Arvelo: Join us Sunday at 1 p.m. at African Burying Ground to protest racist attack
On Wednesday, November 22, a dear friend and colleague was attacked in Portsmouth by a group white people. He was attacked for no reason other than being Black and having an accent. The attackers probably thought Mamadou Dembele was from out of town and that this incident would not make the light of day and be forgotten. Not so. Mamadou is well known throughout the Portsmouth community as a giving, caring Vice President of Bangor Savings Bank. He is fully engaged in helping our communities and businesses to grow.
Mamadou was simply going about his business getting a bite to eat before heading home when he was attacked. He suffered multiple injuries. His sense of safety, despite being 6’2” and 210 pounds, has been broken, and his physical body has been harmed. My main concern is for his spiritual being. No doubt, Mamadou will carry this for the rest of his life, and that sense of safety that he felt walking around Portsmouth is probably gone forever.
Still, if I know Mamadou some, he is strong of spirit. He will overcome this sad and tragic episode in his life with the support of family, friends, colleagues, and the Portsmouth and Seacoast communities by his side.
It is awfully sad and, almost, debilitating that these sorts of incidents keep on happening in our communities in the 21st century. New Hampshire is not devoid of them. Back in February, Portsmouth downtown businesses were sprayed with swastikas targeting Black, Jewish, and gay owned businesses. One of the targeted businesses, Cup of Joe, is owned by Portsmouth’s Assistant Mayor and Black businesswoman, Joanna Kelly. On a personal level, back in 2018, I helped organize a meeting of 100 people that met at the Eversource headquarters in Manchester to speak about diversity, equity, and economic inclusion. Afterwards, many in the group were harassed with threatening phone calls and emails for several weeks by white supremacists. Suffice it to say that those actions of ignorance and intolerance put a dampener on our work for a while, but they did not win.
Few incidents of this type make the light of day and get into the media. I suspect that many more happen in our communities that just go unnoticed. The more reason we must fight this with all the tools we have. We must be courageous and call it out, as Mamadou is doing. We have a responsibility and obligation as White, Brown, and Black citizens of Portsmouth, the Seacoast, and New Hampshire to call out intolerance and racial and cultural ignorance where we see it. It takes courage, but we have no other choice. Otherwise, it will continue to grow from a blemish to an ugly open wound that will take a lot longer to heal.
Portsmouth, the Seacoast, and New Hampshire are at a crossroads. We are changing. We are in a process of evolution, and I think for the much better. The New Hampshire of 10-20 years from now will not reflect the New Hampshire from 10-20 years ago. Our future New Hampshire will be more diverse and richer in so many ways. This is a wonderful, healing, and enriching thing for all of us. The forces of ignorance, bigotry, and evil will not win.
But it will be important for all of us to take a stand and to stand together…now and going forward. We invite you to join Mamadou and many supporting citizens and organizations on Sunday, Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. at the African Burying Ground in Portsmouth for a protest and healing meeting in support of Mamadou Dembele and all those unnamed people that have suffered similar transgressions against their physical and spiritual selves by those who wish to divide us.
Will Arvelo is the executive director of Cross Roads House in Portsmouth, a former New Hampshire economic development official and former president of Great Bay Community College.
More: Black man says he is victim of racist assault in Portsmouth. Supporters to hold protest.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Arvelo: Join protest against racism in Portsmouth Dec. 3 at 1 p.m.
