On this holiday marking the birthday of the late Martin Luther King Jr., many groups are worried about the future of civil rights in the United States after an especially divisive presidential campaign.

The concern is rooted in some of the words and actions of President-elect Donald Trump, whose inauguration on Friday will generate little jubilation among modern civil rights leaders who celebrated the swearing-in of America’s first black president in January 2009 and 2013.

Instead, there is heightened concern about preserving gay marriage and women’s rights, protecting immigrants and others from bigotry and discrimination, and preventing social discourse from degrading to the point that it becomes acceptable to make fun of people who are disabled or otherwise different.

“With the campaign rhetoric and statements by the incoming administration being so diametrically different from the current administration, there’s a sense of being under attack,” said the Rev. Kenneth Lewis, pastor of Green Memorial AME Zion Church in Portland.

“Are there going to be rollbacks on civil liberties?” Lewis continued. “Policy by tweet is pretty tough to discern. That kind of uncertainty can create tremendous angst.”

But like other civil rights advocates in Maine, Lewis sees potential for continued forward movement. He points out a direct connection between “a more perfect union” referenced in the preamble to the Constitution and the concept of “the beloved community” made popular by King.

“Those are both aspirational statements that have yet to be achieved, regardless of political sway or administration,” Lewis said. “It’s alarming that you see some elements of progress and then you see how fragile that progress can be. I didn’t think the struggle was over with the election of President Obama, and I was not surprised that Donald Trump was elected to be our next president. Frederick Douglas wrote, ‘If there is no struggle, there is no progress,’ and it continues to resonate in our current day. There is never enough progress.”

RHETORIC VS. REALITY

For state Rep. Ryan Fecteau, a Biddeford Democrat who is gay, hateful campaign rhetoric was troubling for its immediate and potential impact on Mainers of all stripes, including women, immigrants, people with disabilities and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Fecteau, who is communications coordinator for the Good Shepherd Food Bank, said he understands that some Mainers feel unsettled by and excluded from economic, social and demographic changes happening here and across the globe. But that doesn’t forgive fomenting disrespect for others, he said.

State Rep. Ryan Fecteau says he doesn’t want to return to a time “when some people felt they had license to discriminate and others had to live in fear.”

“I’m most concerned about the perpetuation of rhetoric that seems to give people the right to malign and put down people they don’t like, who they perceive as others not worthy of equality,” Fecteau said. “If making America great again means returning to a time when some people felt they had license to discriminate and others had to live in fear or hide, no thanks, I’m all set.”

Fecteau also worries about the state of American media, the prevalence of “fake news” and political obfuscation, and the trend among elected officials to expertly avoid answering direct questions. He said he hopes legitimate news agencies work harder to promote the truth and hold government officials accountable.

“Facts and reality don’t seem to matter anymore, and that’s scary,” Fecteau said. “I obviously voted for Obama, but I don’t agree with everything he did. It’s frightening to see what some people have been willing to overlook. The news cycle lately seems to be dictated by what President-elect Trump tweets at 3 o’clock in the morning.”

Trump’s promise to make Supreme Court appointments in the likeness of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative who railed against the 2015 decision that legalized gay marriage, could have a negative impact on the LGBT community, Fecteau said. Instead, he hopes Americans choose to move forward, find common understanding and treat everyone with dignity and respect.

“White, privileged Americans aren’t the only ones susceptible to judging others,” Fecteau said. “We’re really at our best when we find the commonalities among us.”

Fecteau is a graduate of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and his favorite national monument is the Lincoln Memorial.

“You can stand where MLK stood to deliver the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech and imagine what he saw with a sea of people on the National Mall,” Fecteau said. “In the last eight years, a dream was realized for equality. I can now dream of getting married to a person I love. What the next four years has to say about that dream and others is now foggy, and I’m a little unsettled about that.”

Reza Jalali, an activist and director of multicultural student affairs at the University of Southern Maine, says the nation has evolved for the better in its treatment of minorities, but with Donald Trump becoming president, “We are faced with the question of whether Muslims can be loyal Americans. It’s heartbreaking because certainly one can be both a loyal citizen of America and a Muslim.”

A LOYAL MUSLIM-AMERICAN

Reza Jalali, an author and activist who is director of multicultural student affairs at the University of Southern Maine, felt the rising tension over the last year on campus and within the Greater Portland immigrant community. Jalali, an Iranian Kurd who is Muslim, came to the United States in 1985 and has been a citizen for 25 years.

“It seems we have evolved as a nation. We have progressed. We are more inclusive,” Jalali said. “But now we are faced with the question of whether Muslims can be loyal Americans. It’s heartbreaking because certainly one can be both a loyal citizen of America and a Muslim.”

Jalali said he’s concerned that “irresponsible politicians and certain media outlets” have labeled all Muslims as terrorists. He’s especially worried for American Muslims whose families have lived here for generations.

Jalali said he understands the fear of terrorism. Muslims who commit atrocities in the name of religion are criminals and “totally un-Islamic,” he said. He noted a verse in the Quran that says, essentially, if you kill someone, it’s like killing all of humanity, and if you save someone’s life, it’s like saving all of humanity.

“We cannot expect Muslims to feel American if they don’t feel safe and at least tolerated,” Jalali said. “It’s really about mutual respect and understanding. We have a shared history. Muslims were here well before the birth of the republic. The first country to recognize the United States as a nation when others would not was Morocco, a Muslim country.”

Jalali recalled how Jews and Roman Catholics were openly targeted before becoming part of mainstream America. How Irish, Italian, French-Canadian and other immigrant groups were persecuted in the past, which President Obama mentioned in his farewell address last week. It’s especially unfortunate, Jalali said, that few members of Maine’s Franco-American community can speak French today.

“We seem to have accepted different immigrant groups in the past and they paid a price for that acceptance,” Jalali said. “They gave up their culture and we all lost something as a result of that. The question is, do we want to ask Muslims and other recent immigrants to do the same thing?”

Jalali said a better approach would be for native-born Americans and new Americans to participate equally in integration. Rather than view the United States as a melting pot, where assimilation simmers away cultural differences, Jalali said America should be seen as a vibrant tossed salad, where juicy red tomatoes exist harmoniously among crisp yellow peppers and cool green cucumbers.

“We should meet each other halfway,” Jalali said.

‘ALIVE, AWAKE, AWARE’

Jalali said he’s hopeful that America will get through the next four years without turning back the clock on civil rights. It might emerge bruised from the fight, he said, but he believes the nation is stronger and more resilient than any one president or administration.

“I hope our worries and concerns are baseless – that what we’ve heard over the last year is just political noise,” Jalali said. “I hope (Trump) has the wisdom to understand that America’s strength has always been to respect others and welcome immigrants. I hope he focuses on the real problems facing this nation rather than making ugly comments about people who don’t have the power to defend themselves. I continue to be hopeful and defiant.”

Lewis also holds out hope that the next four years will be more productive for civil rights than the current political tenor suggests. He noted the cover photo of his Facebook page, which features wooden block letters spelling out “alive, awake, aware.”

“We have to be vigilant,” Lewis explained. “If you want change, it’s going to have to start locally. Engage in the public square, get out and vote, let your voice be heard, call your legislator, become a legislator. The civil rights era of the 1960s included protests, but it also included policy development. That’s why it was so effective.”

Lewis urged people to actively counter misinformation that flows freely on social media and engage with others who might be unaware of how pending policy changes could affect them. Poverty is a serious issue in Maine and it affects a whole lot of other things, he said. Manufacturing jobs aren’t likely to be replaced in light of increasing automation and globalization, and Maine must find a way to respond to that.

“You have to be prepared, in the best possible language, to share the truth and embrace another’s experience,” Lewis said. “I refuse to give way to chaos. I will continue to do my level best to build a beloved community by focusing on our common interests, our common good and our common humanity. Not on our skin color, or on who we love, but on the content of our character. To form a more perfect union. Alive, awake, aware.”

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