COAF Stands With Black Lives Matter
Black lives matter.
Colorado Anime Fest stands with the Black Lives Matter movement. We stand against inequality. We stand against injustice. We stand against police brutality. We stand against the killing of innocent people. We stand against the systematic racism that allows these crimes to so frequently go unpunished.
We held our silence too long while we figured out what to say and we’re sorry that we didn’t speak up sooner to show our support.
Law enforcement officers end far too many Black lives far too soon. You know some of their names: George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Botham Jean. Philando Castile. Freddie Gray. Walter Scott. Tamir Rice. Michael Brown. Eric Garner. Trayvon Martin. In Colorado, the names include Elijah McClain (Aurora), De'Von Bailey (Colorado Springs), Michael Marshall (Denver), and Marvin Booker (Denver). This list represents just a small sample of the Black people killed by police in just the last eight years. Few of their killers faced any consequences.
The complaints against law enforcement aren’t abstract, hypothetical concepts. They’re very real and they’re happening in our own backyard. Colorado has the fifth-highest rate of fatal law enforcement shootings in the country. Last year, nine unarmed people were killed or wounded by police in Colorado. Law enforcement agencies in Colorado have paid out $20 million in taxpayer dollars to settle police brutality and wrongful death lawsuits, just since 2012. More importantly, the human cost to Coloradans and most especially Black Coloradans—of lost lives, wrongful imprisonment, and life-long injuries—are untold and incalculable.
Police misconduct has extended to the Black Lives Matter protests. In the last two weeks, the Denver Police Department responded to peaceful protesters with tear gas, pepper spray, pepper balls, rubber bullets, and other violent means of suppression. They face a lawsuit claiming they targeted medics and credentialed journalists with their “less lethal” weapons—many of which would violate the Geneva Conventions if used on the battlefield—and that they’ve engaged protesters without provocation. Their actions have been so egregious that a federal judge, calling the behavior “disgusting,” banned the DPD from using such weapons against protesters under most circumstances. We agree with Judge Jackson’s characterization and whole-heartedly support the injunction.
Colorado Anime Fest believes protests are a force for change. As Denverite put it, “[a] week-and-a-half of protests did what a year-and-a-half of conversations between criminal justice advocates and the police department could not.” Policy changes have a direct impact on police behavior and we’re heartened to see that change is already beginning to occur, locally and nationally.
For example, SB20-217, a police reform bill supported by Black Lives Matter 5280 and other advocacy groups, was introduced to the state legislature on Wednesday and, per the Denver Post, “received no opposition Monday in a tentative vote in the Colorado Senate, signaling big changes ahead for how law enforcement operates.” The bill would ban chokeholds, require reporting and review of police-involved incidents, make it easier to sue police officers for misconduct, remove the “fleeing felon” statute, and introduce a “duty to intervene” statute—which would make it a crime for law enforcement officers to fail to intervene in cases of unreasonable force or to report such incidents. While the bill is by no means a comprehensive solution, its adoption and enforcement would be a significant step toward meaningful change. (Update: Governor Polis signed the bill into law on Juneteenth.)
On Sunday, the Denver Police Department implemented changes to its use-of-force policy, including: banning chokeholds, requiring SWAT members to wear body cameras, and requiring officers to file a report any time they point their gun at someone. Yesterday, the Justice in Policing Act of 2020 was introduced in the US House of Representatives, which would ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants nationally, as well as create a national database for tracking police misconduct, make it easier to sue police for violating civil rights, end racial profiling in policing, and limit the transfer of military hardware to police departments.
We support these initial reforms and more, and we’re still listening to and learning from organizations like Black Lives Matter 5280 and ACLU of Colorado about what else can be done. All of us must work together to hold our elected officials to account if they break their promises of reform. Trevor Noah eloquently argued that America has broken the social contract with Black people. This manifests itself in myriad ways, from disenfranchisement to discrimination to outright oppression in government, law enforcement, the judicial system, the penal system, education, housing, finance, and even health care. It’s time to restore that social contract.
What COAF Is Doing
We’ve put our money where our mouth is. Colorado Anime Fest made a $2,000 donation to Black Lives Matter 5280, the movement’s local chapter. We felt it was important to contribute as much as we could afford based on our financial situation after canceling COAF 2020. We’ve also extended the group an offer of table space in our Community Corner at the next COAF.
One reason for our delayed response to this important issue was that we wanted to reflect on our own record of promoting diversity and amplifying minority voices within the convention. To be frank, we found those efforts wanting. We can and will do better.
We’ve identified three key areas of improvement that we believe will have positive ripple effects throughout the convention and help us live up to our potential:
We must expand our outreach and marketing among communities of color—especially Black, Brown, and Asian communities—to reach a broader and more diverse audience.
We must do better to recruit people of color to join our staff and empower them as leaders within our organization.
We must seek out and provide a platform to voices representing more diverse perspectives. Our programming must reflect both our attendees and our ideals as an organization.
We’d also like to hear your ideas about how we can improve. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please let us know. We’re here to listen and learn.