All in it together

The following commentary appeared in a recent Rosemont Market email, which might not have been the best place for it to appear. It is now reprinted here, both because this is a better forum for it and because we hope readers will be encouraged to post their own comments in response.

Making enemies

It’s not usually in a business’s best interests to discuss politics publicly, but here it comes anyway. Paul LePage’s eager announcment shortly after becoming Maine’s governor that he will rescind Gov. Baldacci’s prohibition of state agencies to question the immigration status of…anyone they choose…is not just unkind, not just uncivil (and aren’t we trying to be more civil these days?), not just culturally obsolete, not just un-Republican (aren’t Republicans supposed to be the first to defend the privacy of non-criminal individuals?), it’s fiscally foolish and — here’s where Rosemont comes in — offensive to Maine’s agricultural community. 

Who does LePage think does an ever-increasing amount of the farm work in Maine? How are these people to appreciate the full benefits of a citizenship they aspire to if they’re too scared to show up at public events (everything from town council meetings to farmers’ markets) and participate in Maine’s culture? How is our home-grown, built-for-the-21st-century economy to develop and thrive? How are we going to “buy local” and support the state’s start-up businesses when some of the hardest-working, youngest and most creative members of the local economy start looking for a politically friendlier state?

Ask Arizona, to paraphrase Sarah Palin, how their hopeless-strangey thing (draconian interrogation strategies and all the rest) is “workin’ out for ya” — for their tourism industry, for their economy, for their international image and sense of pride.

Or ask Washington County who’s going to pick wild blueberries. Ask increasing numbers of Maine poultry processors, broccoli pickers and fisherfolk just where they’re going to throw their shoulders to the wheel. Ask other Rosemont shoppers how they plan on keeping it close to home.

If you think new Maine inhabitants of African, Asian and Central American origin going cold, hungry or sick this winter, for fear of asking Health and Human Services for some emergency aid, is a necessary trade-off that enables us to direct our scant public monies to U.S. citizens, that’s at least a legitimate argument and we can have a healthy debate (though just so you know, DHHS is already required to ask applicants’ immigration status).

But Maine’s population is aging fast; we need young people to stay here and work! The last thing we should be doing is to tell people who come here to go away. And for all of us who take rightful pride in a flourishing local food community, don’t we want more people in that community — as producers, distributors and consumers — a year, and three, and ten from now? Even if all we are is selfish, don’t we want to eat wild blueberries?

If this strikes a chord with you, please join the march against LePage’s executive order, planned for next Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, from Portland’s Preble Street Resource Center to City Hall. 1 p.m.