A Demonstration of Community Love - Whittier Alley Loop Project
It began early in the morning Sunday, April 27, 2014. I want to believe it was one person but because of the impact, it had to be a small group of folks. A single flyer in bold black letters was left on lawns, stuck into mailboxes, and/or folded and inserted in the cracks in front doors of tens of homes in the Whittier neighborhood. My husband went outside to grab the Denver Post and saw the flyer. He picked it up and brought it inside, he read it, and then he yelled my name. I came downstairs and read the letter dripping in hate. The letter spewed racist and antisemitic hate speech. It declared that Jews and Blacks are not welcomed in Whittier and we should leave. I was sickened and stunned. My husband went outside to see if other homes received similar letters and they did. We then began to receive emails and calls that neighbors throughout the neighborhood received similar letters. There was anger, sadness, and most impactful neighbors that no longer felt safe in their homes. District 2 Police gathered the letters and began an investigation. The press descended on the neighborhood. Our black ministers and the Anti-Defamation League held a prayer vigil the next day.
As the president of the WNA neighborhood, I knew more was needed. The board came together and created the 'Love Where You Live' campaign. The idea was to demonstrate to those who chose our neighborhood and tried to rip apart our community through their hate, we instead would respond with love. The WNA held a special community meeting on May 6, 2014. Neighbors decided we should hold a block party, community picnic, and a series of events to bring the community together. Another neighbor decided to create bright orange window signs with the word KIND in large green letters. Neighbors throughout the neighborhood hung them in their windows. I still have my sign in my home office.
Brian Choquette, a neighborhood architect, reached out to me and shared that Denver Arts and Venues was rolling out a new neighborhood placemaking program, the PS You Are Here Grant. He felt strongly that the WNA should apply and bring the community together in a project that could have lasting impact beyond the Love Where You Live campaign. The Whittier Alley Loop Project was born. The idea to tell the story of our past when redlining divided our community. The institutionalized hate and segregation that was if not fully the law, it was absolutely the spoken, unspoken, and enforced expectation. To connect that sordid, hateful past through a loop that connects to the five pocket parks named after African Americans leaders whose lives defied hate and who all fought to break the segregation in our neighborhood and our city. The connection through placemaking art and spoken word. The loop would end at an outdoor reading room at the Ford Warren Library surrounded by art created by Whittier community members - youth and elders alike. The WNA was awarded the $7,000.00 PS You Are Here Grant. The community came together and raised another $9,000.00 to ensure we can pay community artists to create art pieces that will stand the test of time. This project embodies the Margaret Mead quote, 'never doubt that a small group of throughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.'
The commissioned community artists were:
Bob Ragland - "Reader" Sculpture
Dwayne Glapion - "Be Kind" Mural
Jaime Molina, Pedro Barros, Project VOYCE students at Manual High School - "Diversity" Mural
Felie Case - "Bee Bridge" Mural
Broox Pulford
Uche Ohaya
In the end, the Whittier Alley Loop won the inaugural 2015 P.S. You Are Here! Neighborhood Gem Mayor's Design Award. More than a decade later, the placemaking paint connecting the alleys to our pocket parks to the outdoor reading room has faded. However, the power of the idea remains. Churches, non-profits, and even the Denver Chamber take folks through tours down our alleys, through the pocket parks and end up in the reading room to consume the art created by a community that refused to be defined by an act of hate but instead through art created by enduring love.
written by Darrell B. Watson, City Councilmember Denver City Council District 9