A gathering of an anti-immigrant group planned for this weekend in Canaan prompted someone to distribute an anonymous postcard calling the meeting a âwhite supremacist picnic.â
The label is misleading and has led to confusion, said Tom Kawczynski, an administrator of the Facebook group Maine for Mainers, which describes itself as being âfor U.S. citizens who believe our governmentâs primary and singular responsibility is to our own people.â
Kawczynski, who was fired from his job as Jackman town manager in 2018 for his racist beliefs, said the group is against immigrants and refugees coming to Maine, but disputed the white supremacist label, even though in one post made on the Facebook page this week he said many members are âpro-white.â
The group typically meets about once a month to âprotect the culture and way of life Maine has enjoyed for centuries,â he added in an interview.
The postcard, distributed anonymously to residents on the street where the meeting is scheduled Saturday, reads âCasual dress (no robes or hood required),â a reference to the Ku Klux Klan.
Camille Patterson, a member of the group who is hosting the meeting, said she reported the postcard to police and the Postal Service after learning it was sent to her neighbors. She denied the meeting is a âwhite supremacist picnicâ and took issue with the postcard listing her address.
Patterson also said Maine for Mainers is not a white supremacist group, but she does not support taxpayer money being directed to immigrants or asylum seekers.
âIâm not aware of one Caucasian crossing the southern border,â she said. âIâve never heard of it. If the facts are racist thatâs not my problem, itâs just the facts. We didnât invite them here and didnât ask to be separated from our money.â
Maine in recent months has seen an influx of asylum seekers from African nations, prompting government officials, including Gov. Janet Mills, to take steps in helping them qualify for state assistance.
Beth Stickney, director of the Maine Business Immigration Coalition, said Thursday that views that immigrants or refugees should not be welcomed or offered financial assistance in Maine are shortsighted and counterproductive in a state facing an aging population and workforce shortage.
âThe reality is if businesses donât have enough workers, that hurts the eighth-generation Mainer,â she said. âThe entire state gets hurt if businesses canât survive or have to relocate outside of Maine. Thereâs a desperate need for workers from other states or outside the country â whoever we can get.â
In Jackman, Kawczynski came under fire for remarks he made advocating for âwhite civil rightsâ and his writing on a website called New Albion defending the people and culture of New England and calling on the races to separate.
The Maine for Mainers group has about 218 members that until Thursday included a state lawmaker and a former lawmaker.
Rep. Shelley Rudnicki, R-Fairfield, said she joined the group not knowing what it was and immediately left after a reporter told her about Kawczynskiâs past in Jackman.
âIt said Maine for Mainers,â Rudnicki said. âThatâs pretty innocuous, I guess. Thatâs what I thought. To be honest I didnât even know I joined it. Itâs been a crazy couple weeks so I might have just clicked on it.â
Paula Sutton, a former Republican lawmaker from Warren, also said she didnât know what the group was before joining it. She also left the group Thursday after being questioned about it by a reporter.
âI left the group because itâs hard to say what it stands for,â Sutton said. âIâm not a white supremacist. I didnât even know I was in it. I get lots of requests (to join pages) and normally itâs a good way to learn things.â
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