Complacency takes back seat in Lewiston

LEWISTON – Sometimes we need a little bit of controversy and a little bit of anger to remind us what is important. Sometimes we can’t really show our values unless we are forced to defend them. That’s what happened Saturday in Lewiston.

Thousands of people came out in freezing weather to make it clear that a few dozen people across town were wrong about race relations.

Ever since the World Church of the Creator, a white supremacist group, announced it would hold a rally in Lewiston to protest Somali immigration into the city, plenty of people have made it clear that they would not sit complacently and let a message of hate be preached without saying something back.

This was demonstrated in full force Saturday when so many people showed up for the Many and One rally at the Merrill Auditorium at Bates College, a diversity celebration across town from the heavily guarded World Church of the Creator meeting. An estimated 1,500 people were forced to gather outside the auditorium because it had reached capacity.

Standing under the sunlight of a freezing January afternoon, that crowd was maybe a little disappointed, but surely not disheartened.

Members of the crowd continued to congregate at the entrance, even when a representative of the Many and One coalition informed them that no more could be admitted.

The crowd started singing, “This Land is Our Land,” followed by “Amazing Grace.” A snowbank became a makeshift podium. Representatives from inside came out from time to time to give updates to the crowd, whose numbers didn’t seem to dwindle. A local representative of the Teamsters union offered to bring one of the group’s 18-wheelers around to the parking lot so that the truck’s public address system could be used to spread audio coverage of the event.

People then moved out into the parking lot of Merrill Auditorium, waiting for the promised trucks. Some people began dancing to battle the cold. A large African drum was being played by a group that encouraged the crowd to sing the phrase “One People, One Earth, One Heartbeat,” which it did. Like a mantra, it was sung over and over to the rhythm.

The singing and dancing continued in the cold among blacks, whites, Asians, Hispanics, Jews, American Indians, gays, lesbians and anybody else who had a voice. A man who had driven from New Hampshire that day only to be denied entrance to the diversity celebration said, “Look at this. Would we all be doing this if it wasn’t for those racists? They’ve caused people to come together.”

Then a local woman pointed out that the World Church of the Creator “has done exactly the opposite of what they meant to do. The community understands tolerance now better then ever.”

Josh Keefe is a senior at John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor.