I lived for ten years in Fort Collins, as a high tech worker. I have lived for 20 years in a town closer to Denver
which is much more diverse in ethnicity.
Native Americans were largely driven out of Colorado, see The Sand Creek Massacre etc. We have a few small reservations in the Four Corners area, near Mesa Verde, thats 430 miles southwest of Fort Collins and literally like another planet from Fort Collins.
Fort Collins is located only 34 miles from the Wyoming border. Wyoming is one of the smallest and whitest states
in the USA.
There are very few native Americans in Colorado, but more in southern Colorado. Fort Collins
while its grown, Fort Collins is still a predominately white community of mostly high tech workers, agricultural and nursery workers, and CSU students and professors. Its about 150,000 total but its a very isolated town, too far to get to Denver really easily although with our 80 mile per hour speed limits, one can get to Denver in one hour, its about 60 miles south but Fort Collins is spread out so depends on exactly what part of Fort Collins one is living in.
Hispanics are also actually much less prevalent in Fort Collins than Longmont and greater Denver.
Fort Collins is not really as diverse or forward thinking as most Coloradans want to believe.
Hispanics do live in Pueblo, and southern Colorado for centuries.
Fort Collins a town with farm roots, and lots of outsiders, mostly white and Asian who work in high tech or work for Colorado State. Certainly it is a college town, but not a diverse one.
And yes plenty of racism here, I am afraid. In fact, Fort Collins St Joseph’s Catholic Church did
not allow any Hispanic members way way back, in about the 1920s. There was a separate Roman Catholic church built for Hispanics in Fort Collins, thats how racist Colorado was. Its a bit better now, and Hispanics may join
St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.
We had beet growing in Fort Collins and Longmont, large beet farms, for Great Western Sugar,
that have shut down. Hispanics came only part of the year, and eventually became part of the communities.
The Great Western Sugar Factories have all shut down, but one remains standing in Longmont CO.
Longmont has a much bigger active Hispanic community than Fort Collins because their sugar factory
stayed open longer, and Hispanic support systems grew stronger in Longmont.
Colorado is a very " trendy" place, but its hardly diverse. In 30 years of living here, I would tell you
its largely a white state, with a strong Hispanic presence, but not in Fort Collins so much.