The coming weekend will bring crowds from across the country to Denver in advance of Major League Baseball's All-Star Game. All Coloradans should hope this showcases their capital city in the positive light it has long deserved. Sadly, despite the city's mad rush to prepare, Denver could find itself poorly equipped to pull off a flawless occasion of this magnitude.

The game became Denver's good fortune after MLB officials made a snap decision to pull it from Atlanta to feign support for minorities. The corporation reacted impulsively to propaganda aimed at Georgia's court-approved efforts to ensure fair and accurate elections with rules that apply equally to all voters without regard for race.

Self-proclaimed "woke" activists and cooperative national mainstream media spun an insulting narrative that suggests Blacks and other minorities are less able and/or willing than whites to show identification and abide by other common election safeguards. As such, MLB executives pretended to support Black people by moving the coveted All-Star Game from a mostly Black city to one that's nearly 70% white and only 10% Black — a statistic lower than the national average. Once again, white liberals consider themselves the only hope for minorities and it just ain't so.

The sordid dissing of Atlanta gives Denver a unique opportunity to showcase a world-class cosmopolitan environment, a state-of-the-art stadium, and a downtown area and former warehouse district more robust than outsiders know. It all takes place in what ranks among the country's most enviable summer climates in the midst of the awe-inspiring scenery of the Rockies-meet-the-plains.

Whether Denver's scramble to ready itself succeeds won't be known until the sun rises on July 14 and the event has come and gone.

The gift of the All-Star Game does not come at the most opportune time for Denver. Instead, it comes after Democratic U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper spent eight years as Denver's mayor and eight more as Colorado's governor overseeing a growing crisis of homelessness few could have imagined 20 years ago. It has grown so visible, visitors to Denver typically find themselves shocked by the routine sights of tent-and-box villages taking over sidewalks, parks, and lawns.

Suffice to say Hickenlooper's promise to end homelessness in less than 10 years ranks among the greatest policy failures in modern Colorado history.

Denver's soaring violent crime rate — worse this year than during the pandemic — the homeless camps, and the left-wing protests that routinely confront major public gatherings could combine to cause worldwide embarrassment. Throw in a councilwoman's crusade to abolish the police, declining morale among law enforcement professionals, historically high retirement and attrition rates among Colorado cops, and... voila! Denver could steal the spotlight of shame from Portland, Ore.

Since the left gained control — taking the Colorado legislature, the state's two Senate seats, the governor's office, and all other statewide offices and agencies — Colorado has gone soft on homelessness, drugs, and crime. Gov. Jared Polis, even this week, has signed criminal justice reform bills that contribute to "soft-on-crime" messaging that only stands to exacerbate the crime surge.

Denver should and likely will pull off the All-Star Game with class. Let's hope so. Either way, the challenges raised by escalating crime, vandalism, and ubiquitous homeless camps should remind Coloradans what we have to lose. Denver can restore and maintain its long-held reputation as a family-friendly, safe, orderly, and professional city by reversing course and telling criminals their crimes are not welcome here. It can better fund the police and openly respect their valor. It can increase support for the public and private agencies that work to reduce crime and homelessness by compassionately addressing substance abuse, mental illness, and other forms of human suffering that lead to homelessness and crime.

Denver became a showcase city when it hosted the spectacular Democratic National Convention for the presidential nomination of Barack Obama in 2008. It was a proud moment for Colorado. Seldom did visitors encounter drug-saturated homeless camps and the associated needles, human waste, and stench of marijuana. Back then, pot and hallucinogenic shrooms were illegal and cops were honored by politicians. A police force known for proud, seasoned officers prevented high-profile mayhem during the convention — even as far-left activists from across the country promised and attempted riots with an organized movement known as Recreate '68.

Denver's gain of the All-Star Game is a loss to Atlanta — one of the globe's most racially and ethnically diverse cities in which people from all backgrounds succeed economically, culturally, and socially. Though sad, this MLB public relations stunt — cloaked in the pretense of racial justice — is not Denver's fault. It is, potentially, the opportunity for prosperity and fun. Colorado let's play ball and get this right. Don't let years of irresponsible public policy transform an above-average city into a cautionary tale for all the world to see.

REPRINTED FROM THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE

Photo credit: 1778011 at Pixabay