rssColorado Makes History
Friday, January 09, 2009 at 10:25 am
- 2 Comments
Two weeks before President-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office, the Colorado legislature enjoyed a historic moment swearing in two African-American men as leaders the state House of Representatives and state Senate on Wednesday.
As Cara DeGette of Colorado Independent points out in a fascinating report today, “it wasn’t so long ago that the Ku Klux Klan dominated much of Colorado politics.” In its heyday in the 1920s the Colorado Klan sought “to promote “100 percent Americanism” — and that meant targeting Jews and Roman Catholic immigrants, as well as blacks. Nativism remains a powerful force today in American politics–retiring Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo built a career on it– but it is on the defensive as racial barriers and myths fall.
2 Comments
Comment posted January 9, 2009 @ 11:29 am
It really speaks to as far we have come as a state here in Colorado. From the KKK in the 1920's to having the first with having two African-Americans as leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives is amazing.
It is also interesting considering we do not have a very high African-American population compared to many other states in the country.
Comment posted January 9, 2009 @ 7:29 pm
It really speaks to as far we have come as a state here in Colorado. From the KKK in the 1920's to having the first with having two African-Americans as leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives is amazing.
It is also interesting considering we do not have a very high African-American population compared to many other states in the country.
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