Denver City Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca said she has been weathering a storm of criticism — some of which is racist and includes death threats — since an election forum on Thursday when she described a reparations strategy of taxing white-owned businesses.

The barrage of hate speech particularly ramped up after a far-right and anti-LGBTQ social media account shared a clip of CdeBaca — who is running for reelection — at the forum, hosted by the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance.

In that clip, CdeBaca discusses taxing white-owned businesses and offering the money to businesses owned by people of color.

“Capitalism was built on stolen land, stolen labors and stolen resources,” CdeBaca, whose district covers much of Denver’s inner core, including Five Points and Globeville, said. “You could be collecting those extra taxes from white-led businesses all over the city and redistributing them to Black and Brown-owned businesses.”

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. Rather, a member of the Ministerial Alliance asked her and her challenger, Darrell Watson, whether they support reparations for Black people and, if so, what they might look like.

CdeBaca said she answered the question — as did other candidates for the District 8 and mayoral races — in support of reparations and used an example she’s seen suggested in other places.

“Of course, it’s a race-based policy, they asked me about reparations. What else is it supposed to be about?” CdeBaca said. “It’s not like I’m inventing this conversation.”

The backlash was swift and, at times, violent and racist. Online comments and emails called for CdeBaca’s death (or that of her unborn child), imprisonment and more.

“She should be capitally punished for being a public servant and suggesting this,” one unidentified person wrote on Twitter. “Her entire family too, even the people not blood-related, and most of her friends too.”

Before CdeBaca gave her answer at the forum, Watson also spoke in favor of reparations, saying they should be enacted to combat institutionalized, racist policies systemically cutting access to loans and funding for Black entrepreneurs and individuals.

“Isn’t it ironic I’m the only one being singled out?” CdeBaca said, noting that she’s repeatedly been targeted by dark money groups and far-right actors.

Watson condemned the vitriolic comments but also noted that while he supports reparations, his answer to the same question was more realistic than CdeBaca’s, which he said would likely be unconstitutional.

“We don’t need to take from small, white businesses that are also struggling and give to someone else,” Watson said. “That is a divisive process.”

“There has to be, for the council member, a reflection on what she says on a regular basis that also attacks and divides the community as well,” Watson added.

A full video of the forum can be found on the Alliance’s Facebook page.

CdeBaca defended her answer. Reparations are necessary locally and nationally, she said, and some organizations are already distributing funds in that space.

“We need to have an honest conversation about racial justice in a city that will lose more of its residents of color if we don’t respond with urgency,” CdeBaca said in a statement. “But what that ultimately looks like will be up to the community to bring those ideas forward.”

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.

CdeBaca burst onto the Denver City Council in 2019 when she unseated incumbent Councilman Albus Brooks. The self-described Democratic Socialist, and an outspoken critic of Mayor Michael Hancock, has been the center of several controversies throughout her first term and has frequently clashed with her colleagues on the council as well.

The councilwoman earned more votes than Watson in Denver’s municipal election in April but since neither won a majority in the race (CdeBaca received 44.2% to Watson’s 42.9%), they’re headed to the runoff alongside the mayoral race, and others.

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