Tolerance triumphs as racists attract few (and the "victims" don't show up either)

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."

"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.

"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.

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.

It was agreed that the basic structure of NEFAC would consist of a membership based on active collectives, affinity groups and individuals from the region who identify with the communist tradition within anarchism. The activity of the federation will be organized around three poles: study and theoretical development; anarchist agitation and propaganda; and intervention within the class struggle.

Overall, the federation is not intended to act as a mass organization in itself, but rather as a militant anarchist minority working within existing social movements and popular struggles in an effort to radicalize them, while simultaneously furthering a specifically communist perspective within the general anarchist movement.

http://flag.blackened.net/nefac/introduction.html

I was going to stand at the turnpike off ramp with a sign I made saying: "Neo Nazi's GO HOME, Useful Idiots GO HOME" but I got called into work.

It's sad that Lewiston can't have an open discourse of what's happening and let reasonable people handle it that live there.

"Revolutionary communists of the Progressive Labor Party certainly do not deny that working-class leaders of the past made mistakes. Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao and many lesser-known leaders—all were limited by a lack of knowledge, which was inevitable because what they were trying was so new. They also made some mistakes which may not have been inevitable. But we call them mistakes rather than anti-worker actions because, in considering the entire contribution of those leaders, we find that they did serve the working people."

Nice use of euphemism.

I think it is time for Mainers to take action. It is time we put our money where our mouth is. We need to start screaming about welfare reform, NOW. Inundate our "leaders" with emails, letters, or even phone calls. Protests. Demonstrations. Petitions. We need to get us some media coverage. I think a good start would be to begin demanding a residency requirement for welfare--city and state funded welfare.

I doubt we would get what we wanted--but if an overwhelming majority of Mainers got together and did this, we may be surprised by what happens. And, once the bennies are gone, the Somalis will be too.

So how do we start?

From their "Constitution:"

ii. Individual. In general, individuals join member groups of the Federation

The anarchists discourage individual participation.

Thanks ozone1, for some of the funniest reading material I've seen in a long time!

"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. "

The Portland Press Herald is of such poor journalistic integrity. The above statement is a classic example of how they distort and twist the truth to serve their own agenda.

The Mayor had nothing to do with the White Supremacists coming to Lewiston. The White Supremacists had infiltrated the Lewiston Sun Journal's online discussion forum at least a month before the Mayor issued his plea for help from the Somalis. I was there. People who participated in the forum simply ignored the Supremacists or told them to go away.

I suspect these groups were attracted by the National News Reports, such as the one in the Boston Globe which declared the sheer size of the Somali migration to Lewiston to be unprecedented in American history. (i.e.--they attracted attention to themselves!)

Such shoddy jounralism is one good reason not to buy that paper(Bill Nemitz is the other).
risa

>>Why didn’t Lewiston concentrate on their own homeless first!<<

Because the somali migration was imposed upon Lewiston. The city itself had no choice in the matter.

A woman I know who worked at Catholic Charities told me that the Catholic and Lutheran Charities were responsible for getting the Somalis to Lewiston. (with the support of Baldacci who was out extracting funds for the Somalis from area businesses all summer)

She said a lot of tension existed among workers within the Catholic Charity agency because some people did not support the idea of imposing the costs of such a huge migration onto the backs of the citizens of Lewiston, particulalry since we are looking at 20 to 30 years before the Somalis can get on their feet. i.e. a long term commitment.

If you look at how many Somalis are on welfare after 15 to 20 years living in Denmark and Canada --you'll see it's 90% of the population. (they were, after all, nomadic people; nothing wrong with that; society simply doesn't have enough unskilled work for them anymore.)

I am certain other people were involved--and I haven't yet figured out who was in whose pocket--but I hope to find out.
Risa

"And the Chief did say "If we run out of room in Lewiston, we WILL spread out! To Bangor and Portland. We ARE here to STAY." A scary statement??? "

And this from a www.Candada.com
National News
Tuesday » January 14 » 2003

"We've heard rumours that Somali elders have been making inquiries in other cities like Waterville and Augusta," says Victoria Scott. "But we've also heard that more people will be arriving from out of state. What do you do? You wait and see.""

When you consider that Maine's former Attorney General, Jim Tierney, has been stumping around the country since just before the Somali migration into Lewiston, proclaiming "Maine Needs to Change Color," one wonders what he has to do with all of this. He's given repeated lectures on this topic. He literally believes we need to fill up the state with immigrants the likes of the Somalis, and he has captive audiences, because he teaches.
risa

"...15 to 20 years living in Denmark and Canada --you'll see it's 90% of the population. (they were, after all, nomadic people..."

Welfare, the new pastures. And after this pastures is all used up, despoiled, the well polluted...they'll move on.

The real fuel for this is the social workers, private and government. They do no heavy lifting, warm office, lots of copier time and not a bad retirement. .

>>They're already here in Bangor.<<

Oh,no. I have been reading about St. Paul Minnesota, where 60,000 of this group of people have migrated; crime stats are way up, particularly rape and theft; they had been funneling tens of thousands of welfare dollars back to Somalia, until the feds shut them down; they are constantly at war with local police; they have engaged in high-school stabbings, and even initiated a riot when they cheered the terorists on 9/11; they have screamed racism at every turn, have called for the resignation of the local police chief, and have called in the justice department because of the racist bigoted whites just like in Lewiston.

Do you think there's any chance of mounting an organized effort to stem the further immigration of these people into the state? Perhaps welfare reform?
risa

Do you think there's any chance of mounting an organized effort to stem the further immigration of these people into the state? Perhaps welfare reform?

I can only think of two alternatives, one is armed revolution and the other would get me banned from Free Republic.

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