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City Park jazz concerts

Sunday, June 24 at 12:01 AM

This Speakout has not been edited

By Cassandra D. Thornton, Account Exec., Denver Newspaper Agency

Just a brief note regarding your 6/13/07 RMN article (page 5) titled "Gang presence mars City Park concerts".

I feel your article was an inaccurate depiction of the City Park concert series and the body copy did not support the sensational headline: The article says that at the first concert "a large number of gang members wearing distinctive gang colors walked in front of the stage, organizers said" and at the 2nd concert a "fist fight broke out during the concert...(it) occurred on the west side of the park away from the concert". The article quotes Terrance Roberts as saying "I'm wondering if they need to section off and search people...if they get to shooting in the park, there is gong to be a bunch of different people who could get shot".

Q.What training and/or experience do the concert organizers have in identifying "gang members"? Are there concert rules that ban walking in large groups while wearing certain colors? My 26 year old son and 24 year old daughter, niece, nephew and other family members, all black college educated young people with no gang affiliations, thought the large Hispanic presence was great - The featured music that evening was Latin. They claim there was no "gang" presence, however, unlike past years there were significantly more minorities in the audience and yes some were wearing red and blue.

A fistfight in City Park, away from the concert that went unnoticed by concertgoers? Why even mention this or that the individual may be involved in a shooting between rival gangs in other parts of the city? Is this the marring your referring to? I don't see a fist fight, that may or may not be related to the concert, as unusual in City, Washington or Civic Park for that matter. My family had an enjoyable time at the concert this past week as well and noticed no suspicious or dangerous situations. They felt totally comfortable.

Lastly, how in the world, other to provoke fear and self promote his program while protecting his livelihood, would Mr. Roberts conclude based on the above (and you publish) that "shootings" at the concert series are likely and need to be addressed before they happen? And who are these "different people" who may get shot (white concert goers perhaps). Short of Mr. Roberts and Mr. Kelly having important inside intelligence, that they are not sharing, the implications of this "conclusion" are irrational, dangerous, prejudicial and continues to promote stereotypes that need to be laid to rest in the year 2007.

As a long time Park Hill resident, the only thing I see that has changed at the City Park concert series from 10 years ago is that an event enjoyed almost solely by whites, now has a large amount of minorities enjoying it as well. With this change come some fear, misunderstandings and distrust. I would hope you could pen an equally prominent article on helping dismiss myths and stereotypes between ethnic groups in the near future Thank you.

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