Bringing people together to learn about and to respond to injustice in our community and beyond. We need systems that are deliberately supporting racial equity through proactive and preventative measures.
EVENTS
Below is a timeline of YCARE events, activities and partnerships in order starting from the most recent in which illustrate how YCARE members are working to support Yarmouth becoming increasingly racially equitable.
[Winter 2021]
First Reading of the YCARE Land Acknowledgement
[Fall 2021]
First Meeting of the YCARE Land Acknowledgement Working Group
Members of the Land Acknowledgement Project Committee met in person in Royal River Park to continue the process they've begun to create a Land Acknowledgement for YCARE and hopefully model a process for other Yarmouth community groups.
Friends of the Presumpscot River Ceremony for Indigenous People's Day
YCARE members attended a ceremony of remembrance and in honor of the Abenaki that lived, thrived and cared tor the Presumpscot River. It began at sunrise at the Chief Polin Memorial and included a walk as a group down to the river and Saccarappa Falls. Mihku Paul led ritual and song to strengthen our connection to the river and it’s people.
“Freedom & Captivity: Maine Voices Beyond Prison Walls,” UMVA Gallery, Portland Maine.
YCARE members served as gallery sitter volunteers. The “Maine Voices Beyond Prison Walls” art exhibit is part of the Freedom and Captivity Project, a statewide public arts and humanities collaborative conceived with the participation of people in Maine impacted by incarceration. The project aims to help the public imagine a future without prisons through exhibitions, workshops, webinars, a podcast series, research, creative production and public education materials.
YCARE Steering Committee Meeting with Daniel Pilch
Daniel Pilch is a member of the Freeport Town Council. The YCARE Steering Committee Meeting met with him about the public forum that Freeport citizens held with the Freeport police department as well as the process behind the Freeport Town Council forming a resident’s Police Advisory Council..
[Summer 2021]
#Teach Truth Rally at 91- 97 Main Street, Yarmouth
This address is where the Freeman Barber Shop was located. Almeda Isabel Freeman daughter of William H. Freeman, born in 1902 was born in Yarmouth and listed as Black. In 1910, the US census listed the family as white. Understanding that racial identities changed as laws changed is a key part of understanding how structural and systemic racism functioned and functions in the United States.
#Teach Truth Rally at the Walter Gendall Memorial Plaque, Route 188, Yarmouth
Located approximately across the road from #17 Lafayette Street, this plaque glorifies colonial history and does not tell the whole complex history of King William’s War with a quote by the New England Puritan minister Cotton Mather.
Little Free Justice Library
Established the Little Free Justice Library in front of the Yarmouth First Universalist Church at 97 Main Street, Yarmouth. Individuals may purchase books for the library here.
“One Year Later” YCARE Meeting in Royal River Park
YCARE members met exactly one year after the first event they organized together, the screening of the movie “13th.” Twenty people met in small groups to reflect on how YCARE had evolved as an organization after the past year, what issues were important to focus on going forward, and who wanted to take what actions.
[Spring 2021]
Removal of “Historic Yarmouth” sign in front of the Ledge Cemetery
An early YCARE initiative led to the removal of the “Historic Yarmouth” sign in front of the Ledge Cemetery. The sign, erected in 1969, told a harmful one-sided story of “Indian”fighters” and “peaceful” settlers and erased thousands of year.
Restorative Justice Community Conversations
YCARE and the staff of the Restorative Justice Institude of Maine (RJIM) brought Yarmouth residents together to discuss our role in restorative justice as individuals and as community..
Letter to the Editor in Portland Press Herald: YCARE Invites Residents To Join (March 8, 2021)
"In the aftermath of two racial incidents in our town, people have asked, "Is there racism in Yarmouth?" Members of the Black Student Alliance at Yarmouth High School have expressed dismay that little has been said and done to address these incidents.
We believe that it is impossible for racism not to exist in Yarmouth because racism and the trauma from racism exist within all of us.
If we don't accept or believe that racism exists in our town, in us, then our response to racist actions would be different than if we do accept and know that racism is woven into our community in myriad ways. The response would be more like attending to "a few bad apples" rather than working towards change within systems and us.
We coordinate the Yarmouth Community Alliance for Racial Equity. We invite our community to join us on our journey to face blatant, subtle and implicit racism with a menset of curiosity and accountability, to build the capacity to resopnd to racism in all of its forms. This work involves discomfort and struggle. We are likely to make mistakes. We intend to learn from them and do better. We hope the process will lead to connectedness and repair.
Screening of the film "13th" in the Royal River Park
Co-sponsored by YCARE and Yarmouth Community Services.
1st YCARE Panel Discussions on Race, Justice, & Incarceration, Sept. 14, 2021
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Emma Bond, Legal Director, ACLU
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Joseph Jackson, Prison Reform Advocate, Director of the Maine Prison Advocacy Coalition and Advocacy Director for Maine Inside Out.
Restorative Justice Community Conversations
YCARE and the staff of the Restorative Justice Institude of Maine (RJIM) brought Yarmouth residents together to discuss our role in restorative justice as individuals and as community..
Screening of the film "Just Mercy" in the Royal River Park
Sponsored by First Parish Church with Yarmouth Community Services and YCARE.
2nd YCARE Panel Discussion "It's Never Too Late for Justice" Sept 28, 2021
Activists and neighbors discussed current Criminal Justice Reform Legislation and Restorative Justice in Maine.
Rep. Charlotte Warren (Hallowell, Manchester, West Gardiner), House Chair of the Criminal Justice Committee
Ryun Anderson, Executive Director of the Restorative Justice Institute of Maine.
