DENVER—Colorado lawmakers and Capitol staff watched Tuesday’s presidential inaugural on three screens normally used to display vote counts and legislative amendments.
House Speaker Terrance Carroll, the first black to lead the Colorado House, sat on alone on the chamber platform.
Tuesday was a bittersweet day for Carroll. It also marked the seventh anniversary of the death of his mother, Corine Carroll.
She had him at 51 and raised him alone while working as a domestic servant in Washington, D.C.
Carroll said he wanted to be in Colorado for his first Martin Luther King Jr. holiday as House speaker.
“This is where I’ve had the greatest opportunity to live out his legacy,” said Carroll, a Baptist minister and lawyer.
Senate President Peter Groff became the first black lawmaker to lead the Senate last year. When Carroll was elected earlier this month, Colorado became the first state to have a legislature to be led by two black lawmakers.
To mark King’s 80th birthday, Carroll delivered a Sunday sermon at the First Baptist Church from the same pulpit where King spoke in 1962. He joined the thousands of people who marched through downtown Denver on Monday to honor the civil rights leader, and later rode a stagecoach into the African-American Heritage Rodeo at the annual National Western Stock Show.
Some lawmakers in the House chamber flipped through calendars and passed around bills during the opening inaugural ceremonies. But everyone stopped and applauded when Obama became president.
Freshman Rep. Cindy Acree, R-Aurora, said she appreciated Obama’s message to abandon partisan politics to solve the nation’s problems. With Colorado facing $600 million in budget cuts, she said she hopes state lawmakers heed the call.
“All of us need to learn that goes beyond party lines,” Acree said of the nation’s economic problems.
Interns and lobbyists watched Obama’s speech from the balcony above the House floor.
Capitol janitor Andre Bowser stood behind them against a wall, a bottle of window cleaner hanging out of his pocket.
The Army veteran said he is proud that an African-American is leading the country. And he’s protective about his new president, incredulous at the notion that anyone would judge him harshly if he doesn’t make big changes in his first 120 days in office.
Bowser said Obama’s speech wasn’t dramatic—and, with work to be done, that was a good thing.
“He knows he’s got a job to do, he’s working for the American people. So let the man do his job,” Bowser said.
