NEW GLOUCESTER — Unapologetic New Gloucester Selectman George Colby responded to his critics in a newspaper column this week, calling an effort to recall him reflective of the “cancel culture” that is “infecting” the country.

George Colby is a member of the New Gloucester Board of Selectmen.

“I stand accused of racism for a comment that was not racist,” Colby wrote in an open letter published in the Lakes Region Weekly. Colby was referring to a Dec. 3 Select Board meeting during which, at the end of the Pledge of Allegiance, he said, “Liberty and justice for all, for everyone. Even us white folks!”

Colby said that since his comment “wasn’t racist, I’m not going to apologize for saying it. I exercised my freedom of speech and expressed my dismay at the state of America, my frustration that people are trying to tear down America.”

He wrote that this “dismay was falsely condemned as racist” by resident Laura Fralich in her opinion piece printed in the Sun Journal. Fralich, a member of the Facebook group New Gloucester United Against Racism, wrote that “white grievance is racism.”

Fralich said Tuesday that the recall petitioners are “not trying to tear down America but rather create a more equitable, inclusive and just country and community for all races.”

“Hiding behind the catchphrase of ‘cancel culture’ disregards the accountability that we all have for our words and actions and the need to take responsibility for the harm that they can cause,” said Fralich, a teacher at Gray-New Gloucester High School.

Advertisement

Colby said the recall petitioners’ “agenda is far more malicious,” than simply “canceling” him.

“They’re also attacking you and a free America,” he wrote. “The direction that our beautiful country has been going in is tragic,” Colby wrote, adding: “America is being accused of racism.” He cited the New York Times Magazine’s “1619 Project.”

The Times’ website says the project “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.” The project has been invoked by conservative politicians such as former President Donald Trump as being synonymous with, according to Trump, “radical” Americans’ attack on “whiteness,” rejection of patriotism and incitement of “hateful lies about this country.”

Colby made no mention of a 2010 email exchange between him and then-Selectman Joshua McHenry in which Colby used a racial slur.

“I went to Walmart and saw they had Obama Christmas tree ornaments. Now ain’t that a (expletive)???? Suddenly it’s OK to hang a (racial slur) from a tree again,” Colby wrote in an email to McHenry dated Dec. 16, 2010.

The town supplied the Lakes Region Weekly with copies of these emails this month in response to a Freedom of Access Act request. McHenry also confirmed the emails were authentic last month, but said he no longer had the originals.

Advertisement

A petition signed by 335 residents was submitted to the town clerk last week to recall Colby and awaits certification from the town clerk and Board of Selectmen. If certified, the recall question will go to a special election. In that election, 55 percent of voters must give their approval to remove Colby from his position.

Emily Bader — 207-780-9103

ebader@theforecaster.net

Twitter: @emilykbader

Comments are not available on this story.

filed under: