One of the things I appreciate most about Colorado Inside Out is that we have the time to devote to discussing important happenings and issues in our state. Every week, our panel comes to the table with different perspectives that offer context to the stories that surround us in our communities.

After the antisemitic attack on Boulder’s Pearl Street last Sunday, there’s a lot to talk about—and to listen to—as the city and the Jewish community heal.

The Aftermath of the Boulder Firebombing Attack: 15 people were injured in the attack on June 1 at a peaceful protest over Israelis being held hostage by Hamas. The man charged with both state and federal hate crimes is an Egyptian national who is in the country illegally following an expired visa. Because of his status, he failed a background check when he attempted to purchase a weapon. As we saw in video taken during the attack, fire was the weapon.

• Media consultant Chris Rourke: “We don’t know who is in this country because we have allowed an open border policy for four years … we really don’t know who’s in this country and what their opinions of us are or what their intentions are.” She continues, “40% of those who are here illegally came with a visa and it’s expired. We need reform.”
• Laura Aldrete counters: “If you’ll remember, there was a bipartisan bill that came up that was going to reform immigration and the way people came into this country and President Trump shot it down… and every Republican stood behind him.”
• Columnist Eric Sondermann: “Both Laura and Chris are correct in their own way. Yes, it is a broken system… and yes, it was particularly out of control and ill managed over the last four years. But I think it is a mistake to hang this purely on the issue that he was an immigrant. I flashback to the Oklahoma City bombing. Those two guys weren’t immigrants. They were as white bread as American boys can be. These are individual acts. They are not group acts. We need to address them as individual acts. To use this to demonize all immigrants is wrong.”
• Westword Editor Patty Calhoun: “This state has gone through Columbine. It’s gone through the Aurora theater shootings, the Planned Parenthood shootings, the Club Q shootings, the King Soopers shootings, and then this happened in Boulder. It’s just a narrative that’s beyond belief. It can happen there. It can happen anywhere. The peaceful gathering that has been getting together each Sunday since October of 2023 to protest the continuing hostage situation with Hamas…”

Context of Rising Antisemitism and Hate Crimes: The attack is part of a disturbing trend of antisemitic acts and the proliferation of extremist and hate groups in Colorado.

• The Anti-Defamation League reports there were 279 antisemitism incidents in Colorado in 2024. That marks a 41% increase from 2023, and a 373% increase over the past five years. Colorado ranks ninth in the nation for the most incidents reported.
• The Southern Poverty Law Center, a human rights organization that has tracked extremist groups in the United States for 25 years, reports 33 extremist and hate groups are operating in Colorado—including groups fueled by antisemitism, anti-government beliefs, anti-LGBTQ+ stances, and anti-immigrant ideologies. Chris Rourke adds: “FBI statistics show a 25% increase in hate crimes in five years nationally, with anti-religion hate crimes up 36% and comprising 22% of all hate crimes, second only to race bias.”
• Eric Sondermann: “Antisemitism is not just relegated to history, it’s not just the pogroms of Eastern Europe… I’m the firstborn son of two Holocaust refugees who got out of Germany, but not all of their families were able to escape with them. So, some issues hit home more than others. There is no vaccine to antisemitism… we haven’t been able to eradicate it.”
• Patty Calhoun adds some context about how extreme groups have existed in Colorado for decades: “Before the turn of this century, Colorado was known as ‘The Hate State,’ after we passed Amendment Two (which passed in 1992 and denied legal protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation. It was declared unconstitutional in 1996.) The KKK marched here in the 1920s, and then again in the 1990s… the civil discourse is now the worst I’ve seen it in 20, 30 years. Partly it’s because social media makes it easy to send your screeds out, but it also makes it very easy to respond in a way that dehumanizes people.”

Wolf Reintroduction Program: Two reintroduced wolves died at the end of May, bringing the total number of deaths to nine since the voter-approved Colorado Parks & Wildlife program began in December 2023. Six deaths have occurred since the start of this year. Urban voters passed the program despite concerns from the ranching community, which has seen livestock killed by wolf attacks. Some wolves have also died in the wild.

• Chris Rourke: “The numbers should trigger a pause on the program to evaluate what is going wrong and how it can be corrected. I will tell you our survival rate is lower than what the Yellowstone reintroduction numbers were. It’s lower than the reintroduction in Central Idaho. And, you know, Wyoming refused to give us wolves.”
• Laura Aldrete adds: “We are a different state. We have a wholly different population happening across our state… and it is unfortunate that this science experiment, which is exactly what it is—and that means you have to test and come back and test and come back and refine.”
• Patty Calhoun highlights the “citizen ballot initiatives” and the need for “better discussion of ballots that come forward.” She emphasizes the need for better conversation about “how urban and rural deal with each other in this state.”

Mike Lindell Defamation Lawsuit: Mike Lindell is being sued for defaming Eric Coomer, an employee of Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, and for claiming Coomer rigged the 2020 presidential election in favor of former President Joe Biden. The trial began this Monday.

• Patty Calhoun talked about the various people who have testified, including Matt Crane, the Executive Director of the Colorado County Clerks Association. “He’s the Republican head of clerks, who talked about the fact that Colorado’s system is fine. There was no election rigging. No one has found evidence of election rigging. So, this was so irresponsible on behalf of the election deniers, Mike Lindell, podcaster Joe Altman, and everyone else who was involved.”
• Laura Aldrete: “Just because you lose does not mean you can go after the winner or you can go after the process by which you lost. You need to accept the loss.”
• Chris Rourke questions if Lindell is a “true believer” in the stolen election narrative or if he is motivated by the “limelight.”
• Eric Sondermann connects Lindell’s actions to the theme of extremism, calling it “extremist rhetoric that led to a violent outcome witnessed January 6th of 2021.”

Here is one final shout out to Boulder, where residents continue to support one another. This Sunday, June 8, the 30th Annual Boulder Jewish Festival will go on as scheduled on Pearl Street—at the very same location as last week’s attack. Talk about resiliency and faith in one another. Another big gathering taking place this weekend is the 58th Denver Greek Festival. Here’s to celebrating every and all cultures that make our great state what it is.