At the June 21 Lewiston City Council meeting, during discussion of a proposed policy regarding diversity and inclusion, a city councilor (speaking on someone else’s behalf) repeated how Lewiston has historically been a place where everyone has been treated with civility and fairness. He then criticized new community members and others determined to address inequality as trying to fix things that were not broken to begin with.
Well, here is the truth of my experiences here in Lewiston-Auburn since I arrived here as an infant in 1984.
As a child, I was repeatedly called the N-word. On the playground, I was excluded, picked on, and assaulted because of the color of my skin.
After leaving a theater once as a teen, a car drove right at me in a parking lot to scare me. After I had jumped back up onto the sidewalk, the car drove past me and the male passenger repeatedly yelled “f*** you N-word” and gave me the finger while leaning out of the passenger-side window.
Much more recently, a neighbor admitted they had gone through our mailbox to determine who we were, and then expressed relief when they found out I was from the “good” Philippon family.
A woman once called my Lewiston Police supervisor to complain about the “black cop” talking to her child about school, soccer, and how his summer was going.
My wife, also a person of color, a few years ago was accused of stealing alcohol from a local store. While holding our infant son, she was forced to empty her bags to prove she did not have the stolen goods. One of several white bystanders, also using a self-checkout, told the clerk that all the self-checkout registers were malfunctioning. Not only did the clerk fail to apologize, but she gave my wife a resentful look as she walked away.
I know too many people in this community who have been harassed and tormented because of the color of their skin or their religious beliefs.
As a parent, I am concerned that one of my sons who clearly presents as a person of color will be treated differently when knocking on a stranger’s door in contrast to my other son who presents as white.
These experiences are real, and we must acknowledge and confront the prejudice and racism that continue to exist in our community.
I meet and speak with many people in this community, the young and the old, the white and the black, the impoverished and the wealthy, the unemployed and the employers, and those suffering from substance misuse and those who help them, to name a few.
From these thousands of conversations, what sticks out to me are statements like “Lewiston first” and “we need to restore Lewiston to what it once was.” While some people simply mean that Lewiston needs to advocate for itself and that we need to improve our economy, others mean we need to restore our city to the racial demographics we had prior to 2000, back when crime was “low and we were safe.”
By the way, Lewiston’s crime rate is significantly lower today than it was in the 1980s.
Also, there are many in this community who say racism and prejudice don’t exist here. They will cite that we haven’t had any hate crimes reported, that this is an overreaction to rumors and hypotheticals, that it’s media driven, and that residents of Lewiston-Auburn would never engage in such behavior.
Well, let me once again point out that those experiences that I recounted here and many more like them have and continue to happen here — and all too often.
The incidents that I have experienced and have personal knowledge of may not be violations of any criminal law, but they are violations.
Violations of civility, ethics, and of a strong community.
Now, I am otherwise fortunate and privileged to have and live the life that I do. Regardless, double standards, racism and hatred do exist here, but we as a community can do something about it.
While it is natural to seek comfort from those who share our experiences, we should also seek perspective from those with different stories and support those who seek support from those with shared experiences. We should choose to acknowledge what we don’t know and understand. We should encourage those among us who want to promote greater tolerance and understanding. And, most importantly, we should demand more of ourselves and we should expect those who represent us to play a leading role in bringing us together so we can move forward as one.
Let’s be proactive.
The choice is yours and ours.
And yes, I must work on remembering this too.
Joseph Philippon is a life-long resident of Lewiston and a detective with the Lewiston Police Department. He’s been involved with the Androscoggin Community Collaborative, New Mainer Community Collaborative, Lewiston-Auburn Alliance to Address Homelessness, Operation Hot Spot, City SPIRIT, Healthy Neighborhoods, and organizes the Lewiston Summer Fun and Films program. Currently, he’s an advisor to the board of directors for New Beginnings and previously served on the board of Lewiston’s Immigrant and Refugee Integration and Poverty Awareness committees.
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