FOR THE RECORD

forced to sell the land, plots on the same land were listed for sale two

The Impact

In the community

While growing up in Denver in the ’60s and ’70s, Daniel and her sisters used their education and life experiences to help them decipher which news stories were biased and which were reputable. They also relied on family and friends’ advice.

“I don’t think news at the time covered Blacks in the world that they lived in,” Daniel said. “To me, the general stories about how Blacks lived, what they did, what their concerns were and some of their needs, were not covered.”

The sisters felt this trend in coverage didn’t change until the ’80s, when news about Black people and Black communities became more prominent.

As an example, Daniel described how The Denver Post did a feature article on her late husband, Wiley Y. Daniel, who was a prominent attorney and

The Future

For Goldenites

In more recent years, especially in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matter rallies in the summer of 2020, the Golden community has started examining the long reach of systemic racism in and around the city. The City of Golden started work on its Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, and groups like Golden United and Golden Anti-Racism Collective formed.

While these are good first steps, real change has to start with people’s attitudes, GAC members Scrable and Michele Minihane said.

Although many Goldenites are open-minded and inclusive, Minihane personally believed there are still some residents who “do not value an integrated community and don’t feel like it’s important to make people of color feel welcome.”

She added: “I don’t get the sense that (attitudes) have changed a lot in 40 or 50 years.”

Scrable agreed that tangible changes, whether in attitudes or policies, have been slow. He said it’s going to take time and everyone working together to make Golden a more welcoming and inclusive place.

The two described how the Golden Anti-Racism Collective has become a place where people can share their experiences, examine systemic racism’s impact on the community, and find ways to improve Golden for current and future generations.

As of last month, GAC has about years later. Ownership was restricted to “members of the Caucasian race.”

These accounts are just glimpses of Golden’s treatment of people of color, but Tellis emphasized how they demonstrate “institutionalized the state’s first Black U.S. district court judge. She also recalled how The Post’s society section ran pictures of positive stories happening in the Black community.

“I do think it began to change in the ’80s,” Daniel continued. “There were positive stories (but) … the stereotypes were still going on.”

Diversity in the newsroom also seemed to improve during this timeframe, the sisters said. They recalled Reynelda Muse, the first Black person to anchor a newscast in Colorado, and Bertha Lynn, who started in Denver television in 1976.

While a lot has changed in how traditional outlets cover Black people and Black communities, the sisters believe there’s still plenty of bias. Rogers admitted that she avoids local news because there are still more negative stories about Black people than positive ones.

“I think there absolutely still is biased coverage,” she said. “I don’t want, every day, to hear

400 members on an email list and a few dozen who come to its regular meetings. There are several subgroups within the Golden Anti-Racism Collective that tackle different topics such as policy and policing, education, and books and media.

While the bulk of the members are White, any Goldenites of color are welcome to join and participate as they’re able, the members said.

The group has established a unique partnership with the Golden Police Department, as some of its members sit on the department’s community engagement group, GAC member Sandra Knecht explained. GAC and other community members have given feedback on various department policies, particularly around use of force.

GAC members also try to comment on City Council discussions and participate in other local matters, including education, youth outreach and affordable housing. In doing so, the group has developed partnerships with Shelton Elementary, the Golden Library, Colorado School of Mines student groups, Golden United and other groups that share GAC’s goals.

Similar to GAC, Golden United formed after the 2016 election as “there was a fair amount of division, nationally and locally,” Ronnie Rosenbaum said. The group sought to bring people together and encourage respect for those who have different ideas and opinions.

Rosenbaum, who’s vice president on Golden United’s board of directors, described the partnership between Golden United and anti-Black behaviors and norms” in the area. So, he said, it’s no surprise that the Black Panther Party, an organization that “unapologetically called for Black liberation and the dismantling of White supremacist power structures, would catch the about, ‘there’s another Black person who got in trouble.’”

In the country

Going back through American history, the Urban Spectrum’s Porter described other incidents where media outlets didn’t give Black people the benefit of the doubt. He listed the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and the Emmett Till lynching as examples of the media portraying those involved as “guilty until proven innocent,” adding how the trend has persisted into today’s coverage of police shootings and similar incidents.

“And it seems as though that mentality continues to manifest in those organizations in their treatment of our community,” he said. “And so, it’s always the bad news. There’s really never any positive reflections.”

Regarding news coverage of the Black Panther Party, the journalism professor described it as a peaceful organization that was responding to violence “against

GAC, saying the two groups and others joined forces for a rally in summer 2020 and pushed City Council to approve the “Golden Stands with Black Lives” banner on Washington Avenue.

Minihane stressed how the GAC believes systemic racism impacts all Golden residents, regardless of race, and recommended locals read “The Sum of Us” by Heather McGhee to learn more about that impact.

For the City of Golden

In summer 2020, the Golden City Council produced a series of resolutions meant to address its history of racial exclusion and racist domination of non-White groups, Tellis stated.

These resolutions included:

Resolution 2736 – Declaring Racism a Public Health Crisis

Resolution 2747 - Declaring Support for Black Lives and Racial Equity Through a Public Display, and

Resolution 2748 - Declaring A Commitment to Anti-Racism Actions

Resolution 2736 states, “the Golden City Council recognizes that racial inequities have become institutionalized in the policies and practices of many agencies, governmental and otherwise. Council recognizes the need to examine seemingly neutral policies and practices to determine whether they are contributing to inequity and, where needed, change or eliminate the policy or practice as cities have a long history of decision and policy making that have resulted in classist and racist outcomes.” ire of local reporting.”

Tellis added: “Golden has displayed a deep commitment to the marginalization of Black people. To reflect on this legacy is pivotal if we desire to not replicate the racial strife and injustice of our past.”

African-American people in an attempt to say, ‘We will protect our community.’”

“The idea was that Black folks with guns clearly scared the hell out of people,” Porter continued. “Because obviously, if you’ve got a gun, then you’re going to be violent. And it’s only that mentality because of our profession (as journalists). Our profession has continued to promote that reflection — still does, to this day.”

As for Golden and the Transcript’s coverage of the Black community, Porter believed it likely made Black residents feel unsafe and unwelcome, saying, “They know that any coverage of them will not be balanced and fair.” Fairness and racial equity are concepts Golden, Denver, the United States and journalism as a profession need to work on, he stated.

“I don’t see our profession doing enough work in that area,” Porter said. “I hear the talk. But I’m not seeing anything to back it up.”

Building on that, the city hired a consultant in June 2021 to develop a Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan based on community input. After developing it for more than a year, the plan outlined four goals: Create a culture of inclusion and belonging throughout the community of Golden; Increase access to services and resources for diverse community members;

Foster an organizational culture and environment within the City of Golden that’s committed to racial equity, diversity and inclusion; and Expand economic opportunities for diverse businesses.

Along with the REDI Action Plan, the consultants also recommended dozens of strategies toward these goals and an implementation plan.

For instance, public documents and other information should be available to those who don’t speak English or have different abilities. City boards and commissions should have a more inclusive recruiting process to ensure diversity among their members. The city also should host training about Golden’s history, structural racism and implicit bias.

The City Council adopted the REDI Action Plan in December 2022 and called on the community to ensure Golden achieves the four goals in a timely, effective way.

The plan was developed with race as the leading element because of how widespread and 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.

O cials said the next step is to assemble an implementation team of community members and city sta ers 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 o cials 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. “ e 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. e 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 signicance 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.’” e Colorado Community Media newsroom acknowledges it has work to do, and this February 2023 report is only the rst 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 sta 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 re ecting on racial equity, diversity and inclusion. CCM will strive to consider the lenses through which the sta decides to cover stories in the rst place. Appreciating di erences in CCM’s coverage areas, like history and culture, will guide the newsroom in its e orts.

Other newspapers such as e New York Times, the Washington Post, e Kansas City Star, Philadelphia Inquirer and more have done similar analyses of their past coverage, and the Transcript encourages other newspapers in the region and across the country to do so as well, Shapley said, adding that it wouldn’t have been possible without a Colorado Media Project grant.

For all journalists, Porter stressed the importance of continuing to diversify newsrooms and ensuring fair, balanced and objective coverage and “stop convicting people without evidence.”

He called on more publications to review their past coverage and acknowledge its harmful impacts, saying it’s important to shine a light on the truth, to be honest and to be transparent.

“If we’re ever going to get past this, it’s going to take some truthtelling,” he said. “It will be hard. It will be di cult. But it really is one of the last vestiges to make this country what it said it was in the beginning — freedom and liberty for all. Which has not been the case for us.”

Today’s a ordable housing emergency is compounded for our Black, Latinx, and Native American neighbors who face historical barriers designed to exclude them from generational wealth-building as well as present-day ingrained prejudices. is is not a healthy situation for our community or our nation.

Visionary racial justice leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. fought to pass the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA), enacted 55 years ago this April. anks to the FHA, local groups like the Denver Metro Fair Housing Center (funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — HUD, help persons facing discrimination to le complaints with Colorado’s Civil Rights Division or in federal court. And the framers of the federal law had the wisdom to include a provision for “A rmatively Furthering Fair Housing” which requires local governments to take steps to reverse historic segregation via a renewing ve-year action plan they submit to HUD.

Still, many folks in white skin identity today do not realize the extensive bene ts of living, working, and learning in diverse communities for all racial and ethnic groups. Major employers are realizing the bene ts, but the embrace of diversity lags in our suburbs.

As we work together locally to cope with the a ordable housing crisis, we need to use all the tools provided by federal and state law to increase local diversity. Let’s move toward a Denver metropolitan area where every individual, group, and community enjoys equal housing opportunity and access in a biasfree and open housing market, where integrated neighborhoods are the norm, and the private and public sector guarantee civil rights.

John Paul Marosy, outreach and education coordinator, Denver Metro Fair Housing Center

Je erson County

Say no to 300

I am voting no on 300 and I urge you to vote no, too. Our community will not bene t from approving this ballot initiative.

We are having a special election on March 7 because a group of petitioners want to change how our city manages referendums and initiatives. e petitioners suggest several reasons for wanting to amend Littleton’s charter.

First, they say they want to protect our First Amendment rights to petition our government by restoring ballot access for voters. Our First Amendment rights are not under attack and our citizens have always had the right to put referendums and initiatives on the ballot. Ballot measure 300 is proof of this fact.

Second, they say we are not in compliance with state statutes. is is false. Our current petition processes follow all the laws of the state. As a home-rule municipality our charter is our guiding document and the voice of our citizens. It was created with local values in mind. ird, the supporters want to decrease the number of signatures required to overturn a city council approved ordinance. e group behind this initiative has just proven that our process and our signature thresholds work. is group got the required number of signatures to send this to a vote. I applaud their civic engagement, and I respect our city charter and the petition process it outlines. We don’t need to x something that isn’t broken. Changing our charter should require more community voices, not fewer.

Finally, the petitioners say that more citizen-led referendums and initiatives will improve the democratic process. However, having multiple, unpredictable, and inconsistently-timed special elections is proven to result in much lower voter participation than general elections. More unplanned special elections will be a nancial burden to the city and may require service cuts from necessary city functions. Littleton already has a process for citizen-led petitions that works. ere is no reason to change it, and doing so is not in the best interest of our community. Please join me on March 7 by voting in the best interest of our community and vote no on 300.

Kyle Schlachter Mayor of Littleton

Unhappy about story is letter will be worth writing if it can convert just one of your liberal journalists away from their woke ideology as expressed in your second of a four-part series, e Long Way Home by Nina Joss and Haley Lena Jan. 26, reporting on the housing crisis. e article is the epitome of woke ideology because of the accusations made from beginning to end that essentially accuse the U.S. for systemic injustice in housing.

Instead of any consideration of our American ideals around equal opportunity this article focuses on a socialist Utopian ideal with many examples of unequal outcomes. Not surprisingly this very lengthy article ends advocating mandatory liberal training to combat discrimination for real estate licenses.

First, don’t ask about the facts in this article, ask why the Colorado Community Media (CCM) is editorializing about identity politics and race baiting. No mention is made of the problem put on hardships cases which are the outcome of living in a free society, also known as an imperfect world, which is the history of our country. e Long Way Home series is being published in all the 24 metro Denver newspapers, and for a good reason none of the testimonials in this week’s article relate to any of our Douglas County jurisdictions.

Nobody will disagree that it’s easy to nd biased journalists these days, they’re everywhere, so the fault of biased reporting lies with the editors and a biased sta . e paper identi es 25 people contributing to this series. I can’t help but wonder where people like these journalists come from. For me, I don’t personally know anyone whose as severely handicapped with racial prejudice about identity politics as the publishers of this article.

Smith Young Parker