Category: Racism

Activism, Children, Education, Equal rights, Ethics, Ethnic/Minority, Grassroots advocacy, Harassment, Homophobia, Intolerance, LGBT issues, Racism, Safety, Security, Weird western slope stuff, Xenophobia

Former Delta County School District students pressure district to end racism in schools

by Anne Landman • June 10, 2021 • 2 Comments

Jordan Evans (L) and Marisa Edmondson (R) are graduates of Paonia High School and are pushing the Delta County School District to actively work to end what they see as pervasive racism in Delta County Schools

Two alumni of the Delta County School District (DCSD) began an all-out effort last year to pressure the Delta County School District to address the pervasive racism and discrimination they and others say they have experienced in Delta County Schools. Edmondson says while they have made some progress, the School District and School Board have largely stonewalled them and resisted the change.

G.J. City Council candidate Mark McAllister known for posting false, xenophobic and racist memes

by Anne Landman • March 15, 2021 • 7 Comments

Meme that appeared on Mark McAllister’s Facebook page in early January, 2020

In 2013, former G.J. Mayor Bill Pitts said that the most money anyone had ever spent on a City Council race up until that time was around $3,000.

In 2013, that amount had jumped to $10,000 to $12,000 per candidate for city council campaigns.

Now, in 2021, candidates for local office are routinely spending up to $20-30k on their campaigns.

That marked increase in the amount of spending should be accompanied by an equally higher level of scrutiny of candidates by the local press and media, but it hasn’t. The local paper seems to be giving candidates a pass by doing nice things like sending candidates a softball questionnaire and publishing their answers in full, without even verifying whether the candidates filled in the answers themselves.

Voters deserve more information — a deeper dive, like verifying candidates’ educational levels, their social, political and business affiliations, and verifying the claims they make on their campaign pages about what groups they belong to. We should also know if any information has been published about them elsewhere, and check their social media streams to see what they had been posting before they decided to running for office.

One thing we’ve managed to find here at AnneLandmanBlog about the current candidates for Grand Junction City Council is that one candidate really stands out when given this kind of scrutiny, and not in a good way: Mark McAllister.

Rep. Lauren Boebert’s mother and friend complain about all the “brown people” in the Rifle WalMart

by Anne Landman • January 16, 2021 • 178 Comments

In this cringeworthy December, 2010 “things we hate” YouTube video reminiscent of a Saturday Night Live skit, Colorado CD-3 House Rep. Lauren Boebert‘s mother, Shawna Bentz (on the left), and a friend who identifies herself as “Lauren,” (not Bentz’s daughter, House Representative Lauren Boebert) complain about Mexicans and all the “brown people” in the Rifle Walmart on Sundays.

Beneath the video, Bentz wrote, “In noway way Do we hate brown people, We love all of Gods People….This is just a Rant of the everyday life.”

Activism, Anti-semitism, Conservatives, Crazy Republicans, Dangerous Republicans, Deplorables, Elections, Embarrassing Republicans, Ethics, Extremism, Fake patriotism, Hate, Lauren Boebert, Lies, politics, Racism, Safety, Security, Trump Insanity, Violence

68 Elected officials in Colorado House District 3 sign letter to House leadership condemning Boebert’s actions

by Anne Landman • January 16, 2021 • 7 Comments

CD3 House Rep. Lauren Boebert is under scrutiny for her association with right wing groups that supported the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021

68 elected officials from cities and counties across Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District have sent a letter (pdf) January 12 to House leaders condemning CD-3 Rep. Lauren Boebert and asking them to open an investigation into Boebert’s actions leading up to, and on the day of the insurrectionist attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6.

The letter was sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and was signed by elected officials from the counties of Routt, Pueblo, Eagle, Lake, Gunnison, Pitkin, Saguache, Ouray, La Plata, Hinsdale, San Miguel, and San Juan and from the cities of Durango, Bayfield, Crested Butte, Gunnison, Eagle, Lake City, Ophir, Mountain Village, Leadville, Ridgway, Telluride, Glenwood Springs, Avon and Aspen.

Women: post signs at home to celebrate the 2021 inauguration from now until January 20, 2021

by Anne Landman • December 30, 2020 • 15 Comments

Amid the pandemic, the Mesa County Democratic Party Womens’ Group is expanding on the annual Womens’ March by asking people to display posters and signs in their front yards and windows from now until January 20th, 2021 celebrating the return of the country to American ideals with the inauguration of President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President Elect Kamala Harris.

Throughout his time in office, Trump has made life more difficult for all Americans, but especially for women, in innumerable ways, through cuts to child care assistance, stalling federal action on paid family and medical leave, making student debt harder to pay off, cutting nutrition assistance, increasing bullying, racism and anxiety in the country, slashing health care benefits, tearing families apart, putting kids in cages, weakening protections against gender-based violence and much more.

Central High’s team name may be in for a change

by Anne Landman • December 15, 2020 • 8 Comments

Central High’s outdated, racist “Warriors” team name and logo may be in for a change this summer.

The Cleveland Indians baseball team announced yesterday that they will be dropping their team’s name after 105 years, because it has long been considered racist.

Cleveland’s move follows the NFL team, the Washington Redskins’, announcement last July 23 that after 87 years they are changing their name for the same reason: the name is outdated and racist.

What of our local schools’ racist athletic team names?

32 year old Black man found hanging in carport in Grand Junction

by Anne Landman • October 22, 2020 • 19 Comments

DeAndre Rogers

In an alarming case that has received little to no attention, Deandre H. Rogers (pdf), a Black man aged 32, was found hanging in a carport in Grand Junction, Colorado on September 21, 2020. He had participated on June 1, 2020 with a group of local Black Lives Matter activists who met with G.J. Police Chief Doug Shoemaker in the lobby of the Grand Junction Police Department to protest unjust treatment they had experienced at the hands of local law enforcement. The discussion took place about a month after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police on May 25, 2020.

More hate in Grand Junction

by Anne Landman • September 25, 2020 • 6 Comments

Some of the 30-40 racist, sexist and homophobic memes and cartoons sent anonymously to the author in the mail this week

Grand Junction’s “Inclusivity Proclamation” notwithstanding, there is plenty of hate and racism in Grand Junction. The above represents a small fraction of the 35 to 40 hate-filled memes and cartoons someone took the time to copy, cut out and mail us in an anonymous snail mail letter, received on Tuesday, 9/22/20. The rest were similar, many were worse, and many focused on Trump worship, denigrating Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, liberals, non-white people, etc.

Advertising, Cronyism, Diane Schwenke, Diversity, Embarrassing Republicans, Ethics, Ethnic/Minority, Grand Junction Chamber, Grand Junction City Council, Racism, Weird Grand Junction Stuff

Shadowy Chamber “social welfare” group funds billboard thanking racially tone-deaf members of G.J. City Council “for their service”

by Anne Landman • July 24, 2020 • 8 Comments

The Chamber and WCBA’s billboard thanking the most tone-deaf city council members when it comes to racism in Grand Junction

The little-known, seedy political arm of the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce, the Western Colorado Business Alliance (WCBA), has appeared again in Grand Junction, this time funding a billboard praising four sitting Grand Junction City Council members who recently earned the reputation for being the most tone-deaf regarding racism: Philip Pe’a, Duke Wortmann, Phyllis Norris and Kraig Andrews.

Pe’a was the councilman who was so threatened by what he claimed was the presence of G.J. Police Department’s “swat team” at the June 3 Council meeting that he proclaimed he thought he might need to bring his Glock handgun into the meeting. That was the meeting that was attended by a crowd of City residents who showed up to protest pervasive racism they had seen or experienced in Grand Junction, or to support friends who had experienced it.

Grand Junction’s Police Chief later confirmed there were no SWAT team members at the meeting that day.

Mesa County Republican Party removes Facebook post suggesting George Floyd’s death was a hoax

by Anne Landman • June 4, 2020 • 4 Comments

Screen shot provided by the Colorado Times Recorder of the post deleted from the Mesa County GOP’s Facebook page

The Colorado Times Recorder reported June 3 that the Mesa County Republican Party removed a post from its official Facebook page that suggested George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis Police on May 25, 2020 was faked.

The post contained a list of questions about the incident meant to imply it was staged, including:

“Why does one photo from behind show the man on the road is not handcuffed and the video from the front that he is handcuffed?”

“Why does the video show the diesel fuel price as 99 cents instead of the regular price in the area of $2.49?”

“Why does the police car have a non-municipal license plate with “Police” on it?”

(NOTE: The police car has a license plate that says “Police” because many Minneapolis Police cars have license plates on them that say “Police.”)

When asked why he removed the post from the page, Kevin McCarney, Chair of the Mesa County Republican Party, told the Times Recorder, “It’s not the position of the Party.”

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