Where to begin with Davis Hartwell’s misguided opinion piece (Maine Voices, June 16)? The fact that he makes academia a bogeyman, rather than a system to enlighten?
That he reappropriates the term “critical race theory” as slang against white people, thereby naming as victims a group that constitutes 94 percent of the Maine population?
That he fails to recognize that the state is legislated by mostly white people, with laws and policies passed by mostly white people, who are perhaps not taking into consideration the experiences of people of color?
That he uses Brown v. Board of Education as proof that racism no longer exists, when the text of the decision emphasizes the racist view of assimilation (which suggests Black students must be surrounded by white students in order to “lift” themselves up from ignorance, rather than simply funding Black communities as equitably as white communities)?
That he says we’ve made great progress with marginalized communities when legislators in this state attempted to ban transgender women from participating in sports? Or that immigrants in this state have a tremendously difficult time qualifying for work because of the barriers set in place? Or that domestic violence continues to be a grave issue?
Instead of being reactionary, folks like Mr. Hartwell should set their egos aside and consider what it truly means to be a marginalized community in the state of Maine. Ironic or not, a refusal to do so – and an insistence on continuing to perceive things only through a white lens – upholds white supremacy.
Jacob Powers
Brunswick
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