Maine's Night Life: How Race Is Played Out

If you've lived in Maine for any period of time, you will know that Maine's night life is not the most diverse or numerous. With this said, people find time to unwind after work and on the weekends. If we look closer though, we will see that who goes to what establishment says a lot about what race they are.

If you don't believe me, take a look at bars. Most of the people who frequent them are white (like I've said before, this state is mostly white). The decore, the music, and what is served from the taps, are considered culturely white. If there is anything that comes into this setting that isn't "white", then the regular patrons will complain. You've heard the phrases: "This is our space!" and "Why does that music have to be played here?" What about when people who are not white who come to a mostly, or all, white establishment? Again, you've heard it: "Why are you here?" and "This is not a place for people like you."

For white people who say these things, they believe that they are being infringed upon by a group of people who don't look like them or have the same tastes as them. The extreme would be that they don't like them. This is not to say that all the patrons of bars and pubs are like this but you get the feeling that many, if not the majority, feel this way.

What does it mean when another person from another race comes into an establishment that is made up of white people? It means that they want something to drink. It would also be true to say that many people other than white would like to find someplace that caters to their cultural identity when it comes to food and spirits. In Maine, that is not possible unless that person was to start their own business but many people are not interested in going that far.

Another place where race is played out is the dance club. The owners need to attract people to come in and dance (actually, they want people to come in and buy alcohol, and dance). The owners, most of them white, use what is considered "cool" and "hip" to get the young people through the doors. If you were to go into a dance club, you notice that the music that is playing is mostly hip-hop, a "black" genre of music. Many of them play techno, a "white" genre of music also. When one genre of music is being played, the other group complains. "Why are you playing that music? We didn't come to listen to that!"

Again, everyone thinks that this is their space, when it is the owners space and they want to make a profit. For them, they have to use what they think is commercially viable. In the minds of most white people, what is considered "black" is considered "cool" and they have no qualms about using the images and music to make a buck.

Night life is just not about music and drink. It also comes into play when we meet each other. Take the way racialized people greet and introduce each other. White people ask what you do for a job. When black and hispanic people introduce themselves, they are not concerned with what job you do. For blacks and hispanics meeting white people, this can be frustrating because they are more concerned with meeting you. There profession or job is not a status symbol as it is for most white people. This is not to say that the way white people communiticate is wrong. It's not. I would say to white people that you don't have to be preoccupied with what you do for a living and just have a nice time meeting people.

How we entertain ourselves is racialized but most of the time we don't know it. Unless a person is trying to enter a private club, people should let people who don't look like them in and enjoy their company. That person, regardless of their race, wants to be there.

Can Ice Cream Be Racist? You Judge. (click here)

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.

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.

(Read a letter by Malcolm X to Rockwell)

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.

Diversity Still Lacking in Seacoast School (click here)

By Ryan Carter
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.

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".

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.

The Letter: An American Town and the Somali Invasion (click here)

The Letter: An American Town and the Somali Invasion will premiere Friday, April 29 at the Eveningstar Cinema, with showtimes at 3:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m., and 9:00 p.m. through Thursday, May 5. Ziad Hamzeh will discuss his film after Saturday's performance. For ticket information, call 729-6796.

UMaine Celebrates Black History Month

(It's a little late, I know, but it's still important)

By Brett Zeigler
The Maine Campus
Thursday, February 13, 2003

Black history may not be a subject that weighs heavily on the minds of students at UMaine, and understandably so. With so little diversity in Maine, race is rarely an issue in the day to day lives of students. That is exactly why February is black history month. Black history month is a chance for people to see an aspect of American history often ignored and a chance for non blacks to get a better view of the black community.

"In Maine especially there are so few interactions with African-Americans, there's a tendency to look at blacks through the lens of the media which gives a sensational view of blacks," UMaine Sociology Prof. Marwin Spiller said. "Black history month gives a more diverse view of the black experience."

Some people argue that designating a month for black history does more to separate it from mainstream history, but Spiller said that, for now at least, it is a necessity.

"It is necessary to recognize achievements but only until black history is fully integrated into the school's curriculum," he said.

Spiller says black history month is not just a time for people to learn about the achievements of African-Americans, but also a time of introspection for the black community itself.

"Black history month is also a time to reflect on the status of black America today, and to look at the current status you have to look at the history, achievements and set backs coming from within the community. The black community should be critical of itself all the time but particularly during black history month."

Spiller uses the music community as one example.

"We should celebrate hip hop culture, but say to the artists 'what is this music you're putting out?," Spiller said, citing that some music is detrimental to black culture in that it promotes themes like violence and misogyny.

Spiller noted that, compared to other places, black history month in Maine "sort of just goes by," and although not widely recognized on campus the black student union and the office of multi-cultural student affairs are planning a few activities in recognition of black history month. On Wednesday Spiller took part in a panel discussion on the state of black males in America. There also will be a series of debates during throughout the month and the annual black history month dinner/celebration on the 21st.

In addition to events during black history month the University of Maine offers black studies courses year round. There is some doubt though as to weather these courses will continue to be offered next semester due to a lack of staff. Spiller, however, is not worried.

"The turnout has been really good," he said, "you know there's a lot of interest. I anticipate black studies will be around for a while."

Tim Wise: Activist, Author and White (click here)

Tim Wise, the anti-racist author and acivist, came to the University of Maine campus to speak. With the credentials of being one of the people who helped to bring down the campaign of the white racist David Duke, his talk let me see for myself a white person with the strength and knowledge to talk about racism from the perspective a white person.

The main point of his remarks is that white culture is the dominant racial culture in the United States. It was this culture that created the racist climate in this country and it is this climate that can change it. Many whites think that it isn't their responsibility to change the racist climate of the counrty. That someones elses job, meaning black, brown, yellow and red people are the ones that have to do it. By saying this, white people can let themselves off the hook and not deal with this county racist legacy, one that affects everyone, including white people.

His book, White Like Me, takes us into his life as a white man growing up in the last quarter of the 20th century, looking at himself and society through the eyes of person who grew up in a country that gave him priviliges and advantages that were never asked for. Without apology, he explains why it is so hard for white people to look at and acknowledge race, especially when they grow up thinking that they are not a race. This is the experience of every white person who starts down this road; opening their eyes to the reality that is race and how race affects them and everyone around them.

If you haven't heard him speak or read any of his books, I suggest that you do.

The Case Of Squawpoint Road

In a town that I drive through sometimes is a road named "Squawpoint Road". Under Maine law, this word is illegal to use in the State of Maine for the purposes of identification. This law was amended by efforts of the Passamaqouddy tribe, one of four tribes in Maine, who introduced legislation in the Maine Legislature.

Under the law, anyone can file a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission if they find one of these offensive words used in the state. I decided to send a letter to the town to let them know about the law and illegal name. This is the letter that I sent:

Dear Selectman ***:

I am writing to inform you that the town of *** is in violation of having an offensive name assigned to a road. The road in question is named “Squawpoint Road”, off the *** Road, in ***, Maine.

As defined by Maine Revised Statues, Title 1, Chapter 27, Section 1101, subsection 1A, an “offensive name” is, “the designation of… "squaw" as a separate word or as part of a word.” Subsection 2 of the above law defines “place” as, “any natural geographic feature or any street, alley or other road within the jurisdiction of the State, or any political subdivision of the State.”

As indicated by the laws above, the road in question, “Squawpoint Road”, is offensive and is within the political subdivision that constitutes the municipality of ***, which is within the jurisdiction of the State of Maine.

Originally, the word "squaw" meant a "woman" or "female" in the Algonquin language that was spoken in the Northeast and parts of the Midwest. It is still spoken to this day. Over time, European settlers corrupted the word to mean a Native women who is not sophisticated or someone ones property. This misunderstanding was from the lack of knowledge of the language on the European settlers part.

The reason why I am doing this is that Native-Americans have had their lives dictated to them by White culture and this was one way of determining who they want to be and how they want to live. This was the same reason that the word "nigger" was declared offensive. This by no means takes the sting out of the words when they are used in a derogatory way. It just makes it harder to use them as public place names.

For now, I have decided not to file a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission. This does not mean that I won't file a complaint. It just depends on what will be done on their part.

I sent the initial letter on March 23 of this year and just received a responce from the town. I will be posting their responce in an upcoming post in a couple of days.

Something Interesting: Top 10 Whitest Law Schools (click here)

I am always amazed at what I find on the internet. I came across this website that lists the top 10 whitest schools in the United States. It ranks the Univeristy of Maine Law School, in Portland, Maine, as the second whitest in the nation.

Knowing that people of color, other than white, are underrepresentated at the USM Law School, in an article written in Maine Today, the law school is making attempts to correst this by reaching to other communities in the Portland area where the school is located.

Reading the discussion remarks at the end of the website is also interesting. Although they never say it explicitly, in a number of the discussion remarks (2 and 5), Maine is somewhat an anomoly because of it's high white population.

Making Racism In Maine A Thing Of The Past

Maine is unique in that it is the "whitest" state in the nation. Most people in Maine will be born, live, and die, without seeing another person of color, except on T.V. and on the movie screen. It is from here that they will "learn" who these people are, when all they are learning are the stereotypes that get reproduced and never challenged. The racial make-up, and biased media, affects how residents of this state see, and interact with, themselves and others of different races. Even though this is a reality for most of the "white" population in Maine, I believe Maine can be an example of where healthy racial relationships can be the norm and racism be challenged and eliminated.

For this to happen, Maine's "white" population will need to embrace the task of looking at race and racism head on, without fear or reservation. Most white people are afraid to talk about race in any way for fear of not knowing what to say, or being seen as a bigot when they do say something. I can only encourage the white residents of Maine to look at how "white-American culture" has influenced your lives and see how it perpetuates racism in our daily lives without us ever questioning it.

For racism to truly end, it has to be white people to stand up and challenge it at every level within our society. All other people of color: black, red, brown, and yellow, have done all they can to stop racism. They have done a lot but they can go no further. That is because white people are still holding the power when it comes to keeping racism alive in the United States. Therefore, it is white people who are the only ones that can stop it.

As a white person who was born, raised, and still lives in Maine, I am challenging the socially prescribed racism I was taught in my everyday life, and I will be doing this for the rest of my life. I can see apprehension and frustrations on the faces of many Mainers when they interact with people of other colors. It doesn't have to be this way. For it to change, it will take a conscious choice of looking deep down inside within ourselves and face the ugliness that is our racist past, and what this past has done to us and to other races in our country.

It won't be easy. I'm not going to lie to you. I want you to go into this with your eyes open, wanting to do this, learning from the experience, and making it part of your life. I would like to live a life where I can look back upon it on my finals days and know that this State of Maine did all it could to making racism a relic of the past.

This is all I, and other people of color, are asking us to do and we need to do it.