Opinion: City banners a declaration that all are welcome in Fort Collins

Small statements and gestures can mean a lot in these interesting times we live in.

With a mean-spirited tweet or comment, the president can set off a storm of angry condemnation that rumbles across the country and around the world.

And that response often unleashes a flood of vitriol from those who think the president is quite right, vulgar as he may be.

On the other hand, a kind word or an act of compassion captured on social media has a way of launching waves of warmth and acceptance across cultures that make one proud of humanity, if only for a while.

Messages matter. And the city of Fort Collins hopes to send a meaningful one in the coming weeks by hanging banners around town intended to demonstrate that our town is a welcoming place.

The colorful banners carry the phrase “We are Fort Collins” in English, translated into “I am Fort Collins” in 14 other languages. The idea is to let residents and visitors know the city supports diversity and inclusion across the community.

Banners will be placed at 30 locations around town on utility light poles. They will hang in prime spots, such as along College and Lemay avenues and in front of Fort Collins City Hall.

The banner project seems like a simple idea. It’s been done before in cities large and small.

However, Janet Freeman, diversity and inclusion coordinator with the city’s Sustainability Department, told me the project turned out to be complicated.

The city partnered with elements of Colorado State University as well as Poudre School District and the Islamic Center to identify languages that should be used and to ensure the translations were proper and accurate.

A local cultural competency consultant, Todd Cornell, provided his services free of charge, Freeman said.

City departments collaborated to make sure the project could happen. Utilities showed its support by not charging for the space taken by the banners or the staff time to place them.

Designing and printing the banners cost the city $3,606, Freeman said.

The highlighted languages — Korean, Tagalog, Hindi, Chinese, Russian, Spanish, English, Arabic, Arapaho, French, Ute, German, Portuguese, Japanese, and Vietnamese — were carefully selected to recognize languages spoken here now and in the past.

The white lettering stands out against bold colors ranging from yellow to purple in cloudlike swirls.

I found a banner at Elizabeth Street and College Avenue a little difficult to read from the street, but I got the idea. And that probably has more to do with my vision than the presentation.

Fort Collins is a small place in a big world. Admittedly, we are not the most diverse of communities.

However, the banner program serves as straightforward, visual reminder that people from all countries and cultures are welcome here.

In these times of hot debate about immigration policy and who may be in the country and who may not, trolls might emerge from their internet caves to spread meanness about the city’s banner program.

But that shouldn’t deter the rest of the community from celebrating the diversity we enjoy.

Kevin Duggan is a Coloradoan columnist. Follow him on Twitter, @coloradoan_dugg, and on Facebook at Coloradoan Kevin Duggan.