As a child, I was picked on and sometimes beaten for doing things outside of the norm. I can’t think of a day while in elementary school when I wasn’t bullied. Yet, I never changed who I was. I think about this every time I hear about an African American being unjustly profiled or mistreated for simply being different.

Black History Month began in 1915, roughly 50 years after the abolition of slavery in the United States. Every U.S. president since 1976 has designated the month of February as Black History Month.

African American fur traders, Native American interpreters, actresses, and entrepreneurs have played an important role in Colorado’s history. Some of Colorado’s documented African American roots date back to 1825, with one of the first African American trappers and traders to enter the Rocky Mountains.

Colorado is as much part of Black History as all the other states in the nation. And for us mountain folks, Black History is closer than we think, as the “unique lived experience of the African- American mosaic (body, psyche, and spirit) in Colorado inspires attributes such as diligence, discipline, survival, and liberation.”

Please meet Anthony Gallucci, MA, Ph.D. ABD in Research Psychology. A professor at Naropa University, Ph.D. candidate, and as he puts it, “an everyday, custodial single father of four children.”

Dr. Gallucci has been living in Boulder for the past decade, where he found himself engaging in liberation, awareness, and anti-oppression work. Some of his work includes collaborations with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Naropa University Diversity Team, Boulder High School, the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, and the Center for African and African American Studies at CU Boulder.

He’s also worked with the people behind the recent film on racism, This is NOT who we are. As a professor at Naropa University in the Mental Health Counseling Transpersonal Psychology department, he teaches utilizing a decolonizing paradigm.

And for the first time in its 50-year lifespan, Dr. Gallucci introduced the discipline of African-American Psychology to the University. He also teaches a foundational multiculturalism course for mental health counselors. The course focuses on power structures, oppressive systems, inclusivity of diversity, and bias.

Dr. Galluci shares, “My location as an African American informs my pedagogy and liberatory approach to the mind and its functioning in the context of African America.” He founded the Boulder African-American History Center, where he’s the managing director.

The mission is to increase awareness about the lived historical and contemporary experiences of African- American people living in Boulder and Boulder County and to provide space and energy towards bringing African American Boulderites into the collective.

“The history of the African American History Center in Boulder is a part of a continuation of the movement that is still evolving and is synonymous with the struggle to exist in equity and liberation for people of African descent in this space,” Dr. Gallucci shares.

One of the things I asked Dr. Gallucci to share, from his perspective, is how African-American culture and history affected Colorado. He answered, “In a nonlinear sense, African-American culture has had a positive impact on the ethos of Colorado. Historically African-American cultural impact has been emblematic of the small size of the population of African-American people living in Colorado.”

He also stated, “‘The few for now; the exceptional forever!’ is our reality as African-Americans in Boulder,” which left me curious about the emotional depletion one endures when “paying the price” for something they had no control over.

Dr. Gallucci also pointed out, “As we increase the number of African-American people living in Colorado as professionals and students, we will see further the evolution of African-American Coloradoan culture. The positive impact will rise as the African-American population does.”

Dr. Gallucci states that he has seen movement regarding sustaining and thriving for some African-American people that live in the region. “Not every African American has the same experience in this area, but I am confident that the potential for more of us to find security in this area is high.”

Ultimately, the doctor is very optimistic that Boulder and Boulder County are safe places for African-Americans to raise a family and thrive academically, professionally, ecologically, and spiritually. The next phase is to combine the various energies into a solidified local movement of African-American interest in the region.

After arriving in Colorado homeless, Dr. Gallucci and his family built their way up to where they are today. It wasn’t an easy feat, but with support and strength, the Gallucci Family story is one of success.

Though bullying instilled fear and discomfort in me for people, I was raised with the notion that being different was beautiful. In hindsight, I realized that my mother was speaking of my autism more than anything else. Yet, she gave me the ability to see beauty in every person, regardless of age, sex, or race.

We don’t get to choose if we’re born or not, whether we’re born rich or poor, and we sure don’t get the choice of what culture we’re born into. The one thing I do know is that we have a choice in the way we treat each other.

To learn more about Black History in Colorado visit https://www.historycolorado.org/black-historyheritage. For more information on the film This Is NOT Who We Are, visit https:// www.thisisnotwhowearefilm.com/. To make a donation or learn about the Boulder African-American History Center visit https://boulderafricanamericanhistory. weebly.com/.

“The lives and living experience of people of African descent in the US very much do matter. From a developmental psychological perspective, we are all in a process of engaging with our socalled racial identities and internalizing how they intersect with social norms. It is abundantly clear that in our society different racial groups may be conditioned to be at different stages in this developmental process.

“The reminder of the reality that Black Lives Matter is important to our current society as we find ourselves in the present. In the future, when pseudoscientific constructions of race are no longer a predicate of one’s lived experience in regard to fairness, marginalization, and success only then we may no longer need this reminder. Today, however, I believe it is helpful to remember that Black Lives Matter too and there is no discounting any other person’s life inherent in that reminder.”

-Anthony Gallucci, MA, Ph.D. ABD in Research Psychology.