People’s State of the City Address

In response to Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s official “State of the City” address on July 11th, 2016, a coalition of social justice organizations joined together to deliver a “People’s State of the City” address to highlight those issues that were not a part of the official speech.

The groups say Mayor Hancock failed to address many of the issues concerning Denver residents. They  accuse the Mayor’s administration of being responsible for directing and supporting many of the injustices and harms that communities face including a lack of affordable housing, sweeps of homeless people, and police brutality against people of color.

Luke Levett of Denver Homeless Out Loud played the role of the mayor and gave the mock State of the City address.

Andrea Chiriboga Flor, representing 9 to 5 Colorado, talked about the problem of grass roots organizations not having access to different events and not being included to help in the process of solving issues facing the city.

Tay Anderson, the State Chairman of the Colorado High School Democrats of America, led a “Unity March” from the steps of the Denver City and County Building to show that these different organizations represent a united message.