Democratic leaders denounce white supremacist letters sent to lawmakers

Apr. 14—Democratic leaders in the House and Senate strongly denounced mailers sent to the homes of several state lawmakers by white nationalist organizations and reported the incident to Capitol Police.

The mailing claims to raise awareness of "AntiWhiteism" and advances white supremacist propaganda such as the "Great Replacement," a conspiracy theory that immigration, multiculturalism and diversity initiatives are being used to displace ethic Europeans. The mailing also pushes back against anti-racism terminology such as white privilege and white fragility.

In a joint statement, Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, and House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, said the "inflammatory mail" has been reported to Capitol Police.

"We cannot state this forcefully enough: We have zero tolerance for white nationalist groups' behavior or intimidation," the leaders said. "The groups issuing these messages masquerade as seeking social justice, yet in reality distort information to create false equivalency to misdirect the public and stoke racial tensions."

It's unclear who sent the letters, how many lawmakers received them or when it was received. But a copy provided to Press Herald says it was produced in collaboration with the Way of the World, Anti-White Watch, Solidarity Europa and Klaus Arminius.

A spokesperson for the senate president said at least eight members of the caucus received the letters on Wednesday.

The letter comes two weeks after a white nationalist group staged a demonstration in Portland, the state's largest and most diverse city. About 30 members of the Nationalist Social Club marched throughout Portland on April 1 and assaulted several counter-protesters in front of City Hall.

Portland police came under fire from residents this week, who criticized officers for not identifying any of the masked members or charging anyone for the assault.

The NSC is an extremist group formed in early 2020 in Massachusetts that has had a presence in Maine for more than two years. The group embraces racist tropes spread by Adolf Hitler's Nazi party, targets Jewish people and non-whites, and seeks to create an underground resistance group.

"The State Legislature is a place where lawmakers, members of the public and professional staff deserve safety, security and the certainty that the democratic process will operate without harassment," said Jackson and Talbot Ross, who is black. "As Presiding Officers, we will be relentless in safeguarding every single person who visits the Legislature and will always call out hateful and racist behavior."

The announcement comes as lawmakers consider a bill that would require the Department of Public Safety to provide annual reports to lawmakers about domestic terrorism threats and require the Maine Criminal Justice Academy to develop minimum standards for domestic terrorism respond and information-sharing.

The bill is supported by the Department of Public Safety.

"Reporting to this committee and developing minimum standards for training and dissemination of Domestic Terrorist Threats while protecting the integrity of any individuals or investigations makes common sense," Jack Peck, assistant director of the criminal justice academy, said in written testimony.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office warned in March that domestic terrorism is on the rise, pointing to racially motivated shootings that killed 10 people in Buffalo in May of 2022 and a shooting that killed 11 people at a Pittsburg synagogue in 2018.

Between 2010 and 2021, there were were 231 domestic terrorism incident, with about 35% being motivated by race or ethnicity.

"These attacks were also the most lethal," the GAO said. "Anti-government or anti-authority motivated violent extremism was the second largest category of incidents, and resulted in 15 deaths over the same time period."

This story will be updated.