DUS Celebrates 37 Years as the Community Voice

Publisher Rosalind “Bee” Harris lauded for sustaining vital communication resource

By Tanya Ishikawa Photos by Bernard Grant

When Rosalind “Bee” Harris published her first issue of Denver Urban Spectrum in 1987, she was focused on her mission of spreading news about people of color, not on the distant future or what DUS would be almost four decades later.

“It was a job. I was thinking about how to keep the business going from behind the scenes,” Harris recalls. “I was going with the flow, you know, and letting nature take its course.”

She didn’t stay behind the scenes for long. Though she has spent tens of thousands of hours in the office – laying out the publication, selling ads, supervising staff, paying bills and ensuring the news magazine was delivered each month – her dedication to her mission meant she was out and about at community events several times a week, all year long.

“I don’t think I have been to any community meeting, gala, opening, protest or barbecue that Bee hasn’t been at,” says Wanda James, a political mover and shaker and the first Black regent of the University of Colorado in 44 years.

“Almost everything that I hear about that’s happening in Colorado, I learned through Bee and the Urban Spectrum. She’s amazing; she’s got her fingers on the pulse of the community,” says James, who has known Harris for 20 years and advertised several businesses in

DUS throughout the years.

Wellington Webb, Denver’s first Black mayor who served for 12 years in addition to four years as a Colorado State Representative, described himself and wife, Wilma Webb, as very close advocates and good friends of Harris after decades of mutual support through the publication. Wilma served in the Colorado House of Representatives from 1980 to 1993, and was the initiator and sponsor of legislation that adopted Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as a Colorado state holiday, long before it became a national holiday.

“You can’t find an event that Bee’s not at,” the former mayor jokes, adding that you can always find photos in DUS’s Around Town section proving her presence. “When I go somewhere and if she’s not there, then I’m wondering, ‘Why am I at this event? If it was important, she would be here.’”

Mrs. Webb adds, “I can’t go anywhere or to any event where I don’t see the presence of the Denver Urban Spectrum “It’s a source of comfort to know that our news is being covered. Like at the BlairCaldwell [African American Research] Library – every time a new exhibit is created I see Bee or her writers and photographers there.”

Harris has also created many DUS-sponsored events over the years; perhaps the most impactful being the annual African Americans Who Make a Difference which recognizes community servants who are making history. Major anniversaries of the publication were celebrated with major galas, which – in the spirit of the news magazine –highlighted the notable contributions of community leaders in areas as diverse as performing and visual arts, politics, health, business and sports.

Building a WomanOwned Legacy

Harris met Norma J. Paige on the first anniversary of DUS, at a print shop where the publisher was ordering specially embossed invitations for an anniversary event. Paige, who describes herself as a wife, mother, grandmother and community servant, has played diverse roles at the publication through the years, including as an Around-the-Town columnist and event committee member. The publication has likewise promoted fundraisers organized by Paige.

“We did so many things together. We pulled allnighters, while she put things together and I watched the inner workings of what it was to put a newspaper together before digital. Everything was pasted up, including the lines that you see separating columns. It was always so impeccably done,” she says, describing Harris as tenacious.

Like many DUS friends and supporters, Paige, who is the vice president of the 100 Men Who Cook Black Tie Fundraiser, passes out the print publication to friends, family and neighbors each month. “It fortifies you as a woman to see this woman-owned business powering through, and doing everything possible to make sure that it is a quality publication and showcasing who we are as women,” she adds.

The first few years of DUS cover stories and features were mostly focused on diverse women of color, including mega-celebrity Oprah Winfrey; Oglala Lakota human services pioneer Della Bad Wound; Latina/Chicana muralist, social activist, painter and activist Carlota D. Espinoza; Hispanic folk medicine healer Diana Velasquez; Doctor Justina Ford; CU professor and Chinese immigrant Evelyn Hu-DeHart; and educator and activist Nita Gonzales. Others who graced the cover and pages of Denver Urban Spectrum’s early years were Miss Colorado LaTanya Hall; griot Opalanga Pugh; singer Indeya; matriarch of Five Points “Mama” Zona Moore; and Cleo Parker Robinson.

Originally called the Denver Journal for one month, the name was then changed to Denver Urban Spectrum; gracing the very first cover was government contractor, Sandra D. Bice.

In 1989, the late singer James Van Buren was the first male to be featured on the cover.

Both DUS and Harris are recognized for their maternal nurturing of the community. Not only have many young writers, photographers and others been mentored through the years, but Harris established the Urban Spectrum Youth Foundation to provide handson journalism experiences to middle and high school students. She said working with youth and watching their growth were some of her proudest moments.

At 12 years old, Kia Milan already saw Harris and Denver Urban Spectrum as pillars in the community that she wanted to emulate. Having picked up copies in the lobbies of recreation centers and churches, she decided she wanted to write stories. She sent a floppy disc to Harris, asking if her stories could be published in the newspaper.

“Eventually we met and she invited me to be a part of the Urban Spectrum Youth Foundation; I served as the editor on that youth paper for three years while in high school, overseeing meetings, helping pick stories and working with the graphic designer,” explains Milan, who is now a creative content marketing manager for Netflix.

“The Youth Foundation really gave me an opportunity to see what my future could potentially look like. There were guest speakers who came in and talked to us about their careers. Those leadership opportunities, which I had at 15 and 16 years old, helped me as I entered the job world, and I had no problem getting up in front of meetings,” she says.

In her personal life as well, Harris has been a doting mother, grandmother and now great-grandmother. She even adopted African sons during a trip with Mayor Webb’s delegation to Africa in the late ‘90s.

Melovy Melvin began as a high school intern with DUS, learning most aspects of the business in 2015, and today works as the social media and digital marketing manager. “I was fortunate – very fortunate and blessed that Ms. Harris saw potential in me and offered me a permanent position. I was just embraced and introduced to so much through Denver Urban Spectrum, from knowing the different types of great organizations that are here in Colorado and the different stories,” Melvin remembers.

While meeting national leaders like Maya Angelou, the Obamas, Tyler Perry, Quincy

Jones and Oprah Winfrey have been especially satisfying over the decades, Harris was just as inspired by local heroes like marathon runner Essie Garrett, educators Rachel B. Noel and Marie Greenwood, sculptor Ed Dwight, rodeo visionary Lu Vason, Little Rock Nine’s Carlotta Walls-LaNier and musical legend Charles Burrell.

“Before Essie passed away, she said she only wanted Denver Urban Spectrum to do her story. Moments like that show me how important it has been to be the voice for so many people,” Harris explains.

“I always think about the time when we were working late one night and a fax came in at about four in the morning. It was from community activist Ashara Ekundayo sending an announcement and hoping it would make the deadline into the newspaper, because it was important for us as the community voice,” she says.

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Recording Essential History for the Benefit of All

Former Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, blues powerhouse vocalist Hazel Miller, media personalities Renelda Muse, Tamara Banks and James “Dr. Daddio” Walker, MLK Jr. African-American Heritage Rodeo, the Honorable Elbra Wedgeworth, Dr. Syl Morgan Smith, Bronco Superbowl Champion Rod Smith and a long list of inspiring community leaders and institutions have graced the covers of DUS. The articles and editorials on the inside pages have been just as significant, covering activists, church leaders, entertainers, health issues, education, social injustices and other topics of importance to communities of color.

Founder and CEO Richard Lewis of RTL Networks Inc., an award-winning technology leader with an international presence in government sectors, says, “Denver Urban Spectrum is an essential part of not just the Denver metro area, but Colorado in general. There’s a lot that happens in our community that just doesn’t get picked up by the mainstream. I can’t imagine Denver as a person of color without the Denver Urban Spectrum.” greater endorsement as to the importance of an organization than that.”

“Denver Urban Spectrum has enabled a lot of people who want to engage with the community to understand who they need to be talking to and where and why. Others are just looking for light-hearted stories and entertainment,” he says. “Like so many others, I’ve leveraged Denver Urban Spectrum to understand and connect with the community.

Lewis’ ongoing business accomplishments and philanthropic endeavors have been covered in several issues of DUS. Similarly, Geta and Janice Asfaw, successful owners of McDonald’s restaurants in the Denver metro area, have been covered in DUS

Through the Asfaw Family Foundation International, the Asfaws provide local philanthropy annually through a senior citizen dinner, bicycle giveaway, scholarship and educational grant. In kind, these organizations have supported DUS with advertising.

“Bee is like a cheerleader for the community. She is so full of energy and connected in so many ways, and she is just always there to encourage people and share what they need to know,” comments Lewis, who also founded the RTL Foundation as a development center that incubates nonprofits serving the BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color) community.

Being around for 37 years is no accident; he continues, “I don’t know if there’s any

Geta, who was recently appointed by the governor to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, also commended DUS on its 37th anniversary.

“In America, for any African American business to stay for 37 years is incredible because it’s not easy. All the fights, all the unequal treatment, all the pressure you have. For Bee to struggle and keep the publication alive for 37 years by itself is a great achievement,” he lauds.

Janice adds, “When we moved here, over 30 years ago, we were looking for the leadership of Denver throughout the metro area, and one of the leaders that we met was Bee.

She’s so important with her outreach to people. She’s been a catalyst to bring people together.”

Mrs. Webb emphasized Bee’s championship of producing a valuable communications tool with professionalism and diverse coverage of an underserved community, making sure that all voices are heard.

Wellington agreed that DUS helps the community sustain itself by providing a critical communication device. Since KDKO Black Community Radio went off the air, Denver Urban Spectrum is even more important for “amplification of what goes on in the Black community.”

The Webbs echoed the sentiments of many when they praised DUS for sharing information fairly about both the positive and negative issues and important topics affecting the African American community in Denver. The articles include expertise, accomplishments, celebrations, significant stories and daily struggles of people of color of all economic levels in science, government, arts, entrepreneurship, fraternal organizations, sororities and other areas; plus, the voices are multiethnic.

“Thomas Jefferson said in order to have a democracy, you have to have a well-informed electorate, and that means that we have to have publications that can make that news available to the electorate,” Wellington notes.

“Denver Urban Spectrum is a historical document. Bee has made so much history by virtue of the stories that she covers, such as the way the publication wrote about Wilma and her breadth of work, whereas major newspapers wanted to pigeonhole her accomplishments. Bee’s publication captures all of that historical information and documentation for future generations,” he says.

Mrs. Webb also points to DUS’s tradition of putting out a print edition as “something that you can really hold on to and cherish. You can show others, frame it and let people know. It’s very, very important that it’s printed. You see very few printed pieces that focus on the African American community in America; because Denver Urban Spectrum is printed, it’s very, very valuable.”

Meeting Challenges with Grace and Determination

Harris has served on many boards throughout the community, being a resource to those organizations as they have been resources for residents. She not only served on the board of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance for several years, but she also raised money for the organization by performing in the Dancing with the Denver Stars gala.

Dance and cultural institution founder, Cleo Parker Robinson, explains, “Our company is 54 years this year.

Denver Urban Spectrum has been in our lives since its beginning and is the soul of the community. People will see me at Safeway or they’ll see me at the park and they’ll tell me what I’m doing, and I’m thinking, ‘How do they know?’ And then I realize that Bee has already covered it in the publication.”

Spectrum helps us just feel so empowered, I think more than any other publication that I know of,” she says.

She also appreciates the affordability and creativity of advertising and marketing options in DUS

At the same time, ParkerRobinson and others agree on the “tremendous planning and work” that it takes. “It’s hard to keep publications alive. I mean, she works overtime. And always smiling. You know, you never know how hard she’s really working. She’s never telling you about the blues, although she may have them. Or she may know about them, but she never brings you down that rabbit hole of whatever it is that she’s covering, even in the community. I think that’s pretty extraordinary because she gets to see the beauty and the good, the bad, the ugly and the everything,” she says.

Harris admits there have been challenging times – three in particular. The first one happened only two years after the publication’s founding, when a fire destroyed the offices on New Year’s Eve in 1989.

“But you know, I saw from the community that DUS was important because they rallied. They held fundraisers throughout the city. We were only two years old, but it was then that I realized the importance of needing to tell the stories of color that were not covered in the mainstream publications,” she remembers.

That was the only time in the publication’s history that a print edition was delayed. In 1990, the January and February issues were combined.

The second big challenge has always been getting funding and sufficient advertising support to pay for printing and build a staff. After being solely supported by advertising dollars for so many years, “That’s one thing I’d say about COVID:

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“I think people can cover news, but if they don’t do it in a way that touches people’s hearts, then it doesn’t stick. And somehow she does it with the photographs and the storytelling and the and the facts and all of those things combined because she is absolutely present,” Parker-Robinson says.

She describes the DUS’s coverage of the community and events – even deaths and difficult news – as smooth, having real dignity and depth, with great ease, intention and grace. “I call her a true griot, a real storyteller. Denver Urban

Continued from page 7 it did bring grant opportunities, and I think it opened the doors for other journalism funding opportunities. The Colorado Media Project, and other mediabased programs and organizations, saw the need to keep local journalism alive. We have really been supported these last few years,” she says.

The third challenge was when her mother passed away suddenly and violently in 2008. “It was a big challenge, a shock, and one of the reasons I’m looking forward to pursuing my next chapter to help carry on her legacy through the Ruth Boyd Elder Abuse Foundation,” Harris shares.

Setting up AwardWinning Tradition for Future Generations

Colorado Press Association CEO, Tim Regan-Porter, said the staying power of DUS is remarkable, especially as a very small business. “To hold on that long in an environment that has changed so much. I mean, so many publications have gone out of business in the last 15 years – really since 2006 –which was kind of the peak of the newspaper industry. It’s a lot of work. It’s exhausting, no matter the economic environment. It’s a labor of love and so I commend anybody who’s still out there making it happen,” Regan-Porter comments.

He observed that “Other journalists in Denver and the suburbs pay attention to Denver Urban Spectrum, and it helps them tell their stories better, and become more aware. The work that Bee and her team does elevates the community and makes it harder to ignore, intentionally or unintentionally.”

He is impressed with how strong of a community Harris has gathered around her, and the work that the small DUS staff does. “It’s a great team and I think that’s a testament to Bee and the passion and energy that she brings to it and vision,” he adds.

Harris served on the Colorado Press Association (CPA) board, followed by the late DUS editor emeritus Alfonzo Porter and DUS Associate Publisher, Brittany Winkfield. DUS staff and contributors win approximately a dozen awards annually in the CPA contest, which is judged by news professionals in other states.

Winkfield said the DUS staff works hard because Harris has set the example and the bar is high.

“She hardly ever takes the credit and just shares the credit where it’s due. She recognizes the effort, the team effort that it takes to never miss a deadline and continue to produce great journalism and stories that are meaningful,” she says.

DUS Managing Editor, Ruby Jones, credits Harris for uplifting people who either need help or want to explore journalism. “She’s always willing to give someone a chance. She’s always willing to bring people in and bring out the best in them,” Jones observes.

She also appreciates Harris’s openness to new ideas. “She really wants to continue to see Denver Urban Spectrum as a fixture in the community, and she’s been really willing to be open minded and let different generations of staff and different people carry it forward,” she explains.

In recognition of her contributions through DUS and personally, Harris’s office and home are filled with awards from a wide range of community organizations from the

Colorado Black Chamber of Commerce to the MLK Social Responsibility Award. A bookcase at the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library houses many of the awards received from over the last 35 years. She was also inducted into the 2020 class of the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame (CWHF). Along with that honor, she was featured in a book about obstacles overcome by Hall of Fame inductees, as well as being highlighted as a distinctive Colorado woman in a National History Day curriculum being taught in schools.

CWHF Board Chair

Barb Beckner first met Harris years ago when Beckner was working for Rich Lewis.

“Bee is just such a bright light. Every time you see her, every time you have a conversation with her on the phone, she just shines. And it doesn’t matter if she’s under a deadline,” she says.

Parker-Robinson summed up the legacy of Denver Urban Spectrum’s publisher: “She’s just loved and there’s nothing greater than to work so hard all your life, and to really be loved. She’s really respected and she doesn’t take herself so seriously. She’s humble, and I think that she’s just a great, great role model.”.