I am going to post a video sent to me by a friend from Maine.
I was born and grew up in Maine… and it’s White. It’s isolated. It has a long and complicated, weird, mixed up history when it comes to race. In many ways, Maine represents one of the many “microcosms” of the history of race, class, and gender intersections in this country.
From wholesale evictions and brutal dispossession by force of black Americans in an island community, to a long and nasty history of KKK activity focused on French, Catholic, Black, and Union-organizing activity in the industries of the state…
To the amazing bravery of people like Harriet Beecher Stowe and any number of Northeastern abolitionists and volunteers who fought in the civil war, fought for civil rights, opposed political and race-based oppression.
It’s an odd, mixed bag up in Maine.
But these guys… these guys represent something really important. They represent the absolute best of what good people can be, and should stand for.
Please, please, please… take the time to watch the entire video.
The opening minute feels awkward. You will jump to conclusions, as I did. You will think that these guys are trying to spread hate, or play games… but please, watch through the entire clip.
It’s beautiful, it really is.
Strong, simple, plain, and from the heart. Not perfect, not polished… but very, very real.
And if you feel it, then give them a like and a comment in the feed on that youtube clip.
Positive feedback helps this kind of strength grow.