I attended my alumni reunion at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield last month. It was nice to see two former out-of-state classmates, both African-American, both former military, one a resident of the Bronx!

They both had a week of vacation in Maine leading up to the reunion, and I hope it was nothing but a pleasure for them. But I wonder if it was as pleasant as it should have been, given the threatening environment for men of color that our governor is nurturing.

Governor, here’s some “telling it like it is” for you regarding why there are people of color from urban areas bringing drugs into Maine: The grandparents of those people moved to those cities for jobs. The jobs went away and were replaced by drugs and crime.

And this is also precisely what’s happening in every former mill town in Maine at this very moment. Meth labs are springing up like daisies, thanks to our fine local white drug dealers, and the cost in associated crime and the destruction of lives, families and public safety is incalculable. And the prescription opioids being pushed legally by white pharmaceutical and medical professionals are increasing the rate of drug addiction and demand for heroin in Maine.

Why haven’t you threatened to put a bullet between the eyes of every pharmaceutical executive and opioid-prescribing doctor? It’s much easier to blame it on the out-of-state black folk, isn’t it?

There are solutions to our state’s drug epidemic: 1) control the prescription of pharmaceutical opioids; 2) educate students to perform 21st-century jobs; and 3) grow those jobs in areas of the state where manufacturing jobs have disappeared. If you are incapable of addressing the real issues facing our state, then please step aside so that we can be governed by someone capable.

Robert Cianchette

Portland


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