When people think of immigration into the US, Maine is not a destination that really ever comes to mind. That is because since the days of European settlement, Maine has been one of the whitest states in the country. The very rural nature of the state has not attracted a lot of diverse newcomers in the past. From 2000-2011, however, the there was a 19.6% increase of foreign-born residents, and a huge part of that influx was into the Lewiston/Auburn area. As of last year there had been over 7,500 immigrants to Lewiston since 2001, a large portion of them from Somalia.
In the 1990s Somalia was thrown into a civil war and many Somali people fled to the US. A few refugees that were trying to settle in Portland found much more affordable housing in Lewiston which was going through a tough economic time . There had been major cutbacks and closures in the different mills and businesses in the town and the population was decreasing leading up to this. As refuges settled there, they shared the opportunity in Lewiston with friends and family creating a sort of ripple affect in the town. It even reinvigorated the economy as the new residents began opening businesses in the previously vacant stores.
When the first wave of immigrants came in there was a lot of fear and confusion throughout the other residents. Rumors were spreading about the newcomers receiving an unfair proportion of the government aid to be had. The man who was Mayor in 2002 wrote an open letter to the Somali community that said he believed that it would be best if they discouraged even more family members and friends from settling in Lewiston because after taking in all the initial immigrants the city was basically overworked. There were two responses to this letter. The first was a white-supremacy group tried to plan a rally, and had about 300 attendees. The second response was more than 4,000 people strong; it was a rally led by Many and One. The refugees and Lewiston citizens alike came together to show that they did support the Somalis’ right to be there too.
Another moving story to come out of this is that of the Lewiston High School soccer team. The soccer coach Mike McGraw decided to use the change and uncertainty as a way to improve the soccer team at his school. He brought the team together and in 2012 and 2013 they made it to the regional title game, they won it in 2014, and in 2015 and 2017 the team won the Class A state championship. Represented on that winning team was players from six different countries. The way the coach and players overcame their differences and ran after a goal really made the town proud and brought it together more than it had been in the past. Some local filmmakers even begun the process of creating a documentary, called One Team, about the 2015 season and the unity and camaraderie that came out of it.
As I learn more about this community and the different struggles and successes, I cannot wait to add the stories of individuals to what is already out there. To hear what a person went through in the midst of all of this is entirely fascinating to me and I am looking forward to my interviews even more now.
Jalali, Reza. “400 Years of New Mainers”. Maine Memory Network. www.mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/2623/page/4227/display?use_mmn=1
Kastanis, Angeliki. “Maine Community Has Refugees and Resentment.” U.S. News & World Report, 19 Apr. 2017, www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2017-04-19/how-a-maine-community-changed-by-refugees-came-to-embrace-donald-trump.
Raymond, Laurier. “A Letter to the Somali Community.” 1 Oct. 2002, www.martavmartinez.com/resources/A-Letter-to-the-Somali-Community.pdf
Stump, Scott, and Josh Weiner. “How This High School Soccer Coach Brought a Divided Town Together.” TODAY.com, 27 Feb. 2018, www.today.com/news/how-high-school-soccer-coach-brought-immigrant-town-maine-town-t123948.
It’s amazing that you got this much information! How were you able to find all these sources?
There were just a couple of details that I was wondering about. First, what kinds of Somali businesses helped the economy? Do you have any concrete examples of restraunts, grocery stores, etc?
Also, how was the city overworked? Was it due to the language difference or only to the difference in government aid?
I started basically with Google, but there was a couple of pretty in depth news articles that were really helpful.
I don’t have a lot of specific examples of the businesses that we’re opened, I just saw mention of a bakery/eaterie, but I think more research into that would be interesting.
I don’t know stats about how the city was overworked, there was some rumors for sure about the refugees receiving free cars and housing when the other residents were still struggling that really created bad blood. Another thing is in the school’s there had to be accommodations for language and new students all at a time when the city had been in decline.
Wow, this is fascinating local history. Thank you for enlightening!
That is a really interesting bit of history. I wonder if that history has been passed down to the children of the migrants, or if the families choose to see themselves as one with the rest of American society instead of a separate but intertwined group. It is great that local attitudes towards your group have evolved into being more accepting of the migrants. I wonder if bits of Somali culture can be found intertwined with the previous local culture now.