One of the leaders in the campaign for Amendment A, which seeks to strike slavery language from the Colorado constitution, found a smoldering pile of pamphlets supporting the ballot question on the front porch of his Denver home Monday.
“I was at work, and about 3:30 p.m. my wife called me incredibly upset, terrified,” said Jumoke Emery. “She had come home to this pile of smoldering ashes on our front porch. It was very clear that it was Amendment A literature.”
Emery, who is black and lives in east Denver, says his wife didn’t see anyone suspicious before finding the scorched pamphlets.
“This isn’t 1950’s in the Deep South,” he said. “It’s 2018, in the middle of Denver. I’ve had a cross burning in my front yard, as far as I’m concerned.”
ProgressNow Colorado, a liberal political activism group, called the incident “an apparent white supremacist arson attack.” However, authorities have not released a suspected motive or commented in detail on the incident.
Emery works for the group as director of campaigns.
Amendment A is a repeat of a failed ballot question from 2016 that aims to remove language in the state’s constitution that says slavery is prohibited in Colorado, “except as a punishment for crime.” If the amendment passes, the constitution would then essentially read: slavery is prohibited without exception.
However, the 2016 effort raised concerns that it could inadvertently make prison work programs unconstitutional.
MORE: Amendment A: Everything you need to know about the 2018 Colorado ballot question
Emery said he has faced opposition to Amendment A on social media before, but nothing to the extent of what he discovered at his home on Monday.
“This, to bring it to my home, to bring it where my family sleeps, is beyond anything I could have ever imagined,” he said.
Emery said Amendment A backers “must be doing something right” if they are making people filled with hate target them. It’s not clear where the fliers came from, he said.
Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said officers had been called out to the home. He didn’t have further information on the case.
“We’re looking into the matter,” Jackson said.
- Frontier plane hits, kills person on runway during takeoff at Denver airport
- Rumors of ruined Western Slope peach crop were greatly exaggerated, growers say
- Lake Powell forecast to receive 13% of its usual flows, new report shows
- What’s Working: Swipe fees, AI and other legislation Colorado businesses are cheering or fearing
- Opinion: Fixing how Colorado funds nonprofits will strengthen communities
- Colorado lawmakers race to counter “right to natural gas” ballot measure
- Lawmakers kill bill that aimed to fund childcare for thousands of poor Colorado families
- Bill allowing Coloradans to sue ICE agents heads to Polis’ desk
- Nearly half of Coloradans experiencing food insecurity don’t qualify for SNAP
- Are funeral pyres legal in Colorado?