by Rebecca Allen
Hundreds of people gathered at the Seawell Grand Ballroom last month to celebrate the 17th Annual Civil Rights Awards. Hosted by Azteca America News Anchorwoman Ana Mejia, the evening was all about celebrating change. In her welcoming speech, Board Member Veronica Barela said, “This year was about recognition, reflection and recommitment and about celebrating how far we have come as African Americans, Chicanos, gays and lesbians and the developmentally disabled.”

This year’s award recipients included Juana Bordas, ARC Thrift Stores, Grupo Tlaloc Danza Azteca, the Matthew Shepard Foundation, John McBride and PeaceJam. Bordas is the founding President and CEO of Mestiza Leadership International that works to build leadership and lifelong partnership for Latinas. She is also the founder of Denver’s Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, which is now a nationally recognized program.

“I stand for justice and equality and tonight we celebrate what we’ve achieved together,” said Bordas.

Love Versus Hate

ARC Thrift Stores is a 40-year-old non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the rights of individuals with developmental disabilities through their 11 chapters that work systematically to help individuals find jobs, obtain housing, get needed medical care and receive educational services. Last year ARC collected 75 tons of food for various meal-distribution programs and annually collects 25 million pounds of donated clothing and household items.

“We aim to teach love in a hate-filled world,” said President and CEO Lloyd Lewis. “We also want to get rid of ignorance and allow children with developmental disabilities, like my son, to lead normal lives.”

Grupo Tlaloc Danza Azteca is a 24-year-old non-profit traditional Mexica/Azteca group made up of Chicano/ Mexicano families and students dedicated to preserving the ancient knowledge of their ancestors. They have pledged to uphold and walk a spiritual way of love and have committed themselves to help educate the public’s view of Aztec culture. Grupo Tlaloc’s performances have reached Mexico, Canada, and various areas of the U.S. as well as hundreds of appearances at festivals, school and other public arenas.
Erase Hate

Dennis and Judy Shepard founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation in memory of their 21-year-old son, Matthew, who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming in October 1998. Created to honor Matthew in a manner that was appropriate to his dreams, beliefs and aspirations, the Foundation embraces diversity and seeks to “Replace Hate with Understanding, Compassion and Acceptance.” This year the Matthew Shepard Foundation launched the “Campaign to Erase Hate” which is an aggressive anti-hate campaign aimed at creating a movement of people working to lessen the impact of hate in society.

When Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper introduced Judy Shepard he said that he had never met someone who totally and completely understood his or her role in such a terrible situation.

“The only answer was to create change after someone did something so reprehensible to my family,” said Judy Shepard. “My staff cares about the depth of humanity and erasing hate. It is the 10 year observance of Matthew’s death and we wanted you all to know how important Denver was to him and how important the city is to what we do.”
Generation Of Change

John McBride is a longtime Civil Rights Activist whose passion is youth and education. His youth advocacy, civic and professional engagements have given him the ability to lead and advise state drug-free initiatives and various citywide youth programs. McBride is currently an active member of 14 different neighborhood, council and citizen groups and continues his advocacy work by exercising political networks and civic engagements.

Ivan Suvanjieff, who developed the concept of using Nobel Peace Laureates to reach out to young people, founded PeaceJam during Denver’s “summer of violence.” Suvanjieff and his wife Dawn Engle developed the PeaceJam program and since its launch in 1996, more than 600,000 youth have participated. Over one million service projects have been created and implemented by participating youth and over 140 PeaceJam youth events have taken place in countries throughout the world.

“This generation, I believe, is the next great generation,” said Engle. “They’re ready to change the world.”

Non-profit Support

After the awards were given out, Anchorwoman Ana Mejia thanked NEWSED, which has been a bedrock non-profit organization in Denver for the last 35 years and the event’s major sponsor, the Gay & Lesbian Fund. She also recognized Civil Rights Honorary Chairs Governor Bill Ritter Jr., Mayor John Hickenlooper and Former Mayor Wellington Webb. The Civil Rights Awards Honorary Committee included the Chronicle’s Editor-in-Chief and former Councilman Ed Thomas, Councilman Rick Garcia, Councilwoman Judy Montero, Councilman Paul Lopez and Mike Ferrufino from KBNO Radio.

Attendees Alberta Lupe Liebert and Joaquin Liebert happily joined the Chronicle staff’s table for the evening. Both Lieberts are Civil Rights Activists and Alberta has been on several boards over the last few decades including the West Side Coalition and the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver and is a retired social worker for Denver Public Schools.

“I have been coming to this event for years and am planning on attending every year in the future,” said Alberta Lupe Liebert. “Civil Rights are an important part of our lives and I will always support the cause.”