Maine Gov. Calls People of Color “The Enemy”

Maine Gov. Paul LePage didn’t mince any words at a press conference on Friday.

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Maine Gov. Paul LePage just cannot seem to keep his (racist) foot out of his mouth. Earlier this year, he made racist remarks about "guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty" who liked to "sell their heroin" and "impregnate a young white girl." In April, he said that Indian workers are the "hardest" and "the worst ones" to understand. This past Thursday, he left a profane voice message for a state lawmaker who he thought was accusing him of racism. That story made headlines not only for the creativity and volume of LePage's curses, but also for his wish to challenge his foe to a duel. At around the same time, LePage also claimed that 90% of the drug dealers arrested in Maine were black or Hispanic, and he had a "binder" of mugshots to prove it. 

LePage called a press conference on Friday to discuss these recent fiascos. But again, he just couldn't stop himself. According to the Huffington Post, LePage denied that the police in his state were racially profiling people. Then things really got weird. He referred to people of color as "the enemy."

“Look, a bad guy is a bad guy, I don’t care what color it is. When you go to war, if you know the enemy, the enemy dresses in red and you dress in blue, you shoot at red, don’t you? You shoot at the enemy. You try to identify the enemy. And the enemy right now, the overwhelming majority right now coming in are people of color or people of Hispanic origin. I can’t help that. I just can’t help it. Those are the facts.”

The ACLU of Maine has not taken the Governor's rhetoric lightly. They have filed a legal request to get access to the binder he's so proud of. Alison Beyea, executive director of the ACLU of Maine, said this: 

“According to the governor, Maine police are nine times more likely to arrest people of color for selling drugs than white people, even though we know white people are just as likely to commit drug offenses. This alarming disparity in arrests raises significant concerns that Maine law enforcement is participating in unconstitutional racial profiling.
 

 

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