Blacks fear losing their voice

Population shifts dilute traditional city strongholds

April M. Washington, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 6, 2007 at midnight

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Former state Sen. Gloria Tanner looks at the future of politics in Denver and the state House of Representatives and sees few folks who look like her.

Elbra Wedgeworth is no longer on the Denver City Council. Sharon Bailey is no longer on the Denver school board. And Rosemary Marshall will leave her House seat next year because of term limits.

These developments worry black leaders like Tanner. They say such losses threaten to muffle black voices in the political and policy debates in City Hall and state government.

Who, they ask, will address low graduation rates, access to health care and the reasons why so many blacks are behind bars?

So last week they hosted a forum of 130 Front Range leaders at the University of Denver to discuss the state of the state for blacks in politics, education, health care, the criminal justice system, economic development and housing.

The intent of the initial Colorado Black Roundtable Retreat was not to point fingers at the white establishment, but to energize the black community to develop its own solutions to pressing issues, said former state Sen. Regis Groff.

"The black community still has issues uniquely its own," he said. "You would think by now the issues that we're raising would not be issues any longer for the community, but here we are still dealing with grave disparities."

The situation arises at a time when Denver no longer has a cohesive black community, said Tanner, the first black woman to serve in the state Senate, a seat she held for 17 years.

"We're losing ground. The public schools are not graduating our children. Blacks still face disparities in housing and health care," she said.

"I can't imagine the city of Denver without diversity on the council and in state government."

Changing neighborhoods

Blacks in Denver make up roughly 11 percent of the city's population. But traditional black neighborhoods are becoming more diverse, and the changes are making it more difficult for black politicians to maintain their traditional base.

Consider what happened last month in the City Council District 8 election.

The district includes the Five Points neighborhood just northeast of downtown, an area that has been the symbolic heart of Denver's black community.

Carla Madison, a white neighborhood activist, narrowly defeated Bailey, the black former school board member, for a seat that had been held by a black since the 1950s, most recently by Wedgeworth.

Denver Democrats Sen. Peter Groff and Rep. Terrance Carroll view Madison's victory as a wake- up call for the black community and a watershed event.

"I don't know if I would say seats are in danger, but certainly, traditional seats can no longer be said to be safe African-American seats," Groff said. "Carla Madison's victory should be a signal to those looking to run for office that they're not going to be elected purely because they happened to be African-American."

Madison credits her victory to her close ties to the neighborhood and to focusing on issues that span racial lines.

"It was a huge upset," Madison said. "But we ran a modern campaign, and I had the neighborhood people behind me. I may be white, but I'm more representative of the neighborhood. I've been working in the neighborhood for years. I will represent everyone."

In recent years, the population in northeast Denver neighborhoods has shifted, with many black families moving to suburbs such as Aurora and white and Hispanic families taking their place.

The districts represented by Madison, Carroll, Groff and Marshall and Denver's lone black city councilman, Michael Hancock, are now roughly one-third black, one-third white and one-third Hispanic.

In addition to the demographic shifts, politicians of all colors face term limits. Both forces will make it more challenging for blacks to hold seats that in the past have been sure things.

"I think for our continued politically viability, African-Americans are going to have to create coalitions and broaden their platform," said Peter Groff, who holds the state Senate seat his father once had.

Value of diversity

Groff said that blacks in office, particularly from northeast Denver, have a history of raising the political and social consciousness of the white majorities regarding inequities.

"There is a certain freedom that comes with being an elected official from northeast Denver that allows the officeholder to say what needs to be said regarding social and racial disparities," he said.

There's also value in having diverse state boards and commissions, the entities that help forge policy, leaders say. But there are few blacks represented on that level of state government.

There are are no blacks serving on the Colorado Commission of Higher Education, the Oil and Gas Commission and other key boards, for example.

While there is much to be concerned about, both white and black political leaders say there are some good things happening, too.

Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter in the last few days appointed a black woman and a Hispanic man to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Last month, he appointed two Hispanics to the Parole Board, the first such appointments in the board's history.

Ritter boasts a diverse Cabinet that includes a high-ranking black, women and Hispanics who head state agencies and departments.

Peter Groff is in line to become the next president of the Senate as early as 2008, and Carroll is widely touted to become the next speaker of the House.

Last month, the State Board of Education named Dwight Jones, former black superintendent of the Fountain-Fort Carson School District, as education commissioner.

"There is a lot to be optimistic about," Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer said. "That said, there are many, many challenges in maintaining a diverse state government in Colorado.

"But diversity comes in many forms. There is geographic diversity, gender diversity and diversity of thought," he added.

Hancock and the younger Groff agreed.

For the new generation of black political leaders to remain politically viable, their focus must shift from civil rights to broader issues that cross racial lines and the geographic divide, they said.

"Because of demographic shifts, we don't have the luxury that our forebears had to address issues that are just limited to African-Americans," Hancock said. "We recognize that we have a broader responsibility."

Ritter appointments

367 appointments have been made by Gov. Bill Ritter to boards and commissions.

55 appointees identify themselves as ethnic minorities.

3 Ritter appointees are on the seven-person Civil Rights Commission. Two are Hispanic, and one is black.

washingtonam@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5086

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