On the 25th anniversary of the African American Voice in Colorado Springs, Colo., the celebration included intensifying the efforts to push back the white supremacist establishment that runs this military town and the efforts to silence the only Black-owned newspaper in town that has consistently challenged racism.
“The local paper, the conservative paper, The Telegraph, refuses to print the truth about racism and racist discrimination in Colorado Springs,” explained Dr. James Tucker, the editor and publisher of the African American Voice, a publication that is essentially banned from most public institutions and boycotted by local advertisers.
“I cannot put my newspapers in the clinic where I go for treatment … after I put my life on the line for the freedom of speech and freedom of the press. In fact, they tried to arrest me and you should have seen how mean-spirited those officers were when they came to tell me ‘you can’t put these papers here’ and then destroyed the papers,” Dr. Tucker, a disabled Iraq war veteran told Liberation.
“There’s not one attorney who will take on the lawsuit after I got information from the Freedom of Information Act,” explained Dr. Tucker.
The looming racism in the town has excluded Blacks from city government. Then the city tried to conceal this by hiring Blacks for some key positions. However, the racist hostile work environment forced them to resign, quit or relocate.
To illustrate the environment further, the current mayor of Colorado Springs, John Suthers, was the former attorney general for Colorado and the director of the Department of Corrections at the time when the African American Voice was banned from the Colorado prison system.
But the African American Voice is not alone and others have spoken out against this racist campaign.
“I appreciate what you do to promote racial equity and justice in a conservative city. While others may not appreciate your approach, I don’t see their own approaches effectively bringing about social change,” wrote Dr. Ruben Martinez in correspondence to Dr. James Tucker. The two first began to collaborate in the city’s Minority Coalition at the time of the birth of the AAV.
“You don’t need all this blather about flies and honey–instead the focus should be on the questions that you raise and the strategies of those in power to seriously tackle institutional racism,” concluded Dr. Martinez.
“I am so disappointed, angry and disgusted at how complaints of racism are ignored. The people who ignore racism fit in one of two categories: 1. to further the agenda of racism; or 2. to maintain their status quo. Remember, you are either part of the problem or part of the solution,” said Janel Smith, also a veteran and federal worker who condemns the campaign to banish the AAV.
Those like these fighters in Colorado Springs are organizing and fighting back across the country and becoming inspired by each others’ struggle, creating bonds and alliances to wrestle away power from white supremacy infrastructures. Only such a movement is sure to win.
