INEQUITIES

FROM PAGE 21

Rights Commission Annual report found that 14% of complaints were claims about housing issues.

Chantal Sundberg, a Black Realtor who works in the metro Denver area, said she has not witnessed or experienced discrimination in her work with her clients, most of whom are Black.

“Everyone is treated equal, whether it’s borrowing or buying homes,” she said.

Sundberg witnessed the 1994 Rwandan genocide, when hundreds of thousands of members of a minority ethnic group called the Tutsi were murdered by members of the Hutu ethnic majority. In her eyes, although it might be important to talk about topics of racial discrimination, focusing on them too much can have unintended consequences.

Emergency Management, which is operating the emergency shelters.

Denver’s one-way ticket purchases and the Democratic governor’s short-lived chartered busing operation thrust the state into a national controversy that began last spring, when other governors began sending migrants around the country.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, sent thousands of migrants to Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York during the spring and summer. And on Christmas Eve, two buses dropped o about 100 people outside the home of Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington. e White House blamed the Texas governor, who said he was fed up with federal immigration policy. In September, the eld or the pitch, too. is basketball season marks my 38th year as a three-sports o cial, a combination of basketball, football and soccer. I have been fortunate to work multiple state championships. O ciating has opened numerous doors, personally and professionally. My other referee colleagues and I fear, with this acute shortage, we are on the verge of closing doors for our young people and our communities.

Let’s keep Friday Night Lights on Friday. Let’s ensure our communities and our children have competitive e program is part of the association’s Fair Housing Act Plan, which leaders created to emphasize accountability and culture change. e training is meant to make housing more e migrant arrivals dropped o this week, down to about 50 people games and learn lifelong lessons. After all, without o cials, we are just runninga recess scrimmage! e Colorado High School Activities Association just launched a new #YouLookGoodinStripes campaign to recruit new o cials and the association will pay registration for the rst accessible and a ordable to people of color. e case claims the Hardicks noticed Clinton-Brown’s rst name and asked their real estate agent if Ebony was Black. When they learned she was, the Hardicks refused to sell their property and the agent withdrew the listing upon the Hardicks’ request, ceasing communication. roughout the simulation, agents attempt to theoretically sell four homes within six months while coming across day-to-day happenings including the views of colleagues and encounter issues like language barriers. e simulator provides for moments of re ection in the sales process. At the end of the training, agents are given feedback. per day rather than more than 100 per day a couple of weeks ago. Denver planned to begin dismantling the shelters, consisting of cots and mats in the city’s recreation centers, and asked more community groups to step up to house migrants. is story is from e Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support e Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun.com. e Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media. year. e link can be found onCHSAANow.com by clicking on the “O cials” tab at the top right of the page and following the “Sign-up” link.

“When we emphasize them so much, it creates more division rather than unity,” she said.

Still, discrimination is an ongoing concern for the National Association of Realtors and Brokers. Sundberg said Realtors are trained to address discrimination issues.

And to Gill, the Realtor who helped Johnson sell her home, the association’s training is not enough to help all real estate agents.

“Race is a part of it, but it’s not the in-depth, you know, ‘how to understand if you’re being a racist or not,’” he said.

To address such concerns, the association released an immersive online simulation in 2020 that aims to train agents to recognize and avoid acting on their own biases.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, also a Republican, spent state funds to round up about 50 migrants in Texas and y them to the island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, calling it a relocation program.

Colorado o cials have said they do not believe the migrants were sent here by any other state, but that they organized their trips based on information from nonpro ts and fellow travelers. Word spread quickly that Denver, a so-called sanctuary city because local law enforcement does not cooperate with immigration o cials seeking to deport people for not having required documentation, had warm shelter beds and food.

Becoming a sport o cial is easy and virtually free. Once you call a game or two, it gets in your blood. e smiles and the hard work of the young people will touch your heart. Your friendship, and the service with coaches and fellow o cials will also last a lifetime.

A White Colorado Community Media reporter went through the online simulation, which takes place in a ctional town called Fairhaven. e simulation puts a person in the shoes of potential homebuyers who are experiencing discrimination.

One scenario is based on a federal court case, Clinton-Brown v. Hardick. In 2020, Todd Brown and Ebony Clinton-Brown led a suit against Helene L. and John Hardick alleging violations of the Fair Housing Act and Rhode Island law.

According to Alexia Smokler of the National Association of Realtors, the organization decided to pursue the simulator after a Newsday investigation revealed alleged housing discrimination on Long Island, New York.

About 500 people were sleeping in the city’s three shelters each night this week, and about 550 at other shelters in the community.

K. Kevin Aten, Ed.D., is a Durango native and president of the Durango and Cortez Football O cials Association. Aten also assigns soccer o cials in Southwest Colorado. He can be reached atkkkevinaten@gmail.com.

NOTE: is guest column was previously published in the e Journal and e Durango Herald on Dec. 14, 2022.

“We wanted to show how discrimination plays out in real life scenarios and so we drew on real fair housing cases and frequently asked questions from our members to create these simulated scenarios so they could see how discrimination looks,” Smokler said.

Scenarios in the simulation are based on true stories. ey include testimonials to show discrimination from the perspective of race, disability and LGBTQ+ identities.

“We’ve had people tell us watching these videos — they’re very emotional videos — that they are in tears, that they’re angry, that they’re going to stand up for their clients and also we’ve had folks say ‘I wasn’t aware of these sorts of things are going on’ and ‘this has really opened my eyes,’” Smokler said.

Brian Arnold, who used to work with clients at Aurora Warms the Night, said training like Fairhaven could help combat discrimination. But he noted that since the Fairhaven simulation is not a mandatory step in real estate agent licensing, it is challenging to ensure people who need the training actually do it.

“For your … real estate agents that are doing well, that are maybe using discriminatory practices, how are you going to get those people to use it?” Arnold said. “Unless it’s a mandatory (program) ... then it’s just a nice program that’s out there that could help.”