I flew to Maine a few days ago to visit my folks in the woods. They live in a small New England town with about 250 residents. Median household income in our town was about 21k in 2007—well below the state average of 46,000. Yeah, I had to check a couple of different sources for this one because I actually had trouble believing the Census Bureau. Is it really true that people in central Maine only earn 45% of what other Maine residents earn, or about 40% of the national average? I knew that my home town was poor, but I had no idea that we were that poor. I spent some time perusing economic statistics for our region, and frankly, I was blown away. I've witnessed central Maine's poverty on a personal level but had never seen it from a statistical standpoint.

But when I think about it, it makes sense. Wal-Mart and Hannaford (big grocery store chain for you west coasties) are the two largest employers in the state; neither company offers incredible wages to average workers. In the past, Maine residents earned cash by selling off the most valuable resource they had—the forest. These days, the US logging industry thrives primarily on west coast lumber. The backcountry macho woodsman identity lives on in our state, but the feller-buncher operating jobs no longer exist. Tourism is now the biggest industry in Maine, but it brings a lot more money to the coastal areas than to the inland regions.

A few years ago, many local residents embraced the idea of building a new electric plant to burn toxic demolition debris and old construction materials from Massachusetts. Some people posted signs that read, "Tell Mass to Keep its Trash." Others said, "Hey man, we really need the jobs and the tax breaks. What's so bad about a little lead poisoning on the side?" Some Mainers are willing to sacrifice the woods, water, air quality, and anything else of natural value for jobs. They make a good point—what good is a pretty place with clean air if you can't afford to eat?

Local economic distress affects more than job-seekers; it also affects children. Based on the fact that local school systems operate largely on local taxes, a lack of taxable income and taxable assets means that our public schools ache for better funding sources. In an era of No Child Left Behind—a program that financially rewards/punishes schools based upon standardized test performance—poor schools have a huge incentive to drop all programs beyond english, math, and science. Art, music, and athletics vanish first.

I had a chance to interview Barbara, who has worked as a social worker in the local school district for 22 years. Here she speaks about the relationship between budget cuts and athletic programs for elementary school students.

 

I don't know the solution to this problem. As an economics student in a Maine college, I learned quite a bit about the state-wide economic climate and major development proposals. Most initiatives—such as Moosehead Lake regional development proposed by Seattle company Plum Creek, often referred to as Scum Creek—involve out-of-state companies that want to extract large amounts of labor and natural resources for pitiful compensation (the political brawl arises when attempting to figure out what terms constitute "pitiful compensation," and what legal contracts are fair).

But I digress. My point is that many kids in central Maine don't have access to the athletic programs they deserve. While the public schools try very hard to make do with the meager resources they have, there's just not enough money. Also consider that many kids in central Maine live off of food stamps, WIC, free school lunch, and other sources of cheap—but nutritionally inadequate—calories. This means that they have an even greater need for exercise, since childhood obesity in the United States is linked to poor dietary habits often exacerbated by poverty.

Kids need exercise. Schools need money for sports programs. What's new?

“To them, it was a sport,” said Suffolk County district attorney Tomas J. Spota, referencing hate crimes committed by a group of teens in Long Island earlier this month. The New York Times reports that one of the teens—a star athlete at his high school—has been accused of stabbing a 37-year-old Hispanic man to death.

Pretty twisted sport, if you ask me.

Earlier today, our awesome neighbor Jess brought freshly baked cinnamon buns to our house. Somehow, while chatting over cups of tea and warm cinnamon buns, we got into a discussion about white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups. I know; it’s a pretty disturbing topic for a mid-afternoon tea break.

I was reminded of a series of hate crimes that took place in my home state of Maine. Several years ago, a large Somali in-migration entered Lewiston—a mid-sized town in Maine, which at that time was the whitest state in the nation. A bunch of town residents began freaking out, claiming that the Somalis were ruining the cultural integrity of the community, putting stress on social programs, stealing jobs, all of the usual stupid arguments that white people make to avoid looking into their own racist belief systems. The town mayor wrote a letter to one of the leaders in the local Somali community, kindly asking them to stop moving to Lewiston. (Is it actually possible to “kindly ask” an entire racial group to go elsewhere? That doesn’t seem like a very kind request.)

Anyway, white supremacists and neo-Nazis all around the country got wind of the local struggle going down in Lewiston, and decided to travel to Maine to help push the Somalis out. Then the rest of Maine and New England heard about the neo-Nazi rally going down in Lewiston, and decided to organize a pro-diversity rally on the same day.

What ended up happening was really quite beautiful. The pro-diversity crew outnumbered the neo-Nazis by a long shot. Hundreds of people from near and far came together to welcome and celebrate the Somali community in our state. The neo-Nazi gathering looked pretty pathetic in comparison. They made a really amazing documentary about the struggle, called The Letter.

[Below: The official trailer to The Letter.]

Hate is not a sport. If team sports have taught us anything, it’s that we rely upon community, understanding, trust, and a basic respect for our teammates in order to win. I wish that teenage star athlete from New York could have learned this before he adopted violence as a “sport”. I’ve heard arguments that diversity in both college and pro sports has helped to alleviate some racial tension in this country; these days, we consistently see Black, Latino, White, Asian, and others with diverse racial identities playing side by side on the field. But we still have a long way to go in the struggle to create safe, hate-free spaces.

As I sweat through another sweltering day here in beautiful Chicago, I’ve discovered yet another reason to be proud of this city and the people who live here.

Chicago Bulls rookie Derrick Rose took a trip to my home state of Maine (yeah blueberries!) this week to join the “Play for Peace” basketball workshop, hosted by Seeds of Peace International Camp.

Seeds of Peace is an organization dedicated to empowering and supporting future leaders from regions of conflict. Teenagers from Israel, Palestine, Egypt, the Middle East, South Asia, and other tough spots are invited to attend summer camp in Maine. During the three-week course, youth learn conflict resolution and leadership skills.

Rose said “it means a lot to give back. Especially from where I’m from, just to give kids hope, that’s the main thing.’’ (Chicago Sun-Times)