A COMMENTARY: POPULATION GROWTH, ACTIVISM, SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, COALITIONS, AND THE FUTURE OF AFRICAN AMERICANS AND LATINAS/OS IN DENVER AND BEYOND.

This commentary is based on a literature review of Chicana/o and African American struggles, augmented by the author’s four decades of activism in Colorado and years of experience working with both communities. This experience led the author to be selected as co-facilitator for a group of African American and Chicana/o leaders whose mission was to develop public policy for education. A central issue was the disproportionate number of children from both groups being expelled or chastised in grades K-3 -- ultimately feeding the school-to-prison pipeline. Highlighted in this article are the many common struggles that both groups have confronted, but that have seldom led to them working together. Examined are historical issues like Americanization policy, that preached forced acculturation as an antidote to structural racism, but that in fact kept both groups marginalized. There have been battle cries for equity in education and liberation in communities. There was a time, still seen, when it was the norm that hegemonic forces controlled education curricula throughout the country. This translated into the continuance of micro communities beleaguered by school curricula that excluded historical contributions of both groups, as well as discussions of poverty, structural racism and classism, all issues alive and well today. Also examined are the two groups’ respective civil right struggles, one which led to the creation of the Crusade for Justice in Denver, Colorado, a local organization that gained national prominence during the Chicano Movement, and the other which built upon the Black Liberation Movement of the 1960s, reflected today in Black Lives Matter. The author challenges both groups to pick up their banners in a joint struggle, to critically analyze the lessons that were learned, and to reinvigorate both communities by building solidarity that would liberate both communities. The use of authentic dialogue and coalition building are key strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]