Lewiston groups oppose event

LEWISTON – Several groups in Lewiston are planning their response to a white supremacist event slated for January.

The World Church of the Creator is the second white supremacist group to target the area since Mayor Larry Raymond asked Somalis in a letter last month to discourage friends and family from moving to the city. Raymond called on Somalis to exercise “discipline,” saying the city’s resources were being overtaxed.

About 1,000 Somalis have moved to the city of 36,000 from other U.S. cities in the last year and a half.

Matt Hale, the leader of the Illinois-based World Church of the Creator, said he plans to use the Jan. 11 event to speak about the “invasion” and how to achieve a “racially clean society.”

A coalition of 25 community groups is organizing a competing event to celebrate diversity the day of Hale’s speech. Details were still being worked out.

“We’ll have more than 2,000 people there. Perhaps all of Lewiston will turn out,” said Abdiaziz Ali, a Somali who works as a caseworker for the city.

A group from Lewiston-Auburn College is planning its own demonstration.

“All the negative stuff has brought people together with a common goal,” said Barry Rodrigue, assistant professor of humanities at Lewiston-Auburn College, which is a branch of the University of Southern Maine.

Catholic priests in the city are planning a response of their own, perhaps in the form of an open letter.

Last Sunday at Holy Family Church, the Rev. Andrew Dubois spoke about the white supremacist group in his sermon. He also spoke of Jesus’ call to welcome strangers and of how the Ku Klux Klan tried to intimidate the city’s French-Canadians in the 1920s by burning a cross.

“Where would this community be if we had allowed hate to win the day back then, and where will we be if we allow it to win the day today?” Dubois asked.

The city last week granted Hale’s group conditional permission to use the Lewiston Armory, citing its right to free expression.

Raymond issued another letter Friday that condemned extremist groups bent on spreading hate in the city.

“I encourage all Lewistonians to not give momentum to groups who promote hate and degradation of human life,” he wrote. “I urge you to respond to any hate group member in a peaceful manner and ignore them.”

Hale said he doubted that a groundswell of opposition is growing in the city.

“I don’t see this big resistance to our organization,” Hale said.