Rick Palacio is the chairman of the Colorado Democratic Party.
The Colorado Democratic Party is considering renaming its annual Jefferson Jackson fundraising dinner, part of from the founders of the party.
Chairman Rick Palacio on Monday emailed Democratic activists to ask whether they supported renaming the dinner– and if they did, to solicit suggestions.
“It’s not a move to change the name, it’s simply a conversation I want to have with people around the state,” Palacio said in an interview. “What I want to do is solicit ideas and feedback about whether people even want it to be changed.”
is taking suggestions until Nov. 25 and Palacio said he hopes to make a decision by the end of the year about whether to rename the dinner, which is scheduled for Feb. 13 at the Sheraton Downtown Denver. If Palacio decides to make a change, the party’s members can vote again on the new name.
The 2016 dinner is the 84th annual event and itap carried the names of the former Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson since as long as anyone can remember.
But in recent years, concern about the name has increased as the party seeks to distance itself from the controversies of its founders. Palacio’s email to party activists describes the tension:
Jefferson and Jackson lived and served during a time period where slavery was the norm. Both men’s legacies and both men’s fortunes were built and sustained by enslaved human beings. Failure to acknowledge their participation in slavery, or Jackson’s part in removing Native Americans from their lands, would be irresponsible revisions of our American history and the history of our own Democratic Party.
With that acknowledgement, comes the question: should we rename our Jefferson Jackson dinner, or should it remain the same?
