On August 30th, a powerful gathering took place in Denver, Colorado, as residents, city leaders, and the state’s Attorney General, Phil Weiser, came together to denounce a disturbing act of racism that took place.
Just a day before, racist signs were found affixed to a bus stop pole, targeting Vice President Kamala Harris and immigrants with messages referencing the Jim Crow era. The signs, which read foul statements such as, “Blacks must sit at the back of the bus. Kamala’s migrants sit in the front,” and “Kamala’s illegals,” featuring dehumanizing images of people running, left many in the community reeling.
Denver City Councilwoman Shontel Lewis, who first brought the hateful signs to public attention by posting a photo on social media, worked swiftly with Councilwoman Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, the Denver police, and transportation officials to have them removed.
In response to the incident, Lewis and Gonzales-Gutierrez organized a rally at the same bus stop where the signs had been discovered, creating a space for the community to come together and reject the racist ideology that the signs promoted.
Addressing the crowd, Attorney General Weiser emphasized the importance of unity in the face of hatred. “Out of many, we are one,” he said. “We are one Denver, we are one Colorado, we are one America…There is no place for hate in Colorado.”
For many, the rally was a crucial moment to stand against intolerance, but it also served as a sobering reminder of the work that still needs to be done.
Denver resident MiDian Shofner expressed both her anger and her disappointment at the normalization of such vitriol in her community. “The signs that were posted were absolutely atrocious,” she said. “It was full of racism, it was full of dehumanization, and I wanted to stand in a space where we could collectively and strongly say that we don’t accept this.”
Shofner went on to express a sentiment shared by many in attendance—that while the rally was a beautiful and necessary show of solidarity, it was not enough. “These bus stops are used by our children to get to school. There are children that saw those signs yesterday. We have to be able to have something to do beyond that,” Shofner said.
Councilwoman Lewis acknowledged the broader challenge that the signs presented by stating: “History, unfortunately, continues to repeat itself. We need to take a serious pause as a nation and ask if this is who we are, if this is who we want to be, or if we are going to come together to do the necessary work to eradicate this kind of hatred.”
The rally concluded with a powerful message from Colorado State Representative Leslie Herod, who invoked Vice President Harris’s campaign slogan, urging how the country is not going back. “We will not go back,” Herod declared. “We will not let them divide us. This is who we are — we stand together every single day, including today and moving forward.”
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