User:Brennahilby/sandbox

Making Refuge follows Somali Bantus' strenuous journey towards eventual resettlement in Lewiston and gives an ethnographic account what may be gained and lost when becoming an American. .

Upon their resettlement in Lewiston, Bantus were met with a great amount of hostility from local Lewiston residents. In 2002, former Mayor Laurier Raymond wrote an open letter to Somali Bantu residents in an effort to dissuade them from further relocation to Lewiston. He proclaimed their resettlement to the town had become a "burden" on the community and predicted an overall negative impact on the town's social services and resources. In 2003, members of a white supremacist group demonstrated in support of the mayor's letter, which prompted a counter-demonstration of about 4,000 people at Bates College, as chronicled in the documentary film The Letter. Despite such adversity, the Somali Bantu community in central Maine has continued to flourish and blend with the community in years since.