Carman: To fill Colorado’s leadership vacuum, look no further than the teachers, preachers or the nurse next door

Academics who study the science of leadership talk about the kinds of people who dare to lift their heads out of the foxholes during times of crisis. Ida B. Wells, Nelson Mandela, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony are just a few.

There also was Colorado Gov. Ralph Carr, who took an unpopular stand against Japanese internment during World War II; Capt. Silas Soule, who testified to the truth of what happened during the Sand Creek Massacre and was murdered for it; and Edward R. Murrow and Robert Welch, who finally brought down the far-right domestic terrorists of the 1950s — Rep. Joseph McCarthy and his despicable henchman, Roy Cohn. 

As the chaos in Washington grows more dangerous, the opportunity for a leader of the opposition to emerge becomes clear. The question is who will seize the moment?

And can it come soon enough to save us?

The soft-spoken, measured Sen. Michael Bennet could be a candidate. Watching him question Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during his confirmation hearing for Secretary of Health and Human Services last week was encouraging. It was not a triumphant “Have you no sense of decency” moment like Welch exhibited in confronting McCarthy in a congressional hearing in 1954, but it was respectable. Bennet held Kennedy’s feet to the fire.

Attorney General Phil Weiser and Rep. Jason Crow have vowed to protect law-abiding Coloradans who could be swept up in immigration raids and herded into internment facilities at Buckley Space Base in Aurora. 

So far, it’s just posturing — issuing media releases, promising legal action and speaking out. That’s not exactly lifting their heads out of the foxhole. More like working up the courage to do it.

Still, if they really mean it, they’ll likely have plenty of chances to stand tall and draw fire. 

Denver Mayor Michael Johnston poked the bear after the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asked him to testify on the city’s policies for dealing with immigration.

“The most helpful thing Congressional Republicans could do right now is fix our broken immigration system,” he said, without revealing whether he plans to testify before the committee. “While they work on that, we will focus on running the cities that manage the consequences of their failure to act.” 

Then, in response to threats of immigration raids in the city, Johnston’s office said, “If President Trump instructs ICE to begin going into the sensitive locations, Denver is prepared to take the administration to court and do everything within our legal authority to keep them safe.” 

All good. 

But the real leaders in this time of crisis likely will emerge from rank-and-file members of the community working in ordinary places — churches, schools, neighborhoods and health clinics. After all, they are on the front lines.

Since the Department of Homeland Security announced that it will not hesitate to conduct immigration raids in “sensitive areas,” clerics, educators and medical providers face a tough choice: resist and be targeted or obey and have to live with your cowardice.

Catholic bishops, hiding under their Mitres, appear to be choosing the second option.

A spokeswoman for the Colorado Catholic Conference of Bishops told the Denver Post that the organization “approaches the issue of immigration with prayerful hearts.” 

But never mind the simpering bishops, church leadership most often rises out of the rank-and-file priests and nuns who don’t just sit around praying for change. Colorado’s Loretto Community, for one, has a long history of protecting the safety and dignity of immigrants regardless of their status.

Clergy members from Baptist churches to Evangelical houses of worship have vowed to protect their flocks. And since memories of families being shoved into boxcars in Poland and Germany are top of mind for most rabbis, I’m guessing acquiescing to thugs rounding up immigrants during temple services is an unlikely scenario.

As for the schools in Colorado, in many cases the goons from ICE will face plenty of opposition.

Denver Public Schools and other districts have instructed school administrators to seek warrants from ICE officials who may approach buildings and to keep them outside the building, if possible. Teachers and office staff members have been told they could be arrested for attempting to stop the raids.

Given all that teachers endure in a typical school day, I’m thinking that they won’t be easily intimidated. After all they put up with, a night in jail could have some appeal.

Denver Health and other hospitals and clinics have struggled to communicate the importance of sick people feeling safe when they come for services, but it’s unclear what policies they might be able to put in place to protect people from being arrested.

As the tensions rise, we can all expect to see some profiles in courage who step up and give us all a chance to stand with them in protecting democracy, the rule of law and our values.

As my mother used to say, the hottest place in hell is reserved for those who remain silent in a time of moral crisis. 

And, by the way, she never said it would be easy.

Diane Carman is a Denver communications consultant.

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