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Posted on 01/13/2003 7:45:14 AM PST by ozone1
Tolerance triumphs as racists attract few
By KELLEY BOUCHARD, GREGORY D. KESICH and JOSIE HUANG, Staff Writers
LEWISTON - Thousands of voices supporting diversity drowned out the small contingent of racists who came here Saturday to protest Maine's growing Somali population.
Shouting down intolerance and singing songs of solidarity, more than 4,500 people converged at the Bates College Merrill Gymnasium for the pro-diversity Many & One rally, organized to counter a neo-Nazi meeting held at the same time on the outskirts of the city.
In striking contrast, 32 supporters of the racist World Church of the Creator listened to a few mostly anti-Semitic lectures in a city-owned building just off Exit 13 on the Maine Turnpike. Jon Fox, head of the Illinois chapter of the group, spoke in place of the group's leader, Matthew Hale, who was arrested last week on charges of soliciting the murder of a federal judge. Hale planned to give a speech titled "The Invasion of Maine by Somalis and How We Can End It."
Despite temperatures in the low 20s, 450 anti-racism protesters and racist sympathizers gathered outside the racist meeting. The dull roar of shouting seeped through the walls of the meeting hall.
About 230 state, local and federal police contolled crowds at both events, which resulted in only one arrest. Metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs were used at both sites. Streets were blocked and parking was prohibited in many areas. Picket signs, cameras, water bottles, gym bags and any items that could be used as weapons were banned.
The pro-diversity rally triumphed in volume, attendance and number of speakers. More than 20 people took to the podium at the 2 1/2-hour event, which had an overflow crowd. Maine's most prominent civil rights leaders and top politicos were there, including the congressional delegation and newly inaugurated Gov. John Baldacci.
"We come together as one in Maine when it comes to neighborliness, when it comes to tolerance, when it comes to respect for one another," Baldacci said. "This is not a haven for any hate group."
Thousands of people wore "Where's the mayor?" stickers, calling attention to the absence of Mayor Laurier Raymond, who is vacationing in Florida.
Hale set his sights on the whitest state in the nation in November, after Raymond asked Somalis to stop moving to this mostly Franco-American, Roman Catholic city of 36,000. Raymond said the city was "maxed-out financially, physically and emotionally."
More than 1,100 Somalis have moved to Lewiston from other U.S. cities since February 2001. They were attracted by cheaper housing, lower crime and more accessible public services. They are Muslims who escaped clan warfare that has devastated their East African country.
At the pro-diversity rally, one of the nation's most prominent Somali leaders, Omar Jamal, head of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in Minneapolis, noted the absence of the mayor and members of the city council. He also called for Raymond's resignation, which the Lewiston chapter of the Somali justice group repeated at a news conference after the rally.
"The mayor is in Florida playing golf today and his city is on fire," Jamal said. "I challenge you to do the right thing."
Jamal pointed out that most Somali residents were also missing from the rally.
"We have handfuls of immigrants who are very fearful," he said. "Nobody is supposed to be fearful here."
The rally was organized by a coalition of 200 community leaders to oppose hatred and support the safety of all Lewiston residents.
"We've all come together to say whether you're gay or straight or whether you have this ability or disability, either you're this color, or that color or this relgion or that, we say this will be our community," said Mark Schlotterbeck, leader of the Many & One Coalition. The group organized the rally and quarter-mile procession to the Lewiston Memorial Armory that immediately followed.
Former Lewiston Mayor John Jenkins, the state's first African-American mayor and state senator, was master of ceremonies.
"This is a defining moment in history," said Jenkins, as people clapped and pumped their fists in the air.
Six children of different faiths quietly offered prayers, accompanied by a flutist from the Micmac tribe. Speaker after speaker stressed the importance of accepting people of all backgrounds.
"We will strive to ensure that all citizens regardless of race and ethnicity are guaranteed their God-given right," said Winston McGill, president of the Portland chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Some speakers said that while white supremacists from out of town were a threat, Maine people also had to make sure to stamp out hate. The Rev. Bill Gordon, an openly gay pastor of Northern Lights Metropolitan Community Church in Vassalboro, got a standing ovation saying how discrimination of all kinds must stop.
"Discrimination and hatred are not something that has been imported from outside of this city and state and brought to us," Gordon said.
State Attorney General G. Steven Rowe targeted his criticism directly at the white supremacists.
"I have a message for these hate-mongers," he said. "You are wasting your time here."
The rally also included a reading of a letter from legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, who fought one of his early fights in Lewiston in 1965.
"Somali immigrants, like any Americans, have the unalienable right to live anywhere in the United States that they choose," Ali wrote. "Moreover, they have the responsibility to raise their children in cities and villages that are clean and safe."
Donna Rowe, a child-care worker from Auburn, said she was pleasantly surprised by the turnout for the rally.
"I thought people were more apathetic," said Rowe, 49, who came with her 14-year-old daughter and husband Tom, who performed at the rally. "It says that people care more about their neighbors than you'd think."
Robert Rovener, a 41-year-old physician from Cumberland, came with his wife and their two pre-school age sons.
"We thought it would be good for our children to be exposed to this and to see what's it like for people to support human rights and equality," he said.
After the rally, thousands of participants marched a couple blocks from the auditorium to the Lewiston Armory. Spilling into the road, the group sang songs and signed the petitions calling for Raymond's resignation before the bitter cold caused the crowd to disperse.
Several miles away, in a city-owned building next to the Maine Army National Guard Armory, the neo-Nazi meeting at the center of the day's events was small and strangely subdued. Twenty-seven men and five women sat in metal folding chairs, listening attentively to three speakers lecture on the white race, which the speakers claimed is under attack.
About 20 of the spectators came with Jon Fox, delivered by Lewiston police in two vans that picked up the group members at Maine Turnpike Exit 12 in Auburn. The rest were supporters or observers who came on their own. A handful said they were from Maine, with the bulk of the group coming from other New England states.
Police set up 50 folding chairs, tied together in groups of five, so they could not be used as weapons. They also taped heavy cardboard over all of the room's windows, to protect the people inside from broken glass in case objects were thrown at the windows. The meeting went on uninterrupted, as protesters shouted outside.
Several speakers commented on the absence of Lewiston's mayor. "I'd like to thank Mayor Larry Raymond," said Rob Freeman, of Old Lyme, Conn. " I know he says he has two black grandchildren and says that he's not a racist, but that's fine. What he did challenged these people, and I hope he enjoys Florida."
The speakers criticized African immigrants, who they say receive unfair benefits from the government.
"These people are the enemy - make no mistake," said David Stearns of Portland, who is the church's Maine contact. "If they get a chance they will probably slit your throat. . . . These people are not bringing anything good into our community."
While the influx of Somali immigrants sparked the racist group's interests in Maine, the speakers said little about them Saturday. Far more time was spent discussing an international Jewish committee, which the speakers blamed for the rise of Christianity, all wars including World War I and World War II, and the birth of the Soviet Union.
Stearns also blamed Jews for tensions over Somali immigration.
"Bringing in the Somali immigrants was a Jewish plan of divide and conquer," he said. "That's why we are in here and there are demonstrators out there."
Fox said the World Church of the Creator is not based on hatred. "I don't teach my children to hate someone else because of their color, but to love themselves and their race," Fox said.
Fox outlined the tenets of his church, which he said is not based on worship of a deity. It is organized among four principals, which he said were "sound mind, sound body, sound society and sound environment."
The church encourages its members to live in small, single-race communities, and farm their own food. Fox said members are discouraged from abusing drugs, and even avoiding the use of prescription drugs, which he said "are handed out by Jewish doctors."
The racist meeting ended squarely at 3 p.m., when police interrupted Fox's speech and asked him to wind it up. Then the participants who came with Fox were spirited out of the room to a waiting van and were taken back to their cars without the counter- demonstrators' knowledge. Those who came to the meeting on their own waited inside the hall until the demonstration outside dispersed.
No direct effort was made to sign up members, but Stearns said the group now has a foothold in Maine.
"There is no stopping us, so don't bother trying," he said. "Do not get into my face and talk to me about diversity . . . we are not violent people until you get into our face."
Supporters, protesters and curious bystanders started gathering outside the racist meeting shortly after 10 a.m. By noon there were about 40 people, corraled behind concrete barriers along Goddard Road. Robert Hoyt, 30, of Portland, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct when he tried to block a racist supporter from attending the meeting.
Shortly after 1 p.m., as the meeting inside got under way, the crowd outside swelled to about 450 when a parade of anti-racism protesters marched down Goddard Road. Many carried signs and shouted "Death to Nazis." Some wore black hoods or scarves over their faces. Some banged on 5-gallon buckets as make-shift drums. A few took turns leading the crowd in shouting slogans over a portable loudspeaker.
"Hey, Nazis, you can't hide! We charge you with genocide!"
The protesters represented several groups, including the NorthEastern Federation of Anarcho-Communists and the Progressive Labor Party. Most came from outside Maine. Some suggested that the pro-diversity rally was tainted because officials such as Attorney General G. Steven Rowe participated.
"We will not allow the fascist movement to grow in the U.S.," shouted Cathy Wells of Boston, a member of the Progressive Labor Party, over the loudspeaker.
Anti-racism protesters circled the speakers and repeated their chants. Police in riot gear stood in a solemn line along the armory building and across Goddard Road. Firefighters positioned themselves on a ladder truck, ready to turn a water hose on the crowd if a riot broke out.
It never did. Beneath the constant chanting and occasional shouts, heated but controlled conversations occurred spontaneously between people who sympathized with the World Church of the Creator and those who opposed the group.
Vanessa Williams, 25, of Lewiston told a handful of protesters that she and her friends have had several confrontations with Somalis. She said she's worried about Lewiston's future and the favoritism she feels Somalis are receiving as newcomers to Lewiston.
"Do you really want to dedicate your life to hate?" Vanessa Torres, 21, of Portland, asked Williams.
Williams defended her position and questioned the intentions of the anti-racism protesters. "It's OK to say death to certain people, but if we have a problem with the Somalis moving here, we're at fault," Williams said. "I thought these (anti-racism) people were here against hate, but that's all they're about."
Marc Cyr, 44, of Auburn observed from the sidelines, arms folded. When one protester confronted him about his views, Cyr said his main concern with Somalis coming to Lewiston was the financial impact to the community. Many Somalis have received various kinds of public assistance since arriving in Lewiston.
"When my grandparents came here, they worked. They didn't ask for handouts," Cyr said of his French-Canadian ancestors. The anti-racist protester, who declined to give his name, disputed Cyr's claim that Somalis came to Lewiston to take advantage of the welfare system.
Police informed the protesters when the racist meeting ended and asked them to disburse. Some protesters demanded proof that the neo-Nazis were gone. One man went with police to check the meeting room. He returned and verified that only a few reporters and photographers remained.
As the crowd walked away, a few were still banging on their buckets.
What if you held a rally and the "victims" didn't show up?
Welcome to Maine, the Welfare Industry and the Useful idiots showed up (by the thousands and few lived in the area) to this but guess who didn't attend?
The local somali's.
Maybe they saw through this and saw what it was about.
Charming.
I wonder how many new members the World Church of the Creator was able to recuit with their publicity stunt.
From Neal's website....
LET’S PUT THIS STORY IN PERSPECTIVE. CNN SURE DIDN’T
We read this past weekend of demonstrations in Lewiston, Maine in support of Somalians. The reports focused on white racists (yes, real actual racists) who were protesting in Lewiston and the counter-demonstrators who opposed them.
OK, fine. When white-supremacist types pop out of their holes the media should take note. It would be nice, though, if the media would tell the entire story. Don’t let the story of Lewiston get lost in reports of demonstrators and counter-demonstrators.
Here, in a nutshell, is what has befallen Lewiston, Maine.
The city fathers of Lewiston decide to set up a nice little forced-charity program for their community of about 35,000 people. When a Lewiston resident falls on hard times the community will use its police (taxing) powers to force other residents to come to his aid.
A Somali Muslim visits Lewiston from nearby Portland and discovers that goodies await those in “need”!!
Word is sent through the Somali pipeline to the large Somali Muslim community in Atlanta, Georgia. Pack your bags and head to Lewiston! In Lewiston you can get checks for housing and checks for food! And all you have to do is just (a) move in; and (b) claim your check!
An Atlanta radio station with programming aimed at the Somali community broadcasts the alert! That same radio program then urges Somalis not to spread out their departures for Lewiston so as not to alarm the Lewiston residents or politicians.
Quicker than you can say “freebie” there are about 1,500 Somalis in Lewiston and the city budget is maxed-out. Residents are facing a tax increase just to take care of their new Somali neighbors.
The Mayor of Lewiston pleads with the Somali community to ease off on its migration and quest for Lewiston welfare benefits. Since the Mayor of Lewiston is white, and the Somali Muslims are black, political corrects dictates that the Mayor of Lewiston is a racist.
On the one hand I feel a bit sorry for the residents of Lewiston. They were, after all, just trying to show charity for their friends and neighbors when they set up their little New England-style welfare program. Now they have learned that using force to compel charity might now always work out the way you expected. Maybe Lewiston needs to find a community with even better forced welfare benefits and advertise that community on that Atlanta radio station
Hale & his group (Matt Hale, the Pontifex Maximus of the World Church of the Creator didn't show, being unavoidably detained after his arrest for solicitation to murder in Chicago last week) are good at creating chaos and blurring the issue, to put the spotlight on his group and its recruitment efforts. He's done it in any number of areas, notably York, PA last year and following the shooting spree of his chief leiutant, Benjamin Smith, in 1999. He thrives on the publicity, he thrives on the reaction, he thrives on the media attention. And he's just a pathetic little hate-filled man leading a bunch of losers.
Wonder how many of the people showed up for the cameras? And how many actually knew what they were protesting?
There used to be protests outside the Court House in Bangor all the time. When the news cameras packed up, so did the demonstrators.
The teacher, meanwhile, wins the Tolerance museum's "Courageous Teacher of the Year" award when word gets out about the kids. He's upset, so he goes to the award ceremony in drag and says all kinds of outrageous things--only to receive applause, which frustrates him further.
When I was a kid, the Klan would have periodic rallies in Rumford. A dozen or two Klansmen would show up, and be outnumbered 4 to 1 by reporters. Hilarious.
How can he dispute the fact about the Somali's and welfare? We have it in black and white where one Somali said that the weather in Maine sucked but the welfare program was GREAT! Don't these people read ANYTHING?!
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