Denver Colorado is a large metropolitan area consisting of over two million people. According to the U.S. poll taken in 2000 there are approximately 720 thousand minority individuals in the area. Minority relations are reliant not only on existing communications between groups, they're also influenced by events that may have occurred decades or even generations before. Although these actions may occupy no present members of minority or majority groups, recollections of bigotry are long and often color perceptions of present group dealings.

While the city of Denver is relatively young, having been incorporated in 1858, it has had a checkered history of dealing with minority groups.

In the year 1864, Colonel John Chivington led a group of Colorado volunteer militia against a peaceful Arapahoe and Cheyenne Indian camp located west of Denver. Using both cavalry and cannon, they effectively wiped out this camp, killing an estimated 150 men, women, and children. History has recorded many of the very gruesome details of torture and corpse disfigurement committed and bragged about by the militia. This incident, now known as The Sand Creek Massacre, was widely celebrated in Denver as a major victory in the Indian wars.

In the year 1914, the governor of Colorado sent Colorado militia to obliterate a coalmine workers camp located south of Pueblo Colorado near a coalmine owned by J. D. Rockefeller. Attacking with machine guns and an armored car, the militia killed twenty people, including twelve women and children. The Denver newspapers reported this as a victory over immigrant miners, who were being completely unreasonable in their demands against an American mining company. It is now known nationally as the Ludlow Massacre.

From a personal standpoint, I can state that minority issues do not have a very direct effect on me. As a member of the majority group, my interactions with minority group members are somewhat limited. Although there are a few Asian families living in my neighborhood, they tend to keep to themselves and so interactions are limited to a quick "Hi", or wave. Not being exposed to many minority group members has the affect of desensitizing me to many racial issues. I, like many members of the majority group may feel that I am completely fair in all of my thoughts and actions regarding racial interactions. But the fact that we so seldom have a need to place this into practice, may show that there are racial issues that we simply have not recognized. The most directly visible effect race relations has on me, is in the voting booth. That is, should I vote for or against minority issues? What are the costs? What are the benefits? I may read a newspaper story regarding a racial issue, and think that isn't fair, or there should be a law, but as it doesn't really affect me, that's as far as it goes. However, ignoring racial issues does not a great city make.

Certainly, many racial and prejudicial issues could be addressed in the Denver area. Any time you have minorities representing 30% of the population, their needs should be given consideration by the majority group. Providing equal education opportunities as well as programs specifically tailored to increase minority graduation rates would certainly be the first thing to change. Requiring cultural diversity training for police officers, to bring an end to racial profiling would be second. Developing community programs to give minority teens an alternative to drugs and gangs would help to ensure the new generation a strong place in American society.

Without a radical change in our immigration policies, we will see the percentage of minorities in our communities continue to increase in the years to come. We must accept this fact and work to reduce the amount of racial and prejudicial discrimination minority groups face. We must also assist in their assimilation into American society. This will help to ensure that America continues as a strong vibrant nation with a diverse yet cohesive population.