Marches, parades, rodeo mark MLK Day in Colo
DENVER – Several thousand people marched down Denver’s Colfax Avenue and past the state Capitol on Monday to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Denver’s annual “marade” – a combination march and parade – is usually one of the country’s largest events honoring King, according to organizers.
Elsewhere, Greeley’s 15th annual march in honor of the slain civil rights leader drew its largest-ever crowd – an estimated 1,075 people.
This year’s event was celebrated amid controversy over a local school board member’s daily commentary on his radio station denouncing King over claims that appear to stem from FBI efforts to discredit him in the 1960s.
Brett Reese has said he has received death threats over the commentary, which he says is based on a letter sent by a listener that has been fact-checked.
Some marchers told the Greeley Tribune that Monday’s rally was large because people wanted to show that Reese didn’t speak for the city.
“I think more people came out today to show support against the hate … to remove the shadow of hate and bias,” Tobias Guzman, one of the organizers, told the newspaper.
Gold-medal gymnast Dominique Dawes was the keynote speaker at the event.
In Fort Collins, roughly 1,000 people marched from downtown to Colorado State University to mark the day.
The National Western Stock Show was set to host its annual Martin Luther King Jr. African-American Heritage Rodeo on Monday evening.
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Information from: Greeley Daily Tribune, http://greeleytribune.com
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