For Subscribers Laura Fralich: White grievance is racism: Why New Gloucester Selectman George Colby needs to be recalled The racial grievance mentality of Colby’s comments are deeply harmful in that they disregard the centuries of racial violence and racist policies as well as the realities of the current racial inequities in wealth, housing, education, criminal justice, and health. Read Article New Gloucester Selectman George Colby’s comment at the Dec. 3 Select Board meeting raised the question of what it means to be racist, and what qualifies as a racist comment. There is often a misleading and false rhetoric that, in order to be racist, someone has to explicitly espouse racist views, slurs, or comments. This narrative leads to the mentality that we can easily categorize people, comments, or ideas as racist or not racist. This oversimplification of racism gives a false sense of self-assurance and moral high ground to anyone who does not explicitly promote views of racial superiority or use racial slurs.