Denver Urban Spectrum - March 2021 Women's History Month

Volume 34 Number 12 March 2021

WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

Madame

Vice President

Kamala Harris

Poised to Help a Nation Recover...4

Lecture and Awards Event 2021 Professor Phoebe A. Haddon

ng

He ali

Ho p & e

March 2, 2021 11:00a.m.-12:30p.m.

Chancellor Emerita, Rutgers University-Camden Past Chair, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Guest Emcee: Tamara Banks

March 3, 2021 5:00-6:30p.m.

Rachel B. Noel

Hope and Healing Panel of Equals

Distinguished Visiting Professorship 40 Years of Honoring Rachel Noel

Past and Present Noel Professors Phoebe A. Haddon Dr. Philip Hart Aishah Shahidah Simmons Hon. Wilma J. Webb Hon. Wellington E. Webb Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry Judi Hampton

msudenver.edu/noel

MESSAGE FROM THE PUBLISHER

Say Her Name...

Volume 34

Number 12

March 2021

PUBLISHER Rosalind J. Harris GENERAL MANAGER Lawrence A. James EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Alfonzo Porter COPY EDITOR Tanya Ishikawa COLUMNISTS Barry Overton Dr. Lane Rolling

According to Wikipedia, #SayHerName is a social movement that seeks to raise awareness for Black female victims of police brutality and anti-Black violence in the United States. #SayHerName aims to change the public perception that victims of police brutality and antiBlack violence are predominantly male by highlighting the gender-specific ways in which Black women are disproportionately affected by fatal acts of racial injustice. In an effort to create a large social media presence alongside existing racial justice campaigns, such as #BlackLivesMatter and #BlackGirlsMatter, the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) coined the hashtag #SayHerName in February 2015.

In March we celebrate Women’s History Month and although the following names do not fit the description of the Say Her Name philosophy, to honor them and recognize their impacts in society we want you to say their names this month. Our cover story features a name we all have been saying a lot over the past few months, Madam Vice President Kamala Harris, and we share insights about her challenging work as the first African American female vice president of the United States. Other stories, gracing the pages of this very special issue, highlight other women who you should be talking about.

Kamala Harris • Rachel B. Noel • Phoebe A. Haddon • Kimbra Murray • Millete Birhanemaskel Jessica Newton • The Links • Deidre Johnson • Navee Essien • Cicely Tyson • Eva “Evie” Mathews Please take some time to read their stories and remember to say their names. Enjoy!

Rosalind J. Harris

FILM CRITIC BlackFlix.Com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Kim Griffin Angelia D. McGowan Alfonzo Porter T. Holt Russell Annette Walker COLAB Susan Greene ART DIRECTOR Bee Harris GRAPHIC DESIGNER Jody Gilbert - Kolor Graphix PHOTOGRAPHERS Lens of Ansar Bernard Grant DISTRIBUTION Ed Lynch Lawrence A. James - Manager

Member The Denver Urban Spectrum is a monthly publication dedicated to spreading the news about people of color. Contents of the Denver Urban Spectrum are copyright 2021 by Bizzy Bee Enterprise. No portion may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher.

The Denver Urban Spectrum circulates 25,000 copies throughout Colorado. The Denver Urban Spectrum welcomes all letters, but reserves the right to edit for space, libelous material, grammar, and length. All letters must include name, address, and phone number. We will withhold author’s name on request. Unsolicited articles are accepted without guarantee of publication or payment.

Write to the Denver Urban Spectrum at P.O. Box 31001, Aurora, CO 80041.

For advertising, subscriptions, or other information, call 303-292-6446 or fax 303292-6543 or visit the Web site at www.denverurbanspectrum.com.

DUS Publisher We dedicate this issue to Cicely Tyson, Eva “Evie” Mathews and DUS film critic Laurence Curtis Washington. May they all Rest in Peace.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR tist, his brother the writer, his cousin the engineer.

A 2018 UCLA study exposed CU’s pattern of overlooking academically sound Black scholars in favor of lesser qualified private school White students.

A CU administrator told me Boulder has a “do not visit” list of high schools that CU perceived as unable to afford the tuition. When I told the administrator that not all Black kids are poor, I was told to identify them, an outrageous and cynical response.

In 1970, Professors Richard Jessor, Charles Nilon, and others , in a report to the Faculty Council, recommended CU Boulder’s Black enrollment be 4%, reflecting the state’s population. Sadly, CU has never reached that modest goal.

The demonstration of CU’s intentions is evident in the paltry numbers of Black Americans on this campus, at every level.

CU’s actions belie its volumes of words that pander to lofty goals. Any real plan must include a budget that reflects inclusive strategies and practices.

A former Regent once said that the Board lacked the commitment and the will to truly diversify the flagship campus.

About the Cover: Artist Scott Kiemle has been drawing and painting since childhood. He majored in graphic design in college and works in a variety of mediums, oil pastel being his favorite right now. He has exhibited in regional galleries in Colorado and Minnesota. You can see more of his work on Facebook.

Message to the CU Board of Regents Editor: Thank you for your time. I am James Michael Brodie, class of ‘83.

May 1977, I was part of a group of students that took over Hellems Hall, protesting CU’s plan to eliminate the Educational Opportunity Program. At 19, I was forced to fight outside of the classroom for a chance to earn my degree inside the classroom.

Back then, there were about 800 Black students on a campus of 20,000. Today, the roughly 500 Black students on a campus of more than 30,000 feel as unwelcome now as we did then.

Black Americans are about 1 percent of the student population, but 70% of the football team. CU finds a star athlete in the most remote community, but ignores his sister the scien-

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Do you have the will and the commitment now?

The time for excuses is over.

Now is the time for action.

James Michael Brodie

Memorial Tribute for DUS Writer Appreciated Editor: Thank you so much for the outstanding tribute to Charles, our friend and co-laborer, for the cause of providing opportunities to under resourced youth in the Denver community and for the opportunity for us to participate in the tribute. We will miss Charles and his reporting of the needs of these young people through our programs but look forward to establishing relationships with other journalists at the Denver Urban Spectrum.

Dr. Bob Fomer

Tobacco Industry Targets Black Communities Editor: My introduction to tobacco began at the age of 15, and I am still a smoker at the age of 44. I now smoke e-cigarettes, as opposed to combustible tobacco.

Growing up, the glamorization of cigarettes in society made me feel that being a Continued on page 30

Colorado Leaders Weigh in on the Great Expectations for Madame Vice Presiden

Madame Vice President

By Angelia D. McGowan

History books have marked the importance of a U.S. president’s first hundred days in office ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt assumed office in 1933, during the Great Depression. He set a standard against which all future U.S. presidents would be measured when he began rolling out programs that made up his New Deal, signifying a new relationship between the American people and their government.

When Joe Biden was inaugurated as the president of the United States, he moved into a long line of presidents challenged with making a major impact for the better within the first 100 days of their administration. Because Vice President Kamala Harris will forever stand in history as the first woman and first woman of color to hold the office, she may also arguably feel immense pressure to make a difference quickly. And that begins with helping the country recover from the devastating impact of what seems like a never-ending pandemic.

On Inauguration Day, President Joe Biden announced the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan to change the course of the pandemic, build a bridge towards economic recovery, and invest in racial justice. Vice President Harris, in her role as president of the Senate, made a bold statement

Kamala Harris is sworn in as the vice president of the United States.

when she cast her first tiebreaking vote to advance the plan.

According to a White House statement, the plan is to mount a national vaccination program, contain COVID-19, and safely reopen schools, including by setting up community vaccination sites nationwide, scaling up testing and tracing, eliminating supply shortage problems, investing in highquality treatments, providing paid sick leave to contain spread of the virus, addressing health disparities, and making the necessary investments to meet the president’s goal of safely reopening a majority of K-8 schools in the first 100 days.

Colorado leaders have weighed in on her first month in office and the legacy they envision her leaving.

Janet Buckner, a Democratic member of the Colorado Senate, who represents District 28, says Harris’ election and swearing in on Inauguration Day “in itself is

remarkable and historic. She broke the glass ceiling and she is a role model for women who want to aspire to run for higher office and we have a sense of hope

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because of her success and her many capabilities.”

Buckner, who is an Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sister to Harris, met her at a fundraiser in Denver in 2019. She recalls it being an “exhilarating experience. She was warm and engaging and after my short conversation with her, I felt like she was a woman who could communicate and relate to anyone.”

John Hickenlooper, United States Senator from Colorado, remembers campaigning alongside her a couple of years back.

The former mayor of Denver and former governor of Colorado says, “I know her as an excellent leader and an admirable person. She’s also a barrier breaker – blazing a trail for women and people of color across the globe.”

Colorado Senator Rhonda Fields, who represents District 29, adds, “Vice President Harris has demonstrated leadership and excellence in so many ways. Not only as a gifted district attorney of San Francisco but also as attorney general of

California in 2010 and reelected in 2014. Not only did she serve as an excellent attorney general upholding law and order, but the vice president has so deeply inspired and opened doors for so many more young women leaders to come.”

Jason Crow, who represents Colorado’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, says that from the beginning of her career “she has been a true public servant and a fighter for the people. As California’s attorney general, she took on the big banks and won a $20 billion settlement for California homeowners that were unfairly foreclosed on. In the Senate, she fought for working families and helped hold the Trump administration accountable.”

Some have said Harris has more of a partnership role with the president in comparison to other administrations where the vice president may have been in the background.

As Harris works under the scrutiny of being a “first” and within the 100-day standards placed on presidential administrations, she receives the topsecret national security update in the Oval Office each morning along with the president. She has joined him in Oval Office meetings with members of congress, governors, mayors and labor leaders, as well as with cabinet officials including the secretaries of defense and treasury. She frequently appears by his side at policy announcements and when he signs executive actions.

She held a listening session with the African American Mayors Association regarding the fight against the pandemic.

She has spoken with the President of France Emmanuel

Macron about strengthening bilateral ties between the United States and France and revitalizing the transatlantic alliance. She has also spoken with Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the DirectorGeneral of the World Health Organization. She has been busy.

Fields says, “Today we need representation. We need a vice president who is active with the president and in this administration’s role in supporting and uplifting communities with a disenfranchised history. I believe Vice President Kamala Harris is the perfect person to be an advocate and voice; she understands the women’s experience. She understands the experience of being a person of color in America.”

“I believe collaboration and partnership are crucial for the president and vice president especially during current times,” says Buckner. “The

COVID-19 pandemic, social and racial unrest and injustices, health inequities and a myriad of other social issues call for varying viewpoints and experiences.”

Buckner adds, “Vice President Harris will share life experiences the president has not had and this is the way democracy should look. Just as President Obama and President Biden were partners and friends, this new Democratic ticket will benefit from this type of partnership.”

Crow, who experienced the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, believes Harris, is “the perfect partner to help President Biden tackle the challenges we are facing.” The decorated U.S. Army Ranger, who served three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, was sworn into office three days earlier for his second term as a U.S. Representative. During the Continued on page 6

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Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – March 2021

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Madame Vice President Continued from page 5 attack, he helped to make sure doors were locked, escorted senior members to safety and instructed them to take off pins that would identify them as members.

With the deadly insurrection and subsequent impeachment that ended in an acquittal still top of mind, many wonder if the vice president’s extensive legal background can help to impact policies to ensure an insurrection like the one on Jan. 6 never happens again and that impeachment hearings can be more effective.

Of note, two Coloradans, U.S. Reps.

Joe Neguse and Diana DeGette were among the nine people named by Speaker of the House Nancy

Pelosi to manage the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.

Buckner says, “The insurrection was a travesty and the current laws in place must be strengthened.

We cannot allow this to happen again. A full investigation of the insurrection is the first step in making sure this does not happen in the future.”

According to Hickenlooper, “She’s already playing a key role in helping heal the division in our country as Joe Biden’s partner in the White House. The January attack on the Capitol showed the urgency of repairing our democratic institutions and restoring the public’s faith in our government. The vice president understands the challenge and is committed to ensuring we emerge from this crisis a

stronger and more equitable country.”

“The remedy to division is unity. I believe the solution is through policies that progress unity and not division,” says Fields, who entered politics after her work as a victims’ rights advocate in the wake of the murders of her son, Javad Fields, and his fiancée, Vivian Wolfe. “Policies that allow everyone equal access to ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’ as the framers of this nation intended. I see hope for Vice President Kamala Harris and for this nation.”

In the long term, Buckner believes “all aspects of women’s rights and civil rights will be elevated because of VP Harris and we will see a difference in the way women are treated in the workplace. As a Black woman I believe this amazing and historic moment will help us break down barriers for all women and especially woman of color. I am counting on seeing more women at the table in all levels of employment and more inclusivity in decision making.”

Crow underscores what the vice president brings to the White House. “As our nation’s first woman vice president, a Black woman, and a daughter of immigrants, Kamala Harris embodies the hopes and aspirations of so many in our community. And I know that Vice President Harris will leave the door open behind her, so that while she may be the first, she certainly won’t be the last,”he said, echoing a value that Harris’ mom instilled in her.

Fields, who was the first African American woman elected in State House District 42, as well as the first to be appointed Speaker pro Tempore, adds, “I have already witnessed the seeds that Vice President Harris has planted. I have seen little girls in my district excited and inspired.”

She sees Harris “being a voice for all women in spaces where women have not been

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adequately heard. I’m excited to see the future that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris build back.”

In a Washington Post op-ed piece entitled, “Kamala Harris: The exodus of women from the workforce is a national emergency,” Harris addressed the impact of COVID-19 on women. Indirectly, she may have been speaking of herself when it comes to the value of women in the workplace. In the piece, published on Feb 12, the vice president wrote, “When we lift up women, we lift up families, we lift up communities and all of society benefits. This is true in the United States and around the globe.”.

President Biden Speaks to the Historic Diversity of his Administration Excerpt from the White House Proclamation on National Black History Month This February, during Black History Month, I call on the American people to honor the history and achievements of Black Americans and to reflect on the centuries of struggle that have brought us to this time of reckoning, redemption, and hope.

We have never fully lived up to the founding principles of this Nation – that all people are created equal and have the right to be treated equally throughout their lives. But in the Biden-Harris Administration, we are committed to fulfilling that promise for all Americans.

I am proud to celebrate Black History Month with an Administration that looks like America – one that reflects the full talents and diversity of the American people and that heralds many firsts, including the first Black vice president of the United States and the first Black secretary of defense, among other firsts in a cabinet that is comprised of more Americans of color than any other in our history..

40th Annual Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professorship Welcomes Phoebe Haddon Lecture and Awards Event, Tuesday, March 2, 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Metropolitan State University of Denver continues to honor the legacy of Rachel B. Noel for 40 years in 2021. On March 2 and 3, the university is welcoming Chancellor Emerita Phoebe A. Haddon from Rutgers

University-Camden as the 2021 Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professor. Haddon is a law professor at Rutgers University, having served as the Chancellor at the RutgersCamden University campus.

While Chancellor, she also served as chair of the Federal Reserve Bank Board, Region 6 in Philadelphia.

The Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professorship was initiated in 1981 to foster multiculturalism, diversity and academic excellence at MSU Denver. The professorship brings renowned scholars and artists of distinction to the university to conduct classes, seminars, performances and lectures for students, faculty and the larger Denver community.

Commenting on the honor of being named a Noel Professor, Haddon said, “The name ‘Rachel Noel’ brings to mind her motto, which she frequently offered to students and other members of the community that: ‘Excellence is the Standard.’”

“Anyone you meet in Denver knew of her and her impact in the community; when you mention her name it always brings a smile of recognition,” Haddon explained.

“She still is a role model and was a mentor to me and many women of my generation who had the chance to interact with her.”

The lecture and awards event will be moderated by guest emcee Tamara Banks. An Emmy Award-winning storyteller, Banks is a freelance journalist, documentary filmmaker, and media trainer focusing on social justice and dedicated to creating transformational social change through excellence in journalism. Her work has been featured on PBS, CNN, ABC News, HDNet’s World Report, BBC, Al Jazeera America, WB 2 News, FOX News, as well as on numerous radio stations and newspapers.

In conjunction with the lecture and awards event, MSU Denver is hosting “Hope and Healing: A Panel of Equals” on Wednesday, March 3 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. This online event will feature Noel Professors Past and Present: Chancellor Emerita Haddon, Dr. Philip Hart, Aishah Shahidah Simmons, Hon. Wilma J. Webb, Hon. Wellington E. Webb, Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry, and Judi Hampton.

Incoming Noel Professor Haddon is the co-author of a number of Constitutional Law and Torts textbooks and has served on national, regional and state boards related to access and equity and promoting inclusion and quality educational experiences. While serving as chancellor at RutgersCamden, she expanded afford-

Rachel B. Noel

able education and reduced student debt through its Bridging the Gap program.

“In these times, healing is as difficult as it is needed but not totally in our control. What is in our grasp is hope. Hope depends on us, our values and beliefs, our perseverance, especially among our youth,” Haddon said.

In 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015, Haddon was honored by The National Jurist as one of the “25 Most Influential People in Legal Education.” In 2011, she received the Great Teacher Award from the Society of American Law Teachers.

Haddon earned an LL.M. from

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Yale Law School in 1985 and a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Duquesne University School of Law in 1977. She graduated from Smith College with honors in 1972 and has served as vice chair and member of the Smith College Board of Trustees..

Editor’s note: Both events will be virtual and open to the public at no cost, but require an RSVP to receive the event link. For information and reservations, go to https://www.msudenver.edu/noel/.

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to increase Black equity and help Black businesses build capacity.

Our goal is to disrupt the traditional deficit-based development model by building and growing our neighborhood’s local assets to develop places that build and bridge our social capital.

We love the character of the neighborhood, we want to empower it and see it thrive.

In 2020, we joined the Park Hill Golf Course ownership team as a co-developer alongside Westside Investment Partners.

Our work as co-developers began with leveraging local community leaders. The team we built aligned with both the skill-set and passion needed to develop the community utilizing a more inclusive and wealth building strategy.

Our commitment to the community is authentic and spans decades. With me this team includes Wayne Vaden, Ty Hubbard, Herman White, and Erica Wright.

Wayne has been a very important mentor to me and many others through his 20+ years of coaching track in Northeast Denver. As an accomplished attorney, Wayne’s value to Holleran is immeasurable, providing diligent guidance to our team. His steadiness is a perfect balance to our collective vigor.

Ty Hubbard moved to Denver in 2005 and fell in love with the Five Points neighborhood. He started a company called Space Creators, and established three living communities with more than 350 residents.

Herman White grew up in Park Hill and has been recognized for his leadership within the community as well as within Corporate America. In the community, he chairs The Park Hill Pirates and is a co-

A Seat at the Table Op-ed by Norman T. Harris

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orn and raised in Northeast Denver, I share many warm memories about a community we once knew.

I remember skating in the Dahlia Shopping Center and enjoying Kapre’s fried chicken on Holly Street after a Pirates football practice at Skyland Rec Center. The hot summer evenings waged epic water wars with homemade water bottle spray guns until the orange glowing street lights turned on, a signal that it was time to get home before mom came looking for us. Good times!

Today, as I walk down the tree-lined streets highlighted with Victorian homes and 1960’s modern architecture it doesn’t take long to realize the changes sweeping the Park Hill neighborhood.

Over the past 50 years, while other neighborhoods flourished and provided opportunity, Northeast Park Hill has had little economic investment due to

redlining practices.

During this same time, Black families in Park Hill also began to look for places to live which had more opportunities to offer for their families.

Simultaneously, white folks and investors began buying the deserted brick homes. The seeds of gentrification were planted.

With an unprecedented housing shortage in Denver, these seeds have now sprouted.

Without action, the inclusivity and culture we all love are at risk of being eroded as generations of Black and Brown families are being displaced from Northeast Park Hill.

In 2017, I formed The Holleran Group which aims to tackle the displacement of African Americans and their culture. As developers, we are committed to engaging the community with opportunities

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founder of the Denver African American Philanthropist DAAP. He was recognized as one of Denver’s Top 40 Leaders Under 40, and is well versed in strategic planning, organizational change and value creation.

Erica Wright moved to Denver in 2013 starting her career in nonprofits. She is a creative thinker with a passion for creating change, especially in the social justice space. She’s on the leadership team for the Juneteenth Music Festival and directed the 2020 virtual production.

We believe the Northeast Park Hill neighborhood deserves better than a golf course.

Our common denominator is our love for our community and desire to build a new legacy and model for driving wealth and value back to our people. The Holleran Group has a vision and goal to become the premier community development firm by using a new assetbased development model that builds strong equitable, inclusive, and sustainable communities as well as ensure the Park Hill community, neighbors and supporters a seat at the table.

Why now? To paraphrase Congressman John Lewis and other civil rights leaders, if not now, when? If not us, who? .

Editor’s note: To learn more about The Holleran Group visit www.TheHolleran.com

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ROLLING WITH THE DOC

Aurora SWAT Home Search Turns out to be Unnecessary Invasion of Privacy

Editor’s note: Each month, virologist and infectious disease specialist Dr. Lane Rolling responds to questions from the public on COVID-19.

Pregnancy, Variances, Effectiveness, Treatment, Masks?

Question: What is the effect of the vaccine on pregnant females?

Answer: No clinical trials with pregnant female have been done on the different vaccines for COVID-19. My recommendation is not to take the vaccine at this time because there’s no medical proof that it is effective in pregnant females. There could be serious, significant complication to the fetus.

Question: Why are there so many different variances of the SARS virus?

Answer: The SARS virus is the largest RNA virus in the world. The virus has lots of mutagenic capabilities and mutates every two weeks.

There are now more than 4,000 different SARS variants, for example the South African, Brazil, London, and California strains.

Question: How effective are the vaccines on the SARS COVID-19 virus?

Answer: That is a very good question, and my answer is the vaccines are still in their clinical field trials. We won’t have the answer to vaccine effectiveness until after several more months.

Question: Dr. Rolling, is there any treatment for COVID-19?

Answer: Currently, there is only one FDA-approved program for African Americans who have the COVID-19 disease. This FDA trial is geared towards African Americans with COVID-19 and uses the medication, Noviricid. This medication has the ability to potentially mitigate and prevent progression of the COVID-19 disease.

Question: How long is this pandemic going to last? Is there any end in sight?

Answer: This pandemic will continue at least for the next five years.

What is going to end the pandemic will be having herd immunity. This will be through natural immunity, vaccination, and good effective treatments such as Noviricid. Community education will always be on the frontline.

Question: Dr. Rolling, what would you say is the best mask to wear?

Answer: With the 4,000 different SARS variants, the best mask to wear now is the FFP3. This mask has 99% air filtration, which will remove 99% of virus particles in the air. The N95 is the second best mask and has 95% filtration. With new deadly variant mutations, the FFP3 should be your standard mask every day. This mask will save your life.

Question: What is the best product technology that is available for killing the SARS COVID-19 Virus?

Answer: The only product that has been proven in white papers to kill the SARS COVID-19 virus is Proguardeum, a green, organic, EPAapproved solution that has the capabilities of killing viruses, bacteria, and fungus on contact. Every home should have it.

Question: Dr. Rolling, is it safe to go out to dinner?

Answer: That is a very good question. I believe that people can go out to dinner and eat outside (with weather permitting), which would decrease your chances of getting the SARS virus. Please seat yourself upwind of others. Enjoy your cheesecake with strawberries and let me know how it was.

Editor’s note: If you have a question about COVID-19 for Dr. Lane Rolling, email editor@urbanspectrum.net. For more information on SRS products or to place an order, call 720-849-4197 or visit https://bit.ly/35pSQgl.

Aurora Homeowner Comes Up Empty-Handed in Search for Answers

By T. Holt Russell

O

n October 21, 2020, Kimbra Murray was busy working at her hair salon. She called her brother, Willie, to relay that his son, DeMaurion, needed to be picked up at school because he felt ill. Her brother did not answer the phone. She tried again 30 minutes later. This time her brother answered the phone.

“Sis, the SWAT Team is here.”

In the background, Kimbra heard another person; the voice was a detective from the Aurora Police Department. Detective Roberts stated that she had a search warrant for Kimbra’s house that she shared with her brother’s family. The detective informed Kimbra that a search warrant was issued because someone in her home accessed and watched child pornography. Law enforcement had received a “ping” from Kimbra’s Wi-Fi. Roberts read the phone number that pinged the porn site. The number did not belong

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to anyone in the house, and Kimbra was unfamiliar with it.

The detective also indicated that police did not call the number themselves because she “did not want to alarm anyone.”

Kimbra was also informed by the detective they had to take her laptops away from the house. When she inquired further about what was going on, Roberts stated, “I’m new to this, let me find out for sure, and I’ll call you back.”

The call ended, but Roberts called back and informed Kimbra that the computers would not have to be taken out of the house after all.

Kimbra could not leave immediately because she had several clients in the hair salon.

When she finally rushed home, she noticed considerable indentions in her lawn made by the SWAT vehicles. Her brother reported he and his collegeaged son, Anthony, were handcuffed and sat outside in the cold. Her brother was shoeless for a long period of time before one of the officers went back

into the house to retrieve a pair of shoes for him. SWAT and police walked throughout their home unimpeded as home security cameras recorded the event.

Kimbra watched a video taken by her cameras, which she described as “heart-wrenching, humiliating, embarrassing and sickening.” In the video, SWAT and undercover police walked throughout her home without protective masks though the COVID-19 pandemic was at its height. They ransacked one room, even breaking a picture hanging on the wall, and police threw a chair on top of the bed. A police officer was heard saying, “This is one of the cleanest houses we’ve been in.” It also seemed the SWAT Team knew the layout of the house. Kimbra heard one of the officers on video giving directions to where the different rooms were.

In the armed vehicle’s turret, a police officer was positioned outside with an assault rifle pointed straight toward the front door. Neighbors could see SWAT team members running to the front door with a battering ram. The camera captured video of SWAT teams pointing rifles at her handcuffed brother and nephew as they were escorted from the home by police. They were filmed and photographed sitting on the

back of the SWAT vehicle.

Some of the other police officers at the home besides Roberts were Sergeant Barnes, Lieutenant Edwards, Sergeant Kate, and Sergeant Riesling.

The ordeal lasted approximately an hour and a half. No arrests were made, no charges were filed, and no computer content was taken. The SWAT left without further interaction, explanation, or apologies.

When the police departed from the home, Roberts left a handwritten note on a piece of paper, containing the person’s phone number that accessed the child porn, his screen name, Snapchat account information, email, and birth date. As the police casually left the home without communication to Kimbra, it cannot be determined if the note was left purposely or by accident. There was no indication that Kimbra, or her brother and nephew, had committed any crime. Without an explanation, it can be concluded that the police were investigating the wrong people.

Kimbra contacted her pastors first, and they led her to speak with the office of Senator Rhonda Fields. Fields followed up with a call to one of the pastors. As a result, the pastor told Kimbra that the police would call her with an explanation, but that call never happened.

She also contacted the NAACP

and the ACLU but received little to no response. Someone from the NAACP told her that this incident is not a civil case but a criminal case. They said they would call back, but they never did, even after numerous calls from Kimbra.

Kimbra even contacted Mari Newman, the attorney handling the Elijah McClain case, but Newman could not take on anything else due to the time and resources the McClain case requires. Kimbra is concerned about retaliation for her family and herself because Aurora does not have a good record in their interactions with African Americans. Aurora police have used force against Black people more than their white or Hispanic counterparts in each of the past three full calendar years, according to data presented to the City of Aurora’s own council policy committee.

As reported in the Sentinel, the data shows that police in Aurora used pepper spray,

dogs, tasers, and other harmful methods on Black people 75 more times than on whites in 2017, 148 more times in 2018, and 132 more times in 2019. The disparities are even wider between Black and Hispanic residents subject to force at the hands of police. Kimbra wants to be safe but also wants a piece of mind.

The only question that Kimbra is seeking is why police raided her home in the first place and why such a show of force? An apology is also essential.

As Kimbra put it, “Because of the humiliation and the embracement and the sadness, piece of mind goes away. I don’t know if they are going to come back. It’s unsettling, and you can’t get rid of that unsettling feeling, even if they apologize.”

Kimbra Murray is still waiting for an explanation and apology from the Aurora police. .

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Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – March 2021

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With Family Missing in Ethiopia’s Civil War, Denver Woman Says Her ‘Mind is the Hardest Place to Be’

War trauma comes full circle for Millete Birhanemaskel, whose family is missing in Ethiopia's civil war.

By Susan Greene

Photo by Marc Piscotty / © 2020

M

illete Birhanemaskel, a refugee, long-time Denver resident and businesswoman, grappled with 2020 as many others have: She tried to protect her family, her employees, and her tenants from COVID’s reach. She worried about the presidential election. And she managed to keep her coffee shop, the Whittier Cafe, from going under.

She knew already what it was to be separated from the people you love whether that separation comes by virus or by war. And she knew, too, what it was to live with uncertainty and powerlessness because each is a refugee’s emotional wallpaper.

But the anxieties of 2020 for her became magnitudes greater on Nov. 3. On that day, as Americans and much of the world awaited election results, civil war flared again in her family’s home country of Ethiopia and her grandmother and two aunts went missing in

Without knowing the whereabouts and conditions of two of her aunts in Ethiopia, Millete Birhanemaskel says her “mind is the hardest place to be.” Photo by Marc Piscotty / © 2020

the shelling. In the days since, the isolation that has marked this year for so many has taken on a new meaning for her: much of her family is still unreachable and her grief is invisible to most Americans who know nothing of Ethiopia and the trauma of its wars.

“I swear to God I know I look like that crazy woman who is screaming about this terrible dream and everybody’s

like ‘What is wrong with her?’ I feel like I’m in a psych ward yelling, but nobody can hear me.”

Birhanemaskel’s head is 8,000 miles away at the refugee camp in Sudan where she was born after her parents fled bombing of their native Tigray in northern Ethiopia under a military dictatorship.

Her immediate family moved to Colorado in 1982,

Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – March 2021

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when she was an infant, but her grandmother and extended family have been living back in Tigray since the dictator was toppled in the early 1990s. That is, until last month when a feud between Ethiopia’s federal government and local Tigrayan leaders prompted Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to bomb the region again, inciting a civil war that killed civilians and forced more than 50,000 Tigrayans to flee.

Since the disappearance of her grandmother and two aunts, Birhanemaskel, 39, has been calling the cell phones she bought them, which go straight to busy signals without even ringing. She has been checking her Twitter feed every few minutes.

She keeps seeing posts that refugees have little food or water as they walk west toward refugee camps in Sudan, some reportedly collapsing, even dying of exhaustion along the way. She keeps hearing that Ethiopian soldiers are raping Tigrayan women and shooting or beheading Tigrayan men, leaving their bodies in the road for fellow refugees to step over.

She keeps imagining she is walking in their shoes.

“As long as they’re missing, I can’t sleep, can’t focus, can’t enjoy anything because I keep having the most awful thoughts about what’s happening to them,” she says.

She is experiencing what clinicians call “vicarious trauma.”

But vicarious does not express how close it hits home, this civil war in a country where she has never officially lived, yet has defined so much of her life. It is the place, she says, that makes her “most full.” And yet the trauma her relatives are now enduring is a trauma they and her parents lived through four decades ago – and the third siege on the Tigrayan people in her grandmother’s lifetime. That story explains why her grandma, whose home was bombed in

the ‘70s, hates loud noises. It explains why her parents met in a refugee camp and emigrated to the U.S. with a promise to themselves and their kids: “Never again.”

“This is literally my own story, the story of why I’m here.

It’s just horrific how history repeats itself, how it comes full circle, how my people are continuing to be devastated,” she says.

Vicarious does not describe the experience of having to stop thinking of herself as an Ethiopian American, but rather as a Tigrayan American virtually overnight Nov. 3.

“There’s no way that my country could bomb my family like this,” she says. “‘You’ve got to find my daughter.’”

Vicarious does not account for how on edge she feels, how irritated she is by the post-U.S.-election chatter on the talk radio her husband listens to every morn-

ing, how short-tempered she has become with their two youngest kids, ages 4 and 3, whose care her mother helps with.

“Thank God for that because I can’t be present with them and just forget about it, so I just sit in my car and scroll my phone for news about Ethiopia.

This has consumed my entire life. Every minute. And I don’t know how to stop that.”

Birhanemaskel, who gave up her Ethiopian passport to become a U.S. citizen, would not be allowed into the country at this point. So she applied weeks ago for an emergency visa to tour the refugee camps in Sudan, partly so she can help tell Tigrayans’ stories on social media, but mainly to search for her grandma and aunties, or at least find out if they’re still alive. She will fly east when her visa arrives, which could be any day now, and daydreams about spotting them immediately in the camp where she was born.

Her mother – who lived in that camp for several years – has begged her to stay here with her kids.

Birhanemaskel knows she is risking COVID exposure and a lack of medical care in Sudan, and a long quarantine when she returns. She also knows that posting refugees’ stories could put her at risk of getting blacklisted by Ahmed’s government and forbidden from seeing her family if the civil war ends and if they survive and if they return, once again, to Tigray.

Those possibilities, however unbearable, seem preferable to further neither-here-nor-thereness. From the comfort of her home in Denver, she says, she cannot pretend she isn’t caught in this war.

“When I weigh just sitting here against what if that happens or what if I get COVID, it doesn’t even compare. I just can’t stay here doing nothing much more.”

Her decision to make the trip became easier last week when, after hundreds of attempts, her grandmother finally answered her cell phone.

“We talked for only a minute. She was terrified. The only thing she would say is ‘I’m in hiding, we’re rationing water, and where’s my daughter, you’ve got to find my daughter.’”

“Who could say no?”

Birhanemaskel says. “I have to try because my mind is the hardest place to be.”.

Editor’s note: This story is part of a statewide reporting project from the Colorado News Collaborative called On Edge. This project is supported in part by the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Reporting and a grant honoring the memory of the late Benjamin von Sternenfels Rosenthal. Our intent is to foster conversation about mental health in a state where stigma runs high. Help is available, call 1-844493-TALK(8255)

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African American Women Hit the Trails Focused On Health and Well-Being

C

By Annette Walker and Kim Griffin, Florida, U.S.A. Vibe Tribe Adventure Guide

olorado ranks high nationally with people who love the outdoors. The state has 12 national parks, 41 state parks, 13 national forests and grasslands, and 58 “14ers”, peaks that rise more than 14,000 feet, of which Pikes Peak is the best known. Denver, situated 5,280 feet above sea level, is called the Mile High City and is well-served with parks.

Colorado attracts thousands for skiing and other winter sports.

Studies have found that African Americans make up no more than 6 percent of visitors to national parks, but African Americans, women in particular, have begun to embrace and create adventures with nature over the past few years in Colorado. They are regularly exploring the thousands of miles of Colorado’s hiking trails, as well as exploring the panorama of outdoor activities.

Jessica Newton is from a military family, has lived in various locations and attended Montessori schools. “Both the military and the schools I attended emphasized outdoor activities,” she said. “Usually I was in all-white situations.”

After her family returned to Denver, she began hiking, and found that she was the lone Black person on the trails.

In 2017, Newton founded Vibe Tribe Adventures (VTA), a global outdoor and adventure organization, to encourage more people of color to explore the great outdoors with the premise to provide a safe space for women to feel comfortable and inspired. “Our activities are based on conservation, environmental education, health, and

“Sisterhood” Jessica Newton spends time with young hikers.

wellness. By increasing awareness about the lack of inclusion surrounding leisure, recreation, and adventure, we help fill gaps in the outdoor community.

Through providing inclusive, authentic imagery where people of color are featured, we implore the underrepresented to take notice and take action,” said Newton.

VTA has developed four cornerstone programs: Black Girls Hike, which encourages Black women to live healthy lifestyles and explore nature; Urban Trekker, a youth development program for children ages 11 to 18; Black 14er, an advanced survival program that helps train individuals who want to take their outdoor experiences to a professional level; and Adventure Guides, which provides leadership training.

Under Newton’s leadership, the organization achieved non-

Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – March 2021

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A little zip lining

profit, 501(c) 3 status in 2020, opening the door for additional opportunities to raise awareness and funds for the organization.

“In addition to the physical activities, we provide options for well-being by working with our healthy lifestyle partners to offer fitness coaching, nutrition counseling, and weekly, guided meditations. Through building a team of guides from different backgrounds and with different experience levels, we empower individuals to feel like they belong, even out in the vast wilderness. Although trying to go it alone is possible, it can also be difficult. This is where we promote safety and even a sense of sisterhood on many of our excursions,” she said.

In the midst of all the hard work, Newton said self-care is of primary importance. “It allows us to be our best selves

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Through VTA’s community engagement, hiking, climbing, water sports, and other outdoor activities are becoming more mainstream among Black and ethnic communities. “However we are not finished yet,” Newton said. “The legacy of Vibe Tribe Adventures is to continuously be a resource for those seeking to partner with us around the globe. We want to reach as many people as we can to help show the possibilities.”

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sense of calm it instills, in addition to finding camaraderie with like-minded people who enjoy exploring, adventuring, or simply enjoying a quiet and reflective stroll. Despite what is going on in the world, it is important to be able to let things go for a time and find peace. As John Muir stated, ‘Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul,’” she concluded. .

Editor’s note: Individuals and organizations can show their appreciation and support with donations and memberships, as well as participation in events, to keep programs operating. To learn more about Vibe Tribe Adventures and its work in communities throughout the U.S.A. and other countries, visit www.vibetribeadventures.org, Facebook @thevibetribeadventures, and Instagram @vibe.tribe.adventures.

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Black Women Philanthropists Making“Herstor y” Denver (CO) Chapter of The Links, Inc. is set to advance the work of Center for African American Health with a historic investment

“I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.” -Maya Angelou

Investing in Black-led and Black-serving organizations continues to be a priority for the Denver (CO) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, a philanthropic institution with deep

roots in the community which dates back to 1952.

Now, in recognition of Women’s History month, the Denver Chapter is making ‘herstory’ with its largest donation

presents

to date - a $100,000 gift to the Center for African American Health’s (CAA Health) capital campaign. The investment represents a collective giving model, which is fueled by a long-standing tradition in the African American community that has historically and culturally played an important role in reinforcing the financial stability and sustainability of Black institutions. The initial investment from the Denver Chapter of $25,000 more than tripled when members steadily followed with additional donations. This effort marks CAA Health’s first contribution from an African American led organization in support of the capital campaign.

“For nearly three decades, the Center for African American Health has been a place for the Black community to gather for health resources and services,” said philanthropist and long-standing Links member Tina Walls. “Now, more than ever, as we navigate the COVID-19 challenges and their intersection with racial justice, CAA Health is uniquely positioned to meet the direct needs of our community while

Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – March 2021

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also addressing the systemic challenges that require broader intervention.”

As one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of extraordinary women who are influential decision makers, opinion leaders and distinguished achievers committed to enriching, sustaining, and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry, The Links, Inc. has built a chain of friendship around the world with 290 chapters totaling 16,000 members strong.

“As African American women, we recognize and embrace our social and civic responsibilities in transforming our communities and elevating the voices of Black women,” said Denver Links’ Immediate Past President and Founder of Black Resilience in Colorado Fund, LaDawn Sullivan. “As we look to dismantle systems of oppression, we lean in, go above and beyond, and invest collectively and strategically.

We are led by the voices of African Americans in our community.”

One of those voices is CEO and Executive Director for the Center for African Health, Deidre Johnson. Serving in her current role for more than five years, Johnson has established CAA Health as a Family Resource Center and tripled the organization’s budget while expanding its work to serve multi-generational community members with select direct health services, including mental health, access to health coverage, and patient advocacy.

The organization began almost three decades earlier in 1993 as the Metro Black Church Initiative under The Piton Foundation. It was later reorganized as an independent organization in 1997. Led by then Founder and Executive Director, Grant Jones, the organization transitioned into the Center for African

NEWSVIEWS

SBA Reaches $200 Billion Milestone for EIDL Program for Small Business, Nonprofits The U.S. Small Business Administration reached a milestone in the success of the Deidre Johnson, Happy Haynes, Helen Bradshaw (CAAH volunteer), Erin Clark and COVID-19 Economic Injury Gerri Gomez Howard attend the CAAH Health Fair in February 2020.

Disaster Loan program, which has provided U.S. small busiAmerican Health in 2005 with a International Trends and nesses, non-profits and agriculfocus on addressing the sysServices. These facets impletural businesses a total of $200 temic health disparities in the ment programs through billion in emergency funding.

African American community. strategies that build capacity “Following the enactment of “The significance of this such as public information and COVID-19 emergency legislaLegacy gift from the collective education, economic develoption, the SBA has now provided efforts of the Denver Chapter of ment, and public policy cammore than 3.7 million small The Links is so much more than paigns. In its early response to businesses employing more the six-figure investment,” said COVID-19, the organization Deidre Johnson. “It sets an recently made financial contrib- than 20 million people with $200 billion through the example, and issues an invitautions to the Montbello tion, encouraging others - indiOrganizing Committee and the unprecedented COVID-19 EIDL loan program,” Acting viduals and organizations - to Center for Trauma and also make a contribution to our Resilience. In 2002, the Denver Administrator Tami Perriello said. “SBA remains committed work and in the programs of Chapter made a generous and to helping small businesses other African American instituhistoric donation of $50,000 to recover from the unprecedented tional anchors in our commusupport the Blair-Caldwell economic effects of COVID-19.” nity.”

African American Research As of Jan. 31, 57,691 EIDL Library. Beyond financial donaSince the beginning of the loans had been provided to tions, 5,000+ hours of volunteer pandemic, CAA Health has Colorado small businesses, time are given each year as demonstrated its ability to be totaling $3,280,791,056.

Links’ members engage with nimble and serve the needs of SBA is still accepting various activities across the the community through COVID-19 EIDL loan applicaCOVID-19 testing, vaccinations, metro area. tions as the deadline to apply “We see each other – meanfood distribution, crisis counseling that we understand our role has been extended to Dec. 31, ing and more. Much of this 2021. EIDL funding is used to as Black women in narrowing work is happening just outside the divide of racial inequities to pay fixed debts, payroll and the building, in the parking lot ensure better outcomes for our- expenses, accounts payable and in adherence to the state’s other bills that can’t be paid selves, our families and our COVID parameters. The Links’ because of the disaster’s impact. communities,” shared Jada donation to the capital camThis financial resource has Dixon, Denver Chapter paign will further cement the allowed millions of small busiPresident. “From bolstering foundation of CAA Health’s ness owners across America to better results in education to physical space and will provide retain employees continue operaddressing health disparities, the opportunity for the organiour consistent and coordinated zation to own the facility. investment of money, time, talThe 67 active and alumna members in the Denver Chapter ent and testimony illustrates the impact and power of our collecof The Links, Inc. make quiet tive.”. contributions that have historiEditor’s note: For more information cally been a cornerstone in supabout the Denver (CO) Chapter of porting African Americans and The Links, Incorporated and upcomespecially women, girls, and ing activities, please visit www.denyouth. Rooted in sisterhood verlinksinc.org or contact the and with a commitment and dedication to service, the organ- organization at info@denverlinksinc.org. The Center for African ization focuses in five distinct American Health welcomes donafacets – the Arts, Services to tions to their capital campaign at Youth, Health and Human www.caahealth.org.

Services, National Trends, and Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – March 2021

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ating and support their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

SBA’s EIDL are just one piece of the expanded focus of the federal government’s coordinated response. The SBA is strongly committed to providing the most effective and customer-focused programs possible.

As a reminder, the loan portion of the COVID-19 EIDL program continues to have funds available at very affordable and flexible terms, with an automatic deferment of one year before monthly payments begin.

Eligible small business and nonprofit are encouraged to visit sba.gov/coronavirusrelief for more information about applying for EIDL and other economic recovery programs.

About the U.S. Small Business Administration The U.S. Small Business Administration makes the American dream of business ownership a reality. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov.

After Wanting to Die, Learning to Live

By Susan Greene “I am choosing not to see myself as sick,” says Navee Essien, 17, of Aurora, Colo. “I see myself as someone who is trying.”

Photo by Marc Piscotty / © 2021

N

avee Essien has grown up keenly aware of her gifts.

More times than she can count, people have reminded the senior at Aurora’s Rangeview High how fortunate she is to have a close family and strong support system, academic and athletic talent, ease making friends, and the kind of smarts, beauty and confidence that make people say damn, no way that girl is 17.

By those measures, she knows she is approaching adulthood with advantages lots of kids don’t have. She also knows those advantages could not prevent a string of traumas from interrupting her coming of age, and they were not enough to protect her from a despair so deep in November that she tried to end her life.

“I was tired of feeling miserable and being told I shouldn’t, tired of crying and stressing everyone out, and I didn’t have ways of handling it,” she says.

“I felt like I didn’t belong on this earth anymore and that it would be really easier just to die.”

prompted sweeping policy changes to protect mentally vulnerable inmates.

Another of Navee’s uncles and two of her aunts died around the time of Michael Marshall’s death, then one of her closest friends was killed in a gang shooting. Afraid and in mourning, her mom, nurse Natalia Marshall, moved from Denver to a safer neighborhood in Aurora, transferring her two girls to schools where they didn’t know anyone. Then, in a span of one month in 2019, Navee was diagnosed with a kidney disease that runs in her family, her great-grandmother died, and her father, Eno Essien, was fatally shot while being robbed in Denver.

“That was the beginning of my big decline mental-healthwise,” she says.

Navee started flashing back to the blood stains on her father’s kitchen floor and to video images of deputies suffocating her uncle. She started skipping school, and as her grades fell, her mom took away her cell phone and pulled her out of the pom team, the one activity that still motivated her.

She lost friends because of it and stopped speaking to people who saw her breakdown as a “way to get attention” and urged her to simply “get over

City Jail killed her uncle There are lots of reasons not to write about a teenage suicide Michael Marshall, 50, 0verreactattempt, especially one as recent ing to a nonviolent crisis triggered by his paranoid schizoas two months ago. Doing so, phrenia. Navee, who was 12 at some adults may argue, could shame Navee now or haunt her the time, her family, and a determined band of friends and later. At a time when teen suiactivists, took to the streets, cide and suicide attempts have marching for justice. The family shaken communities from the kept advocating for the rights of Eastern Plains to the mountain those living with mental illness valleys, some fear that news coverage may inspire copycats. even after accepting a $4.65 million city settlement that Navee isn’t buying it. She is speaking out – with support from her mother and therapist – partly because she grew up fighting for the mentally ill, and partly because she thinks her story might help.

“Maybe I can save someone from what I went through, from what my mom went through,” she says. “And if I can do that, I think it would help me.”

“I am choosing not to see myself as sick,” says Navee Essien, 17, of Aurora, Co. “I see myself as someone who is trying.” (Photo by Marc Piscotty / © 2021) This isn’t the first time Navee has been interviewed for Navee Essien, 17, of Aurora, says depression makes "a lot of little things" – like the effort it takes to get out of bed, get a news story. That was in 2015 dressed or put on makeup – "really tough." Photo by Marc Piscotty/©2021 after deputies at the Denver Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – March 2021

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it.” She wasn’t sleeping, showering, brushing her teeth or cleaning her room. And she lost interest in eating, in spending time with her family.

The one therapist with whom she made some progress retired, making Navee reluctant to open up to another. A doctor prescribed an antidepressant that increased her risk of suicidal thoughts. Then 2020 rolled in, and with it COVID, social isolation, political upheaval with racist undertones, and mass uprisings against the kind of excessive force that led to her uncle Michael’s homicide.

Navee says she was too deep in her own struggles to pay much attention, but knows her mom and extended family were stressed out by those events and by her downward spiral.

“My family was saying, ‘You have a big support system’ and thought they were supporting me. But they have been through a lot and they were stressed in their own ways and didn’t know how to deal with me.”

On Nov. 13, Navee closed her bedroom door and slashed her wrists. Her mom found her.

A trip to the ER led to a transfer to Highlands Behavioral Health, a psychiatric hospital for youth that, in five days, diagnosed her with bipolar, anxiety and major depressive disorders.

She’s on four medications now and, while they stabilize her moods, they also seem to muffle them, making her feel emotionless. “You’re so used to overreacting that you wonder if that’s normal.”

Still, Navee found meaningful help at Highlands.

“They didn’t belittle me.

They talked to me like I was a real person. They made my opinions relevant and made me understand that what was happening was about brain chemistry and trauma, not something I did wrong or deserved.”

If people learn anything from her story, she hopes it’s that “things like being pretty or smart or well-spoken are not

mental health attributes,” nor are they some sort of karmic insurance against trauma and its consequences.

“They don’t stop a chemical imbalance in your brain. They didn’t stop my father from passing away, didn’t stop my aunts from passing away, didn’t stop my friends from dropping me, aren’t going to fix any broken relations with my family members,” she says. “It’s a lot deeper than that.”

She is back in school now, working a part-time job, seeing a therapist every week and living with a friend. Her mom, Natalia, says letting her go right now is “the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” and also one of the most necessary.

Navee knows she will need to manage her mental health for the rest of her life and that some days she will be more successful than others.

“I am choosing not to see myself as sick,” she says. “I see myself as someone who is trying.”.

Editor’s note: This story is part of a statewide reporting project from the Colorado News Collaborative called On Edge. This project is supported in part by the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Reporting and a grant honoring the memory of the late Benjamin von Sternenfels Rosenthal. Our intent is to foster conversation about mental health in a state where stigma runs high.If you’re struggling, help is available on Colorado’s crisis hotline. Call 1-844-493-TALK (8255)

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Getting Their House in Order The long history of women gaining a foot hold in real estate

By Barry Overton

T

he journey for women in real estate has been a long tedious one. Women’s right to purchase real estate goes back as far as ancient times. In some cultures, such as Egypt, women were able to become property owners as far back as 3000 B.C. During that time, women were able to acquire, own, and even invest in real estate in their own name, but it was a right that most women did not take advantage of because it wasn’t

really considered to be the norm at that time.

So while it appears that Egypt had a more equitable structure in the beginning of time, Europe seemed to move backwards when it came to women owning land and structures. In European countries in 1017 A.D., initially women did have the rights to be able to purchase property, but through the creation of coverture, which viewed men and women as one financial entity, the ability for women to purchase on their own was taken away, unless they became widows.

Throughout the 1700s, American colonies mirrored the laws of their mother countries.

Over time some colonies and states began to give women limited property rights throughout the 1700s. In 1771, New York created an act that required women who were married to also sign conveyances on property deeds. This was beneficial so that if the husband ever became incapacitated and unable to manage the real estate that was owned, those responsibilities fell to his wife.

Upon the arrival of the 1800s, there were reports of women that were leaving abusive husbands which presented to the opportunity to be able to gain property rights. This did lead to the advancement of more women owning property.

In 1839, Mississippi became the first state to allow white women to own their own property solely in their names. During this time, Black women also gained the right to be wageearners, but still did not have

the right to vote or own property.

The first Women’s Rights Convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1948.

Among one of the areas that was discussed at this convention was the ability for women to own their own

property throughout the country.

In 1862, California passed laws that allowed women to have their own banking accounts, which in turn put them in better position to be able to qualify for loans to own their own property. California recognized the full financial independence of women through this process.

In 1882, the Married Women’s Property Act was passed, and this allowed women to have the wages earned by a woman, whether before or after marriage, be regarded as her own property.

This allowed women to have full control of their properties regardless of when it was bought or the source of the money that purchased it. And it protected women from the possibility of their husbands gaining control of their property.

This released women of centuries of coverture that they fell under.

During the 1920s, women were gaining more independence and the ability to be wage-

Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – March 2021

20

earners. About 23% of Americans were women in the workforce. This was largely due because of many men fighting in World War I, but after returning from the war, many women continued to remain in the workforce.

It was during this time that we also saw the increase of more women involved in the sale of real estate. This was an area that allowed for them to make good income without it requiring full time work weeks.

While the Fair Housing Act was passed shortly after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, and it allowed AfricanAmericans to be able to purchase in all neighborhoods, it was also beneficial to women because it also did not allow discrimination based on sex.

During the 1960s and ‘70s, women’s work hours were used as a way to keep them out of traditional male job roles. Due to the flexible schedule of real estate, more women began to turn towards real estate to support their families.

In 2016, the African Union pledged to increase female land ownership to 30% by 2025. In 2020, approximately 67% of real estate agents in the US are women. While the rights of women to be property owners and investors in real estate have taken great strides over the years, there’s still great work to be done..

Editor’s note: Barry Overton is a licensed Real Estate Agent with New Era Group at Your Castle Real Estate. He has been an agent since 2001, and started investing in real estate in 1996. For more information, email barrysellsdenver@msn.com.

COVER TO COVER - THE BOOKWORM SEZ

“Just As I Am” by Cicely Tyson with Michelle Burford, c.2021, Harper Collins,$28.99 / $35.99 Canada, 416 pages

Man, you’re picky.

That’s not always a bad thing, either. You know what you want so you choose deliberately, carefully, with plenty of thought behind it. What’s right for you is right for you and you won’t take anything less. As in the new memoir “Just As I Am”

by Cicely Tyson (with Michelle Burford), folks’ll just have to deal with it.

Born in New York City a few days before Christmas 1924, Cicely Tyson’s first real memory was of a place, one where her parents fought, physically and verbally, over her father’s infidelities. She was sensitive to everything she heard in the next room as she and her brother and sister slept on a pull-out couch, and she recalled times when she tried to stop the brawling.

She was a good churchgoing girl then, and while her mother had ideas for Tyson’s future, young Cicely knew she wanted a life that was different than that of her mother.

Though she loved “the arts.” she decided to become a hairdresser but before she could graduate from high school, Tyson became pregnant and was made to marry the baby’s father.

Later divorced, she was working downtown when someone approached her on her

lunchtime, asking her if she was a model. When she said, “no,” he told her that she should be one. Almost like in the movies, that led Tyson to a friend of a friend who signed her to an agency and there, she was spotted by someone else who knew of a movie director who hired her for her first role. He instructed Tyson to shave ten years off her age.

“Six decades would go by,” she said, “before I let the public in on what was frankly never any of their business.”

And that line should give you most of the encouragement you need to want to read “Just As I Am.” Nobody could ever accuse the late actor Cicely Tyson of being shy.

Even so, she wrote (with Michelle Burford) that she was initially a quiet child, and this, framed by a childhood tainted

by Jim Crow racism and a stormy relationship with her mother, make up the bulk of

NOW I S T H E T I M E T O

the first half of the book. Tyson also wrote of a dangerous innocence that led to early motherhood; on that, she declines to call her daughter by name, which is an interesting aspect that differs from the usual Hollywood memoir.

One other way that “Just As I Am” stands out from the usual: while Tyson name-drops here, it comes across less showy and more familiar, which is refreshing. Her lengthy – and carefully-managed, award-winning career – makes up the latter half of this book, as do tales of her loves, including the red-hot, on-again/off-again, frustrating romance with musician Miles Davis.

For fans of Cicely Tyson’s work on stage and screen, this is a thorough look at more than just that career. Biography lovers will also want to know that if you’re ready for your next book, “Just As I Am” is the one to pick..

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21

Wealthier, Whiter Neighborhoods in Aurora Show Higher COVID-19 Vaccination Rates

By Grant Stringer, Sentinel Colorado

F

or most Aurorans, the vaccine can’t come soon enough.

But a combination of distribution problems and distrust has created early disparities across Aurora about seven weeks after the first vaccine dose was administered in the region. Data from the Tri-County Health Department show that wealthier zip codes with more white residents, on Aurora’s southern and eastern flanks, are seeing higher rates of inoculation than the city center.

Southeast Aurora’s 80016 zip code, which includes the neighbor-

hoods of Southlands, Tallyn’s Reach and Saddlerock, currently has the highest vaccination rate in the city.

There, almost 70% of residents aged 70 and above had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Feb. 2. The median household income there is more than $123,000 annually, and the zip code includes some of the city’s whitest neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, northwest Aurora’s 80010 and 80011 zip codes each have vaccination rates hovering near 11% for the same age group.

These zip codes include much more diverse neighborhoods with higher proportions of Black and Hispanic residents Average household incomes are below $60,000 per year.

Karen Miller, Tri-County’s nurse immunization manager, told the Sentinel that it’s still early in the push to vaccinate older residents.

It’s the first stage of inoculating the general public.

But “you can already start to see” the disparities, she said.

That’s frustrating for some

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community leaders, who point out that Black and Hispanic residents have suffered from high virus rates during the pandemic and desperately need the vaccine.

“We need to step the game up in Aurora,” said Omar Montgomery, who leads the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “The question is, “What is Tri-County doing?”

Officials at Tri-County and the upper echelons of state government say they’re set on quickly fixing the disparities. Tri-County is due to release an equity plan in the coming days and accelerate partnerships with community hubs experts say are crucial to delivering shots.

Recognizing that disparities exist statewide, Gov. Jared Polis has also pledged to set aside 10% of the state’s vaccine supply just for lowincome and minority communities who have proved harder to reach or are more skeptical of the mass vaccination efforts.

Polis told the Sentinel that the disparities are “extremely alarming.”

Why it’s happening Overall, 7.5% of the 1.5 million residents in Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties have received at least one vaccination shot as of Feb 2. That includes health care workers, nursing home employees and residents aged 70 and above.

The racial and class disparities within that group aren’t unique to Aurora. They’re also unfolding in Denver and across the U.S. “This was a major concern coming into the era of having vaccines,” Glen Mays, chairperson of the Department of Health Systems, Management and Policy in the Colorado School of Public Health, said of the trends. “We knew this was likelihood, a reality that we have to plan for and react to. And it’s definitely playing out.”

Community leaders and public health experts told the Sentinel that the rollout has so far been unequal in part because of unequal access to healthcare.

Mays said that the big hospital networks supplying much of the

Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – March 2021

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vaccine to Aurorans —including Kaiser Permanente and UCHealth — have so far relied on their own client lists when releasing information about how and where to get the shot. That effectively prioritizes people who already have access to healthcare and who are likely wealthier, he said, and “automatically guarantees” disparities.

Adam Anderson, a health data scientist at Tri-County, said similar disparities play out in other kinds of healthcare — not just the vaccines.

Health officials have to deliberately provide options for lowincome mothers, for instance, who might struggle to afford traditional healthcare and even food.Tri-County has also set up clinics for teens and needle users in specific neighborhoods where they know there are higher rates of teen pregnancies, for instance, or drug use.

That’s a tactic they plan to use more in the vaccination drive.

But Tri-County’s data is still rough around the edges. Anderson noted that there are many different nuances when looking at entire zip codes and the current data dashboard doesn’t break down vaccination rates by race and neighborhoods. So they don’t yet know exactly how or where they’ll target hard-to-reach people.

But health authorities generally know that they’ll have to provide more vaccination options for Black and Hispanic people in lowerincome communities.

During COVID-19, these Aurorans have contracted COVID19 and died because of the virus at disproportionately high rates, the experts said. That’s also been true in Denver and generally in the U.S., and it’s a reality that makes the vaccination problems especially dangerous and concerning for community leaders.

“We need it changed — like right away, because these are the ones who are dying. The worst is in our communities,” said Pastor Thomas Mayes of Living Water Christian Center Church.

Yet Mayes and other Black community leaders spoke of widespread distrust in the vaccine drive.

Patrick Demmer, a pastor of a mostly Black congregation in Commerce City, said that’s to be expected because of medical horrors inflicted by big healthcare institutions and government in decades past. He noted that, under the guise of providing free healthcare, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deliberately infected Black men with syphilis between the 1930s and 1970s in the infamous Tuskegee Study. That trauma looms large in the cultural memory.

“There’s a tremendous lack of trust and there is suspicion whenever you start talking about vaccinations and vaccines and those types of things,” Demmer said.

Demmer also said he’s heard some people say, “Well, maybe it’s the mark of the beast” or wonder whether it will change their DNA. Hesitancy or outright distrust of the vaccine is also common in north Aurora neighborhoods in Ward I, said Councilmember Crystal Murillo, who represents the area. It’s home to a concentration of Aurora’s Hispanic residents.

“I think that there’s just so much apprehension about, ‘Is this safe?’” Murillo said.

She said her grandmother, who is from Mexico, placed more stock in “natural remedies,” rooted in her cultural beliefs, than a government-distributed shot.

Polis said polling confirms that.

“As our initial polling and data show, there’s simply higher vaccine hesitancy among Black Americans and, to a lesser extent, Hispanic Americans,” he said.

Montgomery, the city’s NAACP chief, has helped organize forums

where Black residents can ask questions about vaccine safety directly to a health expert. The state is also working with Spanishlanguage newspapers to push a message of trust.

How health authorities plan to fix this Health authorities hope to infuse trust into the entire vaccination process for lower-income and minority residents who so far haven’t been able to book an appointment or would prefer not to get the shot.

Tri-County was still in a planning process for a ramped-up equity plan as of Jan. 29. But Miller said plans move “very, very quickly” in the vaccine drive, where doses sometimes suddenly become available or evaporate after botched federal plans.

Mays, the School of Public Health expert, said bringing vaccination events to churches, barbershops, community centers and other neighborhood hubs can create that trust and boost rates.

He suggested that Tri-County could deploy a fleet of mobile vaccination units and launch mass vaccination events in specific neighborhoods with high infection rates and low inoculations.

He said there are “reams and reams of data and studies to back this up.”

Tri-County and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment have already touted these community partnerships as key parts of the plan. Now, they’ll be armed with 10% of the vaccine supply specifically earmarked for under-reached populations aged 65 and up.

Depending on the local partnership, a vaccine might travel from the state government’s vaccination task force to a hospital and then to a place of worship, whose staff will directly call community members and help them arrive on time for the shot.

A smattering of such partnerships has already come to Aurora.

On Jan. 23, about 200 mostly Black congregants were inoculated at the Colorado Church of God in Christ at 750 Chambers Road.

Elsewhere, Salud Family Health Centers are busy distributing the vaccine to its clientele of mainly lower-income and minority residents. STRIDE Community Health Center has also been a key partner to inoculate hard-to-reach residents, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

But Mayes and Montgomery said they need to see more of this work. Local pastors have had to point Aurorans to congregations in East Denver and Commerce City for their vaccinations.

Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – March 2021

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“We don’t have anything in Aurora addressing that at the amount that it would really make a difference,” Mayes said.

Tri-County officials also told the Sentinel that, after they doubledown on their equity efforts, basic demographics will also be on their side to fix the disparities.

In the next weeks and months, more and more members of the general population will be vaccinated beyond the specialized employees in healthcare, or nursing home residents, who tend to be white and wealthier.

Mayes said that day can’t come soon enough.

“The disparity is a really chilling thing, and it seems like we can only talk about it and not change it,” he said. “Because right now it needs to be changed, like, yesterday. It is indeed a matter of life and death, and not something that we can play with.”.

Editor's note: This story is powered

by COLab, the Colorado News Collaborative.

DDCF Launches Jazz Media Lab with Five Leaders in Jazz Radio KMHD, KNKX, KUVO, WBGO and WRTI Receive Grants Totaling More Than $1.3 Million to Participate in a Collaborative New Program to Strengthen Jazz Radio and Its Engagement with Artists and Diverse Audiences across the Country NEW YORK, Jan. 28, 2021 – The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) announced the launch of the Jazz Media Lab, through which some of the country’s most dynamic and forward-thinking nonprofit jazz radio stations will receive more than $1.3 million to participate in a program aimed at bolstering their individual strength and collective resilience as essential players in the jazz ecosystem. KMHD (Oregon Public Broadcasting) in Portland, Ore., KNKX (Pacific Public Media) in Tacoma/Seattle, Wash., KUVO (Rocky Mountain Public Media) in Denver, Colo., WBGO (Newark Public Radio) in Newark, N.J. and WRTI (Temple University) in Philadelphia, Pa. will each receive grants of up to $275,000 over three years to support their involvement in the collective, and supply them with core support and innovation capital.

The Jazz Media Lab program will also provide these stations with a peer network, support system and contracted resource team for exploring and advancing strategies to diversify their listening bases, invest in new media platforms, engage with venues and community organizations, and establish meaningful relationships with jazz artists.

“We’re thrilled to launch the Jazz Media Lab with this cohort of leaders in the field of jazz radio,” said Maurine Knighton, program director for the arts at

DDCF. “Jazz radio plays an essential role in supporting the field of jazz, a vital art form with a rich history embedded in the fabric of this country and an exciting, evolving future. These stations have always been critical partners to artists and venues, and never has that been truer than today, as they’ve served as the central platform for connecting artists with audiences and for voicing

Live at the Vineyards

with measurable results and specific learnings, these projects will explore one or more of the program’s themes of engaging next-generation artists and audiences, maximizing the use of new media platforms and Young musicians in the increasing Performance Studio at KUVO JAZZ revenues. issues affecting musicians and venues during the pandemic.

As the largest national funder of jazz, we are dedicated to helping ensure the sustained vibrancy of jazz, one of very few contemporary art forms original to the U.S. This program is a pivotal piece of that greater commitment.”

Each of the stations participating in the Jazz Media Lab will receive general operating support grants of $225,000 over Five Points Jazz Festival Volunteer Booth three years to enable their time commitment to the program Jazz stations offer a rich and provide predictable income array of in-studio sessions, comand stable operations during munity engagement events, jazz this period of economic instabilcalendars, on-air interviews, ity. Additionally, in the proand partnerships with high gram’s second year, each schools and jazz educators that grantee will be eligible to tie together diverse players and receive a supplemental grant of provide a centering force for up to $50,000 in innovation local jazz. With that recognition, funds for a defined project. the Jazz Media Lab program Structured as a pilot venture will provide this cohort of jazz Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – March 2021

24

radio stations with the capital and collaboration required to build on these tools to reach new audiences – particularly younger listeners – and help jazz thrive into the future. In addition to funding support, each of the stations will receive access to resources that will strengthen their organizational and financial capacity. Among these resources are monthly virtual professional development sessions; executive coaching; learning and evaluation tools; coordination with national service organizations that can provide additional technical and research support; individual station financial and audience assessments; support for stations’ diversity, equity and inclusion efforts; connections with artists and industry leaders; and access to audience development resources and expertise. By designing a program grounded in cohort learning and collaboration, DDCF hopes the Jazz Media Lab will deepen the peer network relationships of mutual support among jazz stations that endure beyond DDCF funding..

Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – March 2021

25

REST IN PEACE

Students and Faculty Mourn the Loss of Beloved Journalism Professor

to speak at The Denver Post’s Youth On Feb. 4, the Department of

By Heather Davis and Brandon Wheeldon Journalism Day every year since the Journalism and Media Production Journalism Students at MSU Denver event moved to the MSU campus. I at MSU Denver published an article love that you used a photo of him with our Youth J Day regarding the recent death kids! Laurence will be missed, but his legacy will go on.” of journalism instructor, Laurence “It is so sad to hear this news! Washington was an Washington. amazing professor that gave his students so many Washington, an MSU Denver opportunities to grow. I will forever attribute the alumnus, graduated in 1989 with a foundations of my bachelor’s education to Bachelor of Arts in English with a Laurence Washington,” said Autumn Schwinn, writing emphasis and earned his MSU Denver student. master’s in communication from Washington had an open-door policy and an Regis University in 2007. open heart to anyone who needed him to listen, After working for The Denver comfort or mentor them.

Post, Rocky Mountain News, The While Washington was a mentor to many, he Boulder Daily Camera, the Fort began as a student. According to a Facebook post Collins Coloradoan and the Sentinel by his friend and teacher, Jim Stevens, Washington Colorado in the Denver area, was resolute to become a journalWashington began his teaching DUS Editor Laurence Washington and DUS Publisher Rosalind “Bee” Harris ist, even though a professor had career at MSU Denver in 1995. He was (1989 Rocky Mountain News article) suggested he change his major. a writer, lecturer and journalist.

“Laurence had the fire and Washington, who was also the editor for desire to write, and write well. several years, was also an experienced movie He went on to become a pubreviewer for Denver Urban Spectrum magazine and co-owned a lished author, magazine and review website with his friend, Jim Stevens, called Blackflix.com. newspaper contributor, MSU “He enjoyed the movie reviews, enjoyed the craft, watching Denver professor of Journalism, and reviewing the movies of the Black experience,” Bee Harris, my friend and business partner, longtime editor with Denver Urban Spectrum said. and Uncle Larry to my children,” Even though they mainly talked over the phone or through Stevens wrote in response to the email, Harris remembers him as quiet, shy and MSU Denver story, “Laurence helpful. “Laurence just reminded me of a big ol’ lovable stutterwas a part of my family and we ing teddy bear,” she said. “I will miss his humor and laughter.” were part of his.”

Washington had been writing reviews since 1989 with In addition to working for publications in the Denver Urban Spectrum magazine. His most recent review was Denver area, he wrote the fiction novels, “Trove” for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and its January edition that honand “Damocles.” He also published a small collecored the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. tion of his award-winning stories for the publications Though he was an accomplished journalist, his students will called “Adventures in Pancake Batter: And Other Humorous remember him as one of their first journalism professors from Stories.” their Fundamentals of Journalism courses.

“Theory is OK. But nothing beats practical experience.

He had a larger-than-life smile that filled people with hope, Teaching is a privilege,” Washington wrote. motivation and energy. Students could not walk into his class in a He taught to ensure his future journalists would go into the bad mood and leave the same way. He taught hundreds of future industry prepared for the trials they would face. journalists in his 26-year career.

Washington shared stories from his experience as a journalist “He (Washington) always remembered the professor who gave and told of the first time he was paid for writing an article. He up on him and it was his goal to never give up on any student of remembered the article fondly that he submitted to The Denver the written word,” Stevens said in his Facebook post.

Post. Months had passed and he heard nothing from The Post.

Washington recently retired at the end of 2020 inspired by his Then one day The Denver Post called him to say that they pubcolleague, Kenn Bisio. He was happy to hear the news, Bisio said. lished his story and sent him a check.

“You have done more than anyone in this department to get “I kept it,” he recalled in class. “I’m a real journalist now.” students prepared for the industry and you got a lot of them Laurence Washington, who taught journalism students for 26 placed at newspapers throughout Colorado,” Bisio said. years at MSU Denver, recently died.

The two were planning to meet to make photographs once they Students commented on the MSU Denver article on the departreceived their COVID-19 vaccines, but the commitment would not ment’s webpage, and offered stories of their time with him and come to pass. their sadness with the loss of a favorite instructor.

Washington died less than a month after his retirement.

Many students have reflected on his teaching, his smile and his He is gone physically, but his legacy lives on through his stulove for journalism. dents and the future journalists he prepared.

Dana Plewka, former student said, “This breaks my heart.

“He was a great man and a gentle spirit,” Bisio said. .

Laurence was so kind and generous with his time. He volunteered Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – March 2021

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REST IN PEACE

Celebrating the life of my friend, Eva

Last July, I went home to Grand Rapids, Michigan to visit friends and family, specifically my 92-year-old father. The pandemic was seriously underway across the country, and I was a bit nervous while flying but visiting my father outweighed those concerns, and reconnecting with childhood friends is always special. This trip would prove to be more special than I realized, because six months later, the angels came down from heaven on January 21, 2021, to peacefully carry His faithful servant and my friend Eva Charles Andra Gillespie Mathews – aka “Evie” – home to heaven.

During my trip, on July 17, 2020, Evie and I met at MLK Park with two other childhood girlfriends, Denise and Pattie. We laughed and talked about our shared childhood days from grade school through high school. Our children and grandchildren were similar in ages so updates were shared. We enjoyed Subway sandwiches, washing them down with a bottle of Crown Apple.

After my trip, I stayed in touch with Evie, even chatting on a “high tea” Zoom call. Little did I know that day in the park would be my last time seeing my friend.

Only after her passing did I learn more about her and how she became the phenomenal woman I knew her to be.

Eva, a scholar and master teacher, was born to Charles M. Mathews, Sr. and Bessie Marie (Dumas) Mathews on August 17, 1950. Her educational journey began with mine, attending Maplewood and Franklin Street Elementary Schools in the Grand Rapids Public School Systems. It continued when we attended Ottawa Hills High School, where she graduated in 1968. Eva received her associate degree from Grand Rapids Community College and transferred to Michigan State University to complete her bachelor of arts degree in secondary language arts and her master of arts in instruction. She began her teaching career in 1981, retiring in 2015.

Although she had opportunities to advance into administration, Eva preferred to remain in the teaching ranks where she felt she had the most impact. For her, students always came first. She taught a wide variety of language arts classes but one of her favorite classes was creative writing where she invited her students to push beyond preconceived notions about their abilities. She always asked for more, and most often, she got it.

Eva believed in educating the whole child, so she supported her students by attending their sports events, plays, musical performances, and field trips. She chaperoned students to their performances in other cities, museum trips, tech prep competitions, and the National Black Family Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. It’s no surprise that she was often identified as students’ favorite teacher.

Eva lived in the neighborhood and her students felt comfortable dropping by even in the summertime. She loved her students and they loved her back.

As a woman of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Eva was an Ivylette advisor, coach for the Emerging Young Leaders program, and involved in several other committees during her 50-year sorority membership.

Eva was a faithful servant of God at First Community AME church with several leadership positions including director of Christian education, school teacher, and many others. People looked forward to receiving her daily devotions, which became her personal ministry.

Every election season, Eva worked tirelessly registering people to vote. She used her witty sense of humor to win over many recalcitrant voters. Eva partnered with Grand Rapids PROACTIVE volunteers making some “Good Trouble” by registering voters, and providing voter education programs and Election Day protection efforts. In part due to her efforts, she witnessed the election of the first Black president, Barack Obama in 2008, and her sorority sister Madame Vice President Kamala Harris in 2020.

Most of all, Eva loved her family and was proud of her family’s accomplishments. G-mom, as her grandchildren called her, poured her wisdom, insights and resources into all of her family.

Being a mom, aunt, cousin, and friend was her greatest joy.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Sherman D. Gillespie; father, Charles M. Mathews, Sr.; mother, Bessie Marie Mathews; brother, Charles M. Mathews, Jr.; sisters, Gerri E. Mathews and Lynn Marie Bailey; brother-in-law, Arthur Cross; and sisterin-law, Rochelle Mathews.

She leaves to cherish her memory, two children, Brooke and Sian-Sherman (Angela) Gillespie; sister, Alberta Cross; brother, Roger Mathews; eight grandchildren; five great grandchildren; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, friends, and sorority sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, MSU Delta Zeta Chapter and Theta Chi Omega Chapter.

Eva Gillespie Mathews was a remarkable woman who gave so much to the Grand Rapids community, and she did it with style, grace and wit. She was a faithful community servant and the city of Grand Rapids was fortunate to have had such a wonderful resident.

She will be missed and remembered by many, but I, Denise, Pattie, Antoinette (Toni), Olivia, and especially her special friend/sister Diane McMillan (Robert Hurd) will miss her most dearly..

Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – March 2021

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THE DROP:

The People’s Station Lands on 104.7 FM R&B and Hip Hop station, THE DROP began broadcasting on its brand new dial position, 104.7 FM, on February 15.

Now Coloradans searching for old school crate classics, new vibe music and Colorado’s hottest independent artists can tune their radios to 104.7 FM from their homes, cars and smart devices.

Complementing THE DROP’s existing HD2 live stream and THE DROP APP, this additional high-fidelity form of access provided by the permanent 104.7 FM radio position, further affirms the station’s mission to increase grassroots engagement that resonates with communities often

underserved by traditional media outlets.

With its distinctive and unique sound, THE DROP continues to build a commercial free media movement that reflects the tastes of a young, multicultural audience across the centennial state.

THE DROP debuted in June 2019 as one of the country’s first public media urban alternative radio stations with a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

Already garnering accolades such as Westword magazine’s Best New Radio Station of 2020, the community continues to show support and appreciation for THE DROP 104.7’s organic and relaxed nature.

Suggestions, taken directly from listeners via social media and the station text line at 303.893.DROP, frame the music mix and content of the shows hosted by DJ Dif’Rent, Amerykah Jones, Unique, DJ Bella Scratch, Maleman and

weekend hosts, DJ Cavem and PK. Nikki Swarn, THE DROP’s general manager and program director says, “This station has always been about the people.

From our name to how we engage with our listeners, it’s all about our Colorado community. Without this local support our 104.7 FM signal wouldn’t be as impactful. This is such a special time for public media, especially here in Colorado. We owe a huge thanks to our community, our listeners and our partners for helping make this possible.”

THE DROP also continues to play a pivotal role in Rocky Mountain Public Media’s commitment to expand and extend the relevance of public media to new and more diverse communities across Colorado.

“THE DROP is so much more than a radio station,” Swarn continued, “We are truly a lifestyle brand. The station provides a place in the media landscape for a variety of musical genres and reinforces a sense of community for a diverse listenership. Listeners can DROP into the music, cultural issues and community resources in one place. It’s a movement built by and for the people of Colorado.”

“We are thrilled to make an investment in acquiring the 104.7 FM radio home for THE DROP,” said Amanda Mountain, president and CEO of Rocky Mountain Public Media. “The format of this

radio station plays a critical role in shaping the public media of the future and in creating a Colorado where everyone is seen and heard.”

Local funding partners for the purchase of the FM translator include the Gates Family Foundation, Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, and through a single anonymous donor, whose support created an opportunity for the station to expand its footprint beyond a digital signal alone.

“We could not be happier to support Nikki and her team, and Rocky Mountain Public Media in expanding the reach of THE DROP,” said Thomas Gougeon, Gates Family Foundation president.

“We see so much potential for THE DROP, not only as a source for great and relevant music, but also a vehicle with unlimited potential to raise up local artists, local voices, and to reach deeper and engage the local community in the issues of our times.”

“At the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation we felt this was an exciting opportunity to help support the effort to provide THE DROP with a 104.7 FM signal, allowing it to reach an exponentially greater audience,” said Gary Steuer, Bonfils-Stanton Foundation president and CEO. For more information about THE DROP, visit www.thedrop303.org or on all social media @thedrop303..

Making transmissions well since 1983.

Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – March 2021

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Denver Public Schools Alumni Organization Aims to Change Community from Within

What began as a way to engage Denver Public Schools (DPS) alumni with district leadership decisions, Ednium: The Alumni Collective has grown into an organization focused on improving educational outcomes sourced directly from the experiences of alumni. Recently, Ednium welcomed CoFounder and Executive Director TeRay Esquibel, an Abraham Lincoln High School graduate, to lead the efforts in a full-time capacity.

“I am honored and humbled to work with my peers as we reinvest in the brilliance in our backyard. We are building something that sees our stories, our struggles, and our survival as our superpowers rather than rubber stamps or a history to be hidden,” says Esquibel. “We know our people hold expertise, and we are committed to ensuring that our communities’ own their stories, create tangible change based on their lived experiences, and make a direct impact on the Denver ecosystem while holding true to our identities. I can’t wait to see how education and leadership in this city looks in the future as a result of the work that Ednium and our alumni partners are leading.”

The original idea was born in 2018 with support from former Superintendent, Susana Cordova, to include alumni voices in key process conversations and decision-making with the senior leadership team.

Over time, DPS alumni participated in these discussions which reinforced the necessity for district leadership to engage support among these voices, thus solidifying the continued need for Ednium.

Ednium is currently seeking a 501(c)(3) designation and has formed a Board of Directors which includes Nathan Cadena, Antwan Jefferson, Shontel Lewis, Miguel In Suk Lovato, Richard Maez, Landon Mascareñaz, Bernard McCune, Linda Quintanar, Josh Scott and Ana Soler. These education advocates, along with Co-Founders Perla Bustillos (DSST: Montview High School alum), Sara O’Keefe, Bryan Blakely, and VJ Brown, are poised to support the alumni as they seek to reinforce their leadership skills and play a significant role in impacting change across the district as well as the community.

Focused on three areas of programming, Ednium collects insights from DPS alumni through their Data & Design Lab, offers alumni a space to hone leadership skills in its’ Leadership Launchpad, and provides a way to move ideas

into action through the Advocacy Accelerator.

The Data and Design Lab engages alumni in sessions to rethink education based on their recent experience and perspective as former students.

During these sessions, alumni identify key priorities to guide the work. Most recently, these former students identified the following priorities which include defining success more broadly, sharing the power, leaning into equity, life skill development, and relevant career preparation. These priorities led to the creation of the Leadership Launchpad.

Further, Ednium has developed a platform via the Ednium Podcast where alumni and community members can share their experiences within DPS, the impact they are creating now, and the vision they have for their communities.

Leadership Launchpad participants represent all districts within the Denver Public Schools. With a focus on owning their own lived experiences, Launchpad graduates identify areas of opportunity and with support from Ednium and community leaders, put ideas into motion.

“When I stand in that collective room of those alumni and see what Ednium is doing with the next cohort, I am proud,” says Danny Rodriguez, Abraham Lincoln High School alum.

“There are some bright young superstars, who are a part of us, a part of our community, and they’re willing to sacrifice their time to make a difference and do it for people now.”

Alumni are also invited to participate in the Advocacy Accelerator to further define projects and initiatives, build support, and begin implementation.

The first two initiatives include financial literacy and cultural and ethnic studies as graduation requirements for DPS students.

Ednium staff and several Launchpad graduates spoke at the December Board of

Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – March 2021

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Education meeting in support of the initiatives quoting their own struggles due to the lack of instruction around these subjects.

“Regardless of a student’s ethnic background,” says Richard Maez, John F. Kennedy High School graduate and George Washington High School IB Program Manager, “most employers, universities, and society in general value cultural competence, anti-racism, and critical thinking skills for people of all backgrounds which makes ethnic studies an important piece of the high school experience.”

In addition to educational initiatives put forth from the Advocacy Accelerator, Leadership Launchpad graduates are able to take their leadership skills and continue to have a profound impact on the Denver community at large.

As a recent graduate of Colorado State University and an alum of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Early College, Xochitl Ramirez Amaro was looking for ways to get involved with her community, thus she enrolled in the second cohort of the Leadership Launchpad with Ednium.

“Ednium has so many perspectives – people in masters programs, others getting bachelor’s degrees, some working on their healing and spirituality, or pursuing their art. There are so many powerful ways of being,” shared Amaro. She currently works as a Progress Monitor at a high school in Aurora Public Schools, a role she considers as advocacy work. “I just really value the mission and the change that Ednium is trying to ignite in all of us to really upend those cycles of injustice and have our voice heard in the education system because it directly impacts all of us.”.

Editor’s note: For more information about Ednium: The Alumni Collective, visit www.ednium.org or email at ednium@ednium.org

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Continued from page 3 smoker, or having access to cigarettes, was a status symbol. All the superstars were portrayed as smokers and Cigars became synonymous with celebrations.

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When recognizing and acknowledging the addictive aspects and health risks of consumption, tobacco companies also assessed the demographics and accessibility of their products. Knowing that tobacco was perceived to help with anxiety and stress, it is hard to believe that the tobacco companies did not strategically advertise in, market to, and supply their products to poverty-stricken communities purposely. Tobacco products have always shown to be cheaper and easier to get in minority communities, by design by sales in bulk and promotional discounts.

Tobacco advertising focuses on menthol flavored cigarettes toward the minority community so heavily it would make you think they were created especially for African American smokers. Today, 85% of African American smokers have followed in the footsteps of the

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nicotine addicted culture before them and have become smokers, as is the targeting of our children, after us. Although we do own our individual ownership in allowing our children and families to witness far too many of our addictions, we never needed the help of the tobacco industry to influence our youth by using flavored nicotine and celebrities to promote their products, with the use of music and fads to appeal to a younger, hipper society.

The promotion of flavored tobacco products in minority communities is significantly higher than in suburban and rural communities. Why? Flavored tobacco products are promoted and designed in urban culture narratives. Why? I do not have the answers, but I do know the $48 billion dollar tobacco industry does. We are no longer willing to sit quietly while our schools go underfunded, our communities go under policed and the tobacco industry throws over $9 million into advertising toward the same youth and culture they refuse to invest in and educate.

We must tackle the problem of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, as well as all flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and vaping devices because it is time to stop tobacco companies from targeting and addicting the Black community through flavored products once and for all.

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Through April 11

Collaboration.

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IMAGE: Senga Nengudi, Masked Taping (detail, right panel), 1978/79. Silver gelatin print. 3 panels overall: 41x34 in. each. Edition 3/5 + 1 AP. Denver Art Museum: Purchased with funds from Contemporary Alliance, 2020.565A-C. © Senga Nengudi. Photography by Adam Avila. Courtesy of Sprüth Magers, Thomas Erben Gallery, and Lévy Gorvy.

Senga Nengudi: Topologies is organized by the Lenbachhaus Munich, in cooperation with the Denver Art Museum. Concept and idea by Stephanie Weber, Lenbachhaus. Funding is provided by the donors to the Annual Fund Leadership Campaign and the residents who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). Promotional support is provided by 5280 Magazine and CBS4.

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