Denver issues formal apology for history of anti-Chinese racism Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) often feel invisible, ignored in the media, and treated like outsiders, always the “other.” But on Saturday, April 16, AAPIs knew they were seen and heard, and enjoyed the national spotlight of being in the middle of a big news story. The City of Denver gave a formal apology letter for an anti-Chinese race riot that destroyed what had been a thriving Chinatown district in 1880. Most people today don’t even know there had been a Chinatown in Lower Downtown, or LoDo, which today is (in spite of lingering covid) a bustling nightlife haven anchored by Union Station, Coors Field where the Colorado Rockies baseball team plays, and Sakura Square, a hub for the city’s Japanese community. On October 31, 1880, a fight broke out in a pool hall and spilled out into the streets, where thousands of Whites rampaged through Chinatown and lynched one Chinese man, Look Young, and hung him from a lamp post. The Chinese were driven out but returned to rebuild their homes and businesses, although by the early 20th century they had dispersed and mostly moved away. Now, Denver has become the fifth city in the U.S. to offer an official apology for past wrongs against Chinese and other Asian immigrants, with a heartfelt apol-
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May 2022 | Community News
ogy for the 1880 race riot and the anti-Asian racism throughout history even to today. The apology is especially significant because it’s the first one given by a city outside of California, where previous cities’ Asian populations can be more than 30 percent. Denver’s Asian population is less than four percent. Mayor Michael B. Hancock gave prepared remarks and read the official apology letter to a full room at the University of Colorado Denver campus, and signed copies of the letter for two families who are descendants of Chinese who lived in Chinatown. He also gave them commemorative gold community coins – an honor he said can only be bestowed by the sitting mayor. He also gave a copy of the apology and a coin to Colorado Asian Pacific United (CAPU), the organization that had brought the history of Chinatown to light since it was formed last year, and has worked to re-envision the cultural richness of the Chinese presence in Denver. “Denver can deal with the continued consequences of past violence and discrimination such as the recent surge in anti-Asian hate crimes across the nation. As part of this process, the city is committed to supporting the establishment of an Asian Pacific Historic District, sponsoring the painting of public murals depicting the history and culture of Asian Pacific Col-
Article and Photos By Gil Asakawa oradans, partnering on the development of a public education program about Asian Pacific Coloradans, and founding an Asian Pacific American community museum, which will be the first of its kind in the Rocky Mountain Region,” Hancock said. The Mayor received applause throughout his remarks, but for the AAPI community leaders present, perhaps the most welcome news at the event was the announcement that the owner of a building near Coors Field that has sported the sole reminder of the once-thriving Chinatown: a racially insensitive “Lower Downtown Walking Tour” plaque, had agreed to allow the plaque to be removed. The members of CAPU, and the Denver AAPI Commission before them, had tried contacting the owner for permission to remove or replace the plaque, which has been on the building since 1992, for more than two years, but had never succeeded in getting any response. Denver’s new Chief Equity Officer, Aisha Rousseau, got the okay for the plaque to come down. CAPU members are now planning a public event for the plaque’s removal, as well as how to move forward celebrating the history of Chinatown with new, more appropriate, and educational elements like kiosks and murals in the area. The event ended with a raucous Lion Dance performance by Shaolin Hung Mei Kung Fu Academy.
