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In the NoCo

Why an artist is celebrating the memory of six Chicano activists killed 50 years ago in Boulder

The City of Boulder installed a permanent memorial to Los Seis de Boulder last week, created by artist Jasmine Baetz. "This is the history of CU Boulder and something that we all need to know about and reckon with," said Baetz.
Jasmine Baetz
The City of Boulder installed a permanent memorial to Los Seis de Boulder last week, created by artist Jasmine Baetz. "This is the history of CU Boulder and something that we all need to know about and reckon with," said Baetz.

Fifty years ago, in 1974, a pair of car bombings in Boulder killed six people. Five of the six were University of Colorado students and alumni who had been part of a Chicano student activist group on campus called UMAS.

Their names were Una Jaakola, Reyes Martínez, Neva Romero, Florencio Granado, Heriberto Terán and Francisco Dougherty. They were known as Los Seis de Boulder.

At the time, the police said the activists likely blew themselves up with their own explosives – a claim that’s still met with skepticism today. The case remains unresolved.

City officials recently unveiled a memorial in downtown Boulder. Artist Jasmine Baetz designed it to commemorate the tragedy. We spoke to Baetz about how she learned of Los Seis, and the artwork she created.

KUNC's In The NoCo is a daily slice of stories, news, people and issues. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show brings context and insight to the stories of the day, often elevating unheard voices in the process. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we celebrate the lighter side of things here, too.
Ariel Lavery grew up in Louisville, Colorado and has returned to the Front Range after spending over 25 years moving around the country. She co-created the podcast Middle of Everywhere for WKMS, Murray State University’s NPR member station, and won Public Media Journalism awards in every season she produced for Middle of Everywhere. Her most recent series project is "The Burn Scar", published with The Modern West podcast. In it, she chronicles two years of her family’s financial and emotional struggle following the loss of her childhood home in the Marshall Fire.
As the host of KUNC’s new program and podcast In the NoCo, I work closely with our producers and reporters to bring context and diverse perspectives to the important issues of the day. Northern Colorado is such a diverse and growing region, brimming with history, culture, music, education, civic engagement, and amazing outdoor recreation. I love finding the stories and voices that reflect what makes NoCo such an extraordinary place to live.