Pro-diversity rally planned in Lewiston

LEWISTON – Sponsored by a group organized as the Many & One Coalition, a pro-diversity rally will be held at the Bates College gymnasium Saturday. The event aims to counter a rally planned by a white supremacist organization.

“Many people have come together to say this is and can be a community for all of us,” said Mark Schlotterbeck, head of the Many & One Coalition and member of Calvary United Methodist Church.

Since February 2001, more than 1,100 Somalis have moved to Lewiston, a mostly white city of 36,000.

The World Church of the Creator has said it expects 30 to 40 church members and sympathizers for its Jan. 11 rally.

White supremacists targeted Maine after Lewiston Mayor Larry Raymond sent a letter last fall asking Somali leaders to discourage friends and family from relocating to the city.