(Photo: Frances Meng-Frecker)
This past week has been simmering with protests, first by a No DAPL Last Stand on Wednesday, garnering a few hundred people to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline, followed by a Protect Our Muslim Neighbors Rally on Saturday, which gathered nearly ten thousand. Downtown Denver is either sporting homemade signs or hearing chants now weekly, with slogans that cover almost every contemporary controversy.
Denver has been home to more than 30 separate political protests in the last month alone, with marches that address a wide variety of post-election issues, ranging from the abortion debate to pressing environmental concerns. The Women’s March, with an unforeseen turnout of over 100,000, seems to have kickstarted several more events in turn, No DAPL and Muslim Neighbors among them.
Colorado has some of the most polarized cities in America; Denver is decidedly among the most liberal, and much farther left than Colorado Springs is right. It’s almost unsurprising to see the calendar dates on social platforms like Facebook for upcoming rallies: Denver Pull Out, Anti-Fascist March, Solidarity March, and Planned Parenthood Stand-In are all local demonstrations.
In March, the calendar does not slow or ease up: To Immigrants With Love, One Billion Rising, March For Trump’s Tax Returns, and the Climate March are approaching. Most seem to be centered around controversial issues in the new administration, and all appear to be having higher turnouts than expected.
Denver is increasingly politically active, although there’s doubt about the effectiveness of making noise. Apart from real-life events, phone calls, emails, and faxes have been streaming to desks of politicians in multitudes, and younger generations appear more involved in the streets than they were at the booths.
Marirose Bernal Staff Reporter