Candi CdeBaca will have you know she’s the real victim after her own words blew up in her face about taxing white businesses as a means of reparations to Black and Brown owned businesses.
What the Denver councilwoman now up for reelection in a tight runoff race meant to say was, she wouldn’t actually do what she proposed should be done.
And just because she proposed it, CdeBaca tells The Denver Post the backlash was swift with hate speech and death threats after “a far-right and anti-LGBTQ social media account” shared the video of CdeBaca answering a question about reparations at a recent forum.
Here’s what got her in trouble:
“Capitalism was built on stolen land, stolen labors and stolen resources.
“You could be collecting those extra taxes from white-led businesses all over the city and redistributing them to Black and Brown-owned businesses.”
At an event for re-election, Denver City Council member @CandiCdeBacaD9 declared that white owned businesses should pay extra tax that’s given to black owned businesses, that black people deserve monthly reparations for life and that all utilities should be given to black owners. pic.twitter.com/izjXvyDTE5
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) May 5, 2023
Here’s what she says now:
But CdeBaca told The Denver Post those comments weren’t an actual policy proposal and she’s not planning to introduce such a tax to the council.
Just because she’s race baiting doesn’t mean she’s serious, about anything, we are to conclude.
The councilwoman said she’s struggling to cope with many of the hateful messages targeting her but that she’ll continue with her campaign. She expects another wave of ads publicizing her comments without broader context as the June runoff election draws closer.
The broader context being, it was just one divisive idea that’s totally illegal and racist, but leave her alone, guys! She doesn’t really mean what she says!
The author of the Denver Post report, unabashadly acting as CdeBaca’s official spokesperson, vouched for her on Twitter:
No, Candi CdeBaca isn’t actually proposing a tax on white-owned businesses: https://t.co/OOhJ5LYXul
— Conrad Swanson (@Conrad_Swanson) May 8, 2023
Meanwhile, CdeBaca’s opponent in the June 6 runoff election for that District 9 Council seat, Darrell Watson, appeared on KOA radio and explained the candidates were asked what steps an elected official could take to provide reparations.
It’s hilarious that CdeBaca misinterpreted that to mean steps that could be taken, but that she would not take if reelected.
Here’s how Watson answered:
“What I presented was a step that currently the City and County of Denver are doing, which is prioritizing Black and marginalized communities for tax dollars, specifically, that are set aside to make sure that we are improving and supporting Black businesses. These are things that are currently being done through the Five Points Business Improvement District in collaboration with the Denver Downtown Partnership.”
And then Watson added very candidly to Ross Kaminsky:
“I spoke to rational steps that the city can do. Not a kind of a race-baiting step that divides communities.”
To which Ross replied that he would support any candidate for that seat who is not a racist communist.
While the Denver Post is covering for CdeBaca with its white readers, we expect CdeBaca is assuring her constituency that she absolutely meant what she said.