New Mexico in Focus; 1405; COVID and Public Health Orders, Working and Parenting During COVID-19 Pandemic, Operation Legend, Young Organizers and Activists of Black Lives Matter, Learning Alliance of New Mexico, and Fight For Our Lives

Funding for New Mexico and Focus provided by the McEun Charitable Foundation and viewers like you. This week on the Mexico and Focus, parents on the front lines balancing their livelihood with their children's learning. But they both assure me, oh, they can do it, but they also tell me that about cleaning their room and everything else, so they have no credibility with me. And Operation Legend comes to Albuquerque, what local and federal leaders say to expect. The next to go and focus starts now. Thanks for joining us this week. I'm your host, Gene Grant. Social isolation can make us all feel pretty far apart. This week might reinforce it. We're talking about the stance some local governments are taking against public health orders, even as COVID-19 cases continue to skyrocket across the state. I talked to young leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement about this moment in time and how they hope it leads to systemic change.

We'll look at the troublesome history of cowboys for Trump founder, Koi Griffin and what his most recent racist statements mean for those aligned with him politically. Here's the line. Mayors and other political leaders around the state are defying the governor's public health orders saying to follow them would mean ruin for their communities. The governor meanwhile says we could lose hundreds more New Mexicans to COVID-19 and have lasting health impacts with thousands of people if New Mexicans don't take her seriously. That's where the line begins tonight. This Odyssey that's been going on this week. I'm joined by line regular and UNM law school professor, Serge Martinez. He may be retired, but he certainly isn't retiring. That's former reporter for the Santa Fe in the Mexican steve, Terrell. Great to have you back. Joining us as a guest, one of our favorites from CR is a social digital crystal CR. It'll be owner and president day of that company. Crystal, let me start with you. As a political play, what do you make of the defiance we've seen from places? I'm going to pick Roswell first.

What are you feeling from Roswell right now? It is not an easy time to be a politician. There's no doubt about that. I will say that you can already start to hear at first the tone of the governor's administration was collaboration and working together now into tone of obvious frustration and if collaboration is not key, it's due as I say. Obviously, you can see that as somebody said in the Albuquerque Journal article is referencing the mayor's being so defiant on the order, you can tell that it's a very much a Northern New Mexico versus Southern New Mexico type of battle or reinforcing urban versus the country or the rural parts, I should say, of New Mexico. I'm seeing Clovis, New Mexico mayor, mayor Mike, as we call, mayor Mike Morris, a good friend.

He's a first term mayor and he's seeing challenges of respecting the order. Long term mayor, mayor Hoel and Rio Rancho. I sit on his economic recovery and business task force. He's seeing major challenges, especially since he was the chair of the mayor's council. Obviously, the mayor and Roswell is just completely saying no and we have to give the mayor's a lot of credit because of the fact that they are doing what they can, considering what they have to run into, like mayor Tim Keller and Albuquerque, obviously doing what he can by not only enforcing it but also going the extra mile to do advocacy work on Washington and so on. That's exactly right. There really is no easy answer and it's such a conflict to see what the mayors are possibly doing. But at the end of the day, the mayors are always in a position of, do I, I get elected by my local and municipal government or I get elected by my local people?

I have to serve them, right? And so it doesn't. Let me, let me, let me, let me guys swing Steve in here real quick. Sorry, Chris. My fault there. Steve, the idea that a lot of the mayors hung their sort of approach on the fact that they had fewer cases in many of those counties than other parts of the state. But now that a lot of those cases are ticking up in those very counties, does that not prove the governor's point and disprove their point or how should they be seeing this if cases are going up in their local areas? Yeah. If the point is we don't need to abide by this because we're not as bad as Albuquerque or whatever, yeah, that's only a matter of time before the virus doesn't care where the county line is or where about anything like that. So yeah, it's, I think it's precarious thing. It's true that mayors are under a lot of pressure, you know, and no one likes to see in

their favorite restaurant going out of business. I was talking to a, I went, got some take out from one of my favorite Chinese places here in Santa Fe and the waitress receptionist I've known for many years. She said, you know, I am not happy about the fact that we may be having to reopen soon. What, you know, what if some guy with COVID blows his nose and I have to pick up his napkin, you know, she would worry about her own safety. And that's one point of view that we know the restaurant association is file lawsuits and stuff, but the workers themselves, you know, could be in danger. And so it's, it's, it's a complex situation because like no one likes to see their, I'm sick of my own cooking. Hey, sir, um, 18 New Mexico mayors sent a letter to the governor saying, hey, you know,

we've a little more individual look here instead of a wide brush might be appropriate here. But let me read you something to the governor, Michelle Luhan Grisham wrote in her op-ed in the journal that Dennis Kintai former legislator here, an FBI agent here in southern of Mexico responded to, I want to read what the governor said, because it's worth kind of going over this again. Last paragraph. And when we reach the other side of my administration, and let me start again. And when we reach the other side, my administration will take a long hard look at how the state can ensure that those local officials who have decided they will not protect their constituents amid an unprecedented crisis no longer have the opportunity to fail them. That's an interesting little broadside across the bow, isn't it? It's, it's, it's become very political, hasn't it? Yeah, I mean, it certainly has. And, you know, I'm in terms of what a legal authority the governor might have on that front.

I think it's, obviously, it's more of a threat, an semi-empty threat, but in terms of pinning the, you know, the state administration against local mayors, you know, that's not going to be good for anybody and not good for, not good for a new Mexico, not good for any of the towns or this, or the state or, or any of the parties involved. Well, let me, let me ask you this. We have some court cases come up. One that we'll have on YouTube, our YouTube channel next Tuesday, that might decide some of this as Republicans battle the governor over her authority to impose fines in restrict businesses. What's your sense of this? I'm not asking for predictions, certainly, but what's your sense of the suit in next Tuesday's hearing? You know, I am, New Mexico has to, you know, I don't know that anybody who's living can take the blame for this, but by saying we're going to have a part-time legislature and a part, you know, of a civilian legislature, we have decided we're going to give lots of authority to the governor, and I think, you know, who can say what's going to happen, but I think the, the set up we have here is one that in a moment like this, there's

going to be a lot of difference paid to the executive because she is the one who is, you know, in a position and able to be agile and, and with reactive things. And so I think the, the, the court has not shown a lot of inclination to second-guess her thus far, and I think that, you know, because of the set up we have in many states, they say, let's ask the legislature, we don't have really that option here. And so I, my sense is that, you know, the uniquely new Mexican way is going to play out, you know, as we've seen for the last several months, right, no, there's been no inclination from anybody with a, like, look from the courts to challenge or just get in the way of the governor's managing of the situation. And when the legislature was there, they had the opportunity, they came spent three days and left. A good point there. I appreciate it. Hey, Chris, we've got about 30 seconds, but I want to get you in here real quick. Is the governor in a potential danger here being seen as a paper tiger?

I asked that because there's a lot of folks out there defying her, but no one's really getting dinged on this. Are they? You know, I, I don't know. I can't say for sure whether she is being a paper tiger or not, but I think she, it's, it's kind of like in a position of what's, if she doesn't take action and if she doesn't show her leadership, how true a leader is she actually for our state. And if anything, I think her, her leadership is really what we're, um, banking on and, unfortunately, like the restaurant association, I'll wrap this up really quickly, like the restaurant association isn't a difficult spot because of a lack of transparency. And I think from the, and, and, you know, even though the New Mexico Restaurant Association is kind of right, there's a lack of transparency and, and it's a decision-making process. I think from the governor's perspective, it's rushed and it's rushed for good reason because it's a public health crisis. And that's what we always have to remember outside of the public. Good point there.

We'll have to leave it there. But on that note, as the COVID-19 pandemic rolls over into the next school year, schools are preparing to have kids learning online, as you know, at least until September 8th. This leaves parents scratching their heads wondering how they're going to have both work and make sure their kids are learning. Of course, but at Megan Camerick, talked to Nurse and Mother Bridget Montoya about how her job treating COVID patients and her kids online education can be at odds. Thank you so much, Bridget, for joining us. Bridget, schools will be going fully online until at least September 8th, as a full-time nurse and a single mother. What does that mean for you? It's very difficult. Actually, I have two kids going to two different schools in two different grades and getting that news was very shocking because now I have to figure out how I'm going to get both of them on track online at the same time every single day. And when we went on this quarantine last year, it was hard because they both had Zoom meetings for different projects, different classrooms at the same time and trying to kind of like

corral them to get their homework done was nearly impossible. And the schools were giving me different websites almost every single day that I had to log on to at this time and turn in paperwork and I was talking to other parents that went to different schools and they said, oh, my kids got their grades and whatever grade they were at at that point is where they were and that was not the case for my kids. So they were not only flooded with work and trying to navigate through the internet. We, where I live, we don't have the best internet for this, the optimum speed or anything. It's not available to us. So it's very difficult for me, especially because I need to sleep during the day so I can work at night. Yeah. Well, how does this affect your work, too? You have a very demanding job. Yeah. It's going to be very hard for sure. It's, you know, before I can drop them off at school, kind of sneak in a few hours of sleep and then pick them up and go to work and be fine. And now I'm just going to have to kind of power through it and make sure they stay on

task and they're logged in and that I can kind of get my work schedule wrapped around it. This decision puts the burden of both parent and teacher on you. Do you think you can be on the front line of this pandemic and make sure your kids are doing their coursework? God, I hope so. It is very, very difficult. Being the teacher element, like I did not sign up for that. I'm not, I'm not able to, especially when there was no online instruction with it. It was just a website with these assignments and it was like five websites in my daughter's case and going through navigating through those five websites, trying to keep her on task was like nearly impossible. And then I had to go back to my son and get him through his, go through Google Docs and then go back to the school and go to these websites and turn things in. And I struggled with it myself because I don't even know that content. I don't know what they're doing.

All of a sudden I'm thrown into the fifth grade and the seventh grade all over again with new material that I never learned when I was that age. This sounds so challenging. On top of this, do you have at home safety protocols for when you come back from work? Well, I'm fortunate to work. I do work as a COVID nurse at night and we've been COVID since February. And I'm fortunate like we have PPE available to us. I wiped out my car before I get in. I sanitized my shoes there. We change out of our own scrubs into the hospital scrubs before, after our shift. When I get home, I have a bleach bucket. I put my shoes in. I wash my scrubs separately. I shower. I don't see the kids or touch them till after I've showered. I wipe down the entire car. It's a process in itself just to come in the house to make sure that I don't pass anything to them.

After Labor Day, the kids might start to go back to school with public schools offering an alternative online option for all students online only. So as a health care professional, but also a mother, which option will you be choosing and why? Well, the schools have told me kind of we're kind of at standstill. There isn't a definite answer on either one. There's no definitive answer as to what we're doing. So it's kind of like hold your breath and wait. Seeing the ramifications as COVID-19 has had, it's very difficult for me. As I say, I feel comfortable sending the kids to school only because I've seen people die very quickly from the virus. I've seen people turn. I've seen it affect every age group, every demographic with or without preexisting vulnerabilities. So I struggle with, and I'm still undecided as to what I'm going to do about that because I don't know if the school can actually maintain any type of cleanliness. To prevent COVID, and I don't know if the kids are able to, I mean, you're going to

cram them in this building and we struggle with it even as nurses like how we don't spread it to each other. So I don't think a kid is able to. I'd rather than go to school for the social element, but the safety element is, I don't think they're able to. They just don't have the responsibility. Can you talk to them about that if they go back? Yeah, I have, and they both assure me, oh, they can do it, but they also tell me that about cleaning their room and everything else. So they have no credibility with me. Do you want your kids to go back to in person, mean, would that be better than online? I mean, there's a lot of factors here I understand. Right. I do think that in person is better, and I think they need the, not only the social element of school, but the instructional element, like learning from a computer and online when we've been classroom oriented since kindergarten is very hard for these kids. I just don't think even I don't like online learning, but I think that they kind of are

able to dismiss it more and not learn as easily. And it'd be interesting to see like how the performance is from that, but I don't, I don't think that online is as good. So will they have some input in your decision or is it just not a practical consideration as much as you might want to give them some say in those? I'd like them to have some input, but I'd like them to also have like some accountability. You know, right now they can do the mask being, but that's from here to the store. That's not for hours on end during the day. So not touching the mask, not playing mask. Even adults, I see adults like completely touching the inside of the mask and doing things wrong. So I don't see how kids can possibly do it correctly. As a nurse and based on what you've seen treating the virus, do you think in person classes are even possible, even if we do masks and social distancing and have limited capacity? I think it takes, requires so much to have it be completely COVID safe that it's nearly

impossible. I mean, the schools would have to really, really, even at the hospital element, like we're hoxivaring everything and wiping things down and sanitizing things and changing. It's just so hard for the schools to be on top of it and keep a schedule. What if they could do a lot of classes outside that's been floated a number of places? Yes, and they could keep the kids attention. Well, what if the governor decides that it's not safe for kids to return to school? What issues do you foresee for yourself and your family? Well, it will be difficult to have them learn to the standard that the education should be. And especially for the schools they go to, they do have a high educational standard and I just don't know how they're going to make that up. What do you mean in terms of being able to keep up with what they need to know?

Right. Being at level and being able to advance and stay at level or be it even ahead or it would take so much responsibility on these kids so kids aren't responsible on any age to turn in homework. I mean, definitely not at my kids age, they're 10 and 12. What about for you? I've found this work around sort of with your work schedule and having to also be their teacher. Can you do this for the long term? It's going to be exhausting when I suppose if I have to, I will. I'm talking to a few nurses on the unit I'm on and we've kind of said like we can buddy up and kind of tackle each other's kids, but we're so across the board and age groups that I don't know if that's actually possible. Do you feel supported right now at your employer with given everything you have to do and just your regular job with balancing these new responsibilities with your family?

Are you getting the support you need from your employer? I feel like I am. I happen to work on like a really unique unit that I'm also going through a divorce and my unit director works with my days off, my scheduling, you know what nights I need to work and the only difficulty is with the actual COVID-19 virus, just the way that it works. Bridget, talk about what you were doing before COVID in your job and how that has changed and evolved since the first cases showed up in February. What has that been like for you? It's been really difficult before the unit I was on, the unit I'm on and I've been on this unit. We were a general medicine unit, so we got every single patient imaginable. We got dialysis patients, surgical patients, just medicine patients. In February, we went to COVID rollout, so we were taking the patients as they came in and we would determine whether they had COVID-19 or not and then if they did, we would determine or didn't, we would float them to a different area of the hospital.

So the hospital kept starting filling up and then we started taking COVID-positive patients, negatives and rollouts. So the shift was really extreme, like at one point a nurse would have go through eight different patients in a night, which is very difficult on a nurse. And it was really hard at first, the scare of COVID-19, just being in that room kind of knowing the virulence of the virus and being around it and knowing like we're face to face with it. Now, it seems like we've kind of gotten, we're so used to it that we've gotten it down so well, we get our PPE on, we get in the rooms, I mean, I've been within inches of COVID-19 positive patients, placing nasogastric tubes and such and I feel fine, I feel as though I'm okay. If I don't leave there with that anxiety anymore, like, oh my god, I'm, you know, wake up in the morning with a sore throat and I automatically would assume it was COVID-19

or, but I've never been tested and we've gotten it so down that we just get it done, get in the room, get our PPE on, even when we have incidents where patients are coding, we get our PPE on, make sure we're safe, we have mirrors up and other nurses to check us, and then we get the hepophilters on and we go in the room. So I feel like we've gotten it so down that we work so cohesive as a unit, it's just the anxiety isn't there as much. How have you tried to navigate that anxiety also with your kids knowing that you might get sick, they could get sick, the world's turned upside down for them, how have you managed to cope with a Celeste four months, five months? Right. Yeah, it's, it's been hard, but we've just kind of vented to each other within my unit, I have anyway, I haven't, or, you know, other nurses within the hospital, I really don't put it on the kids so I don't scare them, but it's, it's been difficult, but we've all kind of just vented to each other, our fears and, I mean, it has kind of been a support

group to each other as nurses. Do your kids ask you about what's going on in your job? Yeah, because people would say like, oh, it's not a real thing, it's not this and I'd say, no, really, like, you don't want to know what I saw last night, you don't want to know, you know, if we had a patient pass away or we had, and their age, you know, what we see firsthand is completely different than what you're hearing, and I'm telling you the absolute truth, like, this virus isn't to be disregarded in any way, shape or form. Well, Bridget, thank you for talking with us and good luck as we navigate this strange times. Thank you. We now know a bit more about the deployment of federal agents to Albuquerque, afterward exchange of letters between Mayor Tim Keller and John Anderson, he's the U.S. attorney here for the state, for the area, I should say. Mr. Anderson says he's repeatedly assured the mayor that the city can expect traditional policing in line with existing federal and local partnerships.

The mayor says that's what he demands, but said in not so many words, that he knows who sets the agenda for federal agents and he's skeptical and surge. It's hard to know what's happening behind the scenes, certainly, but at least publicly, does this appear that's at least getting publicly sorted out just a little bit? Is this movement of some sort? I mean, I think it's a acknowledgement that this is more fraught than perhaps the folks who create an operation in legend, but it would be, and or people caught wind of it and decided to address it, but yeah, I mean, it's sorted out as a strong word. It's paper exchanges and we'll see what happens, you know, the proof is in the pudding. There's many, many, many examples we could say we can probably point to. We thought it was going to be one thing and then it was something else, and so I'm just skeptical as anyone about these things that have been written down, reflecting the reality

on the ground. I'd be delighted as these things go, but I'll believe it when I see it. Skepticism is a healthy thing in this world right now. Steve Terrell, interestingly, the US Attorney chided the mayor a bit in others for language equating agents to storm troopers, resuming it was going to be a Portland situation. Is that a fair criticism? Well, I hope that the US Attorney is right and it's just a bunch of agents helping local police, but how can you not be suspicious? This comes right, you know, after we see all these scenes from Portland beating up protesters, taking them away and weird, unmarked vans having these guys out there throwing tear gas at mothers and, you know, I think it was the governor who said that the time means very suspicious and that's an understatement.

I hope he's right, but, you know, normally when as others appointed out, Mayor Keller and others appointed out, normally when the feds come to help locals, it's because they've been requested to come. It's because they have memorandums of understanding and place and the rules are set. You can't help but think that this is just the Trump administration trying to stir up protest violence before the election. Anything that happens five months before an election or is that how long it is so close to an election, right? You got to be skeptical about. It's a healthy thing. It's a healthy thing. Crystal, interestingly, one of the things that has not been answered, Steve just made a reference to it that, you know, usually with these agreements you have an understanding of the work involved, the scope of work, maybe it's better said, but then also an end date, but I'm confused by what yardstick, Crystal, should we measure these folks for success?

How do we know they're being successful? Yeah, it's, I don't think that the Trump administration or any administration from a current, like any part of that administration understands success metrics, key performance indicators, or one's the right time to not put themselves in this bad position. So, I mean, to answer that question and like, I don't even, I don't even think they even consider it. And, you know, when you talk about, you know, what is, what will be successful in this type of operation, it's, we don't even know why, like obviously there's no explanation for what, what has come to, to why they're coming in here, you know, and to kind of pivot for a quick second, I think it was also really interesting where Sheriff Gonzalez actually went to Washington, DC, a very secret operative trip, and then all of a sudden two weeks later, we get this understanding that the federal agents are coming in. So I'm very suspicious as well, I'm very suspicious about if whether or not, you know, that type

of meeting had an exact influence, I can't imagine the amount of what a liability that Sheriff Gonzalez has now caused, and how people are possibly drawing correlations of these federal agents coming in. Sure. Let me ask you a question on that point. There's a lot of folks who are very supportive of this move. Let's not kid ourselves here. There's a lot of albacurkey citizens who have been screaming for something like this for a long time. They're frustrated. They're at the end of it. They're making decisions about whether to leave or not. There's a pretty pandemic world, I suppose. So how, again, you know, is there a danger that, you know, the zeal to have these folks in by some folks might overrun some of the gains we've made? You know, when it comes to, you know, how the police police here in albacurkey? I've seen other officers and I've seen, you know, former officers comment about, yes, now they feel suddenly safer because the federal agents have come in.

Right. But it goes back to what you had said, what exactly is the work plan and my milestones of success that these individuals have to prove and also restore faith because let's be real. A lot of the reasons why we had problems in the past, it wasn't just because of the officers, it wasn't just because of the zeal system, it was an entire microcosm of problems that just needed to be untangled. I don't think the federal agents are actually the one-stop shop to solve this entire tangled problematic issue of crime in albacurkey. So I think, honestly, I think it was just another political move, but I do applaud the leaders that we have currently that are showing that, yes, they'll work if they need to, but we're not necessarily welcoming it, nor did we ask for this. Right. But I'd surge on that point, an interesting point, Crystal just made there at the end there. The governor did, after her initial language, did sort of turn around and say, you know, we're willing to work with these folks, but in certain conditions, the mayor sort of

took the same approach. We're willing to work with these folks, but under the same conditions. Is that good enough, and then we have, of course, our attorney general is saying he's going to be watching for civil rights violations. Do you feel we're covered now? Is that, are we in a good system to have these folks come in now? I guess it's as good as I can hope for, right, to know that folks are watching and paying attention and have received certain assurances, you know, said before. What happens in real life is, you know, possibly a whole other question, but, you know, there's nothing that we could necessarily do to stop this. And so I'm having, having an understanding from the get-go is, it's not unhelpful. Yeah. You know, it makes me feel a lot teetier better. I'm curious how you think the rest of New Mexico is considering what's happening in Albuquerque with this, with this operation, so to speak. Oh, I mean, I suspect the rest of New Mexico is like 35 agents, maybe 30, why don't you send in, you know, put a zero on the end of that and see this as, you know, a hotbed

of crime and what not, and that it's just reaping what we sow down here, I guess. Right. I would agree. I'm getting the same feedback. I will say too. I think it was really interesting whenever the articles came out. I have half of my team in the Philippines. And instantly they immediately thought, well, is everything okay in Albuquerque? We hear the federal agents are going. There must be a genuine problem. I just feel bad for the city because we just can't catch a break on positive news, right? All of a sudden you hear federal agents and now, of course, it's going to cause another level of concern for travel, for the travel and tourism, for economic development. It's going to cause concern for resources, investments, et cetera. So I just, obviously, it's another story that's on helping the positive perception in Albuquerque. I appreciate that so much. I was one of my first thoughts in this all came down as we really don't need this perception problem right now. But here it is. Right? The Black Lives Matter movement in New Mexico is still in full swing, of course, even though the public protests have slowed to a trickle.

And at the heart of the calls for change are young people. This week we take time to hear from the next generation of organizers and activists to find out what the movement means to them and what specific reforms they want. I also got the chance to get their reaction to the news about Operation Legend. I'd like to now welcome some guests to continue our conversation about the Black Lives Matter movement here in Albuquerque, our version. This week I'd like to invite, or not invite, but thank for coming on Tatiana Sharif. She's from Fight for Our Lives. Also from Fight for Our Lives is Zoe Kraft. Thank you Zoe for coming. And Janela Storger-Ramos, Learning Alliance of New Mexico. Thank you for coming as well. Ladies, thank you all. Let me start a question for Tatiana. The Black Lives Matter of the protests kicked up again in earnest here in New Mexico after the death of George Floyd, of course. And Fight for Our Lives has been extremely active in organizing and participating in many of those peaceful protests. How has the message been received in your minds?

So for me personally, I'm just happy that everyone in our community has been able to come out and show support and just seeing support overall, not just in America, but in the world. It just means a lot to me that people are willing to go out and fight for us. No matter your skin, it just shows that people are really upset about the police brutality that's facing our nation right now. So for me personally, I just feel like it's about time for some change and I feel like change is happening right now. And it's going to continue happening until we really see some huge change on a government level. We'll get into that in a little bit because I'm curious to your thoughts on all your thoughts on that. Janelle, let me ask you, the Black Lives Matter movement means a lot of things to a lot of people, certainly, on the matter of age, but what exactly does the movement mean to you? I'm curious.

I think for me, it's really a bigger movement, right? It's not just about like a Black Lives Matter, but it's changing the whole system. It's recreating what was meant to work against us. So this gives us a platform not only for those of us who are of color, but our white allies as well to come and release the forefront of this problem and create a systematic change. So I appreciate, like Diana said, everybody coming out and just doing what they can in order to make sure that those changes do happen sometime in the future. Zoe, let me ask you, has fight for our lives developed a list of specific changes or reforms? Would you like to see the city of Albuquerque or the state of a New Mexico adopt? Yeah, actually, so we have a few. So most recently we put out a statement calling for the complete disbandment of the Albuquerque Police Department so that it can be rebuilt from the ground up because I think a huge part of the Black Lives Matter movement lately and the realization that a lot of people are coming to is that the system is not just broken, it was designed this way.

It was designed to really put minorities black and brown people at a disadvantage and until we really rebuild from the beginning, it's going to be really hard to combat those issues. So that's one of our main demands. We also most recently are holding an event on August 8 calling for the defundment of APS police because we recognize that that really plays into the School of Prison Pipeline as well. So that's one of our main demands as well. Tatiana, please feel free to pick up on that. I'm interested in the APS segment a bit of this as well, but harkening back to APD for a quick second. The things you would like to see happen when it comes to our police department here. Yeah, so of course part of that would be like defunding the police, but a lot of people get really scared when they hear those words and it's not necessarily getting rid of the police at all. Of course, no one wants that, but we're basically going to be taking that money and funneling it into different kinds of directions and stuff.

It's not just slashing the water somewhere else on the ground, it's basically using that for mental health resources and substance abuse and public housing and stuff like that. So using that will also give the police an opportunity to focus on violent crimes and giving social workers and people like that on the capabilities to really get out there and help people who aren't using like violent crimes and stuff. And that's really giving, you know, like basically separating the two and stuff to where people can focus on one thing and police can focus on another and stuff. And I feel like there's a lot of confusion on that, but we just need to be able to express those concerns with the community and the police department as well. So that's a message we're really trying to get across. Gotcha. Janelle, pick up on the APS portion. Is there a message on this event at the, on the eighth you want to send to the school board here?

Um, yeah, actually, so families United for Education has been doing anti-racism trainings with APS and the SROs. So I think a message would be that's not enough. We want to divest from the APS police in general. And I know there's a lot of conversation for many years about wanting to provide like their own police department for APS and different things like that. And as a young person who just got out of high school not too long ago, we don't want to see that because it creates more problems. And what we do want to see are things like restorative justice practices or mediation and things where we can actually learn from and heal instead of getting criminalized for small things that we shouldn't be forced into the criminal justice system for. Three chairs to y'all on restorative justice, maybe we can talk about that at some further point. I'm a big fan. I think it's perfect for New Mexico as well. Um, so we, let me ask you this, we now have federal troops or federal agents or federal whatever you want to call them, not quite sure what the proper term is, 35 of them coming to our city.

What's your reaction to that? When I first heard that they were coming to Albuquerque, I immediately thought, well, why is this needed because it seems that in comparison to a lot of other cities, Albuquerque has been fairly, fairly calm lately. There's even in terms of actions and protest that have been happening. We've seen really only violence on the part of APD and our police departments and not whatsoever really on the part of protesters. But another major issue that comes to mind for me is federal agents have already had a presence in Albuquerque under Operation Relentless Pursuit, which has been going on and has really already been targeting our Black and Brown communities primarily. And so hearing that more federal agents are going to be sent in really concerns me because of the amount that these communities have already been targeted and the targeting is going to continue. Tatiana, please feel free to pick up on that. The idea that 35 federal agents can somehow solve our crime problem. What are the dangers that you see of having the presence of these people here?

Yeah, there's a lot of danger, especially since I've heard that they're not going to be identifying themselves. So that does put a lot of people at risk, especially protesters. And then given everything that's going on since we're having a lot of protest and people really want to put themselves out there and everything makes people not want to put themselves out there. So kind of questions, should I be protesting? Should I not be protesting instead? Is that what they came out here to do to stop it? And then also I know a lot of APD officers are okay with it as well. We are very understaffed with it when it comes to police officers too. And so I just felt like the timing was very suspect, but maybe that's what they wanted. So there's just a lot of confusion when it comes to all of it. I didn't heard that the mayor wasn't okay with it either. So I just felt like they need to kind of clarify what they're here for, what their mission is and everything and communicate that with the community because we have a right to know in my opinion.

So good point there. Janelle, you know, this past special legislative session in June, we did see some police reform as you know, Governor Michelle Luhan Grisham has signed into law the idea that all officers statewide wear body cameras, there's a lot of resistance out there, of course, to this, a lot of heads of departments don't want to do this kind of thing. There's a sense of body cameras and they're important in all of this. Is this a good move? I think it goes back to that funding, right? How do we have the funding to get body cameras and all these other equipment for law enforcement, but yet we're still struggling to pass legislature on education and funding around that? So that's what my biggest thing is, I think also if we're wanting to get body cameras, we've seen in the past, police can turn those off when they feel necessary. So yeah, I think, like I said before, it's just a matter of really building the system all over again because there's many things that we feel are going to be better or elected officials still are going to be more positive for people and it gets worse.

So really just talking with the community and seeing what we want or what we think is going to make us feel more safe instead of just making changes that you think or elected officials think are going to be better when they're really not. That's a good, that last bit there was kind of key. Interesting. I want to allow all of you around the horn here a little bit. I wanted a time to kind of talk about this issue. I'll start. So with you, the idea that sometimes when you have generational changes, the resistance from an older generation to just simply be able to see in here what a younger generation is trying to say and trying to point out that, look, there are systems in place that you know, honestly, no one person's fault, but it is all of our faults for participating in it. How do you get across to older people what the situation is? I think about this sometimes, if I was your age, I would be so frustrated right now because it seems like folks come in one of two flavors, either they really, really get it or they just really, really don't.

What do you want older folks out there to understand about the frustrations for young people right now? So this is something I've actually been trying to talk with, especially some older ones in my family with even, because I think that it's important that one of the key points I've been trying to get across to them is that by being silent about these issues, they're actually complacent in the systems of oppression that are keeping, especially minority communities, black and brown bodies oppressed, as well as, you know, I have some people who I know that are older or in my family who have made comments in the past that I feel are definitely not appropriate. They're extremely on the side of being racist. It's approaching that point. And I think getting them to understand that while the excuse is used a lot of times that the older generation is not going to change their minds, you know, we just shouldn't even try to change their minds at this point. The comments that they make and the things that they put out into the world really cycle into contributing to violence against our minority communities.

Exactly right. Real short on time a little bit here, Tatiana, please I want to give you a chance at this in all so Janelle Tatiana, please. For me, it's a little bit different because I am an African-American woman and it's 2020 and I literally have to say, Black Lives Matter and people are saying no. And for that, for me, that's heartbreaking. That's heartbreaking that I have an 80-year-old great-grandmother and Black Lives still may remain a not-matter and it's 2020. So that's like a huge shocker, but it's like generation after generation after generation we're still having this fight. And so, you know, after so long, hopefully we're able to knock down more pillars and everything at the same time. It's same on the opposing side for people who don't believe that, you know, my life matters and everything. So, you know, we just have to continue to fight the goodbye and eventually we will prevail. I mean, that's all we can really do and I'll pass it on to Janelle, because I can go on all day on it.

It's a big one. Janelle Tatiana. Yeah. I think for me, it comes down a lot to education. I had, like, Tatiana and Zoe, family members who just don't understand and it's really taking that time if they're willing to explain to them what it means. I think there's so much just resistance to learn about things because of our generational trauma, right, and not being able to have a voice or speak on things or ask questions. So really breaking things down and breaking topics down and making them understand, like, the systems really weren't made for you and this is why, this is the history, this is what actually happened and a lot of the times, that's when it clicks, right, that's when they start getting it. But there are those people, like, they were saying that just don't want to listen and most of the time you just don't want to waste your time on that because then you get frustrated and you get burnt out and that's not what you want because you want to continue making those changes for people who want those changes, who are going to benefit from them and really deserve what those changes are going to bring to them. Beautifully put.

Really beautifully put Tatiana Sheree from Fight for Our Lives, Zoe Krav from Fight for Our Lives and Janella Storger-Ramos from Learning Alliance of New Mexico. Thank you guys very much. I can't thank you enough for this conversation. Really put the offer out there at some point down the road. We should probably do this again because again, these are continuing conversations, they're not going to get solved by this one or the next one. We just got to keep going at it. So we'd love to have you back again. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Oh. Otero County Commissioner and Leader of the Group Cowboys for Trump, Koi Griffin is back on Facebook and in the headlines this week saying black football players and others who support the NFL's decision to play, lift up your voice and sing before week one of NFL football games should and I quote, go back to Africa and play on an old beat out dirt lot and you can play your black national anthem there and quote, if an assistant, he insists that is not a racist statement. Of course, he also made news in the spring for saying that the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat, then quickly adding that he was somehow speaking metaphorically.

Mr. Griffin has a pattern of finding headlines by uttering violent racist things and then saying the public shouldn't take them literally or that they don't mean what they clearly mean. Interesting points there. Steve, should the public believe him at this point? Well, in his defense, he said he'd been fasting for the past three days. So maybe he's just lightheaded. Now, you see this pattern in this guy all the time. He says something outrageous and then, oh, I wasn't misquoted, but I had a bad choice of words or whatever. But it's gotten to the point that the dog whistle is now a trombone, so it's just one thing after another with this guy. I was reading a story in the Alamogordo paper and he said that he was going to a rally out for Trump down in Midland, Texas.

But he was told by the Trump campaign that they might kind of distance themselves from the Cowboys for Trump, which to me, when I saw that, I thought, well, here's some campaign officials with some common sense or something, but just wait for, you know, if they do officially, if they do kind of distance themselves from the Cowboys, I bet Trump comes back in the near future and said, I love the Cowboys and everything they say is true. So who knows? Interesting. Hey, Crystal, he also said in a news article regarding Mr. Griffin, sorry. He condemned people as vile scum, people who portrayed the Confederate flag as racist. And that was in a live Facebook video that has since been removed. Interesting. Again, like Steve said, he says these things, the pushback comes, and then it's a whole different story after that.

It's very, it's hard to follow sometimes. When you see people that make reactionary commentary, and whenever you hear people of leadership saying, well, don't take me seriously with what I said specifically, or whenever they make a racist comment, but deny it being racist, you wonder, are they elected to office because of their credibility or lack thereof, or are they elected to, or are they in their position? And maybe their mental state might not actually be of the best mental state to actually serve. So obviously, I would condo, not condone his actions, I would, I would hope that he would be properly recommended in some way, shape or form, because he was elected to lead and he is not leading by saying racist remarks like that. And you know, you wonder if, and especially if the Trump campaign is telling him that he's becoming a liability, I would hope that his community would also see him as a liability as well.

Even though he might have wins in his political record, or things that he has done successfully in Otero County, good for him. But at the end of the day, a reputation is a reputation, and people will remember, will be remembering him for that, rather than the good things he might have done for Otero County. Hey, Serge, you know, back in March when he said the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat, the State Republican Party actually said without mentioning him or the Cowboys were jumped by a name that, you know, violent speech isn't acceptable, which is interesting when you really think about it. But you've also got politicians out there like a vet, Harold, who have been side by side with Mr. Griffin and political ads in such, is there like a risky association for Republicans with this man? And at some point, is there a line where they say, you know what, dude, this is going just a little too far here. I mean, yeah, you've seen that a little bit, you know, in the last few days, folks saying we're going to distance ourselves from you, and that doesn't represent us, you know, it's only, it's not a liability until it is, right?

When he said the quiet part out loud, and, you know, the rhetoric and the ideas that he has that he's pushing and kind of to the line are, they're not wildly, you know, they're not, they're not that unknown or unfamiliar, the idea he says, right? I'm not racist, you're racist for, right? The most racist thing you can do is point out that someone is racist in this, in this, you know, worldview and this political view. And I think that we see the sort of the core principles and the baseline ideas embraced and propagated, it's just when you get, you go a little too far and people start to distance themselves from you. He's found that he's finding out where that line is, I guess, right? But, you know, it's not a wholesale disavow of everything that he says, it's of the parts where he just goes a little bit too far even for the most straight-ins of folks.

I don't know if this was 1990, something, I might think, yeah, the Republicans are getting a really distance themselves from this guy, but, you know, this is the age of Trump. And Trump does say the quiet thing's out loud and his followers encourage that. So, I mean, it could hurt with independence with, I don't know, the, I think the silence of the state GOP on this issue. And Koi Griffin actually criticized the state Republican Party in that story from Elimogordo I was talking about. He said they're not enthusiastic enough, they're not supporting their rallies. So they're catching up on both sides. But they have been very, very silent on this. Just imagine had Brian E. Goff or Michelle Luhan Grisham said something like that, you know, the press release would have been on that, but it'd have been a speed of light.

I couldn't even imagine, absolutely, it would have been hand-delivered instantly to everybody on the rail. Hey, Chris, I want to make mention to the viewers, of course, that maybe a little bit of pulling back the curtain here, we did debate whether to, in fact, do this as a subject or not. I mean, some people might be watching saying, and quite rightly saying, why are you giving this man any kind of attention at all? This is like crazy racist stuff and, you know, does it, what does it, does it provide an opportunity here in New Mexico, Crystal, to kind of talk about these things in a deeper way? You know, in fact, a lot of folks who might be inclined to have support, Mr. Griffin, they don't necessarily get called out that much in years past. It feels a little bit different now, it feels like folks are willing to call others out a little bit. Is there some positive inside of this to you? I, any issue that, you know, that any issue when it feels with, you know, people of office saying very radical comments and commentary are, are needed in society to realize, you

know, you don't know how bad it is until somebody really does it poorly, right? And you don't know how good it is until somebody does a really fantastic job. I think it's healthy for debate like this in our communities, especially in rural and also over in New Mexico, and to really, you know, showcase what is a good example of leadership and what's a bad example of leadership. And though so many disagree, I totally see the point that you all debated at New Mexico and focus about whether or not we should bring up this issue because it shed light on racism, but how do we teach our kids about racism if they don't even know what racism looks like? Good point. Good point there. Quick note to the viewers as well. We asked of that Harold and Republican Party for reaction to Mr. Griffin's video. They did not respond, but we did try. Thanks for our line panelists for all the hard work this week. Of course, I'll be back in a moment with some final thoughts. We have a web extra available with the three young women of interviewed regarding Black Lives Matter.

You'll hear them discuss how we as an older generation can help further their desires. If you haven't signed up to join our focus on New Mexico Facebook group, I'd like to invite you over to take a look. There's now a number of interviews centering on education, including a discussion about outdoor school settings. In this week, another discussion with some parents on the challenges for their families involved with going back to school. Thanks again for joining us and for staying informed and engaged. We'll see you again next week in focus. Live for New Mexico and Focus provided by the McEun Charitable Foundation and viewers like you.