Guest Column

After I spoke at your last meeting another member of our community spoke. Here is an exact transcription of what they said:

Hi guys. I just tuned in late and I apologize. I don’t think this circus should continue any longer. John has made his point repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly and it’s time for him to be shut down and sent off to whatever world he thinks he believes in.

As I have stated time and again, I believe strongly that in public discourse we need to be gentle on people and tough on ideas. In keeping with that ethos, I am not naming the speaker. Please note that their comment was a precise inversion of that principle. The comment consisted solely of a personal attack on me. Indeed, the speaker apparently joined the meeting after I had spoken, so was not responding to the content of my remarks.

There is, however, a bigger issue here. The speaker stated that I should be “shut down and sent off.” To be fair, I am sure that each of us has had the experience of finding someone tedious and hoping they would stop talking. But the words are clear: The speaker did not say that they find me tedious – they called for me to be silenced and removed. The idea that some people should be excluded from public discourse and eliminated because of who they are is not an idea that is compatible with democracy. It is fundamentally an authoritarian and fascistic idea. We need to clearly identify this fact.

Kennebunk Town Hall. Dan King photo

Had this aggression been directed against another member of our community instead of me, I would also be speaking out against it. As a Jew I feel as though I have extra skin in this game. At times like this I think especially of my grandmother, who narrowly escaped being murdered in a Russian pogrom. She became an activist for democratic reform in Russia and was rewarded by being shut down and sent off to a Siberian labor camp for two years.

I was born a mere 18 years after the liberation of Hitler’s death camps. It was not uncommon to see numbers tattooed on the forearms of my playmate’s older family members. That sight is embedded in my memory as permanently as the ink was embedded in their skin. They were the lucky ones – inventoried for death but saved by G_d or fate.* Two-thirds of European Jews were killed under the Third Reich. Please always remember that the Nazi government also shut down and sent off non-Jews, including Russians, Belarusians, Poles, Ukrainians, Serbs, Romanis, LGBT people, the disabled, Soviet POWs, Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Baha’I, Spanish Republicans, Freemasons, Afro-Germans, Leftists, Communists, Trade-unionists, Capitalists, Social-Democrats, Socialists, Anarchists and other dissidents who disagreed with the Nazi regime (thank you, Wikipedia, for the exhaustive list). To be sure, though, Jews were considered the highest priority for elimination, in part due to the Dolchstosslegende, a false belief that Germany would have won World War I had it not been for a traitorous conspiracy led by Jews.

I hope that helps to explain why I am so distressed to hear such a fascistic statement here in what is arguably one of the most basic institutions of American democracy.

As I said earlier, I would speak out regardless of who was targeted by these words. But it was in fact me that was targeted this time, and I can’t help but wonder if the call to shut me down and send me off was more than just tone-deaf. I don’t have the ability to see into people’s hearts and minds but I invite you to reflect on the possibility that this comment has anti-Semitic overtones.

In the best light, the call for a fellow citizen to be “shut down and sent off” has no place in a democracy. You – the select board and town manager – need to condemn this comment in the strongest terms or risk condoning it with your silence. And let’s be clear, this is not a free speech issue. I am not asking you to restrict anyone’s speech. I am definitely not asking you to hold a workshop and invite people to speak on whether I should or should not be shut down and sent off. Frankly, I am sick and tired of hearing my name chanted again and again in what should be discussions of principles, policy and practices. What I am asking is that you add your voices to the discourse and condemn this fascist statement. You have certainly not been shy to respond to my comments in the past – don’t hesitate to speak up now, to be “upstanders” rather than “bystanders.”

And Mr. Pardue, I expect to hear from you as well. Back in September, you addressed me directly at a select board meeting. You said:

… your comments and those of all people who speak at the board’s meetings highlight the importance to me of our Constitution and in this case, the First Amendment … As I sit quietly and I hear the comments offered by you and others, I am reminded that we should never take lightly the right to speak at these public forums … Let us never forget that many, many people have given their blood and their lives for this right and I will forever, forever be grateful to those who have – those who have served, those who continue to serve to preserve those rights. I listen tonight to your comments and those of others out of respect for the freedom that others have brought us and I thank you and I encourage that your rights continue to be afforded you and all the rights of others.

I am calling on you as town manager to follow up these noble sentiments with action. Clearly condemn the comment that was made at the last select board meeting and acknowledge that such a comment does not belong in our public discourse.

To the person who made this comment I have this to say: If you misspoke or regret your comment, please come forward and set the record straight. Perhaps you had a hard time, in the moment, articulating what you were really thinking. Or perhaps you meant exactly what you said and would like to go into further detail regarding exactly how I should be shut down and precisely how I should be sent off. At this time we have only your statement to go by.

As citizens in a democracy we cannot afford to sit back and let it go unanswered.

John Costin is a Kennebunk resident. He can be reached at 459-7221 or vsu@gwi.net.

*It is Jewish belief that the name of The Almighty should not be spoken or written except in prayer; “G-d” is a common Jewish convention to avoid this when writing.

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