Governor Polis pardoning Tina Peters is not a disconnected “moderate” decision floating outside the reality of this political moment. It is happening during a time of escalating authoritarian rhetoric across this country, rising political violence, open attacks on immigrants, attacks on queer and trans people, attacks on truth itself, and a coordinated national effort to undermine democratic systems while billionaires, political opportunists, and status quo cowards try to dress up submission to authoritarian energy as strategy, pragmatism, and civility.
Across Colorado, so many incarcerated community members are far more deserving of clemency, dignity, and a pathway home.
Reading the response to Tina Peters’ pardon today has been exhausting. So many statements dance around the actual danger, framing it as merely disappointing, unfortunate, or politically frustrating, rather than naming the larger pattern clearly.
This is not the time for sanitized condemnation while still protecting the same political culture that keeps enabling these conditions in the first place.
Colorado’s June 30 primary elections are our chance to reject cowardice and accommodation, and to choose leaders who understand that our communities are never acceptable collateral damage.