Communities across Maine saw gatherings, concerts and service projects to honor civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. — known for his nonviolent activism against racial discrimination.
While focused on King's activism, some of this year's celebrations called attention to sweeping federal initiatives around immigration and DEI that participants say are direct contrasts to King's teachings.
More than a week after federal immigration enforcement officials fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis, ICE agents are rumored to be planning a larger presence in Maine. Details of any potential operation remain scarce, but Gov. Janet Mills said in a video statement last week that her office was coordinating with state and local officials to "protect the safety and the rights of the people of Maine."
Protests have sparked in cities across the country, including this weekend in Portland.
That was a topic at the First Congregational Church, UCC in South Portland, which held its third annual MLK Day concert Sunday featuring the Sea Change Chorale.
Senior Pastor Alison Buttrick Patton said while the program has featured some civil rights anthems in the past, it evolves annually to fit modern-day struggles for equity while staying within King's framework for nonviolence.
"We're asking, what is the work that we are called to do today? What is the unfinished work of building beloved community?" she said. "We ask that question each year, and we respond to it a little differently each year."
The Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition tabled outside the chapel and the program had a section on opportunities for action.
Buttrick Patton said every Wednesday, a group of clergy and community members gather at Cumberland County Jail ICE Detention Center to pray and sing.
"Dr. King spoke repeatedly about beloved community," she said. "In my mind that's a community that is inclusive, and which celebrates diversity, and which honors the dignity and the humanity of all of the participants."
In Portland Monday morning, the Alpha Legal Foundation hosted a community breakfast centered around the theme of "joy as an act of resistance."
The organization trains and coaches lawyers from underrepresented backgrounds. Founder Krystal Williams said she was inspired by the story of Macon Bolling Allen, the first Black lawyer in the U.S. who was certified in Maine in 1844.
Williams says barriers to equity in the legal system still exist — and they go beyond race.
"Martin Luther King Jr. recognized that and was leaning more heavily into that towards the end of his life," Williams said. "It wasn't just a racial issue. It was an economic issue. It was a literacy issue. When we start seeing how all of these are interconnected by how people wield power, that's what we really need to address."
The event called attention to the Trump administration doing away with most diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the federal government in the last year. Though participants happily sang songs and listened to lectures about King's legacy.
"This work is wearisome, and oftentimes you feel like you're by yourself," said Kenneth Lewis Jr., senior pastor of the Green Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. "I think practicing joy in the midst of struggle, practicing joy in the midst of trouble, is something that will keep the movement moving."
