Colorado Women of Color

You were getting ready to enter high school, and you said you attended East High School [Denver, Colorado]?$$Um-hm.$$Okay, so tell me about the transition from junior high school [Aaron Gove Junior High School, Denver, Colorado] to high school.$$Oh, I was just anxious you know to, to go to high school and very excited about going to East, I mean you know growing up in our neighborhood that was, you know that was a big dream. And you know it just had a great reputation, and of course all of the older students, you know kids who lived in the neighborhood had gone to East and so I was very excited about going there. And I knew there were a lot of active, you know, students at East and so I, you know I became very involved in you know student activism you know, you know as soon as I, as soon as I got there as a, as a sophomore. You know it was part of the times when student, student activists, activism and on camp- on college campuses and on high school campuses around the country, and East was no exception. East was, you know, an interesting school you know very integrated, and in fact had been for quite a number of years, one of the few you know naturally integrated schools in the country and really you know prided itself on the diversity of the student body. But, you know we were at the cusp of the, you know the, of the Black Student Movement in my first year at East High School. And so I got involved in a lot of things you know. I think my first couple of months in school I became involved with a bunch of seniors in an initiative to change our dress code, because girls had to wear you know dresses still to school and we wanted to be able to wear pants, and so, so we you know mounted a campaign and you know did petitions and you know went to the administration, to the principal [Robert Colwell]. We, we actually succeeded after a month or two of this campaign to get the dress code changed at, at East. You know, but my poor mother [Anna Garcia Haynes] she was just like you know here we are your first two months of school couldn't you just, you know, do your homework and do your work, do you have to you know cause trouble so soon. But, you know those were the times and I became also involved that very first semester in forming the Black Student Alliance with a number of other friends, turned out to be mostly seniors, but you know we were still dealing with the after effects of the assassination of Dr. King [Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.] and the fact that you know that the, the school was the community. You know the, you know the schools had really you know tried to suppress you know the feelings and the concerns and you know what, you know what was on students' minds. And I, I think that just stirred, you know, the activism all the more. I mean I think that's why, you know, people came to you know the reality of you know we're, we're gonna have to, you know these issues are gonna have to be raised more if, if, if there's a lesson here we've gotta pay more attention and more has to happen, you know, to acknowledge the, you know, the contributions of people in the, you know in the black community. And you know we began to think of you know how little, you know here we were in these schools and you know we weren't even, you know they didn't want us to talk about you know the one person hero that we really did know well. And we, you know began to realize you know we don't know much about the rest of these you know the other folks in our culture, in our history, and, and so you know we, we pushed for having Afro American history, which you know wasn't being taught in public schools in, in Denver [Colorado] at that time. And so we organized our Black Student Alliance and then we, you know we made some demands on the school on a number of things, but including you know the fact that we wanted Afro American history and you know we wanted--we had, we had some black teachers in the school, again playing a very similar role you know, you know looking out for all of us, not only looking out for us, but making sure that we were doing what we were supposed to be doing, you know we were there to get an education, that we would do well, and so there were and it was tumultuous times at East, while I, I was there in the midst of a lot of things.$Was that the second, 'cause you said three initiatives, and I'm sorry I just asked you, but was that one of them (simultaneous)?$$(Simultaneous) There were a couple, you know I also sponsored a, an initiative to introduce a living wage. A living wage ordinance was something that was occurring across this country, and the idea of having, you know, a minimum wage in our, our city that was different than you know other places in the state it was, you know it was, you know considered an anti-business you know sort of move. You know I had a very good relationship with the business community and you know worked very collaboratively with them on the airport [Denver International Airport, Denver, Colorado] and you know, you know economic development over the years. But, I felt strongly that, you know, just, just because you know we would be the only city and you know it would put us at a disadvantage to, to suggest that you know we shouldn't do what was right, what we thought was right in providing a wage that people could actually, you know, raise a family and pay their rent and put food on the table was, you know, something I believed strongly in and so you know that was sort of another, one of the against the odds initiatives that I was in- involved in and you know I didn't succeed early on, but you know as I said later on, you know, we were able, you know it became a broader issue, more people in the community became engaged and you know I, I think as more people, you know, realized the significance of it you know. So, sometimes your first time around you don't succeed, but you know--$$Or you plant the seed (simultaneous).$$--(simultaneous) you pave, you plant the seed and again the same thing is true of the smoking ban. I, you know sponsored the legislation to create a smoking ban, very controversial and you know couldn't get the su- you know support of the, you know the--it was tough, you know, having, the mayor [HistoryMaker Wellington Webb] eventually did, you know, support it, but you know people, you know it was considered again an anti-business, the sky will fall, and you know everybody will leave Denver [Colorado] and you know, you know, but you know I, I thought it was important as a pub, you know that public health you know should trump all of those things and that you know there was, you know citizens shouldn't be forced to trade off you know the health and that the, you know the evidence was clearly there about the effects of secondhand smoke and, you know we had to be guided by what data, you know with the, with the facts you know had told us. And, and so again you know that was, it failed at the local level, but it, it, I succeeded in getting the support of all the local people who said we agree with you on the health issues and we will, if we can do it statewide where it won't have an economic disadvantage for Denver we would and so they, true to their word, they did support you know a statewide initiative and we eventually now have a statewide smoking ban. I like to think that it was the result of my early Quixote [Don Quixote] like efforts.