My name is Patrisha McLean, former wife and domestic violence victim of singer-songwriter Don McLean. Don pleaded guilty in 2016 to four counts of domestic abuse against me, including domestic violence assault.
“Business as usual” dealings with convicted domestic abusers – and, as Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling put it, there are always people to work with “who don’t have criminal records, who haven’t committed domestic violence against women” – are another punch in the head to the victim.
But beyond the victim, these dealings send dangerous messages to men who beat up their partners, and dangerous messages also to young people still forming views about romantic relationships and what is and is not acceptable. Too many women are dying here in Maine at the hands of their partners for us to be casual about such things.
Fifty-five years ago Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a letter from the Birmingham, Alabama, jail as to how “injustice must be exposed … to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.”
To Erica Cole: Thank you for breaking the silence. I am in awe of your courage and strength.
To the cities of Bangor and Portland: Please step up and do the right thing. It really is a matter of life and death.
Patrisha McLean
Camden
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