Rep. Larry Lockman is something. Where others see light and opportunity, he sees only darkness and conspiracy. Exhibit A: his guest column in the Sun Journal (Feb. 18) in which he accuses me (and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins) of waging a “war on whites” by “pushing race-based identity politics in Maine.” He further suggests that Maine should only be interested in immigrants who speak English. Oh, how quickly Lockman has forgotten Maine’s history — and ignores the state’s new population plight.
Maine is the oldest state in the country — and getting older. More people are dying in Maine than are being born. Employers can’t find enough people to fill their job vacancies, and businesses are looking elsewhere to (re)locate because Maine doesn’t have the work force to meet their demands. That is not sustainable.
Maine must find new ways to attract more young people to the state. Without a younger work force, the state simply won’t attract good jobs and capital investment. Maine will fall further and further behind the rest of the country, in both the urban and rural counties. Maine must welcome people who have the American dream, whether they come from Indiana, California, Poland or Berundi. Except for native Americans, everyone’s ancestors came over from somewhere else, and very few spoke English on their arrival.
Unfortunately, Lockman’s rhetoric is not new. Back at the turn of the 2oth century, some made the same argument discouraging the flood of French-speaking Canadians into Maine. The sentiment was as ugly then as it is now.
Like others before him, Lockman yearns for a time everybody spoke like long-time residents and looked like long-time residents — a time that doesn’t exist in the history books. Fortunately, Americans rejected that hateful rhetoric then, just as people should do so now.
If Maine is to turn around the aging demographic tsunami the state is facing, current residents must welcome hard-working people, no matter where they are from. If those newcomers don’t speak English, current residents need to help them learn. If they struggle to assimilate into the community, people need to extend a helping hand.
My legislation, LD 1492, is a modest down payment on that effort.
Sure, immigration is also a social justice issue but, just as important, it is an economically imperative issue if the state’s economy is to grow.
Sen. Roger Katz, Augusta, represents Maine District 15.
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