NAACP: Maine needs more diversity

BANGOR – With memories still fresh of last week’s racist gathering and counterdemonstration in Lewiston and days before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, representatives of the NAACP said Friday that Maine is making progress in diversity, but still has a long way to go.

More than 4,000 people turned out in Lewiston for a rally held Jan. 11 to urge people to reject the racism, countering a meager gathering of hate groups gathered elsewhere in the city. About three dozen people attended that rally.

Although he said he’s proud to be a resident of Maine in the wake of the overwhelming support he saw at the rally, James Varner, president of the Greater Bangor Area NAACP, pointed out that “Maine is the most nondiverse state in the country.”

Dilip Lakshman, a longtime science researcher at the University of Maine who stood with Varner in the chilled temperatures, also was disappointed that more has not been accomplished in seeking equality. He said recent events show that even more needs to be done.”The things that are happening today remind us more of Martin Luther King and [that] we should be more active and we should honor him more by action,” Lakshman said.

For Varner, the hate group rally was a symptom of larger problems that go beyond black and white and extend across the country and globe.

“Dr. King gave his life for a better world for all citizens, not just black people, but for human beings,” Varner said Friday afternoon while standing outside the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building.

And although Monday is a day off of work for some people, Varner said people should be more proactive and make it a “day on”- a day of reflection and action. Racism, inequality, divisiveness and other un-American behavior can’t be overcome by sitting still, Varner suggested, but rather need to be faced head-on. With a breakfast planned for Monday morning to honor King and his legacy, Varner said people can further help curb racism by taking personal ownership in King’s ideals.

It could be as simple as organizing community discussion groups to talk about the issues. Underneath it all, he said, “we are more alike than we are unalike.”

The “Keeping the Dream Alive” breakfast runs from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Wells Conference Center at the University of Maine and will feature as keynote speaker professor Forrest Pritchett, director of Black Studies at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. The program also will include some Somalis now living in Lewiston. The breakfast is $5 for students and children under 12 and $10 for adults.