Here's something I didn't know about the state of Maine... that for decades, if you lived in Maine and were French-American, your French-ness was officially scorned and ridiculed.
I've never been to Maine, although I've heard it's really beautiful and a good place to live if you are very outdoorsy. The pictures I've seen of the coastline are breathtaking. I once painted a copy of one of Maine's famous lighthouses in a high-school art class. L.L. Bean is based in Maine. Stephen King lives in Maine and has based some of his creepy books in Maine towns. And I used to work with a married couple who ended up relocating to Maine, and loving it. Other than that, I know very little about Maine, but never do I recall hearing anything negative or controversial, except for maybe someone poking fun at that "down-Maine" accent.
So I was surprised to learn, through this NY Times article, that Maine has a blot on its past, one which it is trying now to erase. Maine used to be very, VERY anti-French. Yes, maybe even more so than the rest of America, which seems to enjoy some French-bashing just like some of our English friends across the pond. But Maine, according to the article, used to go far beyond the average.
In the 1950s and 1960s, if you were French-American, you were told to stop speaking French in public and even to change your name to something less French-sounding. Being part-French carried a stigma that would make it hard for you to get ahead in school or in the community. Apparently this all developed over time since the late 1800's when so many French-speaking people emmigrated down from Canada, and the locals didn't much care for all that French stuff in their little Maine villages and towns.
You know, for a country that was supposedly founded by people who had themselves been the victims of intolerance, it never ceases to amaze me how resistant Americans are to whatever is "different" from the Puritan/Christian roots from which we began. We are a nation of immigrants, like it or not. In theory, America is designed for the automatic acceptance of differences. But that's in theory only; in practice, it doesn't seem to ever work out that way, does it? At least, not all the time.
No matter how diverse the American melting pot becomes, it seems no matter what we do, we can't get away from an "us versus them" mentality with our neighbors. We always look for someone to be the scapegoat. And it's not limited to Maine, not by a long shot. Once upon a time, it was Irish Catholics in Boston or the Jews in Brooklyn bearing the brunt of society's blame, or the legacy of American slavery that even now is still with us. Today it's the whole debate over illegal immigrants and what to do about the border with Mexico; or if you're from an Arab nation or a Muslim, people looking at you with distrust ever since the "war on terrorism" began five years ago.
I don't know why it should have surprised me so much to find out that Maine has this anti-French history, although it's encouraging to read that the state is proactively trying to overcome decades of intolerance against anyone and anything remotely French. But I can't help but think: will it ever be acceptable to be in America and just be who you are, no matter where you or your ancestors came from originally? Or will we always be a country of fearful bigots, looking to blame our personal or societal problems on whatever ethnic, cultural or social group is different than ourselves? Are we always going to distrust our neighbors if they're different from us?
I think the late, great Mr. Rogers had the right attitude, teaching children to appreciate themselves, and others, just the way they are. Teaching us about being good neighbors. About acceptance, communicating, and dealing with relationships with others.
Maybe we all need a refresher course in Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood to get over our intolerances.
