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Melissa Harris-Perry: Our Black.Queer.Rising series continues today with Colorado Democratic State Representative, Leslie Herod.

She's held down the 8th District in Colorado since 2016, and she's the first openly gay Black woman elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in the state's history. She guided the passage of a voter-supported tax to fund mental health and drug rehabilitation centers in the city of Denver.

Now, she's looking to secure the role of mayor in this April's election. She's got support from some who helped pave the political way for her, including prominent Colorado politician and the first Black mayor of Denver, Wellington Webb. Webb served as Denver's mayor for 12 years throughout the '90s and early odds.

Wellington Webb: I think the city needs a new generation of leadership, a new generation that brings fresh ideas, that brings fresh energy, that has the ability to connect with all segments of the population. My decision is only that I support people, and it's up to them to run and take their case to the people and then to let the people decide.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Herod recently spoke with my colleague, Janae Pierre.

Janae Pierre: Representative Herod, welcome to The Takeaway.

Leslie Herod: Thanks so much for having me.

Janae Pierre: You've made quite a name for yourself within the realm of criminal justice reform. What are some of these reforms and why make this such a core focus during your tenure as a Colorado State Representative and during your run for mayor?

Leslie Herod: Absolutely. Listen, we have heard for decades, generations, that the war on drugs targets and destroys communities, especially Black and brown communities. Quite frankly, the war on drugs has failed in any way, shape, or form if we're looking at it alongside of a public health perspective. It was just really put there to terrorize our communities. That's a fact. That's what we know.

As I step back from that, I will also tell you that my family has experienced the impacts directly. My sister was in and out of prison for 30 years due to drug use, substance misuse, alongside of lack of treatment. I saw firsthand what the system did to her, which was tell her she wasn't worth it, that she wasn't valued, and that she deserved to be in prison as opposed to being in community with our family and with her kids.

That is tearing us apart. As a legislator, I took that experience and said that it would be a priority of mine to reform the criminal justice system, not just for my family, but for families that have experienced it just like ours. So many families across this country and definitely across Colorado. I got to work pretty quickly. My first committee was serving on the Judiciary Committee and the Finance Committee to tie together how a corrupt criminal justice system actually impacts the finances and the economy of our state.

Since then, I have passed the bills that you've mentioned and moved on to serve as the chair of the Appropriations Committee, to pass some of the most comprehensive police accountability and criminal justice reform bills that the state has seen.

Janae Pierre: Absolutely. You have indeed been busy. You come from a family of people who serve. Your mother was an officer in the US Army Nurse Corps, and the man you refer to as your adoptive father, he worked in law enforcement for decades. How has your upbringing, what you saw and heard from adults in your life influenced the way you legislate, and also, how have they influenced the legislation that you find important to focus on?

Leslie Herod: Absolutely. I'm glad you brought that up. I think it's really important to juxtaposition all of this stuff together. Intersectionality is something that we all talk about, but damn, it is really a part of my life in so many ways. My sister is older than me. She has a different father than I do. My mom raised her in Oakland, California. When my mom chose to leave Oakland, she joined the military and my sister chose to stay behind. We found out later that she was sexually assaulted not very long after that. That's what led her down that path of drug abuse.

For me, my mom had me on a different path. She fought to make sure that I had access to good quality education and that was a priority for our family, was education. Along the way though, there was a lot of challenges with my family. I was very lucky to have been adopted into a family where my dad was actually law enforcement. My mom on that side of the family was head of Colorado Springs Utilities. Just hardworking people that stepped in when I needed more hands on my shoulders if you will. A village to help raise me alongside of my mother.

Seeing my father's experience within the justice system as law enforcement and seeing my sisters really has shaped the work that I do today. He agrees that it is not one, a good use of the system's time and money to incarcerate those who are addicted. He agrees that those who are law enforcement officers, correctional officers are not equipped to deal with substance misuse and mental health, but the majority of the folks in our system need that support and help. Our system is failing and not working.

Seeing what happens inside of a prison from the inside, from my sister's perspective, and from the other side of the bar is from my dad's perspective, has led me to not only speak about these bills and pass these bills from a place of policy, but also from a place of deep personal knowledge.

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Melissa Harris-Perry: After the break, we're going to hear from Representative Herod about the Enhanced Enforcement Integrity Act. It requires officers to wear body cameras and report any use of force that causes injury or death. We'll be talking about the duty to intervene.

Leslie Herod: We have to make sure that we have a duty to intervene provision with criminal liability, criminal accountability for officers so that when they see a George Floyd act happening, that they are held accountable, that they actually have a duty to intervene and to stop the abuse from happening.

Melissa Harris-Perry: It's The Takeaway. This is The Takeaway. I'm Melissa Harris-Perry. Our Black.Queer.Rising series continues with Colorado Democratic State Representative, Leslie Herod. She sat down with my colleague, Janae Pierre.

Janae Pierre: I want to talk about one of the bills you co-sponsored. It's the Enhanced Enforcement Integrity Act. That one requires officers to wear body cameras and report any use of force that causes injury or death, and it also eradicates qualified immunity. For those of us who might not yet know how this could shift policing, can you tell us what qualified immunity is and what you believe eliminating it can do?

Leslie Herod: Qualified immunity is definitely an important provision that I had no idea what it was when I first started hearing about it after the murder of George Floyd. Many people had fought and worked to in qualified immunity, or to shed a light on what qualified immunity was in our communities for years. This is a very legal term. In simple words, I will say that basically what it does is it removes the shield of protection that law enforcement have against prosecution when they harm people in our communities.

We often see these videos. We hear comments. We see records and reports of law enforcement very clearly harming people in our communities, or very clearly violating someone's constitutional rights, and yet they continue to be officers. They continue to move forward without any personal responsibility or accountability. Qualified immunity removes that immunity. It says that law enforcement can be held accountable should they do wrong by us, wrong by the people that they are there to serve and protect.

Colorado became the first state to remove qualified immunity for law enforcement in Colorado through Senate Bill 217 which was brought forward during the summer of 2020 in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and locally, Elijah McClain. That provision in itself, I believe, will provide and has provided change within law enforcement's interaction with communities, but we've got to also pass it at the federal level. We hear about the Justice and Policing Act, the George Floyd Act, ending qualified immunity is in that act. It's so very important that we keep it there, that we keep it there.

There are other provisions that are equally as important. We have got to make sure that all of our law enforcement has body cameras that are on, that are unedited, and that that footage is able to be released upon approval of the victims or their families to community, so we know the truth. Additionally, we have to make sure that we have a duty to intervene provision with criminal liability, criminal accountability for officers so that when they see a George Floyd Act happening that they are held accountable, that they actually have a duty to intervene and to stop the abuse from happening.

Janae Pierre: You spoke briefly about the Colorado law that requires officers to intervene in the event that they see another officer using excessive force or violating someone's rights. You've said that had there been a similar law in Tennessee, it would have stopped the brutal attack on Tyre Nichols. Now, I'm not entirely sure a law can do what people's hearts cannot. How would this legislation stop this?

Leslie Herod: I agree with you. It's hard to say that oh if we pass this law, someone would be alive today. What I will say is that, again, the combination of laws that we need to put in place to hold people accountable, one, we don't know these officers' records. We don't know what led to this, but what we do know is that this power imbalance, this back the blue at all costs leads to this mob mentality that we've got to break down. We cannot legislate hate out of people's hearts. What we can do is make sure that they're held accountable.

Janae Pierre: You're running for Mayor of Denver. The election is right around the corner. It's set to take place on April 4th of this year. Like many cities across the nation, thousands of unhoused people sleep on the Denver streets every night. That population is growing rapidly. I'm curious about how you see the problem and your plan to address homelessness in Denver.

Leslie Herod: Absolutely. It is my honor to be Denver's next mayor. Denver has never had a female mayor in the history of our city, much less a Black female mayor who has a history of implementing bold legislation to make real change. That's what I want to do for our city. Quite frankly, the city that I love has become quite frankly a little bit unrecognizable. We're lacking compassionate and care and solutions to address our unhoused population. For me, that means making sure there is more mental health and substance misuse support for those who need it. I created the largest mental health foundation in Colorado, focusing specifically on getting people mental health and substance misuse care when they need it. Building out a new infrastructure, putting in over $100 000 000 into community-based mental health and substance misuse services.

That's important. That's one way we tackle this issue. Additionally, we've got to make sure that we have housing for people. It is inhumane to have people living on the streets of Denver in trash, while we have vacant lots in our city that we could build upon, where we can create housing for people that need it, with services that they need within that housing. We can do that. Quite frankly, I believe that Denver deserves a mayor that believes we can because when we lose hope, we lose action. That's what we need right now in our city.

Janae Pierre: I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge your being the first openly gay Black woman elected to the Colorado House of Representatives. What does that mean to you and what do you hope it means for the future of Colorado?

Leslie Herod: I think that means very clearly that I stand on the shoulder of giants who have done this work before me. Some who were also LGBTQ, but couldn't be out. Some who are Black women, who strive to say that we are breaking down barriers at every turn. I stand on their shoulders and I'm proud to be able to be out and in this position leading the race for Denver's mayor. That does come with an enormous responsibility. My job and my role in community is to continue to lift up people who have been left off the table, who have been left out of the conversations, to bring folks in to say, "How can we solve these issues together?" That is the role and we are going to look different when we do that work. I'm proud to be here in this role. I'm proud to be in here in this position, but I will say that it has the responsibility and the honor to say that we are going to do things differently. We're going to have different voices here, and we're going to shape Denver for the future, for the better, for all of us.

Janae Pierre: When you hear the phrase, Black. Queer. Rising, what comes to mind?

Leslie Herod: Ah, that we are on the upright. It's not something that we are starting. While I'm the first African American LGBTQ person to hold office in Colorado out, I'm not the only anymore. We rise together. When I hear the term Black. Queer. Rising, that's what it means. It means we are rising together. No longer will we be in the shadows. No longer will we allow cities to move forward without us. No longer will we allow folks to profit off of our backs without us being able to thrive as communities and families as well. What this means is that we are rising together and that together, we are going to make real transformative change for people who look like us but also for everyone in our communities. Quite frankly, our country will not thrive without us.

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Janae Pierre: Democratic. Colorado State Representative and Denver mayoral candidate, Leslie Herod. Representative Herod, thanks so much for spending time with us on The Takeaway.

Leslie Herod: Thanks for having me.

Melissa Harris-Perry: That was Janae Pierre speaking with Democratic, Colorado State Representative and Denver Mayor Candidate, Leslie Herod. It's part of our Black. Queer, Rising Series.

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