SKOWHGEAN — An online petition aimed at the leader of the Not Your Mascot movement ordering her to stop “harassing” supporters of the Skowhegan Indians nickname vied this weekend with a petition by that activist pushing for the name to be dropped.
The petition by James MacArthur, representing the Skowhegan Pride group, orders Maulian Smith to cease “your harassing and intimidating actions” that have “become unbearable,” though law enforcement officials say there are no complaints filed against her.
Read James MacArthur's petition
Read Maulian Smith's petition
Meanwhile, a petition asking state and Skowhegan education officials to remove the Skowhegan Indians mascot used on the same website by Smith asks state and local school officials to get rid of the state’s last remaining Indian scholastic nickname.
The dueling petitions promise to close the year with no resolution in the debate that has been raging for the past year and a half.
Smith founded the Not Your Mascot, Maine Chapter, Facebook group, and organized an information session on the topic during Skowhegan’s Riverfest event in August.
As of Tuesday, she had 581 signatures toward a goal of 750 on her petition. Once completed, the petition will be delivered by Smith to Martha J. Harris, chairman of the Maine Board of Education, and to Brent Colbry, superintendent of Skowhegan-based School Administrative District 54.
MacArthur’s petition, aimed directly at Smith, will be delivered to the Maine attorney general, the Somerset County sheriff and the Skowhegan police chief, it said. It was taken down from the website Monday because it had achieved its goal of 200 signatures.
“Such anti-social behavior is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated in any way, shape or form,” the petition reads. It says Smith must “cease and desist immediately” and “if you continue to pursue these actions in violation of this CEASE AND DESIST order, we will not hesitate to pursue further legal action against you, including, but not limited to, civil action and/or complaints.”
The petition rattles off a long list of prohibited actions, ordering Smith not to “bump into, brush up against, push, tap, grab, hold” and several more, including harassment by fax, email or Facebook. It also prohibits her from speaking to, contacting, pursuing, harassing, attacking, striking, telephoning, instant messaging, paging, following, stalking, shadowing, “disturb my sleep, keep me under surveillance, gather information about and/or block my movements at home, work, social gathering or religious functions.”
MacArthur, of Canaan, who has not been one of the public and vocal members of the debate, has declined to comment on the petition, saying in an email to the Morning Sentinel that he will not speak to the news media.
The petition claims to be “admissible as evidence in a court of law and will be used as such if need be in the future,” but police and other law enforcement interviewed by the Morning Sentinel Tuesday said petitions are not legally binding. They said any perceived harassment should be reported to the proper authorities.
Local police said they have received no harassment complaints about Smith, and she said Tuesday she has never engaged in any of the activities cited in the petition and to her knowledge has never met MacArthur.
BLOCKED
The Skowhegan Pride petition is to be sent to Maine Attorney General Janet Mills, Skowhegan police Chief Donald Bolduc, Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster and to Smith, it says.
Smith said she has never harassed any member of the Skowhegan Indian Pride group.
Smith said the only interaction she has with Skowhegan Indian Pride members is when they post items on her Facebook group, which is open to the public.
“A lot of times I’ll let them comment, because I have control over that page, and a lot of times I leave a lot of what they say up,” Smith said. “Sometimes it’s good and thought-provoking and I think it’s constructive, but I’ve blocked a lot of people that make it personal attacks against me, my kids or my family.”
She said MacArthur is among those blocked from commenting on Not Your Mascot.
Smith noted that the Skowhegan Indian Pride Facebook group is closed to nonmembers and she is not allowed in.
Timothy Feeley, spokesman for the Office of Maine Attorney General, said Mills had not received an email containing MacArthur’s petition by Tuesday morning. He added that such a petition would not carry any legal weight.
“We are familiar with MoveOn.org petitions and I don’t think that they are legally binding,” Feeley said. “I think if somebody wants to file a harassment complaint, they should contact their local law enforcement.”
Skowhegan’s Bolduc said he has received an email about MacArthur’s petition and agreed with Feeley that any legal steps would have to be taken through the police or the courts.
“I am also not aware of a harassment complaint made to the (Police Department) as of yet involving Maulian Smith,” Bolduc said. “We would request that they make a report with a statement of events, then determine if an incident is actually harassment or something else. We would then decide what level of action needs to be taken.”
Bolduc said police action on a harassment complaint could include contacting the offending individual and orally warning them for harassment. Police also may suggest that a written harassment notice be served or could refer the complainant to the courts, if the level of harassment rises. The court could then rule on a harassment or protection order. The court requires at least three incidents of harassment before it considers action unless the incident of harassment is severe, according to Bolduc.
MacArthur posted on Facebook Tuesday night that “the purpose of the petition was in hope that Maulian would see that people are feeling harassed over not agreeing with her on the name change.”
Despite the petition’s threat to take her to court, he says in his post, a copy of which was posted on the Not Your Mascot Facebook page, “While I am not gonna take the time to stand in a courthouse and see a judge over this matter, her response has clearly shown the kind of person she is,” and claiming “harassing” emails from members of the anti-mascot group.
“There are many avenues to resolve this matter” but says Smith “has chosen the path of a bully.”
He vows in the post to “continue to support the effort of our group to help the community in showing our pride.”
CONTINUING DEBATE
A volunteer from MoveOn Petitions confirmed the Pride petition was taken down Monday, apparently after MacArthur accumulated his target number of signatures.
“I actually corresponded with the creator of the petition you’re talking about this morning, and he declared victory and took it down himself,” the volunteer, Julie, said in email correspondence Monday with the Morning Sentinel. “It was not removed by MoveOn Petitions.” She is a volunteer with the organization and not authorized to speak for it, so she declined to give her last name.
The volunteer said her inbox was loaded with emails Monday morning on the MacArthur petition. The reactions were mixed, she said.
“Some enthusiastically supported it, while others wrote in telling us to take it down because it was scandalous. By that time, the petition creator had already taken it down.”
Both petitions have been shared extensively on Facebook, though the Pride one no longer is accessible, because it has been taken down.
MoveOn Petitions is an open tool that anyone can use to post a petition advocating any point of view, as long as the petition does not violate the website’s terms of service, according to the website. The petitions are solely the creation of the petitioner. MoveOn Petitions only reviews the petition for inappropriate and offensive language.
The continuing debate over use of a Native American image for high school sports teams and the name Indians has raged for more than a year, with rallies, meetings and social media exchanges.
The SAD 54 board voted 11-9 in May to keep the Indians name in place. The debate was renewed when the Indian Pride group held a support rally on Columbus Day.
Smith’s petition notes that Skowhegan has the last Indian high school mascot in Maine.
“Schools all over the country are changing these mascots because they promote institutional racism,” Smith writes in the petition form. She notes that the American Psychological Association has called for the removal of Indian mascots because “they are proven to be harmful to students of all backgrounds.”
Smith says such mascots “dehumanize Native Americans and mock our culture and identity.”
Members of the Wabanaki, the umbrella group for the state’s four tribes, have said during the Skowhegan debate that they are not honored by the continued use of the nickname.
Supporters of keeping Skowhegan the Indians say it is their pride and heritage to call themselves Indians, as they have done at sporting events for decades. They say the school board vote should have ended all debate.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter:@Doug_Harlow
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