One Year Anniversary

Equity Buckfield is celebrating year one! This time last year, we were dealing with outrageously racist comments on Facebook and beginning to group together and discuss what steps we could take to combat some of the prejudice in our town. 

On June 4th we had our first meeting. Since then we have put in endless amounts of discussion, planning, thought, and hard work into our cause. 

As we reflect on our first year, we would like to share some of the things we are most proud of:

One of the first things we did was purchase a sign for the local ballfield that says “Buckfield supports all of our children” with the progress Pride flag colors in the background. Many of you know this has been a whole battle, but it seems like it’s hopefully staying up this time. 

We have researched and educated ourselves and formed informative posts to pass on what we learn. We focused a lot on the Abenaki tribe, the true meaning behind Thanksgiving, the different Pride flags, allyship, and local reps. 

We have kept our community informed on when select board and school board meetings are happening and made sure to attend them ourselves as much as possible. We listen to their words and understand how the people we elect affect our communities.

Most of us wrote personal, vulnerable stories about why we do this work.

We did a discussion project with Maine Humanities Council called “What if we all understood each other”, which touched on topics such as race, disabilities, and gender identity. 

We researched the tribal history of Buckfield, LGBTQ2IA+ history in Maine, and Black history in Maine.

We did a mini workshop to write our mission statement: “Our mission is to engage, support, and empower marginalized people and their allies to foster a safe and inclusive community.”

We wrote and read/sent statements to the school board, speaking out against hate speech during public comments. 

We created a resource sheet with Crisis hotlines and assistance in general.

We made connections and received recognitions from other organizations, including being invited to Lewiston-Auburn's 2022 Pride celebration.

We strategized how to handle problematic behavior on local business signs.

We requested and received a police report for a racist incident in town to ensure it was filed. 

We made/ordered our first couple small items of Equity Buckfield merch, which we will have with us as L/A Pride on 6/11.

And finally, we would like to share one of the more time consuming projects we have been working on: 

Our  new Equity Buckfield website! Enjoy!