LEWISTON – Edward Boucher, 62, wasn’t sure what to do or say when he walked by or stood in line with a Somali.

So, he didn’t do or say much of anything.

Now, when he sees them at the post office, “I open the door for a woman or man and say, ‘Hi, how you doing?'” like he does for others. “I take a moment to talk to them.”

The change in Boucher’s comfort level happened, he said, after he attended a four-week “Community Conversations” last spring between locals and Somali immigrants.

A new round of talks is being launched. Lewiston-Auburn residents – American-born and immigrants – are invited to join weekly 90-minute talks that run for four weeks. During the sessions immigrants and non-immigrants talk to each other, ask questions and get to know each other.

The talks are sponsored by the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence, which has a new office at the Lewiston-Auburn College. That office is staffed by outreach coordinator Cara Gaumont.

The conversations are important, Gaumont said. Lewiston-Auburn doesn’t have white supremacists at the door, but it’s incorrect to think there’s no problems, she said. There are still day-to-day tensions, prejudice and abundant stereotypes, Gaumont said.

When groups of immigrants moved into communities, “people on both sides don’t understand each other,” said Steve Wessler of the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence. That lack of knowledge can lead to confusion, mistakes and anger. “It’s really important to reach out and build a trust,” he said.

Boucher and his son joined a group last year that met at the Franco-American Heritage Center. Boucher said he went into the group uncomfortable with the Somalis’ Muslim religion. In his group he sat next to Zamzam Mohamud, a young Somali woman.

The two talked about customs, politics, religion and terrorism. Boucher said he used to associate terrorism with Muslims. He told her, “I was fed up with what’s going on,” terrorism in the name of the Muslim religion.

“She told me that’s not in the Muslim faith,” Boucher said. “Terrorists are people who take the book (Quoran) and interpret it” to support their agendas, Boucher said. “She thought they were crazy, and said terrorism was disgusting. She said, ‘That’s not us. They’re creating a bad image for Muslims.'”

The association he used to hold could be compared to Rev. Fred Phelps of Kansas. Phelps is a Baptist minister who leads followers to show up at funerals of soldiers who died in Iraq holding signs that say, “God hates fags.” Phelps says the soldiers’ deaths are vengeance from God for a country that harbors gays.

Just as Mohamud said the terrorists aren’t true Muslims, Phelps isn’t a true Christian, Boucher said.

Boucher said he also learned about Somali customs, including that they don’t shake hands easily like Americans. By the end of the four weeks Boucher said he became friends with Mohamud.

He recommends others, from teens to seniors, join one of the groups.

Somalis aren’t going anywhere, he said. “They’re going to be here. We’ll be interacting with them,” he said.

The two groups need to learn about each other. “We might as well start learning,” he said.

For more information, e-mail Cara Gaumont at [email protected], or call her at 577-4676.