A handful of community members, state officials, and advocates spoke to a crowd gather in Lewiston’s Kennedy Park, Saturday, to show support for the Somali community.
The Bangor Daily News reports that the event comes after comments about the community in recent weeks from President Trump, calling Somalis “garbage” and saying he doesn’t want them in the country.
The rally was organized by former Lewiston city council Safiya Khalid, the first Somali-American to hold that role after getting elected in 2019.
In an address to the crowd from a gazebo in Kennedy Park, she drew comparisons between modern-day xenophobic rhetoric against Somalis, and past discrimination towards Irish and French-Canadian immigrants in Maine.
“Every generation has seen a community scapegoated, blamed and dehumanized in moments of fear and political convenience,” Khalid said. “And history has never been kind to those who stayed silent or looked away while that harm unfolded.”
Other speakers at the gathering included Maine Secretary of State/gubernatorial candidate Shenna Bellows, U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner, and candidate for governor, Dr. Nirav Shah.
The crowd also saw traditional Somali dancing and other events, though members of the Somali community were reportedly absent for the most part, something that local nonprofit runner Amran Osman pins on fear.
