans and other minorities are being given “special treatment.” 

“We’ve been discriminated against just like they have. We’re becoming a minority. Other minority groups that have been considered minorities are getting special treatment right now, not only the Native Americans but the Mexicans."

Meanwhile, back in Skowhegan, SIP disrupted a March 21 meeting in what one person who was present described as "at times, abusive" behavior toward the MSAD 54 school board. You can watch video of the meeting here and judge for yourself.



A SIP group has been showing up during the time we hold a weekly peaceful demonstration against wars and kleptocratic government on the bridge in Skowhegan. Last Sunday they behaved like they were at a school board meeting. This reportedly ruffled feathers in the congregation of the Federated Church on the island by disturbing their church service with prolonged noise.

So it goes. I could share comments on my blog, or other screenshots containing threats of violence (for example, against a woman who has been working with the local Wal-mart to remove merchandise with the now retired mascot). But I think I'll conclude with this one:

Stay classy, SIP. That strategy seem to be working.

A Path Forward For The Students Of Skowhegan

Photo by Ben Bulkeley "New mascot pumps up Wiscasset's fans" Wiscasset Newspaper, December 22, 2014.

These articles about Wiscasset High School's change from "R#%^*(@#" to "Wolverines" -- and the special mascot costume they created to celebrate the change -- are inspiring! 

"Wiscasset High releases poll on proposals to replace controversial "R#%^*(@#" moniker" by Seth Koenig, Bangor Daily News, April 15, 2011.

"New mascot pumps up Wiscasset's fans" by Ben Bulkeley, Wiscasset Newspaper, December 22, 2014.

Photo by Ben Bulkeley, Wiscasset Newspaper, which reported that the Wolverine costume was specially designed with a fan inside the head using funds raised by the Wiscasset Boosters.

Now that the school board in Skowhegan voted on March 7 to retire the team name and move forward, the Skowhegan "I#$%^@ Pride" (SIP) group is lashing out. They've created a ridiculous logo using a sheriff's badge and the word "Outlaw" to keep their lost cause alive, and are revving up threats and falsehoods against those perceived as instrumental in the change.

Retired Penobscot Chief Barry Dana, father of Tribal Ambassador Maulian Dana, is one such person. Here's his response to a post in the Facebook group SIP claiming that he and his wife, Lori Dana, who served on the school board in her town for many years, turned their backs during the flag salute at the beginning of the March 7 meeting.

Barry Dana's response was removed from Facebook after Chretien's accusatory post was removed. It began by noting that he and his wife entered a very crowded meeting room and stood near the back. The two stood with a couple from Massachusetts and (what follows is a direct quote from Barry's post):

...talked. Then the announcement came for the pledge as it does at all sad 54 meeting of which I have been to several now. So, we stopped talking and faced towards the front of the room. Being behind so many people I never saw the flag.  

I do not pledge the flag, on account of the massacres of my ancestors . I see each of the 50 stars representing the 50 states where native genocide happened, i.e. norigwock massacre, the great swamp massacre, the trail of teas. wounded knee...and thousands more. 

I do however always stand for the flag as it does represent the tens of thousands of native people who have fought in foreign wars..many being my relatives...some never making it home 

So, someone, maybe this Derek decided that not crossing my heart and stating the pledge is somehow to be considered as "turning my back"...nice try Derek...but you lie...Liars lie 

The thread he started goes on with his people falling hook line and sinker for the lie...People believe what they want to 

If I so wanted to disrespect the flag, why didn't I "turn my back" at all the other school board meetings?...because I didn't then nor when he lied about me doing so....

Oh and their people also said I was kicked off the island for stealing money....more lies

They have the right to fight for their fake honoring, but why stoop to such a low level as to lie.... 

Please if anyone seeing this post can share it to this Derek, please do so...so his faithful followers can see the truth ...even though they won't believe it.....with so many smart phones these days, seems so someone seeing me turn my back would have for the sake of the flag taken a pic and shared it far and wide by now

Barry, I don't know if you read my blog but I know that SIP people do, so I'm sharing your message here.

I note that one of the comments on the SIP thread also accuses a board member who voted for change, but doesn't use a name. I guess reciting the pledge of allegiance is mandatory in the minds of some people?

Let me come right out and say that I haven't recited the pledge in years, although I do stand out of respect for the feelings of the people around me. My issue is different from Barry's, though both are related to white supremacy and the violence it perpetrates.

I will start reciting the pledge again when my country stops using my tax dollars to bomb children asleep in their beds or on the bus to school in oil-rich lands.

I'm not ashamed of standing up for what I believe in. Luckily, the 1st Amendment protects my right to political speech, including not reciting a pledge of allegiance to the flag and the republic for which it stands, allegedly "with liberty and justice or all." Millions of Black and brown people are incarcerated for crimes that white people walk free for, or for trying to bring their families to the border to apply for asylum (safe refuge). Thousands of children and even babies are separated from their parents and caged in for-profit detention centers because of being brought to our border in a legal quest for safety.

Students in public schools are free to have their opinions, too. They can like one mascot or dislike another. They can stand for the pledge, or sit it out. These are the freedoms enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. This is what our elected officials are sworn to uphold.

Good luck to the MSAD 54 school board on the path forward to a real mascot that dishonors no one.

Adelle Belanger On The Racist Backlash After Skowhegan Mascot Public Forum

Screenshot from Somerset Community TV 11 video of Jan. 8 forum

With permission from the author, today I share Adelle Belanger's report back on the racist backlash she experienced and witnessed following her testimony at the January 8 public forum on the Skowhegan Area High School "Indian" mascot. Belanger is a senior at SAHS.

Full video of the forum, including her remarks which begin at the 8:52 mark, may be seen here on YouTube. Thanks to Somerset Community television 11 for their coverage.

Today, my Indigenous classmate was called a c*nt for sharing her opinion on HER school's mascot.

Today, I read racist comments first hand, and called out people who insisted that I was a liberal troll.

Today, I saw white people claim to be Native to say they are not offended by the mascot.

Today, I saw people commenting that my friend who is a reporter should jump in a lake for reporting accurately on the public forum about the mascot.

Today, I saw people claim that two Natives I look up to and respect were ignorant pot stirrers and that they were the real racists.

Today, I saw some of the meanest comments I've ever seen. And trust me, I've seen some mean ones.

Today, I heard people say that all four of Maine's federally recognized tribes were oversensitive crybabies who had nothing better to focus on. All four of them.

Today, I gave people evidence they ignored.

Today, I explained myself over and over, just because I know it's the right thing to do, even if it will not change any minds.

Today, I saw people say that they didn't care how Natives feel about the mascot.

Today, I was so drained. I can not imagine what it must be like for people who can not get away from this. I have the option not to post. I have the option not to engage. The mascot affects my life very little. I am so saddened to think of the people who can't escape this. The Natives who have to explain themselves over and over. The people who get ridiculed for defending themselves and their culture.

For my friends that are still on the fence, I ask you to look at the type of people who are unwilling to change. If you don't support change, you are not honoring Native Americans.

Look at your heroes. What side would they be on? Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, the likes. Who would they support?

-- Adelle Belanger, class of 2019, Skowhegan Area High School

originally posted January 9, 2018

Skowhegan Field Hockey's Leah Savage: It's Past Time To Retire The Mascot

"Skowhegan goalie Leah Savage makes a save on a shot from Messalonskee forward Chloe Tilley, right, during a Class A North game. Staff photo by Michael G. Seamans"  Photo from Waterville Morning Sentinel

I am thrilled to share this statement by a member of my extended family. If you're from Skowhegan, Leah probably needs no introduction. If not, read on. Her statement will be read at tonight's public forum.

"Skowhegan's Leah Savage competes in the girls triple jump event at the Class A track and field state championships Saturday in Bath. Portland Press Herald photo by John Ewing"

My name is Leah Savage and I was a student athlete at Skowhegan Area High School. By the time I graduated in 2018, I had earned two state titles as the goalie for the field hockey team, multiple conference recognitions for both field hockey and track, three most valuable track athlete awards, and in my senior year was named female athlete of the year.
I now continue my athletic career at Adelphi University as the starting field hockey goalie. My point in sharing these accomplishments is not to boast of my high school glory, but to show that I was a successful member of the Skowhegan athletic community.
I hold a lot of respect and gratitude for the programs I was offered by the Skowhegan school system, however I attribute absolutely none of my success or pride to the Indian mascot this district so blindly holds on to. I choose to place my “pride” in the administrators, coaches, and supporters of Skowhegan.  In fact, the realization that so many members of this community insist on holding such prehistoric views makes me resent the programs that have brought me so far.  

I carefully chose the word “prehistoric” because we are in the 21st century. It is literally 2019 and here you all are fighting about whether or not we should keep as a mascot a name given to Native American people that, first of all, isn’t even geographically correct, and second of all, is offensive. I recognize the argument, “Why does this need to be changed now when it has always been the mascot?” or “This change has been voted against so many times already” but that is just the point. It has been so many years of throwing this to the side, and turning a blind eye to a group of people that has already been given the short end of the stick time and time again since the birth of this country.
It is important to understand this is not a new fight brought on by a bunch of liberals.
We are, as my former Enrichment Resources teacher would say, missing the bus when we could have been driving it.
To explain this to people who were not lucky enough to be taught by Mr. Ross, I mean that we are sitting behind behind and watching a movement that we could have led. Schools all over the United States have have been voting against Indian mascots for almost 50 years now. I know everyone has heard of Stanford University, but perhaps you aren’t aware that their mascot was an Indian until 1972 when it was changed to the Cardinals. This is far from a new fight.  

I do understand that many people here hold pride for our town's mascot, however,  I am afraid that this “pride” claimed by some of you in a Native American mascot has been horribly lost, and is now only in your side's imagination.
I cannot understand why actively offending an entire group is not enough to say that enough is enough.
Now I do know that there is a very large possibility I am incorrect in that statement. I am just an 18 year old kid, and I hope that you do prove me wrong. I hope that we can overlook our personal agendas and see the bigger picture. And with this pride that we hold for the Native American people we can learn and teach more about their history in this area, as well as the rest of the country. Because I will admit that I, like many of you, know far too little about Native Americans for someone who grew up in a town where we wore t shirts with pictures of them on the front.  

Let us make 2019 the year that we get on that bus. 

Thank you.

Maine's Long, Sad History Of Racism: Charlottesville, And Skowhegan

Source: KKK newspaper Maine Klansman Weekly, Dec. 6, 1923 shared by The Activist History Review

What do the fight to keep Skowhegan's team name "Indians" and the fight to keep the statue of a Confederate general in Charlottesville have in common? A lot, actually.

On the surface: claims about honor, heritage and "Pride" abound among those clinging to emblems of racism past.

On the underbelly: demeaning language, threats of violence (veiled and unveiled), and especially sexual violence aimed at non-white women.

Every white person in the USA probably has a racist Uncle Joe. A distinguishing feature of the civil war that produced Confederate generals was that it tore families and neighbors apart. The facebook comments I've shared here pitted someone I'm distantly related to by marriage plus the family member of a neighbor and close friend of mine against another neighbor's family member: Maulian Dana, Penboscot Tribal Ambassador.

Dana has drawn Skowhegan "Indian Pride" members Joe Dionne and Robert Graf's wrath by asking, politely, for the local high school to stop using an offensive Native nickname and imagery for sports.

Results of a poll that accompanied a "retire the name" op-ed in the Bangor Daily News last week

Here is how blogger Shay Stewart-Bouley described our state in a post about the outgoing of an openly racist governor and the incoming of Janet Mills, who says she wants to mend fences:

As a Black person living in Maine, the LePage years have been difficult; throw in the first two years under the Trump Administration and there are pockets of Maine that are downright hostile to Black bodies. Truthfully, there are parts of Maine that I would be hard-pressed to take my Black ass.

Would it surprise you to know that the Ku Klux Klan was once a major force in Maine politics?


While black men and boys were being lynched across the nation, the KKK in Maine was marching openly through the streets stirring up hatred at Catholics and labor union members. In such a predominately white state, the KKK had to pick a much bigger group to hate than blacks. Conveniently, French Canadian labor organizers fit the bill.

Source: Maine Memory Network

Investigative journalists have shown the KKK tend to be respected businessmen by day. Why do you think they need to wear hoods when they terrorize families by night?

Do oligarchs like mill owners actually care which religion or skin color their workers are? As long as they work for minimum wage without demanding more or organizing themselves, any color or religion will do.

"The Face of the Ruling Class" by George Grosz, Germany, 1923

When the discontented, chronically unemployed masses of Germany between world wars threatened the established order, the wealthy capitalists saw an opportunity: turn existing prejudice against Jewish people into a rallying cry to distract the poor. Get the downtrodden to think that Jews were the problem rather than the wealthy Protestant industrialists. Promise workers they could feed their own children if they looked the other way while the Jewish children were starved in ghettos before being marched off to death camps.

The current demagogue with bad hair in the White House didn't invent racism, but he did ride it to power. 

Economic desperation and humiliation fuel the emotions of struggling white people clinging to symbols of a time when they believed their skin color or religion alone made them better than others. The taxes theme will emerge again and again as people who work for a living face up to the inability to make ends meet at the end of each month. (What do you think the Yellow Vest uprisings in France are about?)

All working people are being strangled by the hold of the massively wealthy military-industrial complex. All are being sold the lie that more bombs and warships make us in any way safer.

Did you know the U.S. military has more operations going in Africa at this point than in the Middle East? 

The powers that be don't want you to know. The media conspire to keep you from knowing. They hope you'll get distracted by a local issue like retiring an offensive team name, or taking down a statue glorifying someone who used violence to defend slavery.

Anything to distract you from the fact that your teeth need work, but you can't afford to go to the dentist.

That's why there's so much emotion that often seems hard to fathom wrapped up in a high school team name. That's why you'll hear those resisting the inevitable change say things like "It's all we have and you're trying to take it away" in a desperate tone of voice and with tears in their eyes.

That's what they still say about the Confederate flag, too. Even in Maine.