An article about an ice cream company where its products names have racial overtones.
It has nothing to do with Maine but thought is would be interesting for you to read.
Friday, September 23, 2005
Hate Groups in Maine: Yesterday and Now
This post was written with the help of Wikipedia.com
Most people are aware of the Church of the Creator group that came to Maine to protest the growing Somali population in Lewiston, Maine. This was a group that came from outside the state and made its presence known to the residents and the nation through the media. What many Mainers don't know is that there are racial hate groups that have resided in Maine or are residing here right now.
An historical example is the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK had one of the largest presences in Maine around the turn of the 1900's and into the 1920's. The main target of their hate wasn't black people who lived in Maine (although they were targeted). Their target was the huge Catholic population in northern Maine. Why? Because the KKK is a Protestant religious group.
It must be made clear that the members of the KKK in Maine at that time were not from the South but were Maine residents. Today, the KKK presence in Maine is gone and the power that the KKK once had in general has all but evaporated. They still exist, but mostly on the web and in small groups in the South. Today, hate groups in Maine are mostly underground, their presence known to only but those who want to join and those who seek them out.
As part the work challenging hate groups, the Southern Poverty Law Center maintains a listing of known hate groups in every state. In 2004, Maine was said to have two hate groups: the National Socialist Movement and the Creativity Movement (formerly the Church of the Creator).
The National Socialist Movement was created by Colin Jordan on Adolf Hitler’s birthday in 1962 in the United Kingdom as an offshoot of the British Nation Party. Jordan got the inspiration from a letter that he received from George Lincoln Rockwell, the created of the American Nazi Party. The American Nazi Party was founded along the lines of the National Socialism that was the foundation of the Nazi regime in the Third Reich Germany.
An historical example is the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK had one of the largest presences in Maine around the turn of the 1900's and into the 1920's. The main target of their hate wasn't black people who lived in Maine (although they were targeted). Their target was the huge Catholic population in northern Maine. Why? Because the KKK is a Protestant religious group.
It must be made clear that the members of the KKK in Maine at that time were not from the South but were Maine residents. Today, the KKK presence in Maine is gone and the power that the KKK once had in general has all but evaporated. They still exist, but mostly on the web and in small groups in the South. Today, hate groups in Maine are mostly underground, their presence known to only but those who want to join and those who seek them out.
As part the work challenging hate groups, the Southern Poverty Law Center maintains a listing of known hate groups in every state. In 2004, Maine was said to have two hate groups: the National Socialist Movement and the Creativity Movement (formerly the Church of the Creator).
The National Socialist Movement was created by Colin Jordan on Adolf Hitler’s birthday in 1962 in the United Kingdom as an offshoot of the British Nation Party. Jordan got the inspiration from a letter that he received from George Lincoln Rockwell, the created of the American Nazi Party. The American Nazi Party was founded along the lines of the National Socialism that was the foundation of the Nazi regime in the Third Reich Germany.
After Rockwell was assassinated in 1967, the group was renamed the National Social White People’s Party (NSWPP). Today, the NSWPP is but a memory and the National Socialist Movement, which deifies Rockwell, is part of the cyber community. One interesting piece of the National Socialist Movement website is the application you can download and fill out so you can become a member.
The Maine chapter of the National Socialist Movement could be found at one time on the web. Now, the website is down or has been renamed. Whether a group actually exists in Maine, separate from the website, is not known.
(Here’s an interesting piece of trivia. Rockwell went to a co-ed private school in Lewiston, Maine called Hebron Academy, which is still in existence today.)
The Creativity Movement (formerly the Church of the Creator) espouses a “white religion” called Creativity. It originally started out as the Church of the Creator in 1973, formed by Ben Klassen. In 1996 it became the World Church of the Creator. Due to copy right infringement litigation, their name changed again to Creativity Movement. The Creativity Movement leader at the time, Matt Hale, was found guilty of ordering the murder of a federal judge. Their official website is now down, but several websites have sprung up to spread the message of Creativity.
A Creativity group in Maine is said to be located on Matinicus Island. Matinicus is located 22 miles of the coast of Maine and is the farthest island from the Maine coast. That’s right. The only know Creativity group in Maine is located on an island. Good. I hope they stay there.
The Maine chapter of the National Socialist Movement could be found at one time on the web. Now, the website is down or has been renamed. Whether a group actually exists in Maine, separate from the website, is not known.
(Here’s an interesting piece of trivia. Rockwell went to a co-ed private school in Lewiston, Maine called Hebron Academy, which is still in existence today.)
The Creativity Movement (formerly the Church of the Creator) espouses a “white religion” called Creativity. It originally started out as the Church of the Creator in 1973, formed by Ben Klassen. In 1996 it became the World Church of the Creator. Due to copy right infringement litigation, their name changed again to Creativity Movement. The Creativity Movement leader at the time, Matt Hale, was found guilty of ordering the murder of a federal judge. Their official website is now down, but several websites have sprung up to spread the message of Creativity.
A Creativity group in Maine is said to be located on Matinicus Island. Matinicus is located 22 miles of the coast of Maine and is the farthest island from the Maine coast. That’s right. The only know Creativity group in Maine is located on an island. Good. I hope they stay there.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Diversity Still Lacking in Seacoast School (click here)
By Ryan Carter
currents@seacoastonline.com
The Seacoast Online
currents@seacoastonline.com
The Seacoast Online
EXETER - Phillips Exeter Academy graduated its first African-American student in 1867, according to Famebridge Witherspoon, associate director of communications for the school.
But despite efforts from Phillips Exeter Academy administrators, a lack of diversity is still causing problems for minority students, and the school’s problems reflect a greater Seacoast issue, according to a chaplain at the school.
Read more...click above.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
The Way Life Should Be: Looking At Maines Tourism Motto
Maine.
Just the name conjures up the view of Pine trees hugging the rocky Atlantic coast. Rugged individualism and a can do attitude. The thrill of hunting deer and moose in the fall. Sailing, hiking, camping; not to mention the low violent crime rate and decent standard of living.
It is this stereotyped, and commercialized, way of life that is marketed by the Maine Tourism Bureau as a way to get people to play and live in the state. But what they are not telling you is that all of these great pastimes are very racialized, meaning that white people are the ones who gravitate to the marketing. This doesn't mean that people of other colors don't come to Maine to have a vacation, it just that the overwhelming majority of people who do are white.
Think about it for a moment. When you live in a state that is 96% white, wouldn't your marketing campaign reflect what white people have done in this state of decades. How would the recreational opportunities here be different if the population was made up of most black people, or hispanics? There are many who would say that if this was the case, then Maine would stop being "Vacationland". I don't think so.
Is this consciouos racism on the of the state? No. Is the marketing tag line racist? Yes. I think they are unaware of the grandiose racialized claim that they are making when they say that the way people live in the State of Maine is the way eveyone should be living.
What about the white people who come to live in Maine who are here because this is a nice place to raise a family? That's just code for, "we want to live in an area were minorities are not the present". Sure enough, with a 96% white population, you are certain to live next door to someone of the same skin color as you if you are white.
What if more people of other colors came to Maine to live? Would we be seeing "white flight", where white people move out of their homes because their neighbor just happens to be black, which means to them that the area is more dangerous for their kids, because of flying bullets from a Glock? Probably. Personally, I would be more afraid of my child being hit by a bullet from a hunting rifle during deer killing season that a bullet from some "gang" inspired "drive-by".
Just the name conjures up the view of Pine trees hugging the rocky Atlantic coast. Rugged individualism and a can do attitude. The thrill of hunting deer and moose in the fall. Sailing, hiking, camping; not to mention the low violent crime rate and decent standard of living.
It is this stereotyped, and commercialized, way of life that is marketed by the Maine Tourism Bureau as a way to get people to play and live in the state. But what they are not telling you is that all of these great pastimes are very racialized, meaning that white people are the ones who gravitate to the marketing. This doesn't mean that people of other colors don't come to Maine to have a vacation, it just that the overwhelming majority of people who do are white.
Think about it for a moment. When you live in a state that is 96% white, wouldn't your marketing campaign reflect what white people have done in this state of decades. How would the recreational opportunities here be different if the population was made up of most black people, or hispanics? There are many who would say that if this was the case, then Maine would stop being "Vacationland". I don't think so.
Is this consciouos racism on the of the state? No. Is the marketing tag line racist? Yes. I think they are unaware of the grandiose racialized claim that they are making when they say that the way people live in the State of Maine is the way eveyone should be living.
What about the white people who come to live in Maine who are here because this is a nice place to raise a family? That's just code for, "we want to live in an area were minorities are not the present". Sure enough, with a 96% white population, you are certain to live next door to someone of the same skin color as you if you are white.
What if more people of other colors came to Maine to live? Would we be seeing "white flight", where white people move out of their homes because their neighbor just happens to be black, which means to them that the area is more dangerous for their kids, because of flying bullets from a Glock? Probably. Personally, I would be more afraid of my child being hit by a bullet from a hunting rifle during deer killing season that a bullet from some "gang" inspired "drive-by".
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
The Case Of Squawpoint Road: Update
An update on my protest about the use of the word "squaw" in a name for a road.
After I had received the letter from the town saying that it was okay for the road to named as it was, I took a drive by the road a couple of months later and saw that the sign was taken down. In its place a sign with the name Squawpoint Road was nailed to a telephone pole to identify the road.
To date, the name of the road has not been officially changed, just the way it was identified.
After I had received the letter from the town saying that it was okay for the road to named as it was, I took a drive by the road a couple of months later and saw that the sign was taken down. In its place a sign with the name Squawpoint Road was nailed to a telephone pole to identify the road.
To date, the name of the road has not been officially changed, just the way it was identified.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)