Susan Collins believes there is no systemic racism in Maine

Senator Susan Collins, in her final debate with Senate race challenger  and Maine Speaker of the House Sara Gideon, stated that systemic racism does not exist in the state of Maine.

During the debate on Oct. 28, the two opposing politicians shared their views on the handling of the pandemic, health care, and systemic racism.

“I do not believe systemic racism is a problem in the state of Maine,” stated Collins during the debate.

 This statement was rather bold, and did not sit well with Gideon. 

“It doesn’t matter how white our state is, it still exists,” Gideon responded. “We see it in terms of access to education for people of color, access to healthcare, rates of poverty, rates of incarceration.”

During the debate, Collins acknowledged the presence of systemic racism in our country and the need for reform. However, in her eyes, Maine is an anomaly because of the state’s “terrific members of law enforcement.” She never elaborated on this statement or explained how Maine’s policing practices differ from among the forty-nine other states. 

Government Professor, Carrie LeVan, disagrees with Collins’ statement and believes we should think more deeply about why Maine is considered the “whitest state.”

“Whenever I hear people deny that systemic racism exists in the state of Maine, I find it absolutely absurd. In general, folks who make this claim found their belief on the idea that, ‘Well, there’s really not any black and brown people in the state; and so, therefore, there can’t really be any racism here,’” she said in an interview with The Colby Echo. “But, I think the fact that this is largely an all white state speaks volumes about the state. Why is it that there are so few people of color in the state? Why is the rest of the country diversifying?”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Maine’s population is 94% white, and minorities compose the other 6%. This statistic is questionable, as Maine, at one point, was much more racially diverse. 

“These patterns don’t emerge on accident. They are consequences of design. The language and culture around saying ‘you’re from away,’ is riddled with prejudice. The state has a sordid history with anti-Black racism in particular,” LeVan stated. 

One Smithsonian-employed historian, Kate McMahon, traced the decline of racial diversity in the state of Maine back to the nineteenth century. In an interview with the Maine Public Radio, she discussed how during the Civil War many residents in established black communities were no longer needed in factories. Consequently, several Black Mainers were unemployed and left the state to find work. 

“They were excluded because of their race, so there were not African Americans working there,” McMahon said in a 2019 interview with the Maine Public Radio. “[Maine] gave preference to white immigrants,” she continued. 

Anti-miscegenation laws were also enacted, banning interracial marriage in Maine. These laws contributed immensely to the diversity decline in the late 19th century. 

In 1920, the Ku Klux Klan established themselves in Maine and worked closely with the Maine government to marginalize African Americans. According to Mcmahon, this group sought to elect government officials who would support their effort to keep Black people out of Maine. Maine is now widely known as a “white state,” and very few ask why.

Though Collins’ statement was referring to the present, Maine’s history led up to the state’s current circumstances, and statistics do not lie.

“But it’s not just about the past. Maine’s chapter of the ACLU released a report on the state of racial discrimination in Maine’s public schools. Beyond bullying and individual level prejudice, the report found that students of color, especially Black children were significantly more likely to be suspended. Black students made up over one-third of the in-school and out-school suspension even though black people make up less than 2% of the population,” said LeVan in an interview with The Colby Echo. 

These are not the only statistics that suggest there is systemic racism in Maine.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 50% of black and 33% of indigenous Mainers live in poverty. Collins never discussed what she believes causes this, and her statement ignored all data completely. 

The News Center Maine also provided data on how minorities are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 across the United States, including Maine. In Maine, Black residents make up 1.6% of the population, and yet, 24% are affected by the virus. Moreover, Maine has the widest gap of all states between Black residents and Black coronavirus infection victims. Collins never addressed this either and still has some more explaining to do. 

Ultimately, Collins’ statement was rather controversial and left a lot of room for  interpretation. History shows that systemic racism persists in Maine, and Senator Collins could and should have provided more information to support her stance on this issue. 

~ Jenna Boling `24