City Council Disrupted by Racist Comment, Minutes Before Proclamation for Last Victims

Two minutes before Denver City Council read a proclamation in response to Black children being called racial slurs in a previous meeting, a different speaker faced another racist comment.

Yasir Aziz spoke during the council's weekly public comment session on Monday, June 3, asking councilmembers to openly support child victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "Are the children in Gaza, are the children in Rafah less valuable than the children in the USA?" he asked. "Say something. Speak up."

"Okay we're not in [unintelligible], Muhammad. ... You want me to speak up? I'll speak up," a man shouted from the audience, interrupting Aziz. Council President Jamie Torres later identified the man as Robert Bailey. Torres told Bailey that it was not his turn to speak, then a sheriff's deputy approached and quietly spoke to Bailey, who stood up and walked away shortly after. Before he left, Bailey screamed at the councilmembers about United Airlines "ripping [people] off."

Immediately after the disruption ended, the council introduced a proclamation about youth political engagement, inspired by an incident on May 13 when an anonymous person online yelled a series of racial slurs and insults at two Black elementary students who were testifying before the council about getting a yurt for their school.

"It was jarring," Councilwoman Shontel Lewis says of the latest racist incident. "You may have seen I stumbled a bit [while reading the proclamation]. It just caught me off guard."

"That was a hard pivot to make, for sure," Lewis's aide, Vince Chandler, adds. "It's always unacceptable behavior. That was foul. ... Twice in the last three weeks we've had to deal with racism in this chamber. Denver's a better city than that, for sure. But unfortunately, it still exists in this world."

The proclamation pledges that the council will continue to support youth participation in the legislative process by maintaining a safe space in which to hear from young Denver residents, empowering young voters and serving as an environment "where youth voices can self-actualize, lead, and collaborate with previous generations to build a world they are enthusiastic to inherit."

All thirteen councilmembers sponsored the proclamation, led by Lewis. It passed unanimously.

"The City Council of Denver firmly believes that the voices of our youth speak to and highlight concerns which may not have been previously considered for their impact," the proclamation reads. "Encouraging leadership and supporting initiatives driven by young voters allows them to take ownership of their civic responsibilities."

The council recently expanded public comment sessions to prioritize people under the age of eighteen. But on May 13, when two fourth- and fifth-grade girls from Monarch Montessori spoke during public comment, a voice from the Zoom shouted at the girls to "go back to fucking Africa."

Council staff unsuccessfully tried to mute the speaker, but the racist diatribe continued for around thirty seconds, with the female-sounding voice repeatedly calling the children the N-word before the Zoom was eventually disconnected. The incident left one of the girls in tears and unable to continue her speech.

Council staffers say they can't identify the speaker responsible for the tirade.

The girls were unable to attend the proclamation reading on Monday because of summer break scheduling conflicts, Chandler says. Instead, the proclamation was accepted by a sixteen-year-old student from Denver School of the Arts.

"Youth voices have and still continue to be marginalized," the student said while speaking to the council. "I am proof that youth have a powerful voice and have the right to be here."

The Denver community has rallied behind the girls since their council experience. Councilmembers met with the children and are helping their school get permits to secure the yurt the girls asked for during their testimony. A GoFundMe has raised nearly $3,000 to fund the project, and numerous city officials attended the girls' continuation ceremony in May.

"I don't want to speak too soon about if we are successful yet, but we are very, very close," Lewis says. "It's going to be a happy ending."

"They're getting their fucking yurt," Chandler adds.

Unlike the previous incident, Monday's disruption happened in person, as there was no option for virtual participation. Sixteen minutes before the meeting started, the council office announced there would be no virtual attendance or participation due to an internet outage.

Other Colorado cities, including Lakewood and Castle Rock, have limited or eliminated remote testimony options because of similar racist and anti-Semitic occurrences during public comment sessions. Council spokesperson Robert Austin says Denver is not considering such restrictions, "as this council is committed to public participation."