Maine state Rep. Craig Hickman, D-Winthrop, talked about his personal experiences and told an Orono crowd of more than 250 people Monday that more work must still be done to realize Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, dream of equality.
Hickman was the keynote speaker at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast Celebration, co-sponsored by the Greater Bangor Area NAACP and the University of Maine Division of Student Life. This year marks 50 years since the famed civil rights leader was assassinated.
Hickman recalled being singled out for scrutiny at an art museum nearly three decades ago because of his race, but noted that he — and society — have come a long way since then.
“The good people of Winthrop and Readfield, two predominantly white conservative rural towns in central Maine elected me, a black man from away, to represent them in the Maine House. Not once, not twice, but three times,” Hickman told the breakfast crowd, according to Bangor CBS affiliate WABI. “As I stand here, living proof that we have come a long way, let us never deny or disremember the events and realities that show us we still have a long way to go.”
He lamented the lack of trust people have for one another today.
“When I first made our community aware that free food was available at our farm (24 hours a day), I heard all sorts of caveats and concerns. ‘But what if somebody takes all that fresh food from your farm stand and then goes out and sells it?’” Hickman, an organic farmer, said, according to WABI. “Where is the love in that question?”
Hickman is one of few African-Americans in the state Legislature, and also one of few openly gay lawmakers in the state as well.
The Orono breakfast was one of several events scheduled across the state on Monday in honor of the holiday.
Independent U.S. Sen. Angus King was volunteering at several Brunswick area locations before delivering opening remarks at the 37th annual Martin Luther King Day dinner at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland. The keynote speaker at the Portland dinner is scheduled to be Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, an organization which advocates for addressing racial disparities in the United States criminal justice system.
Information from the Associated Press was included in this report.
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