{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Murphy's Law","title":"\"Before There's Anger, There's Hurt\" Colorado's Senate President on Political Violence","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3307,"description":"In this episode of Murphy's Law, host Murphy Robinson sits down with his friend, colleague, and self-described longtime brother James Coleman — President of the Colorado State Senate, representing Senate District 33 in Denver. Murphy opens by needling Coleman about his signature Western wardrobe (bolo tie, cowboy boots and all), and the two spend the rest of the hour trading that same easy, brotherly back-and-forth while covering a lot of ground: Coleman's path from a childhood expulsion to the president's chair, the real mechanics of party politics and bipartisanship in Colorado, what a Senate president's job actually involves day to day, and the sobering reality of political violence and safety measures now built into the job.\nColeman traces his own story first — born in Denver, raised for a stretch in Nevada, and back home by age 11, when he was expelled from Smiley Middle School (now Denver's McAuliffe International School) for fighting bullies. A scholarship sent him to a small private school where, for the first time, he had a Black teacher and a Black principal, Vivian Wilson, and where Black history was taught as a daily part of the curriculum rather than a February add-on. That same year he reconnected with his father, a street preacher and military veteran 50 years his senior, and met the girl he'd go on to marry — his wife of 16 years within a 25-year relationship. A community ask pulled him into his first legislative race in 2016 with only a few months' runway before the primary; he won by 84 votes. A decade later, after four years in the Colorado House and six in the Senate, he's serving as Senate president with two years left before term limits end his run.\nSome of the most candid moments come when Coleman talks about carrying the weight of representation. He is one of only three Black men among Colorado's 100 legislators and one of two Black senators, a reality he holds up against a \"legacy wall\" in his office honoring every Black elected official...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/i5VidaAPwui-mkO5QFXggyZtb0zIlg4YR2_FNHsGhxQ/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS82ZWZm/YzczODJhMjE0Mjhl/ZWUzYTE0YTI3MGUz/OGVjZS5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}