Denver Urban Spectrum - November 2019

November 2019

Volume 33

Number 8

Royal Blessings Grace The

Mile High City

Princess Asie Ocansey Launches Return of the Royals in Denver...4 Photo by Bernard Grant

MESSAGE FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Magnitude of Oppression Volume 33

Number 8

November 2019

PUBLISHER Rosalind J. Harris GENERAL MANAGER Lawrence A. James EDITOR-IN- CHIEF Alfonzo Porter COPY EDITOR/PROOFREADER Ruby Jones COLUMNISTS Dr. Erynn M. Burns Kim Farmer Barry Overton FILM CRITIC BlackFlix.Com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Alfonzo Porter ART DIRECTOR Bee Harris OFFICE ASSISTANT Briana Rorex GRAPHIC DESIGNER Jody Gilbert - Kolor Graphix PHOTOGRAPHERS Lens of Ansar Bernard Grant DISTRIBUTION Ed Lynch Lawrence A. James - Manager

2019 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 2019 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.

Princess Asie Ocansey – School Choice – Gaining Ground – Gentrification – Park Hill Land – Slavery and Genocide – George Foster – Harriet Tubman Elijah Cummings, and the list goes on and on and on, from the beginning of time.

You may not be familiar with some of the aforementioned people or topics but they, and many others, have one thing in common – OPPRESSION – which is deeply rooted in the souls of Africans and African Americans.

Last month, Denver was blessed to be in the presence of Royalty with a visit from Princess Asie Ocansey, of the Ocansey Royal Family of Ghana. In this month’s cover story, DUS editor Alfonzo Porter shares the princess' prophesy of bringing people of African descent back home to the Motherland, along with her revelation that the 400 years of oppression has come to an end. The oppression that has manifested within the educational system was discussed last month with nationally recognized journalist, Roland Martin, real and unfiltered at a lively and engaging education town hall meeting, “Is School Choice The Black Choice?” Oppression was a hot topic at the three-day Colorado Black Round Tables Gaining Ground in the Black Community Summit with John Bailey, “16192019 – The Dash Between the Dates,” with discussions ranging from business, housing, health, youth, leadership and politics. Barry Overton and former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb share their views how oppression can, will and does affect the real estate and development industry. Emmy award-winning filmmaker, Dante James, who will present at an event for the Coalition Against Global Genocide in Denver, talks about how the enslaved fought their oppression every way possible, which is portrayed in his four part documentary, Slavery and the Making of America.

The news documentary The Heritage of Slavery, hosted by George Foster in 1968, explores the legacy of oppression that remains more than 100 years later.

Foster visits Charleston, SC and speaks with both descendants of slaves and slave owners. The cameras capture a sermon by Rev. Henry Butler of the Mother Emmanuel AME Church (where Denmark Vesey planned an unsuccessful slave revolt in 1822 and Dylan Roof would later kill nine church members in 2015). And today, we see the movie Harriett (Tubman) from her escape from slavery to through her dangerous missions she lead to liberate 100s of slaves through the Underground Railroad.

Lastly and certainly, not least, we dedicate this issue to the memory and legacy of Congressman Elijah Cummings, who was a champion for the obliteration of oppression of his people and all people.

We have come full circle with oppression. It was at the beginning of the circle and still appears at the end of the circle – today more than ever. I think it’s time we all take heed and look at accepting the invitation from an African Princess who knows and tells the real story and origination of oppression.

Rosalind J. Harris DUS Publisher

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR two doors down was a house that always looked like it was just built. It was kept so perfect.

The five kids in our house were always a beehive of activity and the snow only added to the sense of self-contained activity. We would get the kids next door, and the kids two doors down from across the street and we would create a world of our own. We would pretend and we would create. We would challenge our personalities to find out how to work the next activity. We always found an activity.

This was the Northeast Park Hill of the 1950s and the early 1960s. The family with three girls and one boy was the house next door with the walks so carefully shoveled was AfricanAmerican. The man across the street with the old Chevy sedan was African-American. The duplex across the street was owned by a German man and his wife. The house with the family of seven kids across the alley was Russian. The house that looked like it was just built was owned by an African-

A World of Our Own, Is Still In My Mind Editor: The snow was falling and the streets were quiet. Our neighbor’s 1928 Chevy Sedan was parked across the street where it always was. Our neighbor’s house next door had the walks shoveled like they always were. I would later in the day go across the street and ask if he could use some help with shoveling his walks.

Three doors down the old farm house was covered in snow like it had not changed in 70 years, but two doors down were the Japanese neighbors who had a house kept so perfect that it was a marvel just to walk by. Going inside was separate treat. Also, across the street was the duplex looking so far way behind a hedge like a secret always waiting to be discovered. Behind us was the biggest house on the block where here were seven children of all ages, but some of them were already so old they seemed like adults. Across the street and

Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – November 2019

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American family. The old farmhouse was owned by a very old German woman who looked like she had lived there forever. The marvelous house kept so perfectly was owned by a Japanese family with one boy. In my house were a mix of Lebanese-American and garden variety white American.

With clarity of purpose to live our lives creatively and harmoniously, we never much noticed the difference in skin color, cultural origin or national origin. We were all so proud to live in a neighborhood where everyone cared about their houses, their kids and that they were safe with the neighbors. It was a good time. It was close to a perfectly harmonious time.

I’m glad I can go back there in my mind. I wish I could take everyone back there. It might put all the current issues of the day in very good focus. It is about acceptance and inclusion. It really works. We proved it.

Michael Sawaya Denver

There’s No Place Like Home!

Photos by Bernard Grant and Lens of Ansar

Ghana Rolls out the Royal Carpet for the Return of African Americans

By Alfonzo Porter

I

t’s not often that you are fortunate enough to attend an event that radically alters your perspective and shatters your once, long-held presuppositions. That happened on October 3, when Her Excellency Princess Asie Ocansey of the royal family of Ada, Ghana arrived in Denver and extended a royal welcome to African Americans to return home to Africa.

She arrived in a spectacular, dazzling processional at New Hope Baptist Church appearing to almost levitate over rose pedals thrown before her to the powerful beat of African drums and dancers. The event was so extraordinary that I felt my soul smiling and saying — Yes! Ocancey’s visit comes on the heels of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of our African

The Royal Staff of the Royal Ocansey Diasporan Family of Colorado is presented to Dr. Ryan E. Ross

ancestors in North America.

The Royal Return is part of a comprehensive effort to engage African Americans in reacquainting us with our native land.

Central to her visit to Denver, as well as several other American cities is to promote what is being hailed as the Wedding 400 Extravaganza.

The event will feature 400 cou-

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ples who will renew their vows in a lavish royal ceremony designed to honor our ancestors in America who were not allowed to marry for the first 250 years of slavery.

Upon their return home, guests would be adopted into one of Ghana’s royal families; having their names restored, reconnected to family, and bestowed a parcel of land in an event designated as – Return of the Royals in Ghana, Dec. 8 to 15 and Dec. 8 to 18 for the honeymooners.

According to Ocansey, although the occasion has called for couples, anyone can attend.

“We extend an invitation to all of our brothers and sisters to return home for any of these reasons,” she says. “So yes, come home for your renaming or adoption into the family or to renew your vows in a traditional royal ceremony. We welcome you to participate in one or all of these celebrations.”

Her passion for this reconnection across the Atlantic stems from a promise she made to an American visitor to Ghana some 50 years ago. She recalls being introduced to a visitor who seemed a bit unusual; he was Black but he was from America.

“It was the first time I had ever seen an African American,” she recalled. “All the visitors prior to him had been European and I didn’t even know that there were Black people in America or anything about their experiences – I was 9 years old.”

As it would turn out, the gentleman was the dean of the school of engineering at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. His name was Don Pfieffer. It was Pfieffer who introduced her to the African American experience.

Surprisingly, most Ghanaians were totally unaware of the slave trade.

Mr. Pfieffer explained how our ancestors were taken away brutally and forcefully. He would challenge her to one day work to build connections between the two peoples.

“It’s a silent phenomenon in Ghana and is never discussed,” Ocansey said. “Not even my parents were aware of it. Most people in Ghana could grasp the idea and, as a result, had no feelings about it. Now, as a result of social media, it is beginning to emerge among the people in Ghana and is now part of our reality.”

That one conversation with the American stranger, all those years ago, would change her life forever.

“I was a science student and normally science students didn’t take history in Ghana,” she remembered. “I took history because of the seed that had been planted by Dr. Pfieffer.”

It was when she was of 15 that her history class visited the slave dungeons. Although she recalled they looked familiar, she had never visited then. It was through her history lessons that the images first emerged.

“This is what Dr. Pfieffer was telling me about,” she recalled to herself. “The dungeons that our people were held had been preserved as heritage sites. The fact that a

“I learned that they would pack our ancestors in the dungeon and feed them through cubby holes, throwing the food in and letting them scramble and fight for it like dogs,” she explained. “There was no way to clean ones self. Women on their menstrual cycle would be left without care. They only time they would be cleaned was when they were selected to be raped. They were held there for months.”

church sat atop the dungeons seems so ironic and counterintuitive and it had a profound effect on me. During the visit, they locked me in a cell so that I could get a feel for what it was like for our ancestors. Once the door was opened I bolted through the ‘door of no return’ and vowed to never return to this place.”

She remained horrified by the experience but became determined to do something about it.

For Ocansey, the past 400 years are over and it is the beginning of the next 400 years which will be defined by cooperation and prosperity.

According to the Princess, the veil of deceit and deception has been removed and now it is time for African Americans to come back as a family and receive your proper names.

“When your names were taken away, your whole identity was removed,” she said. “In Continued on page 6

Remembering and Honoring:

1619­2019 Sunday, Nov. 3, 2019 ­ 2 to 5 PM McNichols Civic Center Building 144 W. Colfax Ave. in Denver Slavery and the Making of America Produced by Dante J. James In recogni on of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first African to be sold into bondage in North America: in 1619 at Jamestown, the Coali on Against Global Genocide will present a special screening of SLAVERY AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA by award winning filmmaker Dante J. James.

This documentary series on the history of American slavery from its beginnings in the Bri sh colonies through the years of post­Civil War Reconstruc on is narrated by Oscar­winner Morgan Freeman.

SLAVERY AND THE MAKING OF AMERICA examines the integral role slavery played in shaping the new country and challenges the long held no on that it was exclusively a Southern enterprise.

The screening will be followed with a panel discussion on “How do we proceed today to reach the ideals of equality, respect and freedom?”

Moderator: Alfonzo Porter Panelists: Dante J. James, Dr. Rachel Harding, Rev. Quincy Shannon, Joel Odonkor

Tickets on sale: www.denverfilm.org (http://bit.ly/2MGcf3c)

For more informa on, call 303­856­7334 Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – November 2019

5

Princess Asie Ocansey Continued from page 5 Africa your name is like a GPS locator. If you tell your name, everyone will know immediately who are. If you say Ocansey, they can take you directly to your home. Your name is your address; so you see how devastating it was for them to be deprived of their names.”

Now, she says, “We must be intentional about reversing these harmful and destructive images. This is part of our overall long term plan. Her first visit to Denver was for the Juneteenth celebration in 1999.

She has returned today with a far greater vision and plan to continue building connections between Africans and African Americans.

In the US, she expressed, you know everything that they know. You have scientists, engineers, manufacturers, aviation experts, legal experts, construction experts, business and

finance, government expertise, college presidents, professors in every field and experts in literally every endeavor. With that there is nothing that cannot be accomplished when we come together. You even became President of the very nation that committed the most heinous crimes against you imaginable, for centuries!”

The goal, in both the short term and long term, is encourage African Americans to bring technical expertise, financing, and all what we’ve learned in America to bear in Africa.

“We need a joint rebranding for the African and African American stories,” Ocansey said.

“We now have control of our images and the next chapter 400 years will unfold in a completely different way. Now we have the freedom, the tools, the knowledge, the experience, the global exposure, finances and resources to create a brand new future.”

It may be more of a task than it may appear. While attending

Rutgers University at the encouragement of Dr. Pfeiffer, who was then Dean of the Engineering College, she recalls seeing her first Black female student.

“The first African American I ever met was a young woman while I was attending school at Rutgers,” she said. “I was so happy and rushed up to say you look just like my cousin – who was all African.”

The young woman’s response would be devastating.

“I ain’t no African. Don’t you call me no African,” the woman screeched.

“I was heartbroken. I ran to Dr. Pfeiffer and reminded him that once he challenged me to help bring our people home.

How could I accomplish this when our brothers and sisters appear to want nothing to do with Africa?”

Building a different level of consciousness here in the U.S. will be one of first tasks, according to Ocansey. Her plans include developing closer ties with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s).

“I would like to encourage Black students attending HBCU’s to conduct their study abroad experiences in Africa. It would completely change the way they see themselves. With that level of exposure, no one will ever be able to tell them any foolish untruths about themselves or Africa again,” she said. “Our coming together is crucial to the overall success of the entire Diaspora.”

An idea was originally born in 1992 when a six-time Grammy Award and Academy Award winning American singer and song writer, Isaac Hayes, went to Ghana. He was made a King for Development.

Hayes was able to bring multiple development projects to bear and built schools. This is what inspired Ocansey to begin to reach out to African Americans on a much more massive, national scale.

While the Princess has no

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6

constitutional authority, her ceremonial role is to promote the culture of Ghana throughout the African Diaspora.

One of the biggest challenges, according to Ocansey, is to bring a halt to the flight of capital and our financial resources.

“We need a summit to discuss investment in the continent. Create travel opportunities to bring African Americans home, create legitimate investment opportunities, continue building infrastructure, and construct more resort and vacation venues. Let’s make our money work for us,” she says.

With the well publicized “Black Wealth 2020”movement in America rapidly approaching, the timing of Ghana’s efforts could not be better. Part of the goal of “Black Wealth 2020” is to begin to leverage our financial resources for the very purposes espoused by Princess Asie.

African American leaders across all sectors have begun a collaborative effort to bolster Black owned banks, among other agenda goals, that are designed to build financial capacity for loans and investments through the African American community.

Ultimately, the goal is to involve all of Africa.

“In the long-term, we foresee bringing the royal families from all over the continent to Ghana for the first, “Adopt African Americans” into the royal families throughout Africa. We are at the birthing phase but ideally I anticipate that these returns will eventually occur all over the continent,” she says.

There are 16 regions. As part of the Royal Return this year, couples will go to the different regions ruled by the eight royal families for their ceremonial events. The festivities are intended to confirm that you are coming home and that you not be a tourist.

Ocansey admits that the hope is to reach the masses of

the Black American community through technology. They have prepared virtual presentations and are working to develop virtual trade expos that can be viewed anywhere in the world.

This would prove helpful in attracting widespread investment in all areas.

“Technology has given us a whole new edge that we never had before,” she says.

As part of the royal family, Americans are encouraged to bring their expertise to bear.

The family would provide land for you, according to Ocansey.

“For Instance, if you are adopted into the Ashanti family and they have gold in their region, perhaps you might build partnerships with an American or global jewelry companies to refine the gold and create wealth and invest in the nation,” she proposed.

From Denver, the princess traveled to other cities including Baltimore and New York before heading to speak at the

African Union Labour Migration Conference in Abuja, Nigeria.

“We want to expand the model of naming an ambassador in many cities around America so that we will have advocates in many areas that can help spread the word,” she says. “We want to leverage all African American media outlets to discuss our royal return plans more broadly.”

Ocansey says, “The past 400 years were spent tearing us down. The next 400 years will see our rise. Come home where you will be appreciated, you’ll be loved and welcomed back into your family. In the end, you’ll discover that there is no place like home.”.

Editor’s note: For more information on the Return of the Royals or to sign up, visit www.royalreturnghana.com or call Ambassador Bee Harris at 303-292-6446. To view a special message from Princess Asie Ocansey, check out this video, https://youtu.be/jr-qkrXCgOs

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7

There are many organiza-

Colorado Black Roundtable

Gaining Ground in the Black Community Summit

tions within the Denver African American Community; some focused on social issues while others concentrate their efforts on community-based concerns.

By Alfonzo Porter Still others spend time working Photos by Lens of Ansar to ensure educational equity or political action.

However, there is only one organization where members of John Bailey the community can seek to discuss and address multiple issues simultaneously. It focuses on information sharing and the development of programs that deal with virtually any issue of concern to members of the black community.

The Colorado Black Sen. Gloria Tanner took over Roundtable has been under its the organization about 10 years current stewardship with John ago.

Bailey at the helm as its This year’s summit entitled, President. Bailey, along with his “Gaining Ground in the Black wife, Dr. Sharon Bailey, the late Community,” was designed to Sen. Regis Groff and retired speak to many of the concerns

discussed in a Rocky Mountain PBS report that revealed, a few years ago, that African Americans have actually regressed since the Civil Rights era. Many of the same battles are still being waged and the community is, in fact, has been losing round.

The report detailed data on poverty, high school graduation, college graduation, home ownership and wealth and the results were sobering.

Indicators in all critical areas were either essentially stagnant or moving in the wrong direction.

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Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – November 2019

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Here is what the 2013 Losing Ground Report observed as it relates to the Black Community in Colorado: (This list is not comprehensive but provides on snapshot of some the main issues).

Regarding Education: •The gaps among adults with college degrees have steadily widened since 1960, with the percent of whites with college degrees three times higher than the Latino rate and double the Black rate. Those disparities are the nation’s worst for both Latinos and blacks.

•Between 1992 and 2010, according to Census data, Colorado plunged from 24th to 40th on overall state spending per student for K-12 education.

When compared to per capita personal income, Colorado ranked 45th among the states on K-12 spending.

•The African American graduation rate from two-year colleges in Colorado is 13 percent compared to 28.7 percent for whites, African American graduation rate from four-year institutions is 39.1 percent compared to 60 percent for whites.

Regarding Health and Wellness: •Health disparities between racial and ethnic minorities and white Americans are nothing new — hundreds of studies over the past 20 years consistently found that African Americans and Latinos trail Caucasians in a host of measures, from life expectancy to the odds of death from cancer or kidney ailments. In Colorado, blacks are more likely to suffer from asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, prostate cancer and obesity than whites.

•Blacks experience an infant mortality rate that is significantly higher than that of Caucasians. Black babies die at a rate much higher than white babies, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2011, the

rate at which Black babies died before reaching their first birthday was a little more than twice that of white babies. African American babies experience 14.5 deaths for each 1,000 births according to an average of data from 2007 through 2011 calculated by the state health department.

Regarding Criminal Justice: •In 2010, about one in every 20 black men were incarcerated in Colorado state prisons compared to one out of every 50 Latino males and one of every 150 white males.

•In Colorado, for the past several years per pupil expenditure has averaged approximately $6,500 compared to over $30,000 per year for each inmate.

•The incarceration rates for Latino and Black males in Colorado are higher than the national average, while white male incarceration rates mirror the national average.

Regarding Criminal Justice: •In 2010, about one in every 20 Black men were incarcerated in Colorado state prisons compared to one out of every 50 Latino males and one of every 150 white males.

•In Colorado, for the past several years per pupil expenditure has averaged approximately $6,500 compared to over $30,000 per year for each inmate.

•The incarceration rates for Latino and Black males in Colorado are higher than the national average, while white male incarceration rates mirror the national average.

Regarding Economic Opportunity: •In 1970, for example, Black families earned 73 percent of white family incomes and Latino families earned 72 percent. By 2010, those numbers had fallen to about 60 percent and 50 percent, respectively.

•Colorado has one of the largest federal workforces among the states. In total federal payroll, it ranks No. 8. Yet, federal jobs fell from 6 percent of all jobs in the state to 3 percent between 1970 and 2010.

For Black workers, the jobs dropped even more dramatically — from 15 percent of all jobs held by African Americans in the state to 6 percent.

•In 1970, one in four Black workers either was employed in manufacturing or by the federal government. By 2010, that had dropped to one in eight.

•The median income for Black households in Colorado is (2012 Census) –has decreased over the past two years to $45,920, and for black households – while for white households it has increased to $78,908. The foreclosure crisis also hit minorities particularly hard. Lenders have been accused of steering Blacks and Hispanics into expensive subprime loans during the housing boom. As a result, many neighborhoods of color have been

Regarding Income and Employment: •In 1970, for example, black families earned 73 percent of white family incomes and Latino families earned 72 percent. By 2010, those numbers had fallen to about 60 percent and 50 percent, respectively.

•Colorado has one of the largest federal workforces among the states. In total federal payroll, it ranks No. 8. Yet, federal jobs fell from 6 percent of all jobs in the state to 3 percent between 1970 and 2010.

For black workers, the jobs dropped even more dramatically — from 15 percent of all jobs held by African Americans in the state to 6 percent.

•The median income for Black households in Colorado is (2012 Census) –has decreased over the past two years to $45,920, and for Black households – while for white households it has increased to $78,908. The foreclosure crisis also hit minorities particularly hard.

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9

especially ravaged by default and vacancy in the housing crash’s aftermath.

The Gaining Ground response, in 2014, authored by Dr. Sharon Bailey presented a comprehensive set of recommendations to address the problems. The report entitled “Gaining Ground in Colorado’s African American Communities served as the guide for this years’ four-day summit.

This year’s summit was aligned with the organization’s 2019-2020 goals centered around five key areas: 1) Strengthening the African American Family, 2) Facilitate and Advocate for Economic Access and Opportunity, 3) Elevating Educational Excellence as a Community Core Value, 4) Advocating and Promoting Positive Youth Development Programs, 5) Participating in CommunityPolitical Outreach.

The four-day event featured a packed agenda. Community discussions included: Doing Business with and in the Black Community “1619-2019 Remembrance” A Black History Community Discussion Affordable Housing & Home Ownership, Public Safety, A Black Community Discussion with CO Governor Jared Polis and CO Congressional Leadership Updates on Impeachment, Reparations and Legislative Issues Community Reception & Recognition of Sponsors, Elected Officials, Candidates and Black Men Leaders, Disparity & Community Issues Topics, Health/Mental Health, Census, Minimum Wage Increase, Programs for Youth, “Why Black Lives & Black Minds Matter: An Intergenerational Community Discussion, CO US Senate Candidates Forum on Education & Economic Opportunity and a Get out the Vote event to close the weekend..

Gentrification: It’s Not a Bad Word

By Barry Overton

I

recall the first time I learned about gentrification.

Furious Styles was standing on that corner in Compton dropping knowledge on Trey, Ricky, and others in the hood. That scene from Boyz in the Hood educated a lot of people on gentrification. For Furious, the writing was on the wall. You had real estate investors coming into impoverished, depressed neighborhoods and buying up land and property at a very low price with the intention of developing or refurbishing those areas and marking the prices up. Over the past nearly 30 years, I have watched and seen neighborhoods go through gentrification here in Denver.

The Oxford dictionary describes gentrification as the “process of renovating or improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste.” The Merriam Webster dictionary, on the other hand, describes it in a way that we are most familiar with, “the process of repairing and rebuilding homes and businesses in deteriorating areas, such as an urban neighborhood, accompanied by the influx of middle-class or affluent people, often resulting in the displacement of earlier, usually poor residents.”

Either definition can be taken as good or bad, but I believe the first step in changing the complexion of gentrification is to first change the mindset of how we view gentrification.

Over the past 15 years, we have seen the changes in communities like Five Points, Curtis Park, which are now commonly referred to as the RiNo District.

We've also seen changes occur in the Denver’s

Park Hill area. We've seen corporate establishments come into an area and gloat about “happily gentrifying” a neighborhood.

Being a retired Denver police officer who spent many years working foot patrols and undercover operations in Five Points and in later years, watching the neighborhood transform to the point of seeing women of all races walking their dog at 10 o’clock at night, it was apparent that gentrification had taken hold in the Five Points area. I also look at it from a perspective of 18 years in real estate investment, seeing the opportunity that was presented to many that were in a position to take advantage. It was smart business to buy in an area that was very expensive, but was a stone’s throw from Downtown Denver.

Here's my biggest concern with gentrification in black and brown communities in Denver.

We're spending far too much time being reactive to a situ-

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ation that has already occurred instead of being proactive to the future opportunity that is in front of us. Information changes situations, and in real estate, there is constant development and redevelopment going on throughout many different cities. One area that our city government has thrived in is the development of residential and commercial projects. We are in a far better situation than cities such as Detroit or Camden, New Jersey that have been on the brink of bankruptcy for many years.

So how do we combat gentrification in our neighborhoods? Well, it first must start with ownership – home or business ownership – in our communities. Similar to the old adage, "You can't win the game if you never play," when you are renting in a particular neighborhood, you are not playing in the game. We have seen displacement in these communities of renters, but it becomes a lot more difficult to

displace someone that is a homeowner. That's why it becomes very important – whether it's a one-bedroom condo or a three-bedroom house – whatever the case may be, find a way to become a homeowner in your community.

I know some are probably saying, "Easier said than done," but it's quite the contrary. It's actually easier than you may think to become a homeowner, but it all starts with information - having the right information to put yourself in a position to own property. It is important to have a conversation with a local realtor and mortgage broker to find out how much you qualify for, and whether there is property in your community that you can purchase at that qualifying amount.

In order to be proactive, it's important to look for areas that are undergoing the initial stages of gentrification, or that might be gentrified in the future. The next big area in the Denver Aurora market that we will see massive transformation is the Pena Boulevard corridor; specifically, Montbello, Gateway, Green Valley Ranch, High Point and Reunion. In fact, just east of E470 a brand-new community has already broken ground called Aurora Highlands.

The telltale sign for me was when I saw the first crane go up about four years ago on the Gaylord Resort development.

Having been a customer of one of the Gaylords in Orlando, Florida, I knew that if you build a resort that size in the middle of nowhere, eventually, houses, shopping, dining and entertainment would soon follow.

New neighborhoods, such as a Rural Highlands and Painted Prairie that are already in the development phase that will be built north and east of Green Valley Ranch. Another huge project that will be coming out to that area is Aerotropolis. This is expected to be the next Denver Tech Center-style devel-

opment. With companies like Panasonic and Amazon already planting their flag in the far northeast, it's becoming very evident that this is going to be a great area to live in and be a part of.

So how do you get in on this opportunity before it's too late? It's pretty simple. If you own property in any of those areas now, hold onto it. If you decide that you want to move to another part of the city, hold onto your property which is located in soon-to-be hot neighborhoods. You have to ask yourself: Do you want to have someone purchase from you now, when buyers can make low- cost purchases, only to sell high 15 years from now, or would you prefer to be the one that's selling high? By keeping your property and renting it out, you will have someone else that pays your mortgage payment, and you will have created a new asset for yourself.

If you currently do not own property in any of these areas, it's time to buy. With so many different types of property to purchase – condos, townhomes, houses – there is opportunity for pretty much anyone to purchase a home in a hot neighborhood. Again, it is important to talk to a real estate professional in regards to down payment assistance, the ability to get into a property, and the necessary steps you may need to take.

Every individual situation will be different, so it's important that you know your own situation and not determine your future based off someone else's outcome in regards to purchasing a home.

One of the other concerns for homeowners who are on a fixed income and have been forced to

sell or foreclose on their property due to property tax increases. This only happens through lack of information. There are nonprofit organizations that will assist seniors who may be on a fixed income to pay taxes on their property. And there are also programs for seniors who may be able to have their property taxes reduced by up to 50percent. There are even different types of loan programs, such as reverse mortgages, that can eliminate the issue and concerns of property tax away for the time that seniors live in the property.

Maybe you are in a position that does not allow you to purchase a home or you want to be

Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – November 2019

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involved in opportunities in other cities around the country; there are companies in MetroDenver that promote crowdfunding and capital pooling for the purpose of investing in neighborhoods of color. These neighborhoods are located all around the country. So maybe you don’t have $25,000 to invest, but you have $500 to $1000; these companies allow you to be a part of the project at smaller investment amounts.

Initiatives like Buy the Block and Brown Equity Properties are changing how we can all participate in real estate investing. Sounds innovative right?

Actually, this concept has been around for years. If you look in many of our migrant communities, they have purchased homes by pooling money together for years.

Being armed with the right information is half the battle; the other half is putting yourself in a position to take advantage of the opportunities that are present in these areas. It all comes down to taking action.

My hope is that in 15 years, Denver’s greater northeast Black and brown communities will still be predominantly communities of color..

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.

Colorado Journalism Needs Public Support Op-Ed by John Temple and Greg Moore

T

here was a time, not so long ago, when the two of us were foes in a “newspaper war.”

We thought that the winner would be in a position to thrive as the sole surviving major newspaper in the Denver metropolitan area.

Were we ever wrong.

John’s Rocky Mountain News died 10 years ago.

Greg’s Denver Post lives on, with about 70 journalists in a newsroom that once had 275.

The journalism world in Colorado — and nationally —

John Temple

Greg Moore

has been turned upside down in ways we never anticipated.

As a result, instead of going head to head every day, the two of us are putting our heads together working on the Colorado Media Project, a concerted effort to sound the alarm about the decline of journalism and how we might build a brighter, more sustainable future.

The project released a report (https://coloradomediaproject.com/public-good) we think deserves the attention of anyone who cares about the state’s future.

It starts with a premise we both share: that quality journal-

ism is essential to our democracy, and that without it, the state and country risk not having vibrant, engaged and informed communities.

The report sounds many alarms. Since 2010, the number of reporters or correspondents working in all media in Colorado has plummeted from roughly 1,000 to fewer than 600, a trend that shows no sign of abating, even while the state’s population is booming.

Since 2004, the state has lost 21 newspapers – almost one out of every five. And there’s good reason to think more will suffer the same fate. Television and radio news staffs have declined

as well. There is lots of blame to go around from declining advertising revenues, changing news consumption habits, a premium on profits and questionable responses to the emerging digital landscape.

But our goal is not to be defensive or to depress you.

Trust us, though. Things are bad enough that it’s fair to ask: In the years to come, how are Coloradans going to learn about and understand the rapidly-changing cities and state we live in, know who’s using their power for good or ill and who’s being hurt or helped by the decisions of our elected officials?

At one time, we believed that competition was the key to the kind of reporting that answers those questions. After all, it was competition that pressured us to dig up original stories and invest in new coverage areas when we were competing newspaper editors.

Today, we realize collabo-

Colorful Stories

Need To Be Seen and Heard Denver Urban Spectrum is seeking nominations for women for the 2nd annual “Colorful Stories, See Me Hear Me” Luncheon to be held in 2020. These stories of tribulation, courage and triumph will be presented through video, conversation and written profiles, and will highlight individuals who have overcome obstacles, adversity and tragedy, who are now living successful and meaningful lives.

In 2018, five courageous women were featured and shared their stories including Carlotta Walls LaNier, the youngest of the Little Rock Nine; Marie Phason, whose 6-year old son, Broderick Bell, was hit by a random gunshot and survived; Denver playwright and actress, Rhonda Jackson, who was diagnosed with Lupus in 1994; Senator Rhonda Fields, whose son and fiancé were murdered; and Ruth Boyd, an 80-year old mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who was beaten to death in her home. She was the mother of DUS publisher, Rosalind “Bee” Harris.

At this powerful event, Denver Urban Spectrum shared a message about overcoming tribulation with courage and personal conviction, bringing light to issues that still need a better response and solutions from the community. Attendees learned up close and personal how these women persevered through videos and a panel discussion.

If you or someone you know wants to share their story, call 303-292-6446 or email publisher@urbanspectrum.net.

Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – November 2019

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ration may be even more important than competition.

We want to offer solutions about how the public interest can continue to be served. It is a moment for experimentation and creativity.

That is why we believe it’s critical that Coloradans now seriously consider the project’s fundamental recommendation that public support — yes, the use of tax dollars — be one of the steps the state takes to help sustain and develop local public-service journalism.

We accept that even raising the specter of public support, which is already being tried in Canada and New Jersey, is controversial.

But there’s one thing we think the people of Colorado can’t afford to accept: Doing nothing.

If Coloradans want a healthy democracy, journalism is going to need help.

We believe Colorado should explore joining the 35 other states that provide state funding to support independent public media. In Colorado, the money could also support new and existing ventures committed to public affairs journalism.

There are lots of ways the state could do this, as our report points out. One would be to levy the state’s sales tax on advertising directed at Coloradans on global tech platforms like Google, Facebook and Amazon. The state already charges sales tax on some services, why not on digital ads?

Another would be to give local communities the power to raise revenues to meet their information needs, just the way the Denver metro area has done for the arts with its Scientific and Cultural Facilities District.

The report contains a number of other proposals that we hope galvanize more people to become involved, to take action to address a crisis that threatens the very fabric of our communities. We hope concerned Coloradans will generate new ideas or better versions of the ones put forth in the report.

One thing that is clear from research for this project: Advertising and subscriptions alone will not be enough to support the kind of media we think this state deserves, the way they once supported the Rocky and still support the Post.

We wish things were different. We kind of enjoyed being competitors – and never really wanted it to end.

But end it has. Whatever the future holds, we believe journalism must survive to illuminate the state’s trials and triumphs, to reveal who we are and help us see who we can be. To do nothing is too high a price to pay..

Editor’s note: John Temple was the editor of the Rocky Mountain News from 1998 to 2009. Greg Moore was the editor of The Denver Post from 2002 to 2016.

Today they are members of the Public Policy Working Group of the Colorado Media Project.

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Lifestyle Management for Diabetes

By Dr. Erynn M. Burks A Nationwide Epidemic Diabetes is a metabolic condition that affects the way your body uses glucose (sugar). Diabetes is among the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States, contributing to more than 250,000 deaths each year.

Currently, approximately 23 million Americans are living with a diabetes diagnosis, while another seven million have the condition and do not know it.

As many as 84 million Americans have prediabetes – a condition characterized by high blood sugar that does not yet meet the threshold for a diabetes diagnosis, but is certainly outside of normal range.

Moreover, in the last three decades, diabetes and prediabetes has become a pervasive yet silent threat in communities of color due to certain social determinants of health (i.e., economic and social conditions that influence health status).

Limited socioeconomic mobility and a lack of access to quality care, education, and community resources like fresh produce and green space has led to an increase in diabetes rates in African-American, Latino, and Native American communities that is nearly twice that of their white counterparts.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the total direct and indirect cost of diabetes in the United States is $245 billion dollars per year. On average, people with a diabetes diagnosis spend twice as much on medical care than individuals who do not have the disease.

Furthermore, poorly controlled

diabetes puts an individual at an increased risk for cardiovascular complications (e.g., heart attack and stroke), neuropathy (nerve damage), infection, and subsequent limb amputation, as well as blindness and kidney failure. Despite the physical, social and economic toll, simple changes to your lifestyle habits can halt disease progression and in some cases, reverse it.

A Non-Drug Approach Lifestyle management refers to the methods practitioners use to prevent, treat, or reverse lifestyle related conditions. Among these methods are diet and exercise, two of the most powerful modalities lifestyle specialists have at our disposal to assist our patients in improving their health. Clinical studies have demonstrated time over that diet and exercise are necessary in order to prevent diabetic complications, but lifestyle change does not require drastic measures. Research suggests that losing 5 to 10 percent of your total body weight and exercising for at least 30 minutes per day five times per week is sufficient to reduce your blood sugar and improve insulin sensitivity – how sensitive the body is to the effects of insulin – over time.

Strategies Worth Considering While behavior change is difficult, it is not impossible. Small steps can add up to big changes if applied consistently over time. Consider these three tips for adopting sustainable lifestyle changes.

1. Establish an Eating Plan – Diabetics have options when it comes to meal planning. The first option is to use the “Plate Method”, a simplified eating plan that uses portion control to manage blood sugar. Divide your plate into quarters. Fill half of your plate with non-starchy vegetables (e.g., kale, spinach, lettuce), one quarter with protein (e.g., chicken, beef, fish,

tofu), and one quarter with starch (e.g., rice, pasta, corn, peas, winter squash, potatoes).

The second option is carbohydrate counting, a popular eating method that type 1 and type 2 diabetics can use to manage their blood sugar by managing the amount and type of carbohydrate they consume throughout the day. Working with lifestyle medicine specialist or registered dietitian will provide you with the requisite food choice list and tools to apply carbohydrate counting for maximum benefit.

2. Cut Out the Sugar and Fat – Diabetes impairs the body’s ability to properly use glucose (sugar) and increases your risk for heart disease. To stabilize your numbers, consume foods with less than 6 grams of sugar per serving and eliminate sodas, candy, sports drinks, tea or coffee sweetened with sugar, and fruit-flavored juices from your diet. To reduce your risk of a heart attack or stroke, eliminate trans-fats from your diet and limit your intake of saturated fats found in meats, dairy products, and processed foods.

3. Sit Less, Move More – if you do not have any diabetic complications, begin an exercise program to improve your physical fitness and keep your sugars within the target range.

The current exercise recommendations for adults are: •Aerobic exercise for 30 minutes/day at least five days per week •Strength training of major muscle groups at least two days per week •Flexibility training with full body stretching at least 2-3 days per week If you take medications for your blood sugar, avoid episodes of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) by eating a snack before or after you exercise (e.g., Glucerna energy bar, 17 grapes, 1 whole graham cracker).

Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – November 2019

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Free Diabetic-Friendly Sample Menu Breakfast •1 slice whole wheat toast •avocado, sliced •1 large egg, hard boiled •½ banana Snack •17 grapes •1 oz almonds Lunch •3 oz. baked skinless chicken with herbs Greek salad: •½ cup tomatoes, medium •½ cup cucumber, medium dice •½ cup diced red onion •1 oz. feta cheese •2 Greek olive pitted and sliced •Salt and pepper to taste •1 tsp lemon juice 1 cup strawberry halves and blueberries mixed Snack •1 cup chopped celery sticks •2 Tbsp peanut butter Dinner •3 oz salmon fillet, broiled with lemon and garlic •cup cooked brown rice •2 c mixed greens salad with 1 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar •½ cup boiled potatoes, salted to taste Editor’s note: For more information about managing diabetes with lifestyle change, visit www.MyCherryPointe.com and enroll in the free diabetes class.

Editor’s note: Dr. Erynn M. Burks is a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the American Public Health Association. In 2018, she was one of only six individuals to graduate with a Preventive Care degree in the U.S. Cherry Pointe, located in Denver, provide the following services: Free Community Classes, Weight Management, Diabetes Management; The Supermarket SafariTM; Nutrigenomic Testing; Targeted Body Composition Analysis and more. For more information, visit MyCherryPointe.com or call 720- 295-5651.

American Diabetes Month

Exercise and Nutrition Tips for Type II Diabetics

By Kim Farmer

There has been a global

increase in the number of people with type II diabetes.

This increase is not limited to adults, but we are now seeing more cases of type II diabetes in children. One of the key reasons for this increase over the past four decades is a change in lifestyle choices we make for ourselves and our kids.

Unfortunately, there are fewer people who exercise regularly; a problem that has been compounded by the availability of fast foods that are high in fat and calories.

While there is no cure for type II diabetes, years of research reveals that one of the best ways to lower blood sugar and reduce the need for diabetic medications is exercise.

In past years, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) has recommended physical movement for every 90 minutes of sedentary time. Today, the ADA has changed its position;

it now recommends some type of movement every 30 minutes.

Sedentary behavior such as watching TV, surfing on the computer or attending a meeting has a negative effect on health including diabetes.

Recent studies show that management of increased blood sugar can be significantly improved when a sedentary lifestyle is interrupted every 30 minutes. With only three minutes of light physical activity such as walking up a staircase, leg lifts or overhead arm stretches, blood sugar levels may be positively affected. The old saying is true: Any type of physical activity is better than no activity at all.

Even though many types of exercises are regularly promoted for type II diabetes, there is no evidence that one particular type of activity is better than the other for all populations although the following guidelines do exist: •When you are exercising, your body needs extra energy or fuel (in the form of glucose) for your muscles. For short bursts of exercise, such as a short sprint to catch a bus or running to get out of the rain, the muscles and the liver can release stores of glucose for fuel. With continued moderate exercising, however, your muscles take up glucose at almost 110 times the normal rate. This can lower blood sugar levels.

•If you engage in higher intensity exercises, the opposite effect is true and your blood sugar levels increase since the body recognizes the intense exercise as stress and releases stress hormones that tell your

body to increase blood sugar to fuel your muscles. You may need insulin after an intense workout which is why you should monitor your glucose levels.

It is most important that you select an activity that you prefer because this will ensure compliance in the long run. However, to prevent boredom and monotony, be sure to add other exercise routines to your program.

Alternate between cardio, resistance or balance training or simply adopt a generally active lifestyle.

Additionally, people with type II diabetes should pay strict attention to their food choices. Instead of trying to adopt a ‘diabetic diet,’ just use a common sense approach; eat a diet that has an abundance of veggies and fruits, some fish and lean protein, whole grains, low fat dairy and nuts; and avoid excess meat and saturated fats. Enjoy sweets in moderation and control your portion sizes.

Since many type II diabetics are overweight or obese, the

simplest and most effective exercise is walking. Walking at least 45-60 minutes a day is recommended. Each walking session can lead to a loss of 300 calories (depending on your weight), which amounts to 2,100 calories a week and could lead to over two pounds in a month or 24 pounds in a year assuming your nutrition allows for the deficit. There is ample evidence that diabetics who walk cannot only lower their blood sugar, but lose weight, decrease their blood pressure and cholesterol- and some of the biggest benefits of exercise is that it decreases your stress levels, improves your selfesteem and builds confidence.

Walking can be done almost anywhere; it is free, and allows you to enjoy nature - but be careful texting while walking!

Now is the time to adjust your lifestyle to allow for regular activity and proper nutrition intake. Learning to purchase and plan your meals properly is a great first step, and involving your children in the process is important for them to learn early and make it a lifestyle for themselves.

Thanks for reading!

Editor’s note: Kim Farmer of Mile High Fitness & Wellness offers inhome personal training and corporate wellness solutions. For more information, visit www.milehighfitness.com or email inquiries@milehighfitness.com

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School Choice Debate Misses the Mark Op-ed by Alfonzo Porter

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celebrated journalist, Roland Martin hosted a community discussion, here in Denver, on the right of parents to choose where their children attend school.

Apparently, Martin has taken it on to himself to convene meetings on the subject nationally.

The idea of school choice provides options for parents who are anxious to find better educational opportunities for their children. Historically, this notion was first leveraged by white parents who refused to allow their children to attend school with black kids after the passage of BROWN V Board of EDUCATION. In a more contemporary framework, however, parents can choose to send their children to either a traditional school or to a charter school.

The question is whether charter schools represent the high quality option that so many desperate parents assume? Are these parents really getting what they are signing up for?

I submit that the school our children attend is perhaps the least of our problem. The National Education Association has been telling us for many years that African American children arrive in Kindergarten already two years behind their white and Asian counterparts.

Perhaps if black parents, we would cease with the nimble, acrobatic, variation of excuses as to why our kids are failing, then we might actually see the

Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – November 2019

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800 pound gorilla in the room.

It’s not the school, it’s us! If we admit to this truth then maybe our children would not continue languishing at the bottom of every academic measure.

They arrive behind and never catch up. That is the truth of the matter. Are our black kids less capable than others?

Of course not! The issue of academic performance has less to do with innate cognitive ability as it does with academic effort, family expectations and some cultural considerations.

For instance, African students tend to keep pace with other students and, in some cases, outperform all others.

Therefore, because African and African American children share a common ancestry, heritage and ethnicity there must be other associative factors that contribute to the continued underachievement of African America children.

According to the Brooking Institution’s Education Choice and Competition Index, in 2016, Denver was first among large school systems for the second year in a row. That means that our local school district received an ‘A’ for its efforts concerning charter school options. (ECCI) the scores of large school districts based on 13 categories of policy and practice. The intent of the ECCI is to create public awareness of the differences among districts in their support of school choice, provide a framework for efforts to improve choice and competition, and recognize leaders among school districts in the design and implementation of choice and competition systems.

We must ask ourselves, are we doing everything that we as parents and adults can to make certain that our kids are successful in school? To address the problem, take a long look in the mirror. Can our children discern their colors, add in single digits, and engage their imaginations as a result of having heard stories that began

Is School Choice The Black Choice? Town Hall Meeting Host and Panel: Roland Martin (Roland Martin Unfiltered); Papa Dia (African Leadership Group); Deborah Hendrix (Parents Challenge); Jennifer Bacon (DPS Director); Hasira “Soul” Ashema (Breaking the Chains); Wisdom Amouzou (Empower Community High School); Rep. James Coleman (Colorado House Representative) Photo by Deborah Powell “once upon a time,” can they count? Are we familiar with what they need to be able to do when they walk into school at age 6? This failure is not the school systems’.

Education must be at the center of their lives if they are to compete and win academically. Our kids have all the brains and the tools they need but let’s ensure that they increase their level of effort and time on task. Aspiring to simply achieve “Proficient” on some nebulous, competitive analysis tells them exactly what we expect—just meet the basic standards. Therein lies our problem. The expectations from home, not the school, must be that they achieve the highest standards possible.

To be frank, if you have 60 inch televisions in every room of the house and no books, you might be your child’s problem.

Further, with so much attention paid to running fast, jumping high and flinging a ball through an apparatus, how can they aspire towards academic excellence? Of course that sounds cruel but if we truly want our kids to win scholastically, it’s time for some hard truths.

Certainly, if we accept that they can participate in “two a

day” practice sessions on the track, the court or the field, then surely we can demand “two a day” study sessions in the library.

Ability vs. effort must be the primary discussion. Not that our students do not possess the ability to perform at the highest levels scholastically, many of them just don’t want to. Let’s address this first!

Initial studies have found that students attending charter schools do no better than students attending regular public schools. However, the results have been inconsistent. A recent U.S. Depart of Education study found that attending a highly sought-after middle school didn’t increase the student’s chances of attending or graduating from college.

As an educator, I recognize the desperate need for innovation in the field. A vibrant school system must maintain a spectrum of choices that include not only charters but magnet schools, virtual schools, private schools and traditional models.

Given that charter schools are exempt from many statutory requirements of traditional schools like spending, human capital, management,

parental involvement, curriculum and instruction practices and governance, it is perplexing that they still cannot best the performance of the much maligned traditional schools on a grander scale.

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The fact that our kids are still underperforming after decades of charter schools should convince us to take the bull by the horns. Enrolling them in a school with a new curricular focus is simply not the answer.

So please, let’s stop blaming everyone else and vastly increase what we expect from them—they might just surprise us all..

Editor’s note: Alfonzo Porter is a former public school teacher and administrator across multiple school systems. He has worked as a journalist covering educational issues with publications including the Washington Post. Currently, he is the Editor-in-Chief of the Denver Urban Spectrum and a Journalism Professor at MSUDenver. He is also the author of the recently released social media textbook, Digital Citizenship: Promoting Wellness for Thriving in a Connected World. For more information, visit www.vertexlearning. com or email aporter@vertexlearning.com.

Women’s Foundation of Colorado 2019 Annual Luncheon

Writing a New Chapter for Colorado Women

By Ruby Jones

T

he Women’s Foundation of Colorado (WFCO) is a community organization dedicated to improving outcomes for Colorado women and their families through advocacy and public policy, while creating pathways for advancement with career training and support. In addition to hosting educational events throughout its statewide network, the foundation provides grants to nonprofit organizations that help

Lauren Y. Casteel, president and CEO of The Women’s Foundation of Colorado interviews speakers Maysoon Zayid and Noor Tagouri

women achieve economic security. By creating equitable opportunities for women and families, WFCO is working to create a future where women and girls of every background and identity can prosper.

Each year, Colorado’s community, business and philanthropic leaders convene at the

WFCO’s annual luncheon to network, celebrate the year’s accomplishments, and discuss programming that will impact 2.8 million women throughout the state. On Friday, October 11, 2,300 benefactors, supporters and grantees filled the Colorado Convention Center’s Mile High Ballroom, where WFCO hosted an intimate, TED Talk-style luncheon, themed, “Writing A New Chapter for Colorado Women.”

WFCO believes that every woman is worthy of the opportunity to tell her story, and that by sharing the unique experiences of women across Colorado, attendees of the luncheon will hear the diverse perspectives, and take action to create a better future. With diversity at the forefront of the organization’s values, inspirational stories from each of the luncheon’s guest speakers served as a testament to the importance of inclusivity and personal healing in the process of community advancement.

Maysoon Zayid, an American actress, comedian, writer, disability advocate, and creator of the TED Talk, I’ve Got 99 Problems and Palsy is Just One, was the first to share her story. The challenges she faced as a Muslim woman of Palestinian descent in an increasingly xenophobic environment never stopped Zayid,

Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – November 2019

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who is one of the first Muslim women comedians. She spoke about being underestimated from birth, surviving when doctors said she wouldn’t, and learning to walk after doctors deemed it impossible. From an early age, Zayid was encouraged by her father to dream big; refusing to succumb to the limitations caused by Cerebral Palsy. She pursued a career in acting but was met with resistance when she couldn’t land any roles.

Zayid began working as an advocate for people with disabilities when she realized the inequality that exists in Hollywood, “People with disabilities are 20 percent of the population, but we’re only 2 percent of the faces you see in media,” she announced. To bring awareness to the serious need for compassion and inclusivity in our society, Zayid uses her platform to make all people feel valued. “The world is broken, but we can fix it. We can fix it by saying ‘No’ to arming violence worldwide, and by saying ‘No’ to violence against women.” The audience laughed as the comedian joked about everything from marriage and TSA pat-downs to the origin of her name. With her final words she reminded everyone of the importance of advocacy and storytelling, “Say ‘No’ to being

silenced, your voice is your weapon against injustice.”

Though we all have unique stories, the common vision of advancement for all people is one that must be supported by action. The luncheon’s second guest speaker, Noor Tagouri, emphasized the necessity of personal healing and building bridges of commonality in the process of affecting external change.

Tagouri is an award-winning journalist, activist, producer and motivational speaker who fosters relationships with people from all backgrounds and identities with inspiring stories. In addition to sharing the story of how she became the first hijab-wearing anchorwoman on an American television network, she produced a documentary series on the mistreatment of people with mental disabilities titled, The Trouble They’ve Seen, as well as a podcast series on sex-trafficking, Sold in America: Inside Our Nation’s Sex Trade.

Tagouri works to increase visibility for disenfranchised groups by sharing stories that often go unheard, but in order for the stories to effectively create change, people must be prepared to listen. “A lot of times we’re out of focus and dealing with so many issues that we aren’t able to clear ourselves and our minds and create the spaces that are needed so we can have community and compassion, and truly listen to people without anger

or impatience.” Citing technological advancements and exhaustion from today’s changing world, Tagouri acknowledged that it can be overwhelming to unlearn and refocus, but encouraged attendees to first understand their own pain in order to authentically connect with others. She believes, “Whatever your vulnerabilities and insecurities are, whatever society has told you makes you not enough, is your key to success, to connecting with people, and to building those bridges that we so badly want to have.”

By building bridges of commonality with compassion, vulnerability and empathy, Tagouri believes that communities can participate in healing the world. “We’re all in this together. Every one of us is writing our story,” she says.

She encouraged the audience to create a ripple effect of impact by reaching lines of difference, “Embrace differences and lean into discomfort; sometimes it just takes asking the person next to you to tell you their story.”

WFCO’s influence reaches the institutions that create Colorado’s economy; companies like DaVita, the presenting sponsor for this year’s luncheon, with a 77 percent female workforce, have implemented tuition support and promotional programs, and made commitments to implement diverse leadership. The organization’s influence reached all of Colorado’s

women and girls in 2019 with the passing of the “Equal Pay for Equal Work Act.” Each year, the WFCO plays an integral role in creating opportunities and supporting work that prepares women to engage in Colorado’s economy.

Like many nonprofit organizations that serve women and girls, inadequate funding is a constant threat to desperately needed services. In her address to the audience, WFCO President and CEO, Lauren Y. Casteel appealed for support, stating that a miniscule 1.6 percent of charitable giving in the U.S. specifically supports women and girls.

WFCO encourages community members to get involved by attending regular meetings throughout the state. Together, we can ensure that every barrier is removed so that everyone has the opportunity to thrive..

Editor’s Note: For more information, visit WFCO.org.

Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – November 2019

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n aging assassin is suddenly pursued by a younger, even more lethal antagonist who turns out to be his 23-yearold clone. That’s the premise of this fascinating flick, which not only offers plenty of action, but is bound to spark some ethical discussions.

The movie opens with Henry Brogan (Will Smith), a veteran ex-Special Forces sniper turned assassin getting ready to take down a target on a high-speed train. He successfully takes the shot, but narrowly misses a little girl next to the target.

Disillusioned and unable to shake off the fact that he could have easily killed the kid, he opts for retirement. It’s a decision which doesn’t sit well with government officials who want him silenced and dispatch an agent called Junior, a cloned younger identical version of

him to assassinate him.

Two-time Academy Award winner Ang Lee (Life of Pi) dials up every spy cliché imaginable and nicely tosses them in the blender with fight scenes, shoot-outs and a brilliant motor bike chase. Using new technologies in creating Smith’s clone, Junior, a digital human character created by Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer is shot in 3D

which accentuates and magnifies every facial expression, body movement, costume and makeup.

Smith as the steely sniper, who suddenly develops a conscience after 72 kills, takes on two roles playing two characters and there are only a few out there who could pull off such complicated roles within the same picture.

Benedict Wong plays his longtime friend, Baron, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a DIA agent initially sent to surveil him, while Clive Owen plays a former Marine officer now seeking to create his own personal military organization of cloned elite soldiers and although the film doesn’t directly address world war, it makes a point about how cloning soldiers could help fight wars.

The fight scenes are fast and ferocious and pretty relentless as Henry and Junior use anything they can get their hands

on and especially engaging is that high-speed motorcycle chase through the streets of Columbia’s Cartagena.

A smart, gripping and suspenseful international thriller with science-fiction elements, Gemini Man doesn’t just offer thrills and visual artistry, but brings up existential questions.

What’s great about this film is that it’s unique, fresh and different. Lee has a taken a familiar premise and seamlessly sprinkled in some technological advancements, added a bankable and likeable star and created a film which raises a host of moral questions.

narcissistic mother Penny (Frances Conroy).

Arthur, we learn is an aspiring comedian who tries his hand as a stand-up comic, but finds the joke always seems to be on him. With several medical conditions that require a daily dosage of medications, he has a day job as a clown forhire at a company called HaHa’s. He struggles to be seen and is painfully aware that he’s invisible to most, even to his mother, who still calls him “Happy,” though he never has been.

Penny spends her days writing pleading letters to her

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former boss, mayoral candidate Thomas Wayne, for financial assistance, while Arthur spends his days watching the late-night talk show “Live with Murray Franklin” and dreaming of earning a spot on the program. Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty and, ultimately, betrayal, Arthur makes one bad decision after another which results in a chain reaction of escalating events in this gritty character study.

Robert De Niro plays the TV host Murray Franklin; the closest thing Arthur has to a hero and is an amalgam of reallife past hosts from Joe Franklin to Johnny Carson. Zazie Beetz plays the single mom of a 5year-old girl who lives in the rundown apartment down the

By Samantha Ofole-Prince

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his backstory on Joker’s meteoric rise evokes empathy, compassion and yet repulsion for the notoriously evil character known as Batman’s nemesis.

In this carefully crafted origin story, we get to see how the infamous DC villain, who struggled to find his way in Gotham’s fractured society became an embittered and dangerously evil person.

Director Todd Phillips delves into this detailed character study portraying Joker, whose real name is Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), as a socially awkward and increasingly desperate man living with his frail

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REEL ACTION - WWW.BLACKFLIX.COM hall from the Flecks who Arthur dreams of dating. Brett Cullen stars as mayoral candidate Thomas Wayne, a lone father figure Arthur attempts to connect with while Brian Tyree Henry rounds off the cast as a hospital clerk who works at a mental institution.

It’s a bold and complex movie about a fictional character seen fleetingly in the Batman films and Phillips’ portrayal is commendable as he expertly peels the layers off this complicated character who after years of ridicule and alienation from Gotham society finally seeks revenge on his tormentors.

With a two-hour plus running time, Joker is an exceedingly long film, but it’s engaging to watch three-time Oscar nominee Joaquin Phoenix’s hypnotically raw performance of Arthur Fleck in this origin story, and it’s a performance which is sure to net him yet another Oscar nomination.

Actress Uzo Aduba captures the qualities of Virginia Walden Ford in Miss Virginia

By Samantha Ofole-Prince

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he embodies all the strengths of the real-life Virginia Walden Ford who spent her lifetime fighting to create new educational opportunities for children and gives a sympathetic portrayal of an individual many will admire.

For writer, director R. J. Daniel Hanna (Shelter

Animal), Uzo Aduba was the perfect choice to play the impoverished single mother who took on an entire educational system.

“She was our first cast and we all talked about her in the very beginning of the process as we thought she has a certain quality that the real Virginia has. She is a very warm person, a natural leader and just exudes charisma.”

Unfortunately for the filmmaker, the award-winning actress best known for her role as Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren in the Netflix series “Orange is the New Black,” had an entire season of the show to complete before she could shoot this movie. For Hanna, she was worth the wait.

“It gave us time to prep. She had all these qualities that we thought were really special and would bring to the film. We had similar feelings about the script, story, and how it should feel and how it should be done and we had clicked.”

In the film, Aduba gives an inspiring performance as Virginia Walden Ford, the mother of a 15-year-old determined not to lose her son to the rough streets of Washington D.C. after discovering he has been skipping school.

Unwilling to see him drop out and deal drugs, she places him in a private school. But when she can’t afford tuition, she launches a movement to change the flawed educational system ousting corrupt politicians in her quest.

“This is a story about a mother’s love for her son and that is really the emotional core of the project,” continues Hanna who filmed the movie in just 19 days. “It’s really about saying a normal person can also be a hero. One woman wants to create a change and one person can start a movement and create a change. People are stronger together and voices are

louder when you come together in a community.

Based on a real character who had to overcome several obstacles to whip Washington, D.C.’s education system into shape, Miss Virginia is formulaic, but certainly watchable as it tackles a serious dilemma in the public-school system.

“It has a strong central character that you can relate to. As different as Virginia and I are, I found her story to be so empa-

thetic and what I am interested in is putting myself in somebody else’s shoes and showing you something through someone else’s eyes,” adds the director who is also working on a movie about a Zombie outbreak on Skid Row in Los Angeles.

Also starring is Matthew Modine, Aunjanue Ellis, Vanessa Williams, Amirah Vann and Niles Fitch. Miss Virginia is in theaters, On Digital and On Demand. .

Tune in to Denver 89.3FM, Breckenridge 89.7FM, Vail 88.5FM or download our app today and listen anytime, anywhere.

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In 1997, Denver taxpayers paid $2 million to the owners of the Park Hill Golf Course land to purchase the Conservation Easement that prevents development on the land and preserves the land’s open space and recreational use. Westside Investment Partners, the real estate developer that purchased the Park Hill Golf Course land this July, hopes to cut a deal with the City to convert the open space into commercial and residential development.

“When I signed the conservation easement into law, the intent was to ensure that this parcel of land would continue as a golf course or was used for recreational purposes. I believed then as I believe now, it is critical for the health and welfare of our community that our children, families and seniors have access to open space.

We made a commitment to be good stewards of our land and to ensure we are leaving our children and our children’s children a city that values green space,” said former Mayor of Denver the Honorable Wellington E. Webb. “Today, we see that state law agrees with us and that Park Hill Golf Course land is off limits to commercial and residential development,” said the parks and open land advocate at a recent press conference held on the north side of the golf course land.

The Colorado law known as HB 19-1264, passed and signed

by Governor Polis this year, makes it virtually impossible for the City and the landowner real estate developer to terminate the Conservation Easement that covers the Park Hill Golf Course land.

“Keep It Colorado stands behind perpetual conservation easements – a tool intentionally used to protect land forever, put in place for a purpose and

Open Space Advocates Join Former Mayor In Fight For Open Space and Land New state law makes Park Hill Golf Course land off-limits to commercial, residential development

By Luciana Former Denver Mayor Wellington E. Webb addresses the Park Hill Golf Course land with the media at recent press conference

Photos by Lens of Ansar

SOS Steering Committee member Woody Garsney give remarks before introducing the Honorable Wellington E. Webb

with an expectation from the public that it will be honored in perpetuity. We believe the law is clear on upholding perpetual easements and that terminating an easement requires a judicial process and proof that it is impossible to uphold the conservation values of the easement,” says Keep It Colorado Executive Director Melissa Daruna.

Westside Investment Partners intends to build a commercial and residential development project on the Park Hill Golf Course land but will need both City Council approval and a court order determining that conditions have changed on, or surrounding the land, making it impossible to fulfill the open

space and recreation conservation purposes of the Conservation Easement.

“The goal has always been, as good stewards of the land, was to hold this land in perpetuity for parks and open space.

Historically, it is one of the first golf courses that allowed African Americans to play on this golf course, so it has history,” says Webb who suggested to those in attendance to take a ride and look at other developments taking place and the rising cost of living space. “I believe what has made Colorado special and made Denver unique is our ability to protect our open space and our land development within Denver itself. This is a 155 acre

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of open space land. If someone on wants to develop, there is an industrial area further to the east and where there is plenty of development that can take place. The issue is this land needs to be protected. We need to draw a line in the sand now.

What kind of Denver do you want?” he asked describing the proposed image of the park with commercial development blocking the mountains in addition to concerns of climate change. “Some people are suggesting that what we do now is take this particular 155 acres and turn it into New Jack City without Wesly Snipes.”

Webb acknowledged the many SOS member, Black clergy, school community members, and individuals in attendance who also wants to see open space and parks, including former Governor Dick and First Lady Dottie Lamm.

“If a concrete residential commercial development was put here, you can never reclaim this space – it’s gone. Think of New York City...can you imagine New York City without Central Park? Well they say, high rises are the deal of the day. Well it doesn’t work that well in Paris. I don’t see people not going to Paris because they don’t have a skyscraper. I think we have to take these things and peel them back and the bottom line is open space land has to be maintained and we need to fight to make sure this does not turn into a commercial mixed used development. Do we need housing? Absolutely yes…but why take the 155 acres for housing. There are housing sites all over Denver, so, let’s fight for the land,” said Webb.

City Council members are asking the Denver City Attorney to clarify the City’s position regarding the impact of HB 19-1264 on the ability of the City and the real estate developer to terminate the Conservation Easement and permit residential and commercial development on the land..

Denver Health Opens Urgent Care In Bustling Downtown People downtown have urgent care services at facility near their homes, offices and hotels.

Denver Health is today expanding its footprint by opening a new urgent care center in downtown Denver, where the need for health care is quickly growing. More than 130,000 people are now employed in downtown while the residential population has tripled since 2000.

The opening of the Downtown Urgent Care, located at 1545 California Street in Denver, comes as Denver Health is working to expand services across the city.

•The 300,000 square-foot Outpatient Medical Center, being constructed at 660 Bannock Street, is 60 percent complete.

•A new Denver Health school-based health center last month opened at East High School. It is the 18th center Denver Health has opened within Denver Public Schools.

•Denver Health will offer primary and women’s care on site at the Rose Andom Center, which focuses on combating domestic violence.

“Since 1860, Denver Health has been a central part of the Denver community, offering health care and emergency health services for all,” said Denver Health CEO, Robin Wittenstein.

“We are excited to build on that long and rich history with the opening of our Denver Health Downtown Urgent Care and other important facilities.”

Urgent care is offered for illnesses and injuries that cannot wait for a doctor’s appointment

Denver Health Downtown Urgent Care Ribbon-cutting Ceremony Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019 (Photo Credit: Denver Health) DUC ribbon cutting (from left to right): Dr. Michael Breyer, Medical Director of Denver Health Downtown Urgent Care; Robin Wittenstein, Denver Health CEO; Happy Haynes, Deputy Mayor, City of Denver; Dr. Simon Hambidge, Chief of Ambulatory Care Services at Denver Health

but don’t require emergency care.

The new downtown facility is headed by the same clinical team that runs the urgent care facility at Denver Health’s main hospital campus. Patients will be seen by board-certified physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners, as well as highly-trained nurses.

Located within walking distance of the Colorado Convention Center, 16th Street Mall, Auraria Campus, the Pepsi Center and many of the largest downtown hotels, the urgent care will also serve thousands of travelers who visit Denver each year.

“For all our patients, our goal is to provide the right care, in the right place, at the right time. Urgent Care is for people with a severe cold or flu; people who hurt themselves commuting to work, folks struggling with back, joint or muscle pain, and travelers who don’t acclimate to our altitude as quickly as they might have liked,” said Dr. Michael Breyer, Medical Director of the Downtown Urgent Care.

Denver Deputy Mayor Happy Haynes said the new facility will fill a gap in the way people, who live, work and play downtown, access quality urgent care.

“Denver’s economy is thriving, and Denver Health is an

institution that sees our growth and prosperity as an opportunity to expand the incredible work they do every single day,” said Haynes.

The Denver Health Urgent Care will provide same-day walk-in medical evaluation and care including X- rays, EKGs, bedside ultrasonography and some onsite laboratory testing.

Urgent care services include minor fractures and sprains, sore throats, severe colds, flu and fevers, bites and stings, heat exhaustion and altitude sickness among others.

The urgent care will accept most commercial insurances, Medicare and Medicaid. The Urgent Care will also have simple, upfront, cash-pay options.

Patients who participate in the Colorado Indigent Care Program (CICP) or the Denver Health Financial Assistance Program (DFAP) may receive

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their care at the Adult or Pediatric Urgent Care Clinics on Denver Health’s main campus and at any of the nine Family Health Center locations across the city..

Editor’s note: The urgent care will see patients seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. Denver Health’s mission is to care for all.

Any patient needing immediate emergency medical attention will be transported to the proper facility right away. For more information, please visit www.denverhealth.org/DUC About Denver Health: Denver Health is a comprehensive, integrated organization providing level one care for all, regardless of ability to pay. Denver Health provides medical care to nearly one-third of Denver’s population, proudly serving as the city’s safety-net hospital and providing preventative, primary and acute care services.

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Dual Recognition Presented At Gala

Dr. Claudette Sweet was presented a “symbolic money tree” from The Colorado Association Ministers Wives Ministers Widows (CAMWMW) Founder Lady Lexine James at the 4th Annual Royal Blue and Gold Gala on Friday, Oct. 11 for her leadership as president for seven years of the Denver Ministers Wives and Ministers Widows Sisterhood.

Dr. Malcolm Newton and Dr. Marjorie Lewis presented an Honorary Doctorate Degree to incoming president of the Denver Ministers Wives and

Ministers Widows Evangelist Tywanna Jones, wife of Pastor Frank Jones.

Atim Otii Named Director of the Office of Immigrant & Refugee Affairs

The Agency for Human Rights & Community

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Partnerships announced Atim Otii as the new Director of the Office of Immigrant & Refugee Affairs. Otii succeeds Jamie Torres, who was recently sworn in to represent District 3 on Denver City Council.

Otii is a leader in immigration integration and has helped thousands of immigrants throughout the Rocky Mountain region. For the past six years, she has served as the Immigration Legal Services Director for Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains, where she led several immigrant focused programs from direct legal representation to social service support in Colorado and New Mexico.

Previously, Otii was in private practice, where she successfully represented immigrants in family-based immigration, asylum and naturalization law, and removal defense.

Otii has served with the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Colorado Lawyers Committee Immigration Task Force, offered trainings on immigrant rights and integration, and provided technical assistance and advocacy locally, nationally and internationally.

Otii was born and raised in Denver. Her parents came from northern Uganda as refugees.

Harambee Founder’s Day Slated For December 7

Will Jordan

Shallow

Goatfish

Sunday, Dec. 1, 2019 Doors open at 7 • Showtime at 8 Hosted by

Comedian A-Train Tickets: $10 303-433-1000 or www.liveatjacks.com www.100menwhocook.co info@100menwhocook.co 500 16th Street Mall #320 - Downtown Denver

The National Council of Negro Women’s Harambee Founder’s Day Celebration will be Saturday, December 7 from 11 to 1 p.m. at the Double Tree Hotel, 3203 Quebec St. in Denver. Guest speaker is the NCNW National Vice-President and member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Dr. A. Lois Keith.

NCNW is accepting award nominations and need volunteers. For more information, call Valorie Yarbrough at 303-9955062.

Book Signing Reception The Denver Black Book Writers Network will host a book-signing and reception for photographer Patricia Duncan who chronicled the historic journey of the first AfricanAmerican president through the eyes of a Colorado photographer in “Defining The TimesBarack Obama.”

The event will be held at the Blair-Caldwell Library, 2401 Welton St. in Denver from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 30.

The book contains more than 300 photographs depicting President Obama’s historic journey from 2006 to his farewell in 2017 in addition to his speeches.

For information, call 303-5887296 or email duncanpt56@yahoo.com.

Webbs Presents $10,000 to Urban Leadership Foundation of Colorado

Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and First Lady Wilma Webb presented Urban Leadership Foundation of Colorado $10,000 to be used for the professional development of young African Americans. The donation was presented to Foundation President Ryan Ross during Urban Leadership Foundation’s “Walk Your Achievement” Gala fundraiser in September.

Since its founding in 2007, the Urban Leadership Foundation of Colorado has successfully graduated nearly 350 leaders, provided $125,000

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in scholarships for program participants, completed more than 30 community service projects, and has cultivated African American elected officials, CEOs, philanthropic giving organizations, and board members.

DPS Foundation Awarded $10M for College Ready On Track Program Denver Public Schools (DPS) was recently awarded a $10 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to address persistent challenges facing the school district’s most vulnerable students. DPS is a recipient of the foundation’s Networks for School Improvement (NSI) grant. The funding will allow the school district to continue to build and support teacher-led instructional improvement that will elevate classroom practice and student achievement by strengthening the individualized supports for African-American, Latinx and low-income learners.

For the DPS class of 2018, college-enrollment rates for Black and Latino students were 15 and 21 percentage points lower than that of their white peers, respectively. This funding will strengthen efforts to maximize student achievement and bring the district closer to achieving its vision of being an equityfocused district designed to lift every student to thrive.

The five-year grant will support the DPS College Ready On Track NSI. Efforts will be aimed at ensuring that students reach grade-level competency in math and literacy in grades nine through 11. The work will encourage students to push beyond simply passing grades and course credit to demonstrating what they know and can do.

The schools that are part of the NSI team will develop, test, and refine new approaches to instruction and individualized student supports.

Thelma Craig and the

Colorado Black Health Collaborative with special guest comedian Bill Bellamy

Colorado Black Women for Political Action (CBWPA) Salute to Black Women Luncheon

Urban Leadership Foundation “Walk Your Achievement” Gala

Women’s Foundation of Colorado

Photos by Bernard Grant

Happy 99th Birthday Charles Burrell Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – November 2019

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Coalition Against Global Genocide Presents A Screening and Panel Discussion on Slavery Emmy award-winning filmmaker Dante James and panel will discuss equality, respect and freedom today

In recognition of the 400th

world, allowing these atrocities to continue to flourish. We look forward to addressing these issues with our panelists.”

The diverse panel will include James; Dr. Rachel E. Harding, Associate Professor, University of Colorado Denver; Rev. Quincy Shannon; and Ghanaian resident Joel Odonkor.

anniversary of the arrival of the first Africans to be sold into bondage in North America in 1619 at Jamestown, the Coalition Against Global Genocide (CAGG) will present, “Remembering and Honoring: 1619-2019” with a special screening of Slavery and the Making of America by award

winning filmmaker Dante James.

This documentary series on the history of American slavery from its beginnings in the British colonies through the years of post-Civil War Reconstruction is narrated by Oscar-winner Morgan Freeman.

Slavery and the Making of America examines the integral role slavery played in shaping the new country and challenges the long held notion that it was exclusively a Southern enterprise.

“We know that the topics and issues covered in the films we show at the Denver Film Festival are just the start and creating conversations around them is a primary focus of our mission. We are focused on building community partnerships like our partnerships with

the Coalition Against Global Genocide and Denver Urban Spectrum to take these important conversations and bring them to our Denver community and beyond,” says Kevin Smith, Director of Marketing & Partnerships for Denver Film.

In conjunction with the 2019 Denver Film Festival and supported by Denver Film and the Denver Urban Spectrum, this event will be held on Sunday, Nov. 3 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Festival Annex, McNichols Civic Center Building, 144 W. Colfax in Denver.

In bracing its mission to educate, motivate and empower individuals and communities to oppose genocide and crimes against humanity, CAGG Founder and Director Roz Duman who established the nonprofit organization in 2008

says, “Genocide and slavery have been separated in both ordinary discourse and in the scholarly community because of radically different outcomes.

We must remember and openly discuss these horrific crimes against humanity that indeed have much in common.”

The screening of part one of the series will be followed with an audience participation panel discussion on “How do we proceed today to reach the ideals of equality, respect and freedom?”

Panel moderator, journalism professor and Denver Urban Spectrum Editor Alfonzo Porter says, “The ravages of slavery and genocide continue to impact humanity on a global scale and while different, are not mutually exclusive. There is a purposeful dehumanization lending to unintentional apathy on behalf of the industrialized

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Slavery and the Making of America is a four-part PBS series, produced by Dante James, and first broadcast in 2005. It documents the history of American slavery from its beginnings in the British colonies to its end in the Southern states and the years of postCivil War Reconstruction.

“The vision for the series was that the enslaved were not passive victims. They fought their oppression in every way possible. Slavery was and continues to be a critical factor in shaping the United States.

Consequently, we must understand slavery if we are ever to be emancipated from its consequences,” says James..

Editor’s note: For more information, call 303-880-4836. For tickets visit www.denverfilm.org or http://bit.ly/2MGcf3c.

Before Columbus: How Africans Brought Civilization to America

By Garikai Chengu

Editor’s note: In recognition of the so-called Columbus Day holiday last month, and what some are now referring to as the American “Indigenous Day,” I am submitting this article by Garikai Chengu about Africans bringing civilization to America…Heather Gray, Justice Initiative (October 14, 2019)

O

n Monday, America’s government offices, businesses, and banks all grind to a halt in order to commemorate Columbus Day. In schools up and down the country, little children are taught that a heroic

Italian explorer discovered America, and various events and parades are held to celebrate the occasion.

It has now become common knowledge amongst academics that Christopher Columbus clearly did not discover America, not least because is it impossible to discover a people and a continent that was already there and thriving with culture. One can only wonder how Columbus could have discovered America when people were watching him from America’s shores.

Contrary to popular belief, African American history did not start with slavery in the New World. An overwhelming body of new evidence is emerging which proves that Africans had frequently sailed across the Atlantic to the Americas, thousands of years before Columbus and indeed before Christ. The great ancient civilizations of Egypt and West Africa traveled to the Americas, contributing immensely to early American civilization by importing the art of pyramid building, political systems and religious practices as well as mathematics, writing and a sophisticated calendar.

The strongest evidence of African presence in America before Columbus comes from the pen of Columbus himself. In 1920, a renowned American historian and linguist, Leo Weiner of Harvard University, in his book, “Africa and the discovery of America,” explained how

Columbus noted in his journal that Native Americans had confirmed that “black skinned people had come from the south-east in boats, trading in gold-tipped spears.”

One of the first documented instances of Africans sailing and settling in the Americas was black Egyptians led by King Ramses III, during the 19th dynasty in 1292 BC. In fact, in 445 BC, the Greek historian Herodotus wrote of the Ancient Egyptian pharaohs’ great seafaring and navigational skills.

Further concrete evidence, noted by Dr. Imhotep and largely ignored by Euro-centric archaeologists, includes “Egyptian artifacts found across North America from the Algonquin writings on the East Coast to the artifacts and Egyptian place names in the Grand Canyon.”

In 1311 AD, another major wave of African exploration to the New World was led by King Abubakari II, the ruler of the fourteenth century Mali Empire, which was larger than the Holy Roman Empire. The king sent out 200 ships of men, and 200 ships of trade material, crops, animals, cloth and crucially African knowledge of astronomy, religion and the arts.

African explorers crossing the vast Atlantic waters in primitive boats may seem unlikely, or perhaps, far-fetched to some. Such incredible nautical achievements are not as daunting as they seem, given the numerous successful modern attempts have illustrated

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that without an oar, rudder or sail ancient African boats, including the “dug-out,” would certainly have been able to cross the vast ocean in a matter of weeks.

As time allows us to drift further and further away from the “European age of exploration” and we move beyond an age of racial intellectual prejudice, historians are beginning to recognize that Africans were skilled navigators long before Europeans, contrary to popular belief.

Of course, some Western historians continue to refute this fact because, consciously or unconsciously, they are still hanging on to the 19th-century notion that seafaring was a European monopoly.

After all, history will tell you that seafaring is the quintessential European achievement, the single endeavor of which Europeans are awfully proud.

Seafaring allowed Europe to conquer the world. The notion that black Africans braved the roaring waters of the Atlantic Ocean and beat Europeans to the New World threatens a historically white sense of ownership over the seas.

When most people think about ancient Mexico, the first civilizations that come to mind are the Incas, Aztecs and the Maya. However, during the early 1940s archeologists uncovered a civilization known as the Olmecs of 1200 BC, which predated any other advanced civilization in the Americas.

Continued on page 28

Before Columbus

Making transmissions well since 1983.

Continued from page 27 The Olmec civilization, which was of African origin and dominated by Africans, was the first significant civilization in Mesoamerica and the Mother Culture of Mexico.

Olmecs are perhaps best known for the carved colossal heads found in Central Mexico that exhibits an unmistakably African Negroid appearance.

Ancient African historian Professor Van Sertima has illustrated how Olmecs were the first Mesoamerican civilization to use a written language, sophisticated astronomy, arts and mathematics and they built the first cities in Mexico, all of which greatly influenced the Mayans and subsequent civilizations in the Americas. “There is not the slightest doubt that all later civilizations in [Mexico and Central America], rest ultimately on an Olmec base,” once remarked Michael Coe, a leading historian on Mexico.

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Africans clearly played an intricate role in the Olmec Empire’s rise and that African influence peaked during the same period that ancient Black Egyptian culture ascended in Africa.

A clear indicator of preColumbus African transAtlantic travel is the recent archeological findings of narcotics native to America in Ancient Egyptian mummies, which have astounded contemporary historians. German toxicologist, Svetla Balabanova, reported findings of cocaine and nicotine in ancient Egyptian mummies. These substances are known to only be derived from American plants – South American cocaine from Erythroxylon coca and nicotine from Nicotiana tabacum. Such compounds could only have been introduced to Ancient Egyptian culture through trade with Americans.

Similarities across early American and African religions also indicate significant crosscultural contact. The Mayans, Aztecs and Incas all worshipped black gods and the surviving portraits of the black deities are revealing. For instance, ancient portraits of the Quetzalcoatl, a messiah serpent god, and Ek-ahua, the god of war, are unquestionably Negro with dark skin and wooly hair.

Why would Native Americans venerate images so unmistakably African if they had never seen them before?

Numerous wall paintings in caves in Juxtlahuaca depict the famous ancient Egyptian “opening of the mouth” and cross libation rituals. All these religious similarities are too large and occur far too often to be mere coincidences.

Professor Everett Borders notes another very important indication of African presence, which is the nature of early American pyramids. Pyramid construction is highly specialized. Ancient Egypt progressed from the original stepped pyr-

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amid of Djosser, to the more sophisticated finished product at Giza. However, at La Venta in Mexico, the Olmecs made a fully finished pyramid, with no signs of progressive learning.

Olmecian and Egyptian pyramids were both placed on the same north-south axis and had strikingly similar construction methods. Tellingly, all of these pyramids also served the same dual purpose, tomb and temple.

Ancient trans-Atlantic similarities in botany, religion and pyramid building constitute but a fraction of the signs of African influence in ancient America.

Other indicators include, astronomy, art, writing systems, flora and fauna.

Historically, the African people have been exceptional explorers and purveyors of culture across the world.

Throughout all of these travels, African explorers have not had a history of starting devastating wars on the people they met.

The greatest threat towards Africa having a glorious future is her people’s ignorance of Africa’s glorious past.

Pre-Columbus civilization in the Americas had its foundation built by Africans and developed by the ingenuity of Native Americans. Sadly, America, in post-Columbus times, was founded on the genocide of the indigenous Americans, built on the backs of African slaves and continues to run on the exploitation of workers at home and abroad.

Clearly, Africans helped civilize America well before Europeans “discovered” America, and well before Europeans claim to have civilized Africa. The growing body of evidence is now becoming simply too loud to ignore. It’s about time education policy makers reexamine their school curriculums to adjust for America’s long pre-Columbus history..

Editor’s note: Garikai Chengu is a scholar at Harvard University.

Email: garikai.chengu@gmail.com

ELIJAH CUMMINGS: A CIVIL RIGHTS ICON We – the nation, the City of Baltimore, the State of Maryland, and the United States Congress – have all suffered a tremendous loss.

As a lifelong advocate for justice, equality, and the truth, Elijah Cummings was the true definition of a leader and his commitment to civility and humanity were invaluable in times such as these. To many Elijah was a friend and mentor, but to the members of the CBC, Elijah was family.

“Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, to sharecroppers from South Carolina, Elijah knew firsthand the challenges of discrimination, segregation, and poverty.

But at the young age of 11, he stepped into his calling by helping to integrate a local swimming pool while being attacked with bottles and rocks.

This only strengthened his commitment to ensuring his community overcame these obstacles. Once elected to the Maryland House of Delegates, Elijah became the youngest chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus and the first African American to serve as speaker pro tempore.

As the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Elijah used his gavel to speak truth to power on behalf of the American people. Moreover, his fairness and integrity were undeniable

by Members on both sides of the aisle.

As a former Chair of the CBC and an active member within the Caucus, Elijah worked fiercely to uplift and empower Black people.

He shared his wisdom and strength in his ongoing efforts to ensure Black Americans received equal rights and protection under the law. Simply put, Elijah was a civil rights icon.

Elijah often said, ‘that our children are the living messages that we send to a future we will never see.’

From this perspective, he fought to ensure that the next generation has access to a clean environment, affordable healthcare, a quality education, and financial stability.

The Congressional Black Caucus God's Minute will continue his fight and honor his legacy by fearlessly seeking the I only have a minute. truth and ensuring every person in this country has the opportunity Sixty seconds in it. to achieve the American dream.

Forced upon me, The nation is heartbroken by this I did not choose it, loss and we extend our sincerest But I know that I must use it. condolences to his wife, children, Give account if I abuse it. grandchildren, friends, Suffer, if I lose it. staff and all those Only a tiny little minute, positively impacted But eternity is in it. by his remarkable life and work.

-Dr. Benjamin E. Mays The Congressional Black Caucus

Read in his own words by Congressman Elijah Cummings in his first speech to Congress April 25, 1996

ELIJAH CUMMINGS January 18, 1951 - October 17, 2019

Rest In Peace Congressman

Elijah and Maya Rockeymoore Cummings Denver Urban Spectrum — www.denverurbanspectrum.com – November 2019

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