I strongly disagree with Mr. Crimmins column and the way he attacked my character in his criticism of the way I approached the Wayfair protest.  

I said what I believed when it came to the Wayfair protest. It’s not a question of hubris or of ego (and yes, you have to have some ego to run for office – I freely admit that). But in all honesty, I thought it was important for someone in local government in a town where Wayfair has a facility to signal to those workers who listened when their consciences told them to take a disruptive action that their community supported them. I still feel that way – and very strongly so.   

I wish Mr. Crimmins had reached out to me to ask me about why I wrote what I wrote so that he could have a better perspective as he sat down to write his column.  

He criticized me for referring to the border detention facilities as “concentration camps.” But I don’t apologize for that, because that’s exactly what they are. As a country, we will come to acknowledge that years from now when the political fires have cooled a little. The truth is that our federal government has taken people and concentrated them in a single location with unsafe conditions and unfair treatment – and that is an understatement.
I am a Jew, and I don’t view the Holocaust as a brand to be protected. Rather, it is a dire warning all of us must always carry with us as we make our way through the world. It is a bright red light telling anyone who can bring themselves to look just what can happen when we begin to lose our humanity.  

Most of my family came here from Eastern Europe in the early 1900s. Today, there is little to no trace of those who stayed. Many of us in similar situations feel we owe it to each other to speak out so that we never get anywhere close to that world ever again.   

The conditions of those border facilities are abhorrent, and the treatment of those being detained there is abusive. A handful of kids have even died in federal custody. We are becoming so numb to atrocities that I don’ think we realize the path our country is walking.  

Walking isn’t even the right word. We are sliding toward something truly awful to the point where someone who dares say something is actually ridiculed for some imaginary harm his criticism could cause our town’s business community. What utter nonsense.  

I also found it strange that Mr. Crimmins compared incorporating homeless shelters into our zoning ordinance to what is happening at our border. They are nothing alike, but, either way, I was one of the councilors who tried to stop the council from putting a cap on the number of beds for homeless families the town could have. And I am so thankful we cobbled together a majority to prevent other rules that might even have zoned Tedford out of the entire town. I’m not sure what “cabal” Mr. Crimmins thought I was a part of, but he should know for future reference that word is a loaded term that he probably shouldn’t use when referring to people of our faith.   

There could have been room for some dialogue before Mr. Crimmins launched this broadside. He never called or e-mailed me, something he was and still is welcome to do, to ask me about why I said what said. Had he done so, he might have learned that my decision to speak out came from a place of deep conviction and not a place of shallow motives – as he asserted.   

So, whether you are offended by what I said, whether you are offended by what Mr. Crimmins said, or whether you are somewhere in between, I would encourage everyone to donate to the RAICES Action Network, which provides legal services to the children being held captive and being kept from their relatives or others willing to help. Or even just donate to Tedford or Midcoast Hunger Prevention. At least then something good will come of this exchange.  

Thanks for reading my side of things.  

Dan Ankeles is a Brunswick town councilor.