Justice

One Woman's Response to the Maine Governor Is Going Viral

January 10th 2016

Maine Gov. Paul LePage came under fire last week after using racially charged language to describe the state's heroin epidemic. Among other things, he said that drug dealers with names like "D-Money" were impregnating "young, white" women — a racist and unfounded claim that offended many throughout the U.S.

One Maine woman's response to Gov. LePage is now going viral.

A woman who goes by Becca Edwards on Facebook, posted a photo of her biracial family on the social media site and criticized LePage for making racist generalizations at the town hall event. The post had more than 80,000 shares since it was published on Saturday.

RELATED: Maine Governor Makes Racist Comments During Rant about Heroin

"Last week the governor in Maine, my state, suggested to the world that if one were to see me (the white girl) and my daughter (the biracial girl) walking down the street, that she is a product of my involvement with a drug dealer from out of state. And even worse, that she wasn't wanted," Edwards wrote. "Things he says don't usually get under my skin, but these words were cruel, infuriating, insulting, and full of hate and should not be tolerated."

After claiming that drug dealers "from Connecticut and New York" were having children with white women while selling drugs in Maine, LePage said it was "a real sad thing because then we have another issue that we've got to deal with down the road," in what is being taken as an apparent reference to the children the women have.

"I have a Masters degree and an excellent job in health care. My daughter's father (the black guy) is... wait for it... my husband," Edwards continued. "Even more crazy, he's not a drug dealer! He's a well educated man with an excellent job in education, in fact. And our daughter was so wanted."

RELATED: Here's What Happened When Maine Drug Tested People on Welfare

A spokesperson for the governor denied that the remarks were racist, and LePage issued a semi-apology on Saturday, blaming the media for twisting his words and exploiting his "slip-up."

lepageTwitter - twitter.com

"I made one slip-up," LePage said. "I may have made many slip-ups. I was going impromptu in my brain, didn't catch up to my mouth. Instead of saying, 'Maine women,' I said, 'white women.' I'm not going to apologize to the Maine women for that because if you go to Maine you will see we are essentially 95 percent white."

There has been a troubling use of racist and miscegenist language throughout the U.S. history of the War on Drugs. One example of this comes from prominent drug war advocates, such as Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics, drew parallels between drug use and mixed race families.

Share your opinion

Do you think Maine Gov. Paul LePage's remarks were racist?

No 3%Yes 97%