There are many reasons Bangor needs a multicultural center. It could host needed events and services, but more importantly it would be a welcome mat for more newcomers to the area and it would encourage greater acceptance. Its presence will lead to more opportunities for people to come together to be heard and feel connected.
The Bangor City Council recently agreed to join a steering committee to create the Maine Multicultural Center, to potentially be located in Bangor. The council joins many organizations and businesses, including the University of Maine Augusta, the University of Maine, Husson University, Islamic Center of Maine, Bangor Chinese School, South-Asian Association of Maine, General Electric and Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, on the planning group.
“A culturally rich and more diverse Bangor is more likely to retain a higher a percentage of young Mainers and attract more American-born working age people ‘from away’ who may seek a small city but still want a city that is more zesty than bland,” City Councilor Sean Faircloth wrote in his proposal.
It would help integrate international immigrants sought by local employers, coordinate activities to welcome newcomers to the area, connect them to resources and guide people dealing with immigration regulations. The center also would celebrate diversity with a variety of events, speakers and artists.
The Bangor region can’t rely on home-grown workers to meet labor force needs. Given current demographics, it will have to draw in working-age people from other states and countries. Immigrants don’t make everyone else’s slice of the economic pie smaller. They make the pie bigger for everyone.
To meet this economic and demographic reality, Maine needs to change the tone of conversations around immigrants. There are ways to reduce bigotry without telling people to change because they’re biased. Rather, they often require the simple art of listening.
In a study this year, David Broockman at Stanford University and Joshua Kalla at the University of California at Berkeley showed how brief conversations can help turn around anti-transgender and anti-gay attitudes. Canvassers went to more than 500 homes in South Florida, not with the aim of telling voters what to do but of listening to their own experiences of feeling judged. Then they were encouraged to think about how their experiences relate to the experiences of people who are trans.
It worked. Voters’ attitudes actually changed, and their new views held three months later.
As the news site Vox summed up, “It is the first large-scale, real-world experimental effort that shows lasting opinion change is possible.”
With time and empathy, it’s worth seeing if the same approach could work for racial biases, especially as Bangor seeks to welcome more immigrants of many cultures.
How can people have better conversations about race, in a way that will actually reduce prejudice — and in a way that people will be receptive? Hint: People don’t change their mind when they feel threatened. Vox asked that question and found it’s important to first understand how white Americans, especially in rural areas, process accusations of racism.
“While terms like ‘racist,’ ‘white privilege’ and ‘implicit bias’ intend to point out systemic biases in America, for white Americans they’re often seen as coded slurs. These terms don’t signal to them that they’re doing something wrong, but that their supposedly racist attitudes (which they would deny having at all) are a justification for lawmakers and other elites to ignore their problems,” Vox wrote.
For instance, think about the situation of a white man who lost his manufacturing job and whose son died from a drug overdose. How does he feel when people point out that at least he’s doing better than most minorities? He is told he has white privilege, but it doesn’t make his problems go away.
Actually having someone listen to and understand this man’s experience might allow him to then be open to altering his views.
A multicultural center can be a place that spurs the kinds of personal conversations that lead to more inclusivity and acceptance. This would be an important step as Bangor welcomes more newcomers to the area.
