The recent flap over race and our governor has been most disconcerting. Apparently, a reporter told Gov. LePage that a legislator had called him a racist, and the governor went on a tirade. Someone threw out the bait and he struck, most unfortunately. I have noticed that the governor has not named the reporter.

All this was generated in response to the governor again stating that the dealers bringing drugs into the state are predominantly non-white. The Portland Press Herald, WCSH and the Democrats jumped on this again and lambasted the governor.

Well, from my observations – and they are non-scientific – we have two groups of drug dealers in Maine. The locals who distribute drugs are mostly white. The out-of-state suppliers are predominantly non-white.

If you lump them all together, you come up with the FBI numbers. But our governor was discussing the out-of-state dealers, who bring the drugs to Maine. So, from my observations, his statement was, in fact, true and was not racist – just a simple fact.

As for the mural depicting LePage in a Ku Klux Klan hood: That may be free speech to some, but it’s hate speech to others and should be addressed as such. If putting a swastika on a building is hate speech, so is this. Neither has a place in our society.

Richard Prince

South Portland