The Colorado Springs City Council is expected to vote on a resolution that would recognize February as Black History Month after a civil rights group pushed back when councilmembers did not issue a proclamation during last week’s council meeting.

“We see you, as a body, playing it safe,” Angela Stevens, president of the Colorado Springs chapter of the NAACP, told councilmembers.

The council’s decision to not issue a proclamation in advance of Black History Month is part of a national pattern of deemphasizing Black history, she said: “You are not here to serve the citizens of Colorado Springs, but to advance your own political agendas. I still have not heard a good reason the City Council has declined the Black history proclamation.”

Councilmember Kimberly Gold, who is Black and Korean, said during the Jan. 27 meeting that she was not able to get enough support from other councilmembers to put a proclamation on the agenda.

City Council Deputy Administrator Michael Montgomery told The Gazette on Friday that a “Resolution of Recognition” for Black History Month would be on the Feb. 10 council agenda.

Gold, who learned of the proposed resolution from a Gazette reporter, called the agenda item “wonderful.”

Last year, the council recognized Black History Month in a joint proclamation with Mayor Yemi Mobolade, who is Black.

Separately, Gold and acting Chief of Staff Travis Easton said Mobolade would make his own proclamation this year for Black History Month. Montgomery said that according to the mayor’s office, Mobolade was “pausing joint proclamations for the time being.”

The African-American Historical and Genealogical Society of Colorado Springs kicked off Black History Month on Saturday with a fair and soul food luncheon. In previous years, when the council issued a proclamation honoring Black History Month before the month began, society members were glad to receive the recognition, President Candice McKnight said.

Councilmembers approved a resolution or issued a proclamation for Black History Month in eight of the past nine years, according to previous council agendas.

The council often honors holidays and events through a resolution or proclamation. Proclamations do not require a vote by the council, while resolutions do.