The Many and One rally in Merrill Gym on Jan. 11, 2003, sent a strong, unified message far and wide. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College.

Ten years later, at Lewiston Public Library, an anniversary gathering recalled and celebrated that transformative day.

The program featured city and community leaders, among them Heather Lindkvist, a Bates anthropolgist who is special assistant to the president for diversity and inclusion, and Sarah Davis ’10, who during her time at Bates led or took part in various programs that help integrate new immigrants and refugees into the Lewiston-Auburn community.

In 2003, the Many and One rally sought to drown out the message of hate at another rally that same day, by the white supremacist group World Church of the Creator.

The rally also responded to anti-immigrant sentiments earlier that year, specifically the infamous letter by then-Mayor Larry Raymond to the local Somali community saying that the Somalis had “maxed out” city resources and that a “large number of new arrivals cannot continue without negative results for all.”

“The hate group was big, but the local response was bigger,” writes Sun Journal staff writer Mark Laflamme. “Thousands turned out at Bates College’s Merrill Gymnasium in counter-protest, an outpouring that is still regarded as a turning point for the immigrants in Lewiston.”

It was a peak moment, but Lindkvist, quoted in Laflamme’s story, says that the Many and One coalition was just a start. “The coalition was sustained beyond that one event,” she says. When issues of hate and racism emerge on occasion, “we still come together and say we will not tolerate this.”

Associate Dean of Students James Reese listens to the speakers at the 10th anniversary of the Many and One rally, held at Lewiston Public Library on Jan. 11, 2013. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College.

Lindkvist tells WGME-TV that the rally “catalyzed and energized people to focus on issues around tolerance, acceptance [and] coexistence and a way that hadn’t been done before.”

Davis, director of Welcoming Maine, a group that introduces immigrants to various city programs and resources, tells WGME-TV that the story of Jan. 11, 2003, is one of “unity, when different people came together from all different walks of life and stood together and raised their voices and said, ‘this is us.’”

• View story from the Sun Journal, Jan. 12, 2013.
• View story from WGME-TV, Jan. 11, 2013

Heather Lindkvist, photographed by Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College.

The Portland Press Herald and Maine Public Broadcasting check in with Bates officials for their reactions to the affirmative action case Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, now being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bates, Bowdoin and Colby colleges have all signed a brief supporting the University of Texas and the use of race-conscious admissions.

“This particular case can have repercussions about how we think about faculty and staff diversity and student diversity,” Heather Lindkvist, special assistant to the president for diversity and inclusion and member of the anthropology faculty, tells thePress Herald.

Leigh Weisenburger, photographed by Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College.

Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Leigh Weisenburger tells Maine Public Broadcasting that because “we were founded by abolitionists…one of our number one goals since the very start, and we’re talking back to 1855 here, has been to be open and accessible to all.”

Using race as one part of the admission equation “is not just for the good of our own institutions,” she said, but to ensure that “we are creating a truly global classroom setting, a truly global community, so that as we prepare our students to be those leaders and go out into the world, that we can promise them, promise their families, that they’ve truly had a diversified learning environment.”

• View story from the Portland Press Herald, Oct. 9, 2012.
• View story from Maine Public Broadcasting, Oct. 8, 2012.

Well-known Maine politicians, officials from the public and private sectors, and local Somali residents will join educators and students at Bates College in March for the conference “Toward Harmony: A New Diversity in Lewiston-Auburn.”

Presenters at the conference will explore the influx of Somalis to the area from myriad angles – including impacts on schools and social services, the historic view of immigration and the hate-crime phenomenon. Presenters include Maine Gov. John Baldacci, U.S. Reps. Tom Allen and Mike Michaud, Stephen Wessler of the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence and Heather Lindkvist, an anthropologist at Bates who has worked with the local Somali community for a year and a half.

The conference begins in Bates’ Chase Hall at 3 p.m. Friday, March 14, and in Carnegie Science Hall at 8 a.m. Saturday, March 15. Registration is essential, with a $5 donation the suggested fee. Please call 207-786-8204 for a full schedule and other information.

A visiting lecturer in religion at Bates, Mishael Caspi is the lead organizer of the conference. He started planning it last May after he spotted graffiti directed against the Somali community, and followed up by getting in touch with young members of that community.

“These people aren’t taking money,” says Caspi. “They’re trying to establish themselves as good citizens. Lo and behold, here we are, a country of immigrants and we are now targeting the newcomers as parasites. That really angers me.”

Friday’s portion of the conference includes a forum on diversity in schools, welcoming comments from Baldacci and the congressmen, Wessler’s keynote address, and presentations of Somali poetry and a folk tale. An evening buffet follows.

Moderated by faculty from Bates and the University of Southern Maine, Saturday morning’s panels bring historical perspectives to issues of immigration and exile, and examine the nature of religious harmony. Topics of the afternoon breakout sessions include the impacts of immigration on the social service system, the private sector and schools.

The conference ends with the panel “Honoring Culture in a New Home,” moderated by anthropologist Lindkvist, followed by performances of African folk music and Somali dance, and a Somali community supper.

Registrants may attend either day or both. For educators, the conference is good for three credits toward recertification.

The event is co-chaired by Caspi and two colleagues in the philosophy and religion department, Professor Robert Allison and Associate Professor Marcus Bruce. The event is supported by a major grant from the Maine Humanities Council and generous gifts from the newspapers Sun Journal and Sunday; the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College; the city of Lewiston; and a variety of funds and offices at Bates.