FOR THE RECORD

damaging racial inequalities are in the United States, according to city consultants. However, the REDI Action Plan is overall intersectional, examining how to make Golden a better place for people of all ages, abilities, gender identities, sexual orientations, socioeconomic backgrounds, religions and other demographics.

Officials said the next step is to assemble an implementation team of community members and city staffers to make recommendations to City Council on how to achieve goals. Golden expects to assemble the team this spring.

In a Feb. 10 email, Mayor Laura Weinberg highlighted city officials and community members’ ongoing work to “live up to our value as a welcoming and inclusive city.”

“I applaud the Golden Transcript’s work to identify its role in racial inequities in the past and its role in systemic racism,” she stated. “The City of Golden has undertaken similar work … (and) I look forward to this year’s actions to take the information from our new REDI plan and put community-driven solutions into practice.”

For the Golden Transcript

While the Transcript’s ownership and newsroom has changed greatly since the late 1960s and early ‘70s, it’s not immune from the biases and attitudes that riddled its past coverage and contributed to systemic racism in and around Golden.

Scrable said reading the Transcript’s past coverage of the Black community can be “demoralizing,” but even recent stories have failed to represent Black voices.

He pointed to an Aug. 31, 2020 Transcript story about City Council’s decision to display a “Golden

Stands With Black Lives” banner over Washington Avenue. The story said the banner would be displayed for 60 days, “an amount of time intended to symbolize how long it took for slave ships to cross the Atlantic.”

Scrable and his GAC co-chairs did advocate for 60 days, but they never assigned any symbolism or significance to the number.

“It might’ve been said (in the meeting), but it wasn’t us,” Scrable said of GAC. “It was a misquote.”

After the Aug. 31, 2020 story, Scrable received about 20 phone calls from people upset about the supposed symbolism. He felt the Transcript hadn’t done enough research and ultimately misrepresented the facts, and that insensitivity created a very frustrating experience.

He wanted the Transcript to ensure there are positive stories about people from historically marginalized groups, and do better educating Goldenites about their neighbors’ achievements and experiences.

Scrable added: “I’m looking to the Transcript to paint a positive picture for all people of color … and representing ‘all’ versus ‘a few.’”

The Colorado Community Media newsroom acknowledges it has work to do, and this February 2023 report is only the first step in what the team hopes will open a wider conversation about systemic racism and media coverage for years to come. Working on this report brought CCM staff members face-to-face with outdated practices and implicit biases.

Going forward, CCM’s goal is to include more voices of color in the newsroom and on the pages of its two dozen publications, Publisher Linda Shapley said. CCM wants to ensure all local voices are heard and included, while also reflect-

SEE FOR THE RECORD, P15