By Jon Fetherston
A young man is dead.
That is where this story begins, and that is where our focus should remain.
Monday’s fatal shooting involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Biddeford has shaken Maine and drawn national attention. It is a tragedy that has left a family grieving, a community searching for answers, and a state demanding accountability.
What happened? Was deadly force justified? Could the encounter have ended differently? Was there a failure in training, communication, or policy?
Today, we simply do not know.
That is why Governor Janet Mills, U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King have all called for a thorough, independent investigation. They are right. The victim’s family deserves the truth. The officers involved deserve due process. The people of Maine deserve confidence that every fact…not politics…will determine the outcome.
But as investigators search for answers about the shooting, another troubling story unfolded in Biddeford.
Within hours of the shooting, hundreds of demonstrators filled the streets. They had every right to do so. Peaceful protest is one of America’s greatest freedoms, and citizens should never be discouraged from demanding answers from their government.
What they do not have the right to do is intimidate or assault those with whom they disagree.
As I reported on the demonstration for The Maine Wire, I was called a fascist, shoved, spit on, screamed at and struck by a man carrying a skateboard. None of it was because of something I said that day. None of it was because of my reporting. It was because of where I work.
That should concern every journalist, regardless of political affiliation.
Two days later, the anger found another target.
Governor Janet Mills traveled to Biddeford to visit the site of the shooting and pay her respects. Whatever one thinks of her record, it was the responsibility of Maine’s governor to be there.
Some protesters accused her of being there only for a photo opportunity. That characterization is difficult to square with the circumstances. Janet Mills is not running for another office. She wasn’t campaigning. She was doing what any governor should do in the aftermath of a tragedy…show up, meet with the community, and pay her respects. She was simply being human. Janet Mills has been a very vocal critic of ICE for a very long time.
Instead, protesters surrounded her, many out-of-state paid agitators, shouted obscenities and threw objects at her vehicle.
There is an uncomfortable truth buried in those two encounters.
Janet Mills and I agree on very little politically. We have spent time on opposite sides of many of Maine’s biggest debates.
Yet in Biddeford, we were treated exactly the same.
She was doing her job.
I was doing mine.
One was a Democratic governor.
The other was a conservative reporter.
Both became targets of the same anger.
That should force all of us to ask a difficult question: Have we reached a point where political labels no longer matter because anyone who fails to satisfy an increasingly angry movement becomes the next target?
If so, that is a dangerous place for any democracy.
Political disagreement is healthy. Passion is healthy. Protest is healthy.
Violence is not.
Intimidation is not.
Treating every disagreement as a battle between good and evil is not.
America cannot function if reporters are assaulted for doing their jobs, governors are harassed for paying their respects, or citizens assume the worst about anyone who thinks differently.
The investigation into Monday’s shooting must continue without interference or political pressure. If mistakes were made, they must be acknowledged. If policies need to change, they should be changed. Justice demands nothing less.
But justice also requires patience.
Facts take time.
Truth takes time.
We dishonor both when we replace them with outrage.
A young man lost his life in Biddeford. That tragedy should unite us in the pursuit of answers, not divide us into competing camps convinced they already know them.
Somewhere along the way, America stopped talking to one another and started shouting past one another.
Communication has broken down. Trust has eroded. Too often, we judge one another not by our actions, but by the labels we wear or the organizations we represent.
Biddeford should be more than another political flashpoint.
It should be a warning.
Because when a conservative reporter and a Democratic governor can both become targets of the same anger while simply doing their jobs, the problem is no longer simply about politics.
It is about a society that is forgetting how to disagree without hatred.
The investigation will determine what happened on Monday.
It is up to the rest of us to decide what happens next.
Maine…and America…can and must do better.
Excellent commentary! No excuse for the way you and Janet were treated.
Well said and absolutely correct. Having lived and worked in various foreign countries for many years, all I can say to the people of Maine who condone this radical behavior and hatred towards your country ,be very careful what you wish for. American laws do not apply in foreign countries. Travel,experience what it is really like, then you might find common sense again. We can only pray reality sinks in.
Great read, thank you. After watching the clips of the ” debate ” with the possible Democrat senate candidates I doubt if ANY of those are elected it will make life in Maine better. Just speed up the circle down the drain.