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Congratulations gentlemen & the Democratic majority in CO! America is making me proud once again, as we continue to transcend into the 21st century embracing diversity based on one's abilities to lead.

This is significant, considering the old airport in Denver (Stapleton) was named after Denver mayor Benjamin F. Stapleton, who had significant ties to the KKK. The Klan was VERY active in CO early in the 20th century.

Are they republican or democrat? if they are democrat cool great but if they are republican then SHAme on them!!

@Traci, Chicago IL:

"Enough" will never be enough. Even if minorities are represented proportionately, it won’t be enough. There will always be those “historical imbalances” to be “addressed.” And “compensated” for.

Race will always be an issue. Now and forever.

Colorodo's Apartheid??

Republican are such hateful, racist, Losers. The republicans can't and will never believe that People of color are qualified for anything. Listen you sitting President is White and the dumbest human I have ever seen in my life. The intelligent, sane citizens voted for these men and I'm sure it wasn't at gun point. Republicans stop being so stupid. what a bunch of Idiot Losers.

TO BLU:

So are you saying that the white majority voted for these two because they were Black? Please! Did it ever occur to you that they just might have the credentials for the job?

@ Matt: You can't ignore color when there clearly is NO or LIMITED COLOR in most high positions. The point is every ethic group should have representation as long as they are qualified for the job including more hispanics, Asians, native Americans, etc. Issues have to be seen through more than group of eyes. Others do bring something to the table. I say no more ignoring the real issues that America face including when it comes to race. We have to deal with it and THEN move on.

To ..... Mike in NYC ..... KMA

Colorado appears to be turning the corner on racial politics but you are a clear indication that America is NOT a post-racial country across the board and the problems are not just in the "deep South".

It will take America until about 2040 before that happens. Why 2040? That's when the children ... born under two terms of a President Obama will be yound adults. They, and children born after them, will have grown up in a world where the head man in charge was a black man.

They won't find it unusual; they won't think it safe to automatically denegrade or conspire against the minority. They will give that guy in the hoodie at the ATM the same respect as they give the white guy .... who knows, he might be their new boss on Monday.

Some of these people are just bitter.

Mike in NYC... they were ELECTED, you flaming moron.

CONGRATULATIONS, COLORADO....

judging a man by the content of his character and not the color of his skin MLK's dream realized. Congratulations again. The people of Colorado should be extremely proud of this.

John in Ohio,,, you are absolutely right. Bobby Rush SHOULD learn from this. A few too many of his generation of African Americans (on the front lines of the civil rights movement) have NOT been able to see the progress that they, themselves contributed to, and that not EVERY challenge is because of race.

Mike in NYC, I'm sure there are plenty of whites, and blacks, and Hispanics, and Asians, and Native Americans, and women, and [fill in the blank]s who are qualified for these jobs; it's just that of all the people who were in the right place at the right time (Colorado Legislature, beginning of new session 2009) these two men have been selected by their peers as the most qualified. And they both happen to be black. Get over it.

For those of you complaining about the 'mentioning of race' – these are FIRSTS, so they should be celebrated. Maybe if this happens ENOUGH, race won't be an issue anymore. Get a clue.

Thank you Colorado!

It's amazing to me how many people say "well, who cares?" or "this is racial news" or "this is a form of racism". ARE YOU SERIOUS??? It's blatantly obvious that people of the majority don't understand the situations and accomplishments occuring with people of the minority.

From the words of W.E.B. Dubois, minorities have this thing called "Double consciousness." It is an awareness of one's self as well as an awareness of how others perceive that person. When you are apart of the majority (i.e. white people), your consciousness does not understand or even appreciate the perception of others. So they are stuck in this superiority complex and therefore conjure up negative comments such as the ones in this article.

The sad thing is that the majority sometimes don't intend to be demeaning; it's just part of their conditioning in society. Yes we should focus on ability and character and not skin color, but we should also celebrate accomplishments that defeat all odds of hinderance. I mean the whole purpose of this article was to celebrate an achievement based on ability and character.

Only 4% of CO's population is black, and both houses are led by blacks? People will still say that race wasn't the deciding factor here, just "competence." Sure, there were no competent Whites to hold these positions…. (Or Hispanics, who are almost 20% of the population.)

The era of ethnic apportionment has begun. It all goes downhill from here.

Electing politicians based of the color of their skin is as racist as not electing them based of the color of their skin.
We should be more concerned with their credentials and their position on the issues than on their race!

The world does get better and a man's deeds is the only thing that matters. Someday someone will have to explain why this made the news. I really believe it. And, this makes me proud to be American.

Republicans are evil. These two clueless token clowns. This is just the republicans way of getting back on track in 2012....Dumb like a fox....

@ Laverne

Diversity for diversity's sake is the flip-side of the racism coin and really no different than sameness for sameness' sake.

Start ignoring color so we can move on.

Is that why Burris must be seated?

we want leaders who are intelligent and fair minded, who cares what color their skin is, it's time for america to unite, let it begin with with this generation.

That's great! I'm glad that the government is starting to represent the diversity of America. As an African-American I am so proud!

WHO CARES??? When are we going to stop this kind of racial "news"..... it's a form of racism after all....

America, America, God has truly shed His grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea. The more perfect union is manifesting itself all around us. The dream is becoming real.

Bobby Rush should learn from this. It's not your skin color, it's your ability and your character that count.

HES IS AMERICAN. SO WHAT? WHY IS ALWAYS CNN MAKE IT RACE CARD. BRING REAL NEWS

Thank you God. It is time there is some diversity in leadership positions across America on every level. God Bless America, it has been a long time coming!