From: WAND_M@gold.colorado.edu
Subject: Protestors decry city of hate
Followup-To: amend2-discuss@cs.colorado.edu
Originator: doherty@ucsu.Colorado.EDU
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 04:38:21 GMT

Gazette Telegraph, Colorado Springs
January 17, 1993

Coalition calls for sanctions

By D'Arcy Fallon

Calling Colorado Springs a city of hate and bigotry, leaders of the Minoirty 
Coalition laid a black wreath at the door of City Hall on Saturday and 
announced plans for "economic sanctions" aimed at businesses that discriminate 
against minorities.

The plans are part of the Coalition's "Freedom Campaign," a grass-roots effort 
intended to end what coalition members call the city's record of 
"institutionalized discrimination."

The wreath-laying capped a 30-minute downtown march attended by 300 people from 
organizations including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored 
People, the Amerian Indian Movement, the Chicano Unity Council and Ground Zero, 
an anti-Amendment 2 group promoting a boycott of the state.

Many of the marchers weren't familiar with the coalition but were there because 
they oppose Amendment 2.

One man, David Caldwell of Denver, carried a sign with a four-letter word on 
it--language deemed inflammatory by NAACP leader Jim Tucker.  When Tucker asked 
Caldwell not to carry the sign, Caldwell said he'd think about it.

"I realize some people will find it (the sign) offensive," Caldwell said.  
"That's partly why I did it.  I wasn't trying to be polite."

The march, led by Cahuilla Red Elk, director of the Colorado Springs chapter of 
AIM, attracted people of all ages.  Stroller-pushing parents walked quietly 
alongside lesbian couples and white-haired matrons.

As they walked, Red Elk, carrying a sacred pipe wrapped in a fringed buckskin 
bag, called on those around her to "pray out the hate."

Behind her, Tucker and Ruben Martinez, a professor from the University of 
Colorado at Colorado Springs, carried a black coffin with "civil rights" 
written across the side.

The Minority Coalitio's calls for economic sanctions are nothing new.  Tucker 
and Martinez stood in front of City Hall a year ago and denounced the city for 
its mostly white workforce and failure to pass a human rights ordinance.

The group has not implemented sanctions yet, but it has been busy in the past 
year.  Among other things, it has sent out more than 1,500 letters to mayors 
across the country "telling them how bad this city is," Tucker said.

Within a few weeks, the Minority Coalition intends to release a "selectiv 
buying list," recognizing businesses that have made significant progress in 
civil rights support, affirmative action and minority community development.

The coalition also intends to identify and avoid businesses that don't reat 
people of color fairly, Tucker said.

"When people come to the city we'll clearly point out who our friends are," 
Tucker said.

The coalition is seeking to overturn Amendment 2 and establish police civilian 
review boards.

City Councilman Larry Small agreed with Tucker's call for a more diverse 
workforce but disagreed with his tactics.

"I don't think boycotts or sanctions or browbeating works," Small said.  
"Education is the real key--educating employers and employees on their rights, 
letting people know the need for diversity."

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