Citizens Project

Community Conversation: A New Path

15th July, 2011

Community. It’s not an us or them issue: black or white, gay or straight, Democrat or Republican, religious or non-religious. Community transcends all the lines that divide us and pervades every aspect of our lives, from our safety on the streets to the natural beauty of our parks.

Community is the conversation we have about ourselves. Community is the way we relate to one another and our surroundings. Community is our shared sense of belonging, purpose and vision.

This shared vision is infinitely more important than the paths we pursue to achieve it.  As a community, we can agree on many shared goals.We want healthy families, excellent schools, low crime rates, high employment rates, beautiful parks, strong infrastructure and the freedom to be accepted, even honored, exactly as we are. We want a climate that attracts and retains new talent and supports the businesses already here. We may hold different beliefs about the journey to these things, but we converge on these shared values. And our strength as a community hinges on our ability to recognize these shared goals and stand together, even in times of duress.

Last week, two U.S. soldiers were assaulted in an apparently bias-motivated crime. While violence of any kind poses a threat to the safety of all our community’s members, there is also a more imminent danger presented. Because accounts of the incident report the soldiers were gay and the perpetrators were African American, we may be tempted to engage in divisive and destructive conversations about the nature of hate crime, the morality of the gay community, the cause of the tremendous injustice that our service members suffered. We may be enticed to follow ideological, religious, and philosophical paths that divide us.

But we’ve been here before, Colorado Springs. We know where those fractured paths lead. At this critical moment, we must put down our pointing fingers and remember that we belong to each other. We belong to this community.

We cannot wait for any one resolution or event to change our community, and we cannot rely on anyone else to lead us to that change.  We are our own best advocates, and we are the directors of our destiny. We must stand for something altogether different, and say not in our community. Starting today, not in our community.

No hate. No violence. No refusing to work with the other side. No blaming.

Just standing together in solidarity with the soldiers and one another. Joining our voices in support of the whole community’s safety and our shared goals.

It is through this solidarity that we will become the community we deserve to be. The community that recognizes the richness and vibrancy of its own diversity and supports efforts – even those across lines that traditionally divide us – aimed at elevating the conversation, empowering all our community members and uniting us to accomplish our collective goals. We must celebrate our successes, including the recently reinstated Human Relations Commission, the incipient Pikes Peak Safe Schools Coalition, and the success of the Colorado Springs Diversity Forum.

Yes, a lot of people are disappointed that Mayor Bach and City Council failed to sign a resolution denouncing hate crimes. I’m one of them. But we can either dwell in our disappointment, or we can forge ahead, together, to create a new path. A path that’s characterized by the diversity of people travelling it. A path that leads to a greater quality of life for all residents and businesses in the Pikes Peak region.

As a community, we have the opportunity to have a new conversation and truly work together in ways we never have before. I hope you’ll join me, and Citizens Project, in having that conversation and beginning that work.

Kristy Milligan, Executive Director – Citizens Project

Note: This column originally appeared in the Colorado Springs Business Journal’s Young Professional Connection.

PPEC members speak out on hate

14th July, 2011

Citizens Project is a proud member of the Pikes Peak Equality Coalition. The following is a letter in response to the bias-motivated crimes on July 3, written by Rosemary Harris Lytle and Shawna Kemppainen on behalf of PPEC:

The alleged bias-motivated crime that sent two soldiers to the hospital, ironically on Independence Day weekend, has resulted in outrage from the LGBTQ community and their allies in the wider civil-rights community.

Many details of the crime are still unclear and not even a real description of the suspects is yet available. But what happened has resulted in cries for more dialogue, more understanding and more education about diversity, inclusion and public safety.

As representatives of the Pikes Peak Equality Coalition (PPEC), we join our voices with those who recognize that racial and ethnic tension, heterosexism, gender bias, able-ism, and other forms of discrimination still run high in Colorado Springs. Our broad coalition is committed to a strong, vibrant community where the most vulnerable are cared for and responsive leadership values diversity and equality.

Unfortunately, reports of another alleged hate crime mean that our coalition has plenty of work to do — and so does our city has a whole. Marginalized groups, in this instance the LBGTQ community, often wonder whether they stand alone in combating the discrimination.

With our city’s troubled history,  it will take a comprehensive strategy, wide community dialogue and support from the highest echelons of leadership, to get to the root causes of our troubles.

If we continue to ignore the obvious need to, as icon Fannie Mae Duncan said, make everybody feel welcome, it will affect everything – from which employers choose to bring jobs here to whether tourists will come to witness our region’s beauty and bounty.

But Colorado Springs can’t continue to be beautiful on the outside and ugly on the inside. The literal bottom line is that the lack of acceptance of those perceived as “different” is a villagewide issue. And it will take our whole village to change it.

— Shawna Rae Kemppainen, Executive Director - Inside Out Youth Services

— Rosemary Harris Lytle, President – Colorado Springs Branch NAACP

The Colorado Springs Human Relations Commission —- 2011 — A New Page

15th June, 2011

by Tom Strand, Interim HRC Chair

The Human Relations Commission in Colorado Springs is back after an absence of almost 17 years.   In June of 2010 the Colorado Springs City Council passed Ordinance 10-48.  In early 2011, over 35 volunteer candidates were interviewed and on March 8th nine commissioners were selected for 2-4 year service terms along with three alternate Commissioners.  This Commission met for the first time in City Hall on April 28th. After a brief orientation, the 12 person Commission selected an Interim Chair, Tom Strand, Interim Vice Chair, Ernest House and Interim Secretary, Teressa Hill. The interim officers are designated to serve until September 2011 when a slate of permanent officers are elected. Since the initial April 28th meeting the Colorado Springs HRC has met on the third Wednesday of each month, as well as on May 21st for a general team building and organizational half -day session.

The mission statement and objectives of the HRC are still under development but are generally set out in the ordinance. The draft mission statement is:  ”To promote understanding and respect for all Colorado Springs residents by facilitating constructive communications through referrals, conflict resolution and proactive outreach.” The purpose of the HRC is to help guard against mal-treatment and discrimination in all parts of life for our residents, including housing, transportation, employment and day-to-day activities.

The HRC has created two sub-committees, Education and Structure, in order to accomplish the background work to properly launch the HRC later this fall. These committees have met 2 to 3 times to establish educational and training requirements (such as mediation skills) and to ensure the Commission is fully prepared to assist residents with a myriad of potential issues/problems. The Structure Subcommittee has drafted by-laws and other operating documents which are currently being reviewed and are pending Commission adoption.

The committees are working with members of City Council and other city offices, such as Legal and HR, to start up a program, a website, and public contact information for the HRC.

Stand by for the official announcement of the activation of your new HRC later this year!

Creating Community Breakfast a Success!

13th June, 2011

More than 400 community members gathered last week to create community and celebrate diversity at Citizens Project’s seventh annual Creating Community Breakfast.  The breakfast highlighted the work Citizens Project is doing in the Pikes Peak region to promote equal rights, diversity, religious freedom through separation of church and state, and civic engagement.

The event raised over $50,000 in general operating support for Citizens Project’s many programs including: candidate survey voter guides, its monthly publication Freedom Watch Online, and the Citizens Project Activist Network, which currently serves over 1,500 subscribers. New and increased donations and pledges will be matched up to $10,000 by the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado. Additional corporate and in-kind sponsorship for the event was provided by The Gazette, Colorado Technical University, Colorado College, Colorado Springs Utilities, Memorial Health System, The Colorado Springs Independent and the Picnic Basket.

The Creating Community Breakfast featured a diverse array of speakers including: Una Ng-Brasch, Joey Glick, Lynn Young, Vanessa Roberts, Steve Elder, Shawna Kemppainen and Kristy Milligan, and also featured musical performances by Anthony and RaDonna Bell.

Thanks to everyone who attended!

You’re Invited: Citizens Project’s Open House

2nd June, 2011

Please join us to meet other CP supporters, see our office, and learn about volunteering with Citizens Project!

July 12, 2011
5:00 – 6:30pm
Citizens Project Office: 4360 Montebello, Suite 800
(map)

RSVP to Kristy!

Join us at the Creating Community Breakfast!

1st June, 2011

Creating Community Breakfast

Save the date and join Citizens Project at the 7th annual Creating Community Breakfast!  This fun and free fundraising breakfast will feature speakers, musical entertainment and a few surprises. 

Thursday, June 9, 2011
7:30 – 8:30am (check-in begins at 7:00am)
Bigg City Event Center, 5825 Mark Dabling Blvd (north entrance)

Learn more about the work Citizens Project is doing in the Pikes Peak region to promote equal rights, diversity, religious freedom through separation of church and state and civic engagement, and learn how you can help! RSVP now to reserve your seat.

Citizens Project thanks our 2011 Creating Community Breakfast Sponsors: 

The Equal Rights Amendment: the time is now!

16th May, 2011

by Cynthia Nimerichter

Several weeks ago, the Denver Post ran an article about the Equal Rights Amendment and the fact that it has never been ratified. In the 1970s, I marched in the streets in support of this measure but to date only 35 states ratified the proposed constitutional amendment. To become part of the U.S. Constitution, three more states would need to vote in favor of it.

I mentioned to a young friend that I had not given much thought to the ERA in many years. My 30-something friend’s response? “What is the ERA?” My friend is very politically savvy and more up-to-date than I am on legislation dealing with discrimination. But her response brought home to me that if the ERA is to ever pass, members of the old guard, including me, need to educate a new generation.

The ERA is fairly simple. Here is the proposal in full:
Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

This language would guarantee that the rights affirmed by the U.S. Constitution are held equally by all citizens without regard to sex. Sex would be considered a suspect classification, as race currently is.

The Equal Rights Amendment was written in 1923 by Alice Paul, a leader of the woman suffrage movement and a lawyer. It was introduced in Congress in the same year and subsequently reintroduced in every Congressional session for half a century. In 1972 it was finally sent to the states. The deadline for ratification has long passed but a bill is in Congress now, introduced in March of 2011, which would remove the deadline and allow the amendment to be accepted when three more states pass it.

Women have made great strides in recent decades. Yet women earned just 75 percent of men’s earnings in 2009. As stated in the article in the Denver Post, “In 1920, the 19th Amendment finally gave women the vote. Ninety years later, women still have to fight to prove we deserve the basic rights men simply inherit at birth.”

This was reinforced when U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said in September, 2010 in a speech at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law that the Constitution does not guarantee equal rights for women.

Colorado has a state ERA and we are one of the states to have ratified the national ERA.  An Opinion Research Corporation poll commissioned in 2001 by the ERA Campaign Network shows that nearly all U.S. adults – 96% – believe that male and female citizens should have equal rights. The vast majority – 88% – also believe that the U.S. Constitution should make it clear that these rights are supposed to be equal. However, nearly three-quarters of the respondents – 72% – mistakenly assume that the Constitution already includes such a guarantee.

It is clear that the citizens of the United States overwhelmingly support a constitutional guarantee of equal rights on the basis of sex, and ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment will achieve that goal.

After all, this is 2011. Can any reasonable person be against full equal rights for women? It does not seem possible but consider this:  recently the Virginia Senate voted to become the 36th state to ratify the ERA. Days later, the bill died in the House of Delegates-in a subcommittee of seven men.

Cynthia Nimerichter is a motivational speaker, author and recovering attorney. She lives in Colorado Springs.

States which have not ratified the Equal Rights Amendment include:

Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Louisiana
Mississippi
Missouri
Nevada
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Utah
Virginia