thedenverpost--2020-06-07--COVID-19 rules threaten parents’ bonds with their kids in foster care

This story was co-published with the nonprofit investigative newsroom Center for Public Integrity .
In April , when nurses came for her 4-day-old baby , Ms. Smith clutched the girl tightly and sobbed .
Two police officers stood outside Smith ’ s hospital room to watch over the newborn ’ s transfer to the child services department in Adams County , Colorado , which places infants and children in foster homes .
The agency took Smith ’ s baby after Smith , who is only being identified by her last name to protect her privacy , tested positive for methamphetamine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the 19-year-old first-time mom walked to her home carrying an empty car seat .
During the past eight weeks , Smith has seen her baby only about a dozen times — over a video feed with spotty sound , mostly showing her daughter sleeping .
During one viewing , when Smith heard her baby crying , she felt her shirt become wet with breast milk .
“ I just want to see her to see that she ’ s OK , ” Smith said .
“ It just hurts that I can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or feed her , or when she starts to cry , comfort her.
” If not for the novel coronavirus , Smith would have had regular foster care visits when she could hold her baby .
But in Colorado , counties and judicial determined rule changes , and Adams County has restricted in-person visits in favor of virtual ones .
In March and April , at least 23 states banned in-person parental visits for all , or almost all , foster care cases to curb the spread of the virus , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all 50 states and the District of Columbia .
Many states began to ease restrictions on visitation in late May and early June .
The troubling result from the ban on visitations is that parents and their children in foster care have missed out on visits that are critical not only for bonding but also for convincing caseworkers and judges that they are ready to take over custody .
Smith has grown increasingly depressed because she can not see her daughter and has missed some virtual visits , Smith ’ s mother said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but many continue to ban visitations .
In Illinois , visits that are supervised by social-service staff are still banned , even as hair salons , golf courses and churches reopen .
Child welfare offices must balance the safety of workers , children and foster families .
Advocates , however , say the bans — which apply to families regardless of their risk of exposure to the coronavirus — are in opposition to federal guidance and the advice of medical experts who have urged child welfare workers to make decisions on in-person visitations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public health concerns are serious , and parents ’ access to their children and ability to work towards reunification are also very grave , severe , and difficult to navigate , ” said Tanya Gassenheimer , a staff attorney at Shriver Center on Poverty Law , a Chicago-based legal advocacy group .
At least 11 states and the District of Columbia banned all in-person visits between parents and their children who are in foster care for more than a month this spring , without stating any exception in their policies , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ states restricted almost all visits with limited exceptions .
Four banned all in-person supervised visits .
Most states that issued blanket bans have begun to ease restrictions or say that they will do so in the coming weeks .
For families resuming visits , some have been separated from their children for nearly three months , which could hurt their chances to reunify .
Many parents worry that states may suspend visits in the autumn if coronavirus cases increase .
Some states and counties allowed for in-person visits on a case-by-case basis .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ practically impossible to arrange visits between biological parents and their children because caseworkers or foster parents might object to visits given the risk of infection .
Child welfare officials argue that banning or limiting in-person visits is necessary to reduce the risk of exposing parents , children , workers and foster families to COVID-19 .
Many children in foster care are placed with older relatives or caregivers , who are more at risk of dying from the novel coronavirus .
Families or group homes may house multiple foster children from different families , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spread .
Trenee Parker , the director of Delaware ’ s Division of Family Services , said the agency ’ s decision to suspend visits for families was based on guidance from the state public health department .
They are trying to encourage more frequent video visitation , she added .
Some visits reopened on a limited scale at the beginning of June .
The New Mexico Supreme Court suspended in-person visits in March .
Brian Blalock , the cabinet secretary for the state ’ s Children , Youth and Families Department , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its decision and it was a difficult one .
The department first urged caseworkers to find alternative ways to meet safely , for instance in public parks .
In early April , however , the department sent a letter to parents notifying them that the state supreme court had suspended in-person visits .
The agency can petition the courts on behalf of a parent for in-person visits — for instance in cases when separation from a parent could lead to the loss of a native language .
As of April 24 , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of 675 cases .
The state stopped tracking last month .
In late May , the state allowed additional visits based on local COVID-19 conditions .
In March , the Children ’ s Bureau , the federal agency that oversees child welfare , asked lawyers and judges overseeing welfare cases not to issue orders banning all visitations .
Medical experts weighed in , as well .
Dr. Rahul Gupta , the former public health commissioner for West Virginia and the chief medical officer for the March of Dimes , said some limitations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ underlying health conditions , children ’ s ages and the risk of exposure .
But he said he opposes outright bans because it can adversely affect the mental health of parents and their children .
Gupta said if child welfare agencies don ’ t have the resources , such as face masks , to safely supervise visits or to transport parents to a meeting place , agencies must explain to parents why they can not .
“ We can not blanketly , without a full explanation , stop all of the legal rights @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a pandemic , ” Gupta said .
We shouldn ’ t “ absolutely prohibit visitations when you can still get Taco Bell.
” California said in a letter to county welfare directors on March 21 that “ it may not be prudent ” to have in-person visits in some cases but recommended counties assess each case individually .
For children under 3 years old , however , the state ’ s Department of Social Services , which oversees the child welfare system organized at the county level , recommended maintaining “ face-to-face @ @ @ @ @ @ @ early bonds.
” Michigan allows in-person visitation in some cases , and it expedited reunification for 112 families , speeding up children ’ s return home when it was safe to do so .
After years of decline , the number of children in foster care began to rise in 2012 , reaching more than 437,000 in 2018 , according to the latest data published in 2019 .
The increase was driven largely by an escalation in parents abusing drugs .
The federal government advises that a positive drug test should not be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remove a child .
But Colorado is one of 18 states that classifies substance abuse during pregnancy as child abuse , and newborns can be removed from their parents ’ care if they test positive for drugs .
So , under normal circumstances , Children and Family Services in Adams County likely still would have put Smith ’ s baby into foster care .
Both she and her baby tested positive for methamphetamines .
Abuse isn ’ t the primary reason children are removed from their parents .
Around two-thirds of parents in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of neglect , not abuse .
The agencies ’ goal is to provide parents support so their children can go home safely .
Even for families that reunite , however , the time apart can spark depression , anger and mistrust .
Child development experts say visitation is a crucial ingredient to help families maintain some semblance of normalcy and retain a bond with a child in preparation for a return home .
“ Look at it from the child ’ s perspective : They ’ re traumatized by the separation , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the University of South Carolina .
“ The goal and most common result of a foster care case is for them to reunify .
We should make that as easy and positive and safe as possible.
” In some ways , Smith is a good candidate for reunification .
The welfare investigation found her responsible for neglect but classified the severity as “ minor.
” She is working , with the help of her lawyer , to enter a program supporting teenage mothers .
Smith said she passed recent drug tests and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said she took the drug four times , twice during her pregnancy , when anemia and a thyroid problem during the pregnancy made her feel like she couldn ’ t get out of bed .
It was an impulsive and selfish choice , said Smith , who has become increasingly depressed because of the separation from her baby .
But it ’ s not drug use that may set Smith on a path that makes it harder to reunite with her baby .
It ’ s the lack of visitation .
By the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — which may be in the next few weeks as the state reopens — Smith ’ s daughter may have bonded with someone else , a person whom Smith is not allowed to see during her virtual visits and can only send chat messages to .
While not the sole factor in determining placement , attachment can be an element that is considered by the courts in reunification .
“ Visitation is the thread of connection parents have with their children as they fight to be reunified .
That ’ s how they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grow , watch them develop , ” said Gassenheimer at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law .
The organization , which works on issues that disproportionately affect low-income individuals , sent a letter to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services urging them to maintain in-person visits to the maximum extent possible .
So far , they have not received a response .
A federal law , the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act , requires that if children are in foster care for 15 out of 22 months , states must @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Parents who are incarcerated or in immigration detention are particularly at risk of losing custody .
For Destiney Sisler , a mother in Garrett County , Maryland , this is a ticking time bomb .
Sisler ’ s three children , ages 1 , 2 and 4 , were taken from her 14 months ago because of a bite mark and scratches on her youngest child , according to a court filing from the county social services department .
Sisler said it was from the older brother .
Court documents provided to Public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the origin of the bite mark but did mention concerns about a sibling inflicting injuries .
Other circumstances may have been involved in the removal .
Sisler ’ s lawyer , Dara Accord , an assistant public defender in Maryland , said Sisler was on track to be reunited with her children .
Before the Garrett County Department of Social Services suspended her foster care visits on March 31 , Sisler had been seeing her children on unsupervised visits and was about to start overnight visits .
Sisler went 58 days without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ department resumed Sisler ’ s in-person visits on May 27 , Accord is worried that the 15-month time period will run out and her client could lose her children .
The Children ’ s Bureau has urged states to count limitations imposed by COVID-19 as an exception to the timeline .
“ It ’ s killing me .
I stay up all night crying because I want my kids , ” Sisler told Public Integrity in April .
At that point she had no idea when she would see them again .
Her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , who was eager to allow visitations and willing to drive the kids to their parents ’ house .
“ I dropped my boys off on a Monday and told them , ‘ don ’ t worry mommy and daddy will pick you up on Wednesday , ’ ” Sisler said in an interview with Public Integrity .
“ I lied to them.
” During the suspended visits , Sisler ’ s 4-year-old stopped talking to her because he was angry that she didn ’ t come to pick him up .
She @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but said she mostly saw his forehead as he bobbed around the screen .
Norma Sisler , Destiney ’ s mother-in-law , told Public Integrity in April that the children were confused .
The 4-year-old got stomachaches , which she interpreted as a sign of anxiety .
She told the children “ the sickness ” — a term they use to refer to the COVID-19 pandemic — didn ’ t allow them to leave the house , but he asked every day if he would see “ mommy and daddy.
” Sisler @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the virus .
On March 25 , a few days before the shelter-in-place order started , Sisler offered to watch her kids during the day .
It ’ s an arrangement similar to the unsupervised visits she had before the novel coronavirus , but one that would put them together for a longer time each day .
Sisler doesn ’ t leave the house , and her husband is a mechanic who can socially distance at his job , she said .
She said the social service department told her that they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her visitation schedule without a new court order .
Instead , the kids are going to day care with other children because her mother-in-law , who works in telecommunications , is an essential worker and can ’ t herself telecommute .
This means she ’ s unable to watch the children during the day .
Sisler and her mother-in-law agree the children face more risk of coronavirus exposure at daycare than they would at home .
Accord filed an emergency motion in the Garrett County Circuit Court on April 6 to enforce the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ place before the pandemic .
It was dismissed without a hearing .
Even with visits now resumed nearly two months later , it ’ s unclear what will happen if the state sees another spike in coronavirus cases .
“ Visitation with a child is an essential activity , ” Accord said .
Under Maryland ’ s recent shelter-in-place order , “ someone can go to the store and buy feed and walk their animal .
Surely visitation with your child is essential .
”

This story was co-published with the nonprofit investigative newsroom Center for Public Integrity.
In April, when nurses came for her 4-day-old baby, Ms. Smith clutched the girl tightly and sobbed. Two police officers stood outside Smith’s hospital room to watch over the newborn’s transfer to the child services department in Adams County, Colorado, which places infants and children in foster homes.
The agency took Smith’s baby after Smith, who is only being identified by her last name to protect her privacy, tested positive for methamphetamine. After being released from the hospital, the 19-year-old first-time mom walked to her home carrying an empty car seat.
During the past eight weeks, Smith has seen her baby only about a dozen times — over a video feed with spotty sound, mostly showing her daughter sleeping. During one viewing, when Smith heard her baby crying, she felt her shirt become wet with breast milk.
“I just want to see her to see that she’s OK,” Smith said. “It just hurts that I can’t hold her or kiss her or feed her, or when she starts to cry, comfort her.”
If not for the novel coronavirus, Smith would have had regular foster care visits when she could hold her baby. But in Colorado, counties and judicial determined rule changes, and Adams County has restricted in-person visits in favor of virtual ones. In March and April, at least 23 states banned in-person parental visits for all, or almost all, foster care cases to curb the spread of the virus, according to a Center for Public Integrity survey of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Many states began to ease restrictions on visitation in late May and early June.
The troubling result from the ban on visitations is that parents and their children in foster care have missed out on visits that are critical not only for bonding but also for convincing caseworkers and judges that they are ready to take over custody. Smith has grown increasingly depressed because she cannot see her daughter and has missed some virtual visits, Smith’s mother said.
Some states have started reopening, but many continue to ban visitations. In Illinois, visits that are supervised by social-service staff are still banned, even as hair salons, golf courses and churches reopen.
Child welfare offices must balance the safety of workers, children and foster families. Advocates, however, say the bans — which apply to families regardless of their risk of exposure to the coronavirus — are in opposition to federal guidance and the advice of medical experts who have urged child welfare workers to make decisions on in-person visitations on a case-by-case basis.
“The public health concerns are serious, and parents’ access to their children and ability to work towards reunification are also very grave, severe, and difficult to navigate,” said Tanya Gassenheimer, a staff attorney at Shriver Center on Poverty Law, a Chicago-based legal advocacy group.
Blanket suspensions
At least 11 states and the District of Columbia banned all in-person visits between parents and their children who are in foster care for more than a month this spring, without stating any exception in their policies, according to the Public Integrity survey.
Another seven states restricted almost all visits with limited exceptions. Four banned all in-person supervised visits.
Most states that issued blanket bans have begun to ease restrictions or say that they will do so in the coming weeks. For families resuming visits, some have been separated from their children for nearly three months, which could hurt their chances to reunify. Many parents worry that states may suspend visits in the autumn if coronavirus cases increase.
Some states and counties allowed for in-person visits on a case-by-case basis. Lawyers, however, said it is practically impossible to arrange visits between biological parents and their children because caseworkers or foster parents might object to visits given the risk of infection.
Child welfare officials argue that banning or limiting in-person visits is necessary to reduce the risk of exposing parents, children, workers and foster families to COVID-19. Many children in foster care are placed with older relatives or caregivers, who are more at risk of dying from the novel coronavirus. Families or group homes may house multiple foster children from different families, which also increases the risk of viral spread.
Trenee Parker, the director of Delaware’s Division of Family Services, said the agency’s decision to suspend visits for families was based on guidance from the state public health department. They are trying to encourage more frequent video visitation, she added. Some visits reopened on a limited scale at the beginning of June.
The New Mexico Supreme Court suspended in-person visits in March. Brian Blalock, the cabinet secretary for the state’s Children, Youth and Families Department, said he worked with the court on its decision and it was a difficult one. The department first urged caseworkers to find alternative ways to meet safely, for instance in public parks.
In early April, however, the department sent a letter to parents notifying them that the state supreme court had suspended in-person visits. The agency can petition the courts on behalf of a parent for in-person visits — for instance in cases when separation from a parent could lead to the loss of a native language. As of April 24, the agency had secured in-person visits in 36 out of 675 cases. The state stopped tracking last month. In late May, the state allowed additional visits based on local COVID-19 conditions.
In March, the Children’s Bureau, the federal agency that oversees child welfare, asked lawyers and judges overseeing welfare cases not to issue orders banning all visitations.
Medical experts weighed in, as well. Dr. Rahul Gupta, the former public health commissioner for West Virginia and the chief medical officer for the March of Dimes, said some limitations on in-person visits are warranted depending on underlying health conditions, children’s ages and the risk of exposure.
But he said he opposes outright bans because it can adversely affect the mental health of parents and their children.
Gupta said if child welfare agencies don’t have the resources, such as face masks, to safely supervise visits or to transport parents to a meeting place, agencies must explain to parents why they cannot.
“We cannot blanketly, without a full explanation, stop all of the legal rights of the parents in those situations because of a pandemic,” Gupta said. We shouldn’t “absolutely prohibit visitations when you can still get Taco Bell.”
California said in a letter to county welfare directors on March 21 that “it may not be prudent” to have in-person visits in some cases but recommended counties assess each case individually. For children under 3 years old, however, the state’s Department of Social Services, which oversees the child welfare system organized at the county level, recommended maintaining “face-to-face” visits to allow for “critical early bonds.”
Michigan allows in-person visitation in some cases, and it expedited reunification for 112 families, speeding up children’s return home when it was safe to do so.
A small window for bonding
After years of decline, the number of children in foster care began to rise in 2012, reaching more than 437,000 in 2018, according to the latest data published in 2019. The increase was driven largely by an escalation in parents abusing drugs.
The federal government advises that a positive drug test should not be the sole factor in determining whether to remove a child. But Colorado is one of 18 states that classifies substance abuse during pregnancy as child abuse, and newborns can be removed from their parents’ care if they test positive for drugs.
So, under normal circumstances, Children and Family Services in Adams County likely still would have put Smith’s baby into foster care. Both she and her baby tested positive for methamphetamines.
Abuse isn’t the primary reason children are removed from their parents. Around two-thirds of parents in the child welfare system have been accused of neglect, not abuse. The agencies’ goal is to provide parents support so their children can go home safely. Even for families that reunite, however, the time apart can spark depression, anger and mistrust. Child development experts say visitation is a crucial ingredient to help families maintain some semblance of normalcy and retain a bond with a child in preparation for a return home.
“Look at it from the child’s perspective: They’re traumatized by the separation,” said Josh Kagan-Gupta, a law professor at the University of South Carolina. “The goal and most common result of a foster care case is for them to reunify. We should make that as easy and positive and safe as possible.”
In some ways, Smith is a good candidate for reunification. The welfare investigation found her responsible for neglect but classified the severity as “minor.” She is working, with the help of her lawyer, to enter a program supporting teenage mothers. Smith said she passed recent drug tests and is not addicted to methamphetamines. She said she took the drug four times, twice during her pregnancy, when anemia and a thyroid problem during the pregnancy made her feel like she couldn’t get out of bed.
It was an impulsive and selfish choice, said Smith, who has become increasingly depressed because of the separation from her baby.
But it’s not drug use that may set Smith on a path that makes it harder to reunite with her baby. It’s the lack of visitation. By the time the county allows in-person visitations again — which may be in the next few weeks as the state reopens — Smith’s daughter may have bonded with someone else, a person whom Smith is not allowed to see during her virtual visits and can only send chat messages to. While not the sole factor in determining placement, attachment can be an element that is considered by the courts in reunification.
“Visitation is the thread of connection parents have with their children as they fight to be reunified. That’s how they can see their children, watch them grow, watch them develop,” said Gassenheimer at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law.
The organization, which works on issues that disproportionately affect low-income individuals, sent a letter to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services urging them to maintain in-person visits to the maximum extent possible. So far, they have not received a response.
Ticking time bomb
A federal law, the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act, requires that if children are in foster care for 15 out of 22 months, states must file for termination of parental rights. Parents who are incarcerated or in immigration detention are particularly at risk of losing custody.
For Destiney Sisler, a mother in Garrett County, Maryland, this is a ticking time bomb.
Sisler’s three children, ages 1, 2 and 4, were taken from her 14 months ago because of a bite mark and scratches on her youngest child, according to a court filing from the county social services department. Sisler said it was from the older brother. Court documents provided to Public Integrity did not make a conclusive ruling on the origin of the bite mark but did mention concerns about a sibling inflicting injuries. Other circumstances may have been involved in the removal.
Sisler’s lawyer, Dara Accord, an assistant public defender in Maryland, said Sisler was on track to be reunited with her children. Before the Garrett County Department of Social Services suspended her foster care visits on March 31, Sisler had been seeing her children on unsupervised visits and was about to start overnight visits.
Sisler went 58 days without seeing her children. Even though the department resumed Sisler’s in-person visits on May 27, Accord is worried that the 15-month time period will run out and her client could lose her children.
The Children’s Bureau has urged states to count limitations imposed by COVID-19 as an exception to the timeline.
“It’s killing me. I stay up all night crying because I want my kids,” Sisler told Public Integrity in April. At that point she had no idea when she would see them again.
Her two older children live with her mother-in-law, who was eager to allow visitations and willing to drive the kids to their parents’ house.
“I dropped my boys off on a Monday and told them, ‘don’t worry mommy and daddy will pick you up on Wednesday,’” Sisler said in an interview with Public Integrity. “I lied to them.”
During the suspended visits, Sisler’s 4-year-old stopped talking to her because he was angry that she didn’t come to pick him up. She connected with her 2-year-old over Facebook video, but said she mostly saw his forehead as he bobbed around the screen.
Norma Sisler, Destiney’s mother-in-law, told Public Integrity in April that the children were confused. The 4-year-old got stomachaches, which she interpreted as a sign of anxiety. She told the children “the sickness” — a term they use to refer to the COVID-19 pandemic — didn’t allow them to leave the house, but he asked every day if he would see “mommy and daddy.”
Sisler questions whether the protocols protected her kids from the virus.
On March 25, a few days before the shelter-in-place order started, Sisler offered to watch her kids during the day. It’s an arrangement similar to the unsupervised visits she had before the novel coronavirus, but one that would put them together for a longer time each day.
Sisler doesn’t leave the house, and her husband is a mechanic who can socially distance at his job, she said. She said the social service department told her that they wouldn’t allow her to change her visitation schedule without a new court order.
Instead, the kids are going to day care with other children because her mother-in-law, who works in telecommunications, is an essential worker and can’t herself telecommute. This means she’s unable to watch the children during the day. Sisler and her mother-in-law agree the children face more risk of coronavirus exposure at daycare than they would at home.
Accord filed an emergency motion in the Garrett County Circuit Court on April 6 to enforce the court-ordered visitation plan that Sisler had in place before the pandemic. It was dismissed without a hearing. Even with visits now resumed nearly two months later, it’s unclear what will happen if the state sees another spike in coronavirus cases.
“Visitation with a child is an essential activity,” Accord said. Under Maryland’s recent shelter-in-place order, “someone can go to the store and buy feed and walk their animal. Surely visitation with your child is essential.”


thedenverpost--2020-06-07--“Enough is enough”: Why George Floyd’s killing resonated so deeply in Colorado

An eight-year-old girl in a pleated pink skirt and sneakers stood on stage in Denver ’ s Civic Center on Thursday , dwarfed by the amphitheater ’ s towering stone columns and the sea of people before her .
Protest organizers adjusted a microphone stand as low as it could go and then she poured out her heart .
“ Don ’ t judge a book by its cover , ” Mac Vasquez said .
“ That ’ s not being taken very seriously right now , and we should do that.
” The crowd of hundreds roared in support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It was the eighth day of protest in Denver following the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis .
He died under the knee of a white police officer , gasping for air and calling out for his mother , and his death sparked nationwide outrage during an already extraordinary time .
Amid a global pandemic that ’ s led to record unemployment and that ’ s disproportionately harmed people of color , combined with a divisive president in power , the video of Floyd ’ s killing — on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Kentucky and Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia — became a rallying point for Americans across the country to call out systemic racism and demand an end to police brutality .
But there ’ s a reason those deaths resonated so deeply in Colorado : this brutality , citizens of color attest , has happened for generations .
Standing outside the Capitol on Thursday , as hundreds chanted “ Black lives matter , ” Dee Veay , a 36-year-old black man from Denver , recalled the first time he felt targeted by police .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ he said .
“ I was hanging with some friends and we got pulled up by the police .
They put us all on the wall , illegally searched up .
We didn ’ t have anything .
But we all just got harassed .
It ’ s not really fair , but we couldn ’ t go out and assault the police — we ’ d get in more trouble .
There ’ s nothing 15-year-olds can do .
The police are the ones with the power.
” Veay said he long @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Veay has two teenage sons , and he ’ s warned them about the targeting .
“ That ’ s pretty much my whole life .
It ’ s just how it is , ” he said .
“ You ’ re growing up as a young black guy , you ’ ve got ta know you ’ re just a target of injustice.
” Black and brown Coloradans said last week in dozens of interviews with The Denver Post that they — like Veay — have rarely , if ever , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ old alike , shared stories of being personally targeted or of having family members brutalized and even killed by police .
Some of the stories date back decades .
The generational trauma and exasperation can be heard in the cries of “ I can ’ t breathe ” — words spoken by Floyd in his final moments and by Eric Garner six years ago in New York — that ring out from crowds flooding streets that as recently as two weeks ago were nearly empty due to the coronavirus .
The eerie quiet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thunderous expression of outrage and urgency , and a demand for change that many believe may now , finally , be attainable .
It ’ s spread across the state , with demonstrations from Fraser to Boulder , Parker to Grand Junction .
“ Police brutality has always been directed at the poor and oppressed in society , including the poor and oppressed in Denver , ” said David Lane , the Denver civil rights attorney who ’ s represented the families of some of the state ’ s most high-profile victims of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the oppressed have never had a voice to prove that this stuff was happening.
” They do now .
And some people in power are listening .
The Democrats who control Colorado ’ s legislature are intent on passing a sweeping police accountability bill , sponsored by black and Hispanic lawmakers , that a month ago would have been seen as radical .
The concept has broad support among Democrats , including from many white lawmakers and from the governor , who rarely speaks on issues of race or police violence .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ others being killed by police , Lane said , “ For the first time , white America is seeing what the black community and the Hispanic community have seen for decades and decades and decades : the police targeting minority people with violence .
They don ’ t do this stuff to bankers in Cherry Hills Village.
” Aya Gruber , a professor at the University of Colorado Law School , said with collision of the coronavirus pandemic , President Donald Trump and decades of police brutality and systemic racism she is not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a lot of pressure , in a few months , to put on not just the black community , but also just people who value racial equality and are frustrated by police violence , ” she said .
The coronavirus pandemic may have boosted the number of protesters across the country as Americans deal with economic uncertainties , increased isolation and job loss , she said .
There is a distinct air of liberation at these protests , as if demonstrators — who , perhaps incidentally , have been largely homebound since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ People have been locked up in their homes , ” said Natalia Marshall , whose uncle Michael Marshall was killed by Denver sheriff ’ s deputies five years ago .
“ They ’ re angry , they ’ re bored and frustrated , and they ’ re taking it out on their cities.
” She added , of police violence , “ A lot of people don ’ t realize it happens in Colorado .
It happens a lot.
” A Denver Post investigation of all police shootings in the state in 2019 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s race was reported , black people were over-represented among the dead .
They comprise about 5 % of the state ’ s population , but were shot and killed in 10 % of the incidents examined .
This over-representation can be found in local data , too .
In 2016 , The Colorado Independent and CU News Corps found that black people had been killed in 13 of 24 officer-involved shootings in Aurora over a five-year period , or 54 % .
Just 15 % of Aurora is black .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Boulder is 1 % black , but a review of data from the first half of last decade found that black people were more likely to be cited for traffic violations and misdemeanors .
This is a statewide trend — a Colorado Division of Criminal Justice report found that black people made up 12.4 % of all arrests and summonses in 2015 — more than double their population share .
Jasmine Townsend , a 29-year-old black woman from Aurora , spoke about the moment she found out firsthand that she was vulnerable to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
She was 20 , and she got pulled over , she said , because “ I fit the description.
” The police asked to search her car .
“ I exercised my right and told them no , ” she said .
They asked her if she was hiding anything , and , she said , she again told them no .
“ And so they held me up for two hours .
Outside my car , sitting on the curb .
The color of my skin is different than my girlfriend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t get the same benefit , ” she said .
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock , shared a similar story with The Denver Post .
Hancock , a black man , said he was profiled by police when he was younger .
“ I had an officer explain to me I was being pulled over because I was in the wrong neighborhood , ” he said .
Townsend marched Wednesday evening with thousands from the Capitol to Colfax Avenue , up through a downtown core lined with businesses with windows boarded in anticipation of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a sign that read , “ Am I next ?
” The protests have made clear that an increasing number of people consider police abuse a national , systemic problem .
Crucially , that includes white people .
The mostly young crowds convening every day downtown have been diverse , but majority white .
That so many are showing up may be attributable to the fact the video of Floyd ’ s death — he pleads for his life before falling unconscious as three officers pin him and a fourth watches as bystanders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such clear and obvious brutality that it cut through decades of inaction and denial .
Even those who have never before acknowledged or protested police brutality against people of color are galvanized .
“ The realness of the video made it difficult for all of us , ” said Hancock , who added that he ’ s never been able to shake the footage of Philando Castile ’ s death in 2016 , which , like Floyd ’ s , came at the hands of police in Minnesota .
“ Americans across the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mr. Floyd , ” said U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse , a Boulder Democrat and the first black member of Congress from Colorado .
“ The pain and anguish and fear that so many are experiencing in this country is very real.
” Edie Tavel , 19 , said she ’ s been forced to consider her role as a white woman in fighting racism .
“ This moment is when I first started becoming active in the movement , ” she said outside the Capitol .
“ I marched in the Women ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ m donating .
I ’ m coming to these protests .
This moment has really been impactful.
” Changing systems as entrenched as policing and government will be a slow and painstaking , experts said .
Whether the protesters ’ momentum pushes through change or whether Floyd ’ s name will be lost among a still-growing list of black men killed by police remains to be seen .
“ I feel encouraged that we ’ re going to see some serious change , ” Robert Davis , vice president of the Greater Metro @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But we have to strike the iron while it ’ s hot and we have to be focused on what it is we want to accomplish.
” “ The thing I ’ ve been very encouraged about is that we have so many of our Caucasian , Asian , Hispanic brothers and sisters who are joining in with the African Americans and saying , ‘ This is enough , ’ ” Davis said .
“ I ’ m sensing a certain amount of unity around , ‘ Something needs to be done.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ among many things , obscenities about Trump — who called the protesters at George Floyd events “ thugs ” just weeks after supporting mostly-white and heavily armed protests over coronavirus restrictions .
They ’ ve called for him to resign or be voted out in November .
But it ’ s not clear how the unrest will impact Trump ’ s reelection campaign .
Perhaps the last time America saw forces like the ones coalescing now was during the 1960s civil rights movement , Gruber , the CU law professor , said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to get elected , pledging to bring law and order back to the country , and Trump has shown signs he intends to take a similar approach , she said , like when he cleared protesters from around the White House in order to stage a photo at a nearby church .
Still , she said , 2020 — with so much available video evidence of police misconduct — is very different from 1968 .
“ There is a theory that there is such a broad coalition of people that were horrified by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that he will not as easily be able to play race politics the way Nixon did , ” she said .
Of course , police violence predates Trump , and most of the American cities now drawing protesters are governed by Democrats .
Among protesters in the streets of Denver , the optimism about upcoming change is pervasive .
“ It ’ s been happening like this for a long time and people just haven ’ t heard it , ” Diego Garcia , 26 , said during a demonstration at the Capitol @ @ @ @ @ @ @ under your knee for nine minutes , and the whole world sees it … the whole world is protesting .
We ’ ve had enough of this ( expletive ) .
” “ It ’ s opened the minds of a lot of people , ” said Nathaniel Hailu , 25 .
“ I don ’ t think anything can be resolved until the American government is changed , ” said James Allen , 29 .
“ That ’ s what revolution looks like.
” Davis , a member of Denver ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officials must reign in police abuses .
The response to protests — tear gas , pepper balls and foam bullets — was “ totally inappropriate , ” he said .
“ The way they are approaching it is , ‘ Once we are in a fist fight with the guy , we will try not to knock all his teeth out , ’ and that ’ s the deescalation , ” he said .
“ But we wanted deescalation before you even show up , before the fight starts , before you get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you doing to deescalate the situation ?
What are you doing to deescalate before the first stone is thrown ?
” While immediate reforms like banning choke holds or making it easier to file lawsuits against police officers may help stem police brutality , many believe that American policing is beyond reform , and must be torn down and entirely re-imagined .
“ Until you do a total reorientation of it , ” Gruber said , “ a total rethinking of how weapons are handled , when weapons are needed , if weapons @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how they are deployed , who does what — an entire restructuring and rethinking — likely we ’ re still going to see these events occur .
”

An eight-year-old girl in a pleated pink skirt and sneakers stood on stage in Denver’s Civic Center on Thursday, dwarfed by the amphitheater’s towering stone columns and the sea of people before her.
Protest organizers adjusted a microphone stand as low as it could go and then she poured out her heart.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” Mac Vasquez said. “That’s not being taken very seriously right now, and we should do that.”
The crowd of hundreds roared in support and leapt to a standing ovation. It was the eighth day of protest in Denver following the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. He died under the knee of a white police officer, gasping for air and calling out for his mother, and his death sparked nationwide outrage during an already extraordinary time.
Amid a global pandemic that’s led to record unemployment and that’s disproportionately harmed people of color, combined with a divisive president in power, the video of Floyd’s killing — on the heels of the killings of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky and Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia — became a rallying point for Americans across the country to call out systemic racism and demand an end to police brutality.
But there’s a reason those deaths resonated so deeply in Colorado: this brutality, citizens of color attest, has happened for generations.
Standing outside the Capitol on Thursday, as hundreds chanted “Black lives matter,” Dee Veay, a 36-year-old black man from Denver, recalled the first time he felt targeted by police.
“I was probably 15,” he said. “I was hanging with some friends and we got pulled up by the police. They put us all on the wall, illegally searched up. We didn’t have anything. But we all just got harassed. It’s not really fair, but we couldn’t go out and assault the police — we’d get in more trouble. There’s nothing 15-year-olds can do. The police are the ones with the power.”
Veay said he long ago settled into a feeling of powerlessness. Veay has two teenage sons, and he’s warned them about the targeting.
“That’s pretty much my whole life. It’s just how it is,” he said. “You’re growing up as a young black guy, you’ve gotta know you’re just a target of injustice.”
Black and brown Coloradans said last week in dozens of interviews with The Denver Post that they — like Veay — have rarely, if ever, felt protected by police. Young and old alike, shared stories of being personally targeted or of having family members brutalized and even killed by police. Some of the stories date back decades.
The generational trauma and exasperation can be heard in the cries of “I can’t breathe” — words spoken by Floyd in his final moments and by Eric Garner six years ago in New York — that ring out from crowds flooding streets that as recently as two weeks ago were nearly empty due to the coronavirus. The eerie quiet has been replaced with a consistent and thunderous expression of outrage and urgency, and a demand for change that many believe may now, finally, be attainable.
It’s spread across the state, with demonstrations from Fraser to Boulder, Parker to Grand Junction.
“Police brutality has always been directed at the poor and oppressed in society, including the poor and oppressed in Denver,” said David Lane, the Denver civil rights attorney who’s represented the families of some of the state’s most high-profile victims of police violence. “But the poor and the oppressed have never had a voice to prove that this stuff was happening.”
They do now. And some people in power are listening.
The Democrats who control Colorado’s legislature are intent on passing a sweeping police accountability bill, sponsored by black and Hispanic lawmakers, that a month ago would have been seen as radical. The concept has broad support among Democrats, including from many white lawmakers and from the governor, who rarely speaks on issues of race or police violence.
Because of video evidence of Floyd and others being killed by police, Lane said, “For the first time, white America is seeing what the black community and the Hispanic community have seen for decades and decades and decades: the police targeting minority people with violence. They don’t do this stuff to bankers in Cherry Hills Village.”
“It happens a lot”
Aya Gruber, a professor at the University of Colorado Law School, said with collision of the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump and decades of police brutality and systemic racism she is not surprised to see protests.
“That is a lot of pressure, in a few months, to put on not just the black community, but also just people who value racial equality and are frustrated by police violence,” she said.
The coronavirus pandemic may have boosted the number of protesters across the country as Americans deal with economic uncertainties, increased isolation and job loss, she said. There is a distinct air of liberation at these protests, as if demonstrators — who, perhaps incidentally, have been largely homebound since March — feel fully unshackled.
“People have been locked up in their homes,” said Natalia Marshall, whose uncle Michael Marshall was killed by Denver sheriff’s deputies five years ago. “They’re angry, they’re bored and frustrated, and they’re taking it out on their cities.”
She added, of police violence, “A lot of people don’t realize it happens in Colorado. It happens a lot.”
A Denver Post investigation of all police shootings in the state in 2019 found that in cases where a subject’s race was reported, black people were over-represented among the dead. They comprise about 5% of the state’s population, but were shot and killed in 10% of the incidents examined.
This over-representation can be found in local data, too. In 2016, The Colorado Independent and CU News Corps found that black people had been killed in 13 of 24 officer-involved shootings in Aurora over a five-year period, or 54%. Just 15% of Aurora is black.
And it’s not just killings. Boulder is 1% black, but a review of data from the first half of last decade found that black people were more likely to be cited for traffic violations and misdemeanors. This is a statewide trend — a Colorado Division of Criminal Justice report found that black people made up 12.4% of all arrests and summonses in 2015 — more than double their population share.
The statistics have stories attached.
Jasmine Townsend, a 29-year-old black woman from Aurora, spoke about the moment she found out firsthand that she was vulnerable to police abuse because of her skin color. She was 20, and she got pulled over, she said, because “I fit the description.” The police asked to search her car.
“I exercised my right and told them no,” she said.
They asked her if she was hiding anything, and, she said, she again told them no.
“And so they held me up for two hours. Outside my car, sitting on the curb. The color of my skin is different than my girlfriend’s, so I didn’t get the same benefit,” she said.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, shared a similar story with The Denver Post. Hancock, a black man, said he was profiled by police when he was younger.
“I had an officer explain to me I was being pulled over because I was in the wrong neighborhood,” he said.
Townsend marched Wednesday evening with thousands from the Capitol to Colfax Avenue, up through a downtown core lined with businesses with windows boarded in anticipation of looting. All the while she carried a sign that read, “Am I next?”
“That’s what revolution looks like”
The protests have made clear that an increasing number of people consider police abuse a national, systemic problem. Crucially, that includes white people. The mostly young crowds convening every day downtown have been diverse, but majority white.
That so many are showing up may be attributable to the fact the video of Floyd’s death — he pleads for his life before falling unconscious as three officers pin him and a fourth watches as bystanders plea for them to stop — shows such clear and obvious brutality that it cut through decades of inaction and denial. Even those who have never before acknowledged or protested police brutality against people of color are galvanized.
“The realness of the video made it difficult for all of us,” said Hancock, who added that he’s never been able to shake the footage of Philando Castile’s death in 2016, which, like Floyd’s, came at the hands of police in Minnesota.
“Americans across the country were outraged at the murder of Mr. Floyd,” said U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, a Boulder Democrat and the first black member of Congress from Colorado. “The pain and anguish and fear that so many are experiencing in this country is very real.”
Edie Tavel, 19, said she’s been forced to consider her role as a white woman in fighting racism.
“This moment is when I first started becoming active in the movement,” she said outside the Capitol. “I marched in the Women’s Marches, but now I’m donating. I’m coming to these protests. This moment has really been impactful.”
Changing systems as entrenched as policing and government will be a slow and painstaking, experts said. Whether the protesters’ momentum pushes through change or whether Floyd’s name will be lost among a still-growing list of black men killed by police remains to be seen.
“I feel encouraged that we’re going to see some serious change,” Robert Davis, vice president of the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance, said. “But we have to strike the iron while it’s hot and we have to be focused on what it is we want to accomplish.”
Davis welcomes the support of non-black people.
“The thing I’ve been very encouraged about is that we have so many of our Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic brothers and sisters who are joining in with the African Americans and saying, ‘This is enough,’” Davis said. “I’m sensing a certain amount of unity around, ‘Something needs to be done.”
The demonstrators in Denver have chanted, among many things, obscenities about Trump — who called the protesters at George Floyd events “thugs” just weeks after supporting mostly-white and heavily armed protests over coronavirus restrictions. They’ve called for him to resign or be voted out in November.
But it’s not clear how the unrest will impact Trump’s reelection campaign. Perhaps the last time America saw forces like the ones coalescing now was during the 1960s civil rights movement, Gruber, the CU law professor, said.
In 1968, Richard Nixon used unrest to get elected, pledging to bring law and order back to the country, and Trump has shown signs he intends to take a similar approach, she said, like when he cleared protesters from around the White House in order to stage a photo at a nearby church.
Still, she said, 2020 — with so much available video evidence of police misconduct — is very different from 1968.
“There is a theory that there is such a broad coalition of people that were horrified by the George Floyd video and execution-style killing that he will not as easily be able to play race politics the way Nixon did,” she said.
Of course, police violence predates Trump, and most of the American cities now drawing protesters are governed by Democrats.
Among protesters in the streets of Denver, the optimism about upcoming change is pervasive.
“It’s been happening like this for a long time and people just haven’t heard it,” Diego Garcia, 26, said during a demonstration at the Capitol. “But when you choke someone under your knee for nine minutes, and the whole world sees it … the whole world is protesting. We’ve had enough of this (expletive).”
“It’s opened the minds of a lot of people,” said Nathaniel Hailu, 25.
“I don’t think anything can be resolved until the American government is changed,” said James Allen, 29. “That’s what revolution looks like.”
Davis, a member of Denver’s police use-of-force advisory board, said elected officials must reign in police abuses. The response to protests — tear gas, pepper balls and foam bullets — was “totally inappropriate,” he said.
“The way they are approaching it is, ‘Once we are in a fist fight with the guy, we will try not to knock all his teeth out,’ and that’s the deescalation,” he said. “But we wanted deescalation before you even show up, before the fight starts, before you get out of your car, what are you doing to deescalate the situation? What are you doing to deescalate before the first stone is thrown?”
While immediate reforms like banning choke holds or making it easier to file lawsuits against police officers may help stem police brutality, many believe that American policing is beyond reform, and must be torn down and entirely re-imagined.
“Until you do a total reorientation of it,” Gruber said, “a total rethinking of how weapons are handled, when weapons are needed, if weapons are needed, what they wear, how they are deployed, who does what — an entire restructuring and rethinking — likely we’re still going to see these events occur.”


thedenverpost--2020-06-07--Post Premium: Our top stories for June 1-7, 2020

By the time you read this , the 11th straight day of protests in Denver will be underway .
Thousands have marched , driven in car rallies , filled town hall meetings and attended memorials in memory of George Floyd , a black man who died May 25 as a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes .
Videos of the brutal death — where Floyd is heard pleading for his life and calling for his dead mother — led to protests , many violent , across the country .
This period in our history is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a global health pandemic , record unemployment and a particularly divisive presidential election are coming together at once .
Denver Post reporters Shelly Bradbury and Alex Burness spent hours on the streets listening to people talk and wrote a story capturing the voices of those demanding change and providing context to them .
Meanwhile , reporter Elise Schmelzer examined the future relationship between the Denver Police Department and its citizenry after the first four days of protests turned violent .
How do the two sides heal after cops blasted protesters with tear gas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rocks at the cops ?
Finally , while I have your attention , I want to take time to tell you how brave our journalists have been during this time .
Everyone who has covered a protest has been gassed or struck with pepper balls and foam bullets , not to mention walking miles across the city to follow the marches .
They have risked personal injury and exposure to COVID-19 to keep Colorado informed .
If you see Shelly , Alex , Elise , Saja Hindi , Elizabeth Hernandez , Joe Rubino @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kyle Newman , Hyoung Chang , RJ Sangosti , Andy Cross and AAron Ontiveroz , please thank them .
I ’ m proud of them and amazed by their courage and dedication .
“ Enough is enough ” : Why George Floyd ’ s killing resonated so deeply in Colorado There ’ s a reason those deaths resonated so deeply with antiracists in Colorado : this brutality , citizens of color attest , has been happening for decades .
Read more… Five of our best stories from the past week The Denver Post @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and ongoing story .
For the latest , please visit denverpost.com .
Here are some of our key stories from the past few days : • Keeler : Denver showed its true colors the morning after George Floyd protests • Reggie Rivers : I ’ m black and despite all I ’ ve accomplished , society views me as a threat • Denver police open investigation after viral video shows cops firing pepper balls at car as man screams his pregnant girlfriend is inside Colorado expected to see more job losses in months @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unemployment report came out last month , it seemed Colorado might have dodged the worst of pandemic dislocations , with an unemployment rate among the 10 lowest in the country .
But , as business reporter Aldo Svaldi writes , one prediction shows that by early next year , Colorado will have some of the largest employment losses of any state .
Bicycling in the pandemic : Ridership , bike shops thrive as manufacturers struggle to meet demand Colorado is seeing a significant uptick in ridership since the coronavirus pandemic hit .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s left Denver big-box retailers and bike shops struggling to meet consumer demand as stir-crazy Coloradans search for new and safe avenues for exercise , travel or the outdoors .
Protesters gather to remember Elijah McClain , killed in encounter with Aurora police Demonstrators gathered Saturday in Aurora to decry the death and honor the life of Elijah McClain , 23 , who was declared brain dead in August , days after Aurora Police tackled him , performed a choke hold and injected him with Ketamine while McClain was walking along Billings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Denver police ?
Calls for reform of city ’ s police mount as protests continue For four days , Denver police gassed or fired pepper balls and foam munitions at hundreds of protesters , and while some pelted officers with rocks and told them to die , many others struck by the weapons were peaceful in their calls for an end to police violence .
After a march through downtown , nearly 50 Broncos players and 20 coaches stopped outside the Denver Performing Arts Center , joined by hundreds .
The plaza was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brutality , nearly two weeks after George Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody , his head pinned to the asphalt for 8 minutes , 46 seconds .
+ Metro Denver housing market revives after restrictions ease in May + Coloradans must continue social distancing to avoid COVID-19 resurgence this summer , projections say + Yoga studios , boutique fitness not sure if they ’ ll be able to make it through coronavirus closures + CHSAA task force categorizes high school football as “ higher risk ” in return to play , putting fall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plastic for stimulus payments , when many were expecting paper checks + Colorado churches , gyms , pools can reopen at reduced capacities — and businesses can now refuse service to the unmasked + Colorado reports no new coronavirus deaths in past 24 hours See more great photos like this on The Denver Post ’ s Instagram account .

By the time you read this, the 11th straight day of protests in Denver will be underway. Thousands have marched, driven in car rallies, filled town hall meetings and attended memorials in memory of George Floyd, a black man who died May 25 as a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Videos of the brutal death — where Floyd is heard pleading for his life and calling for his dead mother — led to protests, many violent, across the country.
This period in our history is unprecedented — massive, nationwide protests, a global health pandemic, record unemployment and a particularly divisive presidential election are coming together at once.
Denver Post reporters Shelly Bradbury and Alex Burness spent hours on the streets listening to people talk and wrote a story capturing the voices of those demanding change and providing context to them.
Meanwhile, reporter Elise Schmelzer examined the future relationship between the Denver Police Department and its citizenry after the first four days of protests turned violent. How do the two sides heal after cops blasted protesters with tear gas and projectiles and protesters hurled insults and rocks at the cops?
Finally, while I have your attention, I want to take time to tell you how brave our journalists have been during this time. Everyone who has covered a protest has been gassed or struck with pepper balls and foam bullets, not to mention walking miles across the city to follow the marches. They have risked personal injury and exposure to COVID-19 to keep Colorado informed. If you see Shelly, Alex, Elise, Saja Hindi, Elizabeth Hernandez, Joe Rubino, Tiney Ricciardi, Beth Rankin, Kyle Newman, Hyoung Chang, RJ Sangosti, Andy Cross and AAron Ontiveroz, please thank them. I’m proud of them and amazed by their courage and dedication.
— Noelle Phillips, Breaking News Editor
There’s a reason those deaths resonated so deeply with antiracists in Colorado: this brutality, citizens of color attest, has been happening for decades. Read more…
Five of our best stories from the past week
Ongoing coverage of George Floyd protests in Denver
The Denver Post will continue to report on this fluid and ongoing story. For the latest, please visit denverpost.com.
Here are some of our key stories from the past few days:
When the April unemployment report came out last month, it seemed Colorado might have dodged the worst of pandemic dislocations, with an unemployment rate among the 10 lowest in the country. But, as business reporter Aldo Svaldi writes, one prediction shows that by early next year, Colorado will have some of the largest employment losses of any state.
Colorado is seeing a significant uptick in ridership since the coronavirus pandemic hit. But as reporter Kyle Fredrickson writes, it’s left Denver big-box retailers and bike shops struggling to meet consumer demand as stir-crazy Coloradans search for new and safe avenues for exercise, travel or the outdoors.
Demonstrators gathered Saturday in Aurora to decry the death and honor the life of Elijah McClain, 23, who was declared brain dead in August, days after Aurora Police tackled him, performed a choke hold and injected him with Ketamine while McClain was walking along Billings Street.
For four days, Denver police gassed or fired pepper balls and foam munitions at hundreds of protesters, and while some pelted officers with rocks and told them to die, many others struck by the weapons were peaceful in their calls for an end to police violence.
After a march through downtown, nearly 50 Broncos players and 20 coaches stopped outside the Denver Performing Arts Center, joined by hundreds. The plaza was packed to protest racial inequality and police brutality, nearly two weeks after George Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody, his head pinned to the asphalt for 8 minutes, 46 seconds.
A few more important stories
+ Metro Denver housing market revives after restrictions ease in May
+ Coloradans must continue social distancing to avoid COVID-19 resurgence this summer, projections say
+ Yoga studios, boutique fitness not sure if they’ll be able to make it through coronavirus closures
+ CHSAA task force categorizes high school football as “higher risk” in return to play, putting fall kickoff in question
+ U.S. government chose plastic for stimulus payments, when many were expecting paper checks
+ Colorado churches, gyms, pools can reopen at reduced capacities — and businesses can now refuse service to the unmasked
+ Colorado reports no new coronavirus deaths in past 24 hours
Photo of the week
See more great photos like this on The Denver Post’s Instagram account.


thedenverpost--2020-06-08--Denver Police Department bans chokeholds, will require officers to report when they point gun at som

Denver Police Department bans chokeholds, will require officers to report when they point gun at someone

The Denver Police Department on Sunday evening announced a trio of policy changes , including banning officers from using chokeholds and requiring them to alert supervisors any time they point a gun at someone .
Officers in the department ’ s SWAT unit also will now be required to turn on their body-worn cameras while executing tactical operations .
The announcement , via news release , came as demonstrators calling for police reform and racial justice marched in Denver for the 11th straight day , a wave of activism spurred by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evaluate our policies with community input and make improvements as needed in the interest of public and officer safety , ” Denver police Chief Paul Pazen said in a statement .
Elisabeth Epps , who resigned from the Denver Police Department ’ s use of force advisory board after police used tear gas and less-lethal projectiles on protesters , said the changes are common-sense measures that the board previously requested .
“ This shows me that a week of protest did more than 18 months of conversation , ” she said Sunday .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ all situations was a small step in the right direction .
“ These things are the lowest hanging fruit , ” she said .
“ It doesn ’ t demonstrate a commitment to real change .
… It is not radical to ban a chokehold.
” Denver actor-poet James Brunt , 27 , who had just descended from the steps of the Capitol , where he read his poem “ Another Day in Paradise ” — about his fears growing up in Montbello — to the assembled demonstrators Sunday , said he was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ changes .
“ I hope it works , ” Brunt said .
“ I hope it actually makes a difference .
But , honestly , even when laws are in place , we know how easy it is for people to do what they want anyway.
” The police department said it was making the changes “ in an effort to maintain the highest level of public accountability , ” and had worked with its use of force committee and looked to recommendations from the Center for Policing Equity .
The new ban @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nation are implementing , is a full prohibition on carotid-artery compression techniques — and includes no exceptions .
Now when an officer intentionally points a weapon at someone , they must inform a supervisor , and a report will be created to improve data collection and evaluation of those incidents .

As demonstrators marched for the 11th day, Denver police brass on Sunday announced changes to the department’s use-of-force and body camera policies — including a ban on chokeholds that mirrors what some cities and states have adopted in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
The Denver Police Department also will now require officers to alert supervisors any time they point a gun at someone, not just when they fire a weapon. And SWAT officers must turn on their body-worn cameras while executing tactical operations.
The announcement, via an evening news release, came as demonstrators calling for law enforcement reform and racial justice marched again in downtown Denver, a wave of local activism spurred by the death last month of Floyd, a black man, after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
“We will continue to evaluate our policies with community input and make improvements as needed in the interest of public and officer safety,” Denver police Chief Paul Pazen said in a statement.
Elisabeth Epps, who resigned from the Denver Police Department’s use of force advisory board after police used tear gas and less-lethal projectiles on protesters in the early days of the demonstrations, said the changes are common-sense measures that the board previously had requested.
“This shows me that a week of protest did more than 18 months of conversation,” she said Sunday.
Still, she said banning chokeholds in all situations was a small step in the right direction.
“These things are the lowest hanging fruit,” she said. “It doesn’t demonstrate a commitment to real change. … It is not radical to ban a chokehold.”
Denver actor-poet James Brunt, 27, who had just descended from the steps of the Capitol after reading his poem “Another Day in Paradise” — about his fears growing up in Montbello — to the assembled demonstrators Sunday, said he was skeptical of the department’s policy changes.
“I hope it works,” Brunt said. “I hope it actually makes a difference. But, honestly, even when laws are in place, we know how easy it is for people to do what they want anyway.”
The police department said it was making the changes “in an effort to maintain the highest level of public accountability,” and had worked with its use of force committee and looked to recommendations from the Center for Policing Equity.
The new ban on chokeholds is a full prohibition on carotid-artery compression techniques — and includes no exceptions. Previously, departmental policy forbade officers from using chokeholds to block a person’s breathing except in lethal encounters.
Now when an officer intentionally points a weapon at someone, they must inform a supervisor, and a report will be created to improve data collection and evaluation of those incidents.


thedenverpost--2020-06-08--Minneapolis council majority backs disbanding police force

MINNEAPOLIS — A majority of the members of the Minneapolis City Council said Sunday they support disbanding the city ’ s police department , an aggressive stance that comes just as the state has launched a civil rights investigation after George Floyd ’ s death .
Nine of the council ’ s 12 members appeared with activists at a rally in a city park Sunday afternoon and vowed to end policing as the city currently knows it .
Council member Jeremiah Ellison promised that the council would “ dismantle ” the department .
“ It is clear that our system @ @ @ @ @ @ @ safe , ” Lisa Bender , the council president , said .
“ Our efforts at incremental reform have failed , period.
” Bender went on to say she and the eight other council members that joined the rally are committed to ending the city ’ s relationship with the police force and “ to end policing as we know it and recreate systems that actually keep us safe.
” Floyd , a handcuffed black man , died May 25 after a white officer pressed his knee into Floyd ’ s neck , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ breathe ” cries and holding it there even after Floyd stopped moving .
His death sparked protests — some violent , many peaceful — that spread nationwide .
Community activists have criticized the Minneapolis department for years for what they say is a racist and brutal culture that resists change .
The state of Minnesota launched a civil rights investigation of the department last week , and the first concrete changes came Friday in a stipulated agreement in which the city agreed to ban chokeholds and neck restraints .
A more complete remaking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in coming months .
Disbanding an entire department has happened before .
In 2012 , with crime rampant in Camden , New Jersey , the city disbanded its police department and replaced it with a new force that covered Camden County .
Compton , California , took the same step in 2000 , shifting its policing to Los Angeles County .
It was a step that then-Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department was considering for Ferguson , Missouri , after the death of Michael Brown .
The city eventually reached an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ required massive reforms overseen by a court-appointed mediator .
The move to defund or abolish the Minneapolis department is far from assured , with the civil rights investigation likely to unfold over the next several months .
On Saturday , activists for defunding the department staged a protest outside Mayor Jacob Frey ’ s home .
Frey came out to talk with them .
“ I have been coming to grips with my own responsibility , my own failure in this , ” Frey said .
When pressed on whether he supported their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do not support the full abolition of the police department.
” At another march Saturday during which leaders called for defunding the department , Verbena Dempster said she supported the idea .
“ I think , honestly , we ’ re too far past ” the chance for reform , Dempster told Minnesota Public Radio .
“ We just have to take down the whole system .
”

MINNEAPOLIS — A majority of the members of the Minneapolis City Council said Sunday they support disbanding the city’s police department, an aggressive stance that comes just as the state has launched a civil rights investigation after George Floyd’s death.
Nine of the council’s 12 members appeared with activists at a rally in a city park Sunday afternoon and vowed to end policing as the city currently knows it. Council member Jeremiah Ellison promised that the council would “dismantle” the department.
“It is clear that our system of policing is not keeping our communities safe,” Lisa Bender, the council president, said. “Our efforts at incremental reform have failed, period.”
Bender went on to say she and the eight other council members that joined the rally are committed to ending the city’s relationship with the police force and “to end policing as we know it and recreate systems that actually keep us safe.”
Floyd, a handcuffed black man, died May 25 after a white officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck, ignoring his “I can’t breathe” cries and holding it there even after Floyd stopped moving. His death sparked protests — some violent, many peaceful — that spread nationwide.
Community activists have criticized the Minneapolis department for years for what they say is a racist and brutal culture that resists change. The state of Minnesota launched a civil rights investigation of the department last week, and the first concrete changes came Friday in a stipulated agreement in which the city agreed to ban chokeholds and neck restraints.
A more complete remaking of the department is likely to unfold in coming months.
Disbanding an entire department has happened before. In 2012, with crime rampant in Camden, New Jersey, the city disbanded its police department and replaced it with a new force that covered Camden County. Compton, California, took the same step in 2000, shifting its policing to Los Angeles County.
It was a step that then-Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department was considering for Ferguson, Missouri, after the death of Michael Brown. The city eventually reached an agreement short of that but one that required massive reforms overseen by a court-appointed mediator.
The move to defund or abolish the Minneapolis department is far from assured, with the civil rights investigation likely to unfold over the next several months.
On Saturday, activists for defunding the department staged a protest outside Mayor Jacob Frey’s home. Frey came out to talk with them.
“I have been coming to grips with my own responsibility, my own failure in this,” Frey said. When pressed on whether he supported their demands, Frey said: “I do not support the full abolition of the police department.”
He left to booing.
At another march Saturday during which leaders called for defunding the department, Verbena Dempster said she supported the idea.
“I think, honestly, we’re too far past” the chance for reform, Dempster told Minnesota Public Radio. “We just have to take down the whole system.”


thedenverpost--2020-06-07--Bill to tighten Colorado’s vaccine exemptions moves forward, despite heated opposition

As Colorado lawmakers sat in a hearing room Sunday afternoon , listening to proponents of a bill to tighten vaccine exemptions , opponents outside the room — and outside the Capitol — got louder .
They shouted , they stomped and they vowed not to leave .
Nearly 1,000 people gathered inside and outside the building to protest Senate Bill 163 , as the ongoing demonstrations for racial justice , sparked by George Floyd ’ s killing , continued nearby .
A limited hearing for the bill that gave proponents and opponents 90 minutes each to testify ultimately passed on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ favor , 7-4 .
The bill requires those seeking nonmedical vaccine exemptions to either get an exemption signed by a medical professional or to watch an online educational video about vaccines .
“ I understand this is a passionate topic on both sides of the issue , but the evidence is science-based , ” said Rep. Kyle Mullica , a sponsor of the bill .
He added that Colorado isn ’ t even going as far as other states , which have completely removed nonmedical exemptions , and the bill reflects some of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ status quo has gotten us to where we are today , which is last in the country ( in immunization rates ) , ” Mullica , a Northglenn Democrat , said .
“ Something has to change.
” The unmasked protesters rallying against the bill were joined by Robert Kennedy Jr. , the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy , a Democrat .
Kennedy spoke at the rally and told Colorado lawmakers in the House Health and Insurance Committee that they needed to put a stop to the bill .
Although all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ except Rep. Kevin Priola , of Henderson , who is a bill sponsor — have opposed the bill aimed at increasing the state ’ s immunization rates , protesters also included groups of people who identified as Democrats .
Much of the divide was framed around science vs. deeply-held beliefs , said Rep. Cathy Kipp , a Fort Collins Democrat .
Kipp said she listened to every single proponent and opponent , but ultimately , her decision was clear .
“ We have people with their beliefs trying to drown out facts , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we are in the world today , ” she said .
A majority of Coloradans support vaccinations and exemptions , according to recent polling , and the majority of medical professionals back vaccines .
But opponents also brought medical professionals to testify against the bill and parents of children who they said were injured by vaccines .
Rep. Mark Baisley , R-Roxborough Park , decried any arguments about the science being clear .
“ We heard powerful testimony today that challenges that scientific belief , ” Baisely said .
Republican Rep. Tim Geitner @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the bill offensive and repugnant .
He opposed data collection by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Education on students who are not vaccinated — which proponents note the state already collects — and a government-sponsored educational video on vaccines .
He also expressed frustrations , as did many opponents of the bill , on the limits to testifying , as did Rep. Dave Williams , a Colorado Springs Republican .
“ I , for one , don ’ t blame any of the people who are outraged because they couldn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Williams said .
But Rep. Susan Lontine , the committee chair , said the measures were taken for the bill to be adequately heard amid a global pandemic .
The hearing room chairs were spaced out to adhere to social distancing guidelines .
Plus , the Senate held a 15-hour hearing on the bill before the session was suspended in March .
“ To say it did not get its fair hearing is fundamentally wrong , ” said Lontine , a Denver Democrat .
“ That we can ’ t pass a moderate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the middle of a pandemic , well , I don ’ t even have any words for that.
” The bill is expected to be heard by the full House this week .
Opponents of the bill stayed outside the hearing room until Colorado State Patrol officers told them they had to leave because the building was closed .
They were waiting for Democratic lawmakers to come out .
But Geitner spoke to the crowd outside and told them that in addition to plans Republicans had for the week to try to stop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their efforts toward voting to make a change .
This is a developing story and will be updated .

As Colorado lawmakers sat in a hearing room Sunday afternoon, listening to supporters of a bill to tighten vaccine exemptions, opponents outside the room — and outside the Capitol — got louder. They shouted, they stomped and they vowed not to leave.
Nearly 1,000 people gathered inside and outside the building to protest Senate Bill 163, as the ongoing demonstrations for racial justice, sparked by George Floyd’s killing, continued nearby.
A limited hearing for the bill that gave each of the groups of proponents and opponents 90 minutes total to testify ultimately passed on party lines with Colorado Democrats voting in favor, 7-4.
The bill requires those seeking nonmedical vaccine exemptions to either get an exception signed by a medical professional or to watch an online educational video about vaccines and get a certificate of completion. It also calls for improving data collection about exemptions in a central system with information to be distributed annually about each school’s vaccination rate.
Proponents say the bill is needed to improve Colorado’s low vaccination rates and curb the spread of preventable diseases. Opponents argue that it’s taking away parental rights and privacy.
“I understand this is a passionate topic on both sides of the issue, but the evidence is science-based,” said Rep. Kyle Mullica, a sponsor of the bill.
He added that Colorado isn’t even going as far as other states, some of which have completely removed nonmedical exemptions, and the bill reflects provisions because of opponent concerns.
“The status quo has gotten us to where we are today, which is last in the country (in immunization rates),” said Mullica, a Northglenn Democrat. “Something has to change.”
The mostly unmasked protesters rallying against the bill were joined by Robert Kennedy Jr., the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, a Democrat. Kennedy spoke at the rally and told Colorado lawmakers in the House Health and Insurance Committee that they needed to put a stop to the bill.
“What they’re doing today is antithetical to every value the Democratic Party has expressed in over 200 years of history,” Kennedy said.
Although all of Colorado’s Republican lawmakers — except Sen. Kevin Priola, of Henderson, who is a bill sponsor — have opposed the bill, protesters also included groups of people who identified as Democrats.
Much of the divide was framed around science vs. deeply held beliefs, said Rep. Cathy Kipp, a Fort Collins Democrat. Kipp said she listened to every single proponent and opponent, but ultimately, her decision was clear.
“We have people with their beliefs trying to drown out facts, and it seems that this is where we are in the world today,” she said.
A majority of Coloradans support vaccinations and tightening exemptions, according to polling by Keating Research. The majority of medical professionals also back vaccines, with several testifying Sunday, including Dr. Sean O’Leary, who specializes in infectious disease at Children’s Hospital Colorado.
O’Leary said any information included in an education model would be based on science, not politics.
But opponents also brought their own medical professionals to testify against the bill — they said not enough information is provided about vaccine risks — as well as parents of children who they said were injured by vaccines and other anti-vaccine advocates.
Bobby Kennedy gets the crowd riled up. “What they’re doing today is antithetical to every value the Democratic Party has expressed in 200 years of history.” #copolitics #coleg pic.twitter.com/bPfd9joCBD — Saja Hindi (@BySajaHindi) June 7, 2020
Denver actor Theo Wilson said some of those in the anti-vaccine movement don’t want to be a part of it, but they woke up to a nightmare of finding out their kids were injured by vaccines. He said he never thought he would align with so many conservatives on an issue, but “my only allegiance is what’s going to help my community.”
Rep. Mark Baisley, R-Roxborough Park, decried any arguments about the science being clear.
“We heard powerful testimony today that challenges that scientific belief,” Baisely said.
Republican Rep. Tim Geitner, of Falcon, called parts of the bill offensive and repugnant. He opposed data collection by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Education — which proponents note the state already collects — and a government-sponsored educational video on vaccines. He also expressed frustrations on the limits to testifying, as did many opponents of the bill and Rep. Dave Williams, a Colorado Springs Republican.
“I, for one, don’t blame any of the people who are outraged because they couldn’t have their voices heard,” Williams said.
But Rep. Susan Lontine, the committee chair, said the measures were taken for the bill to be adequately heard amid a global pandemic. The hearing room chairs were spaced out to adhere to social distancing guidelines. Plus, the Senate had 15 hours of testimony and debate about the bill before the session was suspended in March.
“To say it did not get its fair hearing is fundamentally wrong,” said Lontine, a Denver Democrat. “That we can’t pass a moderate bill to increase our vaccination rates in the middle of a pandemic, well, I don’t even have any words for that.”
The bill is expected to be heard by the full House this week.


thedenverpost--2020-06-07--Colorado’s COVID-19 hospitalizations fall to new post-peak low amid lull in death reports

Coronavirus hospitalizations continue to fall and no new deaths associated with COVID-19 were reported by state health officials Sunday .
The total number of people who ’ ve tested positive for or are suspected to have contracted the new coronavirus climbed past 28,000 on Sunday with the addition of 153 new cases to the state ’ s tally , with 4,455 additional people tested .
There was no change Sunday to either the number of people whose deaths have been directly attributed to COVID-19 ( 1,274 ) or the number of people who had COVID-19 and died , but their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ due to the virus ( 1,527 ) .
That , however , does not mean nobody in Colorado died of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours .
There ’ s a lag in reporting deaths , particularly those whose deaths are ruled to have been directly caused by the coronavirus .
And while a day or two can pass with no new deaths reported , they ’ re often followed by a jump in fatalities as they ’ re eventually reported to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment .
Nevertheless , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have hospitalizations .
According to the latest data available , only 207 coronavirus patients remained hospitalized on Saturday , a new low following the April peak during which more than 200 people were being hospitalized every day .
To date , a total of 4,485 people have been hospitalized in Colorado since early March due to the virus .
The number of confirmed outbreaks also remained unchanged from Saturday at 299 .
At least 65 of the state ’ s outbreaks are considered resolved .

Coronavirus hospitalizations continue to fall and no new deaths associated with COVID-19 were reported by state health officials Sunday.
The total number of people who’ve tested positive for or are suspected to have contracted the new coronavirus climbed past 28,000 on Sunday with the addition of 153 new cases to the state’s tally, with 4,455 additional people tested.
There was no change Sunday to either the number of people whose deaths have been directly attributed to COVID-19 (1,274) or the number of people who had COVID-19 and died, but their deaths may or may not have been due to the virus (1,527).
That, however, does not mean nobody in Colorado died of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. There’s a lag in reporting deaths, particularly those whose deaths are ruled to have been directly caused by the coronavirus.
And while a day or two can pass with no new deaths reported, they’re often followed by a jump in fatalities as they’re eventually reported to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Nevertheless, deaths have been trending downward — as have hospitalizations. According to the latest data available, only 207 coronavirus patients remained hospitalized on Saturday, a new low following the April peak during which more than 200 people were being hospitalized every day.
To date, a total of 4,485 people have been hospitalized in Colorado since early March due to the virus.
The number of confirmed outbreaks also remained unchanged from Saturday at 299. At least 65 of the state’s outbreaks are considered resolved.
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