I would like to introduce Gov. Le-Page to a Mainer from India.

She’s 8 years old. She loves riding her bike. She’s brilliant at math and gobbles up books like they’re candy. (She gobbles up candy like it’s candy, too.)

When she was 1, I carried her out of her orphanage. She leaned trustingly into my shoulder as she left behind everything she’d known, and I knew she was the bravest person I’d ever met.

A few days ago, the governor made fun of her in a speech. He was talking about immigrants and their accents. “The worst ones are from India,” he said.

Sure, he’d say he didn’t mean my girl. He meant the wait staff who bring him his entrée. (As if mocking people who crossed an ocean to work hard at a low-paid job is somehow OK.) But once someone says, “The worst ones are from India,” he can’t retract it piecemeal. He can’t say he was talking about just a few. He can’t choose whom his words hurt.

When a classmate told my daughter that she couldn’t play a game because she isn’t white, my daughter told the other girl she didn’t like those words. Then she found an adult who would help. Once again, I was proud of her courage.

My daughter’s tough. She can stand up for herself on the playground. But she shouldn’t have to stand up to the governor of her state.

Someday she’ll grow up, find a job, pay taxes, vote, maybe raise a family. Wherever she lives, her bravery and intelligence and sense of justice will be an asset to her community. In fact, they are so right now.

Maine is lucky to have her. And, just like that girl on the playground, Gov. LePage owes her an apology.

Sarah Thomson

Portland

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