When the Diol family finally made it to America from Senegal, I’m sure they didn’t picture their dreams going up in literal flames. But, early in the morning on Aug. 5, the Diols’ journey in America ended in tragedy. Arsonists set their house ablaze like a burning cross in the Jim Crow South. Three masked […]
race relations
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Silverman: Voting is a great way to fight bigotry. Remember that in November
Cling to first principles in troubled times. One man. One vote. Women, too. Mess with voting and you are messing with America. Our nation’s Voting Rights Act was born of blood spilled on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965. Young John Lewis took a brutal beating on Bloody Sunday. Martin Luther King Jr. and his […]
Posted inPolitics and Government
Colorado progressives begrudgingly turn toward John Hickenlooper after U.S. Senate primary victory
John Hickenlooper is now the best hope for progressive Democrats to make meaningful change in November’s election on climate change, race and health care. And they’re not too happy about it. “At this time, the most Hickenlooper will get out of me is my vote in November,” said Tay Anderson, Denver Public School board member […]
Posted inNews
Why now? The roots (and possible future) of Colorado’s reckoning with racism past and present
Earlier this month, Sarah Stabio was cleaning up in the exercise studio she opened nearly four years ago when she caught a glimpse of the screen-printed sign on her front window: “The Bar Method Denver-Stapleton.” Suddenly, she couldn’t wait another moment. “Stapleton,” the area that memorializes a Denver mayor notorious for his ties to the […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Wilson: It’s time to shine a light on our unconscious bias against Black people
I wish the nation paid attention to Aurora for other reasons than tragedy. As a resident, this modern city has so much to offer. We are one of the most diverse places in the country. It is a diverse city with over 381,000 residents, a rising median income and over 160 languages spoken. But, it seems that […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Nicolais: Protesters should topple legacies, not statues
As my English teacher wife has repeatedly taught me, content without context means almost nothing. As statues across the country tumble, it is time for us to all step back and figure out if we can see the forest through all the big trees obstructing our view. This should be a moment for education and […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: We must be anti-racist as we protect public lands
A question I’ve been hearing a lot lately in conservation and outdoor spaces – and beyond – is, what do land and resource conservation or the outdoors have to do with racism? To that, I say the answer has always been, and continues to be, everything. Let’s be real. America was built on racism. Our […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: To become a truly anti-racist society, we must go beyond police reform
Racism is not a new problem. It is not an accident, either. Our country’s forbears consciously wrote laws and policies to keep people of color from the rooms of power, to subjugate and oppress them, creating generations of suffering. Building racial justice must be an equally active process. Racial equity is more than an absence […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Wilson: Stapleton finally says goodbye to a Denver klansman’s legacy
At long last, Denver’s klansman mayor, Benjamin Stapleton, will have his name stripped from a neighborhood. Some said it could never happen. They said that like Charlton Heston and guns, we’d have to pry Stapleton’s name out of the Master Community Association’s cold, dead hands. Thankfully, nothing that drastic had to take place. Just a […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Systemic racism is everywhere, all the time. Now start your own protest.
In the field of psychology, deflection is a method of changing the course of an object, an emotion or thought from its original source. It often derails a conversation in the interest and to the benefit of a guilty party. Example: your sibling accuses you of taking their ball. You did, but you want to […]