"We have just hit a wall”: Black Colorado lawmakers describe racism at the Capitol, call for end of white silence

Aurora Democratic Rep. Naquetta Ricks said that soon after the mass shooting in Boulder last month, she rode in an elevator with GOP Rep. Richard Holtorf, the Republican from Akron who is frequently chastised on House floor for violating chamber rules of decorum.

“He starts talking about Black-on-Black crime. I’m like, ‘Where are you going with this?’ But they kind of try to bait you like that,” Ricks said, adding that she thinks he intentionally spoke this way because he was in the presence of a Black colleague.

RICKS: Fostering diversity among Colorado educators benefits students

My mother was my first role model.

She was a force to be reckoned with: compassionate, industrious, fearless, and resourceful. When my mother brought my sister and I to the U.S. after we ran from a bloody military coup in Liberia, she emphasized the value of education and pushed us to learn as much as we could.

Immigrants, as well, have a right to an attorney

As a 13-year-old girl, I fled a civil war in my native country, Liberia. I watched as armed individuals held my mother at gunpoint, attempting to find her fiancé, who, at the time, was a high-ranking government official. Despite everything, my family and I were able to flee Liberia and settle in Aurora.

COVID in Aurora: Pop-Up Vaccine Clinic at Church Helps Sooth Uncertainties

A pop-up coronavirus vaccine clinic aimed to get Aurora’s immigrant community immunized. By now you may have heard that Black, Hispanic and indigenous communities have been hit hard by the pandemic. Many people of color are hesitant to get vaccinated, but one group within those communities is especially struggling.

“We have a lot of people who live in intergenerational households, and so we’ve had deaths in the community,” said State Rep. Naquetta Ricks.

Naquetta Ricks Could Be the First Liberian-American Elected to a US State Assembly

DENVER – Naquetta Ricks knocked on doors to campaign for Barack Obama. Now, the immigrant from the West Africa state of Liberia has a strong shot of becoming the first Liberian-American to win a seat in the Colorado House of Representative, a major US state.