The BDN Editorial Board (that is lame), which operates independently from the newsroom, has decided to make a change this Martin Luther King Jr. Day. They have called for contributors and actively sought diverse voices for their opinion pages, committing to ongoing efforts in this direction.
While not all the commentary may originate from voices of color or local sources, the board is engaged in meaningful conversations and strives to include more diverse voices from Maine. In a departure from their usual format, they decided to prioritize a piece by board members from the Wabanaki Alliance, highlighting Maine tribal leaders’ perspectives as the first thing readers see in print.
This approach may create some tension with their typical layout and style in the opinion section, but it reflects their commitment to reassess long-standing practices and embrace tensions between new ideas and the status quo. Sometimes, sticking to old routines, such as republishing the same editorial year after year, inadvertently perpetuates patterns of racism.
The editorial draws inspiration from Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” where he emphasized the importance of nonviolent tension for growth. It calls for a broader reassessment of how society operates, including the press, government, communities, and individual beliefs. Instead of avoiding the accompanying tension, it advocates embracing nonviolent forms of it to foster change and growth.
