LEWISTON — A Lewiston group hopes to spread goodwill and promote social integration by showing a PBS documentary several times over the coming weeks.
Welcoming Maine, a community group that works to improve social integration between new and native Mainers, will show “Not in Our Town: Light in the Darkness” a PBS documentary about one community’s response to a series of racially-motivated assaults.
Former Lewiston Mayor Larry Gilbert, a member of Welcoming Maine, said the movie has many lessons for a community such as Lewiston.
“We all have a tendency that once we’re in a community and settled to want to shut the door behind us,” Gilbert said. “It’s happened again and again here, over the years. Why do we want that? Why repeat that sad part of our history?”
The movie will be shown at 7 p.m. Nov. 13 and at noon Nov. 14 in the Lewiston Public Library’s Callahan Hall.
It’s also being shown at 7 p.m. Dec. 5 at the hall at Holy Family Church.
“We’ll continue to show it at other locations,” Gilbert said. “We’d like to do it in Auburn, on the Bates campus and maybe to the chamber of commerce.”
All showings are free of charge and open to the public.
The documentary, which debuted in September 2011, tells the story of Patchogue, N.Y., and the community’s response to an influx of Ecuadorian immigrants.
“Potentially, this can happen anywhere in America,” Gilbert said. “That means it can happen here.”
A series of assaults on Latino residents culminated in the death of Marcelo Lucero, a 13-year resident of the Long Island village. The documentary followed Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri, the victim’s brother Joselo Lucero and other Patchogue residents as they addressed the causes of the violence and worked to heal divisions.
Welcoming Maine is a 12-member group in Lewiston. They are being assisted by six Bates College students, all taking a class on Privilege, Power and Inequality taught by Professor Emily Kane.
Sophomore Elena Jay said the documentary does a great job of explaining what happened.
“It’s obviously not Lewiston, but there are so many direct parallels,” she said. “There is an undercurrent of tension and confusion toward immigrant families and it shows the importance of community and shared values.”
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