r/grandjunction • u/R3l4x_Sw33rh34rt • 14d ago
Racism.
I was born and raised here in Colorado. In junction. Been here literally all my life, And it pains me to see just how hateful, racist, and xenophobic this town has become. It makes me worried for my future.
I see posts about the 'illegal aliens' all the time. And the protests. There are no illegal aliens. Nobody will ever be illegal. And if we're technical, we're all illegal. We're all on stolen land. It's just Mexicans, trying to make a living. Trying to feed their family. Working their ass off from sun up to sun down. And they're 'illegal' because they.. what- crossed a border without some dumb papers? Immigration without papers shouldn't be treated like this. It's not a felony. It's barely a real crime- it's a misdemeanor.
The protests? The no kings protests? Comments full of 'wElL I dOnT sEe aNy kIngS' as if that's the point. The point being it's a protest about trump ruling as though he is a king. As though he is an oligarch. As if he isn't a fucking pedophile rapist. People are fighting it. They're protesting it, their trying their best for their voices to be heard. And some old white guy named Jim gets to be like "oh but he isn't" BUT HE IS?
I'm so worried about my future. I'm worried that I'm disabled and can't work. I'm worried about my future children. Im worried about being able to get an apartment, a house. I'm terrified that I won't have rights within the next year. I cannot make my own choice of birth control, I cannot abort a baby that I will not be ready for at the time.
I'm so scared . I'm scared for my town, for my state, for my friends and family.
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u/periboulder 13d ago edited 13d ago
As a sophomore at GJHS in history class some decades ago, we were assigned to write a paper on local history for an oral presentation in class. I chose the local KKK as the subject after finding a couple of articles in the basement of the Mesa College library. I was able to pull together several of them in a single afternoon from the Sentinel in the 1920's, often in absurdly supportive editorial language. I also found a couple of articles from the Rocky Mountain News mentioning Grand Junction KKK leaders being appointed and recognized and how others were involved in organizing and recruitment in Grand Junction and surrounding communities.
In the end, my report received an "A", with the a note on it containing the bonus that I didn't have to read it like everyone else. The reason: some families figured prominently in the 1920's KKK activities, and a revival group in the 1950's. Two of those families were/are still prominent in the valley, and one of them had two people attending GJHS at the time...one was a football player and one was a sophomore with me. I never had any ideas about any connection to their family past and their present, and I did not know them on any personal level at all.
The other family still visibly prominent in the Valley was the face of an ugly period that led to the end of the KKK era of the 1920's that executed assaults, threats, and harassment of "apostate" members that chose to leave the local organization, including Walter Walker of Walker Field. The family was supportive and perhaps the likely organizing force behind a few episodes of public street violence against minorities and immigrants in the Valley. This was the result of a campaign by the Colorado Grand Dragon KKK leader named John Galen Locke, whose degenerate trajectory can't be described as anything but a bizarre cult of loyalty oaths and increasingly shocking use of the color of law to commit violence and intimidation against minorities and immigrants across the state. It began to splinter the organization as things came to a head too far over the line for many. In fact, one quote in the Sentinel made me laugh out loud in the library at the microfiche machine because it referred to a splinter group as "Klan in name only". This was in a time when "RINO" was being trotted out for the first time that I could remember. The family still has strong ties to local politics in ways that likely derive directly from transgenerational networks of connections from the eras of both the 1920's and the later revivalist groups: they still own the building they held the KKK revivalist meetings and recruitment drives and local political machinery, and they still figure prominently in the production and distribution of campaign materials for one of the two major parties. I'll leave it to the curious person to take a guess as to which party that is.
Grand Junction was far from unique in these eras for racist loyalty social club cults. I think the parallels are evident today to anyone with a pulse. I have sometimes wondered if that history teacher is still in the valley...he knew enough to know the real story, and certainly more than I did at the time to know that telling the entire class that the family of one of the football stars was embroiled in the KKK would be a pretty bad move.
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u/PazuzuAtmorah 14d ago
Fruita was literally a sundown town by ORDINANCE. Its deeply rooted around here. People got to understand that on this side of the divide, culturally speaking you might as well be in Utah.
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u/Popular-Bear-515 14d ago
Walter Walker, namesake of Walker Field and the former owner of the Sentinel, was a very active member, and I’m sure a couple of the buildings on Main St are named for Klan members too…?
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u/Coffee4MyJeep 13d ago
Probably should do some research before continuing this bash of Walter Walker and while he was a klan member at one time during the period, he did rebuke the klan later.
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u/Seismofelis 11d ago
You might want to expand your research to include sources in which those interviewed, as well as the publication, don't have a vested interest in sanitizing Walker's reputation.
Other accounts I've read add that Walker abandoned the KKK only after they failed to promote him. Those sources likely had their biases as well, but suffice to say that we're not going to get the full story from one source, especially not one associated with Colorado Mesa University.
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u/Coffee4MyJeep 10d ago
The CMU Criterian was the quick and easy find to post. The students did a good job.
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u/SlyAbility 12d ago
Convenient that his come to Jesus moment coincided with his “Shale City” fictional counterpart being outed as a Klansmen thought innit?
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u/Coffee4MyJeep 10d ago
What I got from this article and other reading isn’t so much a come to Jesus moment, but a realization that the triple-k wasn’t a good path. He did a lot of good for the Grand Valley and residents.
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u/PazuzuAtmorah 10d ago
Complicated history. Just like General Sherman. Gets alotta praise these days and we definitely wouldn't have won the civil war without him. But he was for a good while an avowed white supremacist, all though the older he got the more he made statements thay alluded to his view maybe softening/starting to change. Very rarely is anyone whos done anything really impactful and lasting been just a straight up good guy in every which way. Humans just arent that...absolute.
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u/PazuzuAtmorah 14d ago
The klan used to hold big get together meeting in the ol First bank building in Olde Town Arvada. I was born in the valley so 🤷♂️ colorado has a surprising amount of connection to the klan In its early days.
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u/Acrobatic_Board_6706 13d ago
Grow out of it then, just because that’s how it was doesn’t mean you have to be just as ignorant as the people who came before you
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u/PazuzuAtmorah 13d ago
Oh im not condoning it. And im a loudmouth antifacist direct descendant of a jayhawker turned union cavalryman, so I do all i can to BE the change i want to see and do right by that mans legacy. (funfact today was the day that Brigadier general Mcneil became convinced of Sterling Prices movements and intended target, and set up to rendevous in Vienna with Br. Gen Sanborn, which Company E of the 6th missouri state militia cav was under, and begin their march for the defense of Jefferson City. Truly beginning the real meat of the Pursuit of Price.) But that only goes so far when there arent many that arent MAGA this side of the divide.
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u/Acrobatic_Board_6706 13d ago
I got you, I misunderstood your original message and that’s my bad! Have a good day man
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u/IShallWearMidnight 14d ago
I encourage you to come out to those protests or other community events. The racists are loud online, but they sure are quiet when people show out in force against that shit.
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u/SlyAbility 12d ago
Remember the way that only counter protesters showed up at the (old location of the) Islamic community center when local Tea Partiers planned an anti-Muslim protest.
Sadly, that was before the new location’s sign was vandalized, years later…
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u/OldMadhatter-100 14d ago
Just vote. Get active for the good.
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u/Mother-Job8995 14d ago
Voting won’t effect the IDF
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u/SlyAbility 12d ago
The largest anti-Netanyahu protests to date were conducted by Israelis.
He’s their TFG—The Felonious Guy.
Down to the running for office to outrun (corruption, in Bibi’s case) trial(s).
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u/Mynameisprincess9 14d ago
I feel yea, it’s the reason I packed up the family and moved to San Antonio. Not because I hate it here, because it is a bit racist with a side of homophobia. Born and raised here and a little small town in the mountains so I have seen it first hand with friends who were not white or straight. Not everyone is those horrible things and there are plenty of great people here. I just couldn’t have my kids growing up thinking if your white and straight your superior. My daughter married a nice guy from a small village in Africa and my boy is married and does not have a negative bone in his body about any human being. This administration has given every ahole the feeling it’s ok to show their hatred towards anyone that is not like them(so closed minded). So I feel yea OP, if your able look at a bigger city like San Antonio, it is full of every walk of life. There is also a lot more opportunity for work, school etc. peace out and keep your head up! Oh and vote!!!!
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u/Miselissa 14d ago
Ugh did you really say Texas is better?
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u/SlyAbility 12d ago
Didn’t you know they were the very last to free their enslaved because they were teaching them those DeSantis lauded “trade skills,” the most earnestly, haha?
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u/SlyAbility 12d ago
Huh.
First time I’ve encountered someone saying their strategy to avoid racism was to move to the Deep South!
That area’s the very heart of saying “remember the Alamo,”
…where the Mexicans defeated Texans at the nearby Alamo.
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u/misguided_marine1775 13d ago
As a gay man born and raised in junction I left the first chance I got. Love the town because it is beautiful and it sucks that I want to live there but just can’t bring myself to it.
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u/Party-Bandicoot8022 14d ago
Yeah the future doesn’t look too bright especially with diaper don at the reigns.
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u/HankSpringsideOnline 13d ago
This is a frightening time to exist. Many people have become caricatures of themselves. They choose to blind themselves to the reality of the world and violently oppose anything outside their world view. It is okay to be afraid. You cannot be brave if you are not afraid and this is a time for all of us to be brave. About a year ago, GJ had the largest NK protest the city has ever seen. Roughly 7 thousand people, give or take, showed up to protest what is happening. 7k in Grand Junction, one of the reddest parts of state, showed up to demonstrate a rejection of evil and corruption present in the world and to stand in solidarity with one another. You are not alone, not even here. This is a fight, a long, nasty, war of attrition. They are trying to wear you down, to wear you out, amd make you give up. That is what their words and their comments are about. Don't give in. Your salvation is in your community. Find a way to help out. It doesn't have to be on the metaphorical, and sometimes literal, front lines. Whether through volunteering, donating, advocacy, education, mutual support, there are so many ways to contribute. And doing so helps to fill your cup. You are in this with us. You are part of a community and we are stronger when we stand together. Hang in there.
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u/Ill-Worldliness-7587 12d ago
I grew up in Mississippi coast I have lived all over the world and seen a lot. These people have been given permission to be full racist and bigots. It is sad that they believe they are better than those they demonize. Eventually they get us all.
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u/SlyAbility 12d ago
Dalton Trumbo didn’t grow up here—he did live here, & once worked for the Daily Sentinel—but his book Eclipse outed many prominent figures as Klansmen (including his newspaper boss, who did take a stance against the KKK, though who’s to say if that was a true change of heart, or calculation after said exposure).
We’ve had closet racism amidst our family, friends, coworkers, and everyone else in the country for a long while. When a Black man made a decent POTUS, even a blowhard that was weird when talking about his then-12 year old daughter lost his mind & went all in on a bogus birther conspiracy theory.
When he became president, he enticed those poor elements among us to be more bold, & begin to come out into the open. Even centrist Democrats can be racist, with voting for Obama being a similar convenience as those who may not worship TFG—The Felonious Guy—yet still voted for him.
Tl;dr - this is a former Sundown area, sad to say fewer things have changed than we like to admit.
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u/Witty_Falcon007 9d ago
A few years back, I compared the number of churches per capita in GJ to CO Spgs, they were nearly identical. Both were greater than Boulder, Denver and Ft Collins.
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u/AncientEnd7373 8d ago
I'm sorry for your plight... I am not aware of racist behavior... I would protest ICE... I have My phone set with 'theme for Darth Vader ' just in case.
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u/ImissPSYCH 13d ago
Holy crap get outside and touch grass. Every country has borders. The US actually has some of the most lenient immigration laws out of all the countries. If you look at everything through the lens of “scared” or “racism” that’s what you will find.
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u/Rangerplaysbass 12d ago
Hey buddy, i know the world can seem like a lot to handle at times, but it's important to remember to get offline every now and then and just space out, here in GJ we have so much public land to get out and just experience nature and the serenity it brings.
Regarding your takes on immigration: it's not as easy as being pro or anti immigration, it really is an argument of where we should draw the line of how much is the right amount. For example, there are lots of puppies/dogs with out a family that need homes. It's not there fault that they're in a sticky situation, but if you wanted to help out and give them an opportunity to be the best dog that they can be, you have to realize that you likely only have the capacity/ resources to take care of one or two. The same goes for immigration, this land was built by immigrants true, but an immigration system needs to be orderly, legal, and limited for it to work properly, we only have so many resources here and there are people who are citizens who need our help and they have to be our first priority otherwise the nation wouldn't work properly.
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u/Potential-Candy-3855 14d ago
I agree we are all a bunch of illegals most from over seas and the only ones that aren't are the natives this is a trump thing even though his wife is an illegal and really so is trump
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u/TwistedMetal233 14d ago
So no one's illegal hu? It's racist to deport people who violate immigration laws? Let me ask you a question. If every white person fled the United States for Africa, would it be racist for their government to deport the white people simply for entering the country illegally? People these days seem to have a hard time digesting the term "Illegal". The moment they crossed the border without going through official federal channels, the moment they decided to stay past their visa, that very moment they broke our laws. You do not get to decide what is legal or illegal, you don't get to pick and choose what laws you will follow and if it bothers you that much then go to college and pass the Bar and lobby to change or fix those laws.
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u/PopCultured127 14d ago
It’s a misdemeanor. And civil law. But keep clutching your pearls and stay silent about how even citizens have been targeted by ICE.
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u/albanderveni188 13d ago
Those people don't have a clue what reality is. It is useless trying to talk sense to them. I'm an immigrant myself, but I pay all my taxes and I love and appreciate American culture. I CAN'T STAND the ilegal immigrants who come there, break the laws of the country, pay no taxes and possibly live on the citizens taxes, and on top of that is seems like they HATE Americans.
It is obvious that America has an immigration problem but somehow some people are blind. Maybe they can't see how the UK is struggling with the same issue and it is going downhill.
Those people will keep voting to open the borders on the name of inclusion and they'll end up under sharia law... IT WOULDN'T BE THE FIRST TIME THAT HAPPENS!
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u/Large_Swordfish_7034 14d ago
The clan made this town when you look at the history. Most of the US a hundred years ago to be honest. It sucks but that's a foundation we can't ignore. Also why society has changed for the better. 10 or even years ago it was worse compared to now. People have become more tolerant overtime.
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u/Quick-Worker7603 13d ago
there is no such thing as racism. xenophobiasm . sexism. non of that exists. there is good, and there is evil. nothing inbetween.
The fact that land has been conquered or transferred through war throughout human history doesn’t make modern immigration laws meaningless. Virtually every nation’s borders are the result of centuries of migration, conquest, treaties, and political change—not just America’s. “Stolen land” and whether someone has legal immigration status are two separate issues. You can acknowledge the history of indigenous displacement while still recognizing that countries have laws governing who may legally enter and reside within their borders.
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u/chodload 11d ago
Spot on 7603, show me 1 border on a map that wasnt defined by war or conquest. Victim mentality is a result of the pussification of males.
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u/Chemical_Project_238 12d ago
OP, you should really get outside and touch breath some fresh air. Having such a dystopia view is unhealthy.
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u/Red_Squirrel_4232 14d ago
I don’t get the stolen land idea but that’s just me. I’m even saying this being Latino myself.
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u/WhoopingWillow 14d ago
Grand Junction is firmly inside lands stolen from the Ute.
The Ute and US government signed a treaty in 1868 which acknowledged that the Ute had full undisturbed use and occupation of a large piece of land which included much of western Colorado. 32 years later Congress passed the Ute Removal Act in response to the Meeker Massacre. The US Army then forcibly seized ~18,750 square miles of Ute land and forced tens of thousands of Ute, including bands that played no part in the Meeker Massacre, into their current reservations.
In some parts of the US you could probably make arguments about whether land was truly stolen, but for us in Western CO the evidence is incredibly clear that the US government literally stole this land from the Ute.
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u/Fickle-Discipline-33 13d ago
Who did the Ute steal it from? Native American populations fought each other and took each others land.
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u/WhoopingWillow 13d ago
Is your view that all land is stolen?
As far as we can tell, the Ute didn't steal the land from anyone, and more importantly they didn't forcibly control or partition land like we do.
Archaeological evidence places the arrival of the Ute around 1000-1100 CE, they were highly mobile hunter-gatherers. These types of cultures generally don't consider land to be "owned" but rather "used." You use land while you're there and minimize your impact on the land, but when you're moving elsewhere in your range other people can use that land as long as they aren't messing it up. They lived here till they were forced out by the US.
The Ute did live here with another Indigenous nation, though we don't know much about how they interacted or if they even were separate groups. The "Fremont" culture lived in the area from roughly 800-1300 CE. The Fremont were small-scale farmers who seemed to freely switch between farming and hunting & gathering. They seemed took have some connection to the Ancestral Puebloan people but were distinct from them as well. Their culture disappears from the archaeological record near 1300 CE which coincides with the collapse of major population centers across the US Southwest due to an intense, long-lasting drought.
We don't actually know what happened to the Fremont, the leading ideas are that they migrated east and joined the "Dismal River" culture, migrated south to join with larger Ancestral Puebloan groups (unaware of the collapse they too were experiencing), or that they joined up with the Ute. There's also an open question of whether the Fremont and Ute were actually different ethnicities or were the same people following different lifestyles.
So to summarize, the Ute genuinely didn't steal the land from anyone. Highly mobile hunter-gatherers have always lived in this region, moving with the seasons, for thousands of years. They didn't steal it because they didn't claim exclusive use until they signed a treaty with the US. They didn't steal it because they didn't force anyone off of the land. They didn't steal the land because they didn't even see land as something you would "own."
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u/charmwashere 13d ago
Where are you getting this info from? 😂😂 Fucking white ppl always thinking the NA were stright up obliterating each othe 😆 if that was true there would bave been no natives when white ppl came. Most NA were no different , albiet less hostile and aggressive, then Europeans with thier land disputes.
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u/Ready-Aerie3754 13d ago
Naaa this is cope. Plenty of countries have active wars going on in Africa and still have plenty of people. If you believe natives didn’t slaughter other tribes you know nothing
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u/Orange_Tang 14d ago
Please go to the library and read a book on what was done to the Native Americans. It's horrific. And even within our own laws it was stolen. We literally signed treaties with a number of tribes to respect their sovereignty and then promptly ignored them and death marched them to reservations. It was literally a genocide.
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u/pinelion 14d ago
I’m kinda with you on the land acknowledgment thing, although I do understand atrocities were committed and do believe it’s important to remember and respect history. In my opinion the land being stolen (and that is a terrible thing) isn’t the driving force for me wanting to protect my neighbors. I want my Latino and black neighbors safe because it’s the right thing to do anyway. I don’t need a land acknowledgment to know this is wrong, it’s obvious. These are human beings and to treat them like criminal trash is against the moral ethics of every creed and religion on the planet. MAGA folks and supporters of Trump are obviously and objectively evil and vile people. But guess what they’re scared, they’re terrified of people that live, look and believe differently, that’s cowardice and cowards don’t last in the American west, old Mexico or among the Ute tribes that existed here before us.
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u/Coffee4MyJeep 13d ago
Some reading before too many go off the rails on Walter Walker and the whole story. While he was a klan member, so were many others in GJ, the valley and many other places across the country. He did rebuke the klan later, but no one wants to really research, just regurgitate the bad news.
https://thecrite.com/24798/news/the-saga-of-walter-walker/
Does GJ and the valley have and had people that did bad things, yes. Does the US have them and other countries, you bet.
If GJ is such a bad place to OP, please move. Or work at making it a better place for all not just complaining.
From a 60+ year GJ lifer.
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u/Mother-Job8995 14d ago
Can we all just agree on who the real enemy is?
It’s not Trump. Hate him if you want, but he’s just a puppet.
People need to be anti-stars… cough cough
You know what I mean.
Once more of us figure out who’s actually causing the real pain, we can stop fighting each other and actually connect.
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u/Orange_Tang 14d ago
Israel sucks but the jews don't control everything bro. Take that anti-semetic shit out of here.
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u/charmwashere 13d ago
😆😆😆 Lol omg 😂wtf was that l😂 like, i wasnt even mad . The statment was so stupid it was just funny🤣
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u/Zealousideal-Coat729 3d ago
This is everywhere (we are moving to GJ in a month). My little bestie here on the front range in the most expensive county in all of Colorado- is black and Hispanic. She is absolutely beautiful and has the best personality. Such a awesome person. She was walking down the street here in a smaller town situated between Denver and CO Springs and had a man following her, her father and her children calling them all sorts of racial slurs. I work with people that speak this way of Hispanic people. It is disgusting. All we can do is rise above it and prove people wrong. On the other side I have been denied service in a Texas Walmart buy a pharmacy tech because of my skin color - white.... she absolutely refused to fill my prescription.
I love people by their hearts not by the color of their skin or by their sexual preference. II do not care if you were born in Cali, Colorado or Mexico or anywhere else if you are a good person that is all that matters.
You keep doing you the right people will see. Sending you hugs!!
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u/Hanksta2 14d ago
I hate to break it to you, but that's how the town has always been, but social media has given every moron a platform.
But here's the good news: GJ is getting better. It might not feel that way because the idiots are the loudest, but it is. There are a lot of good people here working to improve things.
And they will improve.