New Mexico in Focus; 1351; Juan de Oñate Statue Protest

Funding for New Mexico and Focus, provided by the McEun Charitable Foundation, and viewers like you. This week, under Mexico and Focus, anger turns to bloodshed on Albuquerque streets as armed groups appoint themselves as guards. They unfortunately are protected by two constitutional rights, the freedom of speech and the freedom of their arms, and we want the power to change that. In Mark Kennedy Shriver's plea for investing more in early childhood programs, the Mexico and Focus starts now. Thanks for joining us this week. I'm your host, Gene Grant. It's been an angry, violent week as demonstrations across the state more from Black Lives Matter to the conquistadors in one day on yacht tape. We'll spend some time exploring that controversial area and talking to the mayor about the city's response. We'll get into the agenda for the special session as well and the politics surrounding it as lawmakers figure out what to do now and what can wait.

And we talk to one of the most notable news photographers about covering COVID-19 through the cameras eye. We start with the line. It's hard to know what to do with everything that's happened in the streets of Albuquerque Santa Fe and beyond this week, began with a prayerful, peaceful protest of a statue of conquistador Juan de Aguñante near Albuquerque's Teaguey Park. The New Mexico Civil Guard, a self-annoying group of gun rights supporters took up positions with guns near the statue that did not calm anyone before the sun went down and angry, failed city council candidate had shot a demonstrator. We're going to work through it with a line of opinion panel, joining us as a guest from CRS, a social digital crystal CRS, and thanks for being here this week. And to our regular's return, Tom Garrity of the Garrity Group PR and Attorney Sophie Martin, thanks to you both for being here. And Sophie, I'd like to start with you. Do you think any of this happens without the presence of that group of guys with guns? Would it have gone to that crazy place if those guys had not been there in your opinion?

I think it's possible that protesters, given what's happened around the country, the images we've seen of statues being pulled down, not just around the country, actually around the world, I think it's possible that the protesters would have gone after this statue regardless. But what came as a result of that, or what came in that context with the scuffling, the shouting, and then ultimately the shooting, very much feels to me, a direct result of the presence of armed militia members, and then, of course, Mr. Bakka also armed. So one of the things I've really been reflecting on in the last couple of days is that it feels to me, and this won't be shocking to anyone, but we're seeing it in our community, right? There's a real desire amongst community members to go out and have their voices heard, express their first amendment freedoms, and that this group is there as much as anything to suppress that.

That's my sense of it. They create an environment in which families say, I'm not sure I feel safe bringing my children. I'm not sure I feel safe attending. And that suppression of speech is something that I think that our community needs to be really concerned about. Crystal, before you get into the APD response and all that, I want to get to for sure, I'm curious if you feel like the protesters could have done something a little bit differently. Let's take the militia guys out of it for a quick second. Pulling down the statue, of course, would not be an unusual situation in the country right now. But was there something on the protest side that gave you a little pause? You know, I think this actually is a great question for me specifically because one of the people that I look up to, the business community, two people is actually Charles Ashley from Cultivating Coters and Mike Silva with Reboit Cookies and Albuquerque trolley company. And his response is a great response to your question, which was they asked him, why did you decide to do a silent protest? Why was it only invitation only from the black community to others to show their support

for black lives? And they chose to do this way for a reason, chose to do a silent protest, chose to do a silent march where my son and I were on central with them in solidarity. And the reason why they chose that way is because they didn't want to create any sense of violence, they didn't want to attract any type of militia members, any type of rebellion. And it goes back to the thought of, you choose how you decide to protest. So yes, protestors could organize different way, but it's just like organizing a wedding or organizing a birthday party, everybody's going to have their own different style of gathering people and bringing community together. It's just a way of whether or not it works or doesn't work. Got you. Tom, let's get right to APD. I want everyone to get a bite at this APD said it had undercover detectives at the protest, which is very interesting. But we never saw them intervene, did we? And then now infamous footage where the alleged shooters threw that young woman to the ground

and other points where APD could have intervened, what was your sense overall how APD responded? Well, overall, I think it's easy to be in this armchair quarterback and say, oh, they should have done this, they should have done that. The fact that there were, you know, playing closed officers, you know, present really shows that they were looking at a de-escalated, the last thing they wanted to do was escalate the situation and risk something that we've seen take place in some other cities and but I guess my question might be by them standing back, did they in fact escalate the situation by doing that? Well, there's an armed presence of that, of officers that were standing back, but my understanding was they had playing closed officers in the crowd, you know, obviously, you know, if I think the scenario changes when you have guns from, you know, the New Mexico Civil Guard and then you add guns from the Albuquerque Police Department, you know, that changes the dimension tremendously.

So, you know, while I am not always a fan of APD, I think that APD did the best they could given the situation, but with that said, I think that their actions or lack thereof will be coming under scrutiny, you know, quite heavily for the weeks to come. So if it might be argued that APD is now over two when it comes to big problems on the streets, meaning, you know, they've got two in a row situations where they've stayed back a little bit and by doing that, the things escalated there. The mayor alluded to this, and his press conference said, did the chief, what was your sense of how the APD handled it and the takeaway in that pressure the next day? You know, it's a very complicated dynamic when when there is a protest, it is an organism that operates under its own momentum and its own rules, and I appreciate at least what appears to be the sentiment that that APD not show up in force, arms locked, you know, the whole thing, creating a sort of a militarized environment from the get go, that there be at

least an opportunity for this peaceful protesting. But, you know, to Tom's point, of course, there's going to be quarterbacking afterwards, as it called Monday Morning Quarterbacking afterwards. I think that to the extent that Mayor Keller and the chief of police have built some good will within the community, or with parts of the community, that will certainly help them. But the way that these protests have played out, there are also members of the community sections of the community who have lost what trust, you know, they may have already had, who are really, I think, evaluating, again, their relationship with APD. That's a good point. Hey, guys, we had already planned to speak with Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller this week about his proposal to create a community safety department to respond to some 911 calls. Then on the day he publicly presented that plan, everything went sideways.

Correspondent Gwyneth Dolan has a wide-ranging interview with the Mayor, which we'll show you now. We'll be back with this group right afterwards. Mayor Tim Keller, thank you so much for being with us today. Good to be with you. Monday night in Old Town, as the protest against the Anya Te Statue became more tense, uniformed, identifiable city police stayed away from the scene. In effect, leaving a void that allowed these armed militia members to step in. As our people, you now say, maybe designated as a hate group. Why was this allowed to happen? You know, how our city is dealt with protests and situations when these groups show up. It has evolved and we're looking at this, we're trying to improve it after each event. These folks have been at a lot of the protests, a lot of the BLM protests. And basically, after the Trump protests, I think that was maybe four years ago, our city

took a de-escalation approach to protests, which basically means they will engage as soon as there as a violent act and they'll engage right away. And that was as a response to over-policing and please being part of the sort of escalation problem. And now we come to what happened last week and we actually have the opposite challenge, right, where we all wish folks were there sooner. But the challenge is, oftentimes when they arrive sooner, it actually just makes things worse. So, again, this is a challenge that we're seeing all across the country. The cities that have a police in the middle of protests. There's often much, much more violence. So it's something we're looking at. But I do want to remind folks, I think, look, as a person and just what I believe, like I wanted those folks out of there, they, we tell everyone never to show up with weapons and a protest. But the state controls that law. The city is not allowed in any way to take weapons from people at protests.

And that's a terrible thing and it's got to change. We've been advocating for this for years. And until that state law changes, unfortunately, it is their constitutional right to be there. Well, let me go back just a little bit because in an interview with Jean Grant two weeks ago, you and the CIO said you expected more incidents with these armed groups. What did you do to prepare? Well, we tried to have officers close by. And again, this is, you know, some of the, these tactical things are really APD type questions, but I can certainly speak to them as best that I can. So to prepare, I think two things happened. One, this was for all intents of purposes. I think our department was expecting a peaceful vigil and that's what it was. And it quickly escalated and they were trying to adjust as fast as they could. And so they, you know, were able to get the additional teams there. They were able to get an EMT there minutes before the shooting. The challenges, you know, we all wish it would have happened sooner, but these protests

are messy in these situations evolve. And I also know it's, it's a very rough science. And I do know we were trying, obviously, to do the right thing, but there's plenty of room for improvement. You know, the man who was shot, Scott Williams was lying on the ground for several minutes. There was absolute chaos. We, we've all seen the videos. It seemed like a shockingly long time before officers arrived. And then it was riot police. Is there no in between here? It's either nothing or riot police come in? So I mean, the scene was, was horrifying. It was terrible for all of us to watch. And you know, what the department has said is there was between three minutes between when, when people, they were able to, to come in and help. And that can be a lifetime. And actually, if it had gone even probably a couple of minutes more, it probably would have cost a life because of the EMT that was part of the team. So what our city does, we've looked at alternatives and we will continue to look at ways to have,

you know, presence there. The challenge again, let's remember all around the country. The challenge has been when there's like one officer there, two officers there. It usually escalates the situation. We did see, we tried that a couple of weeks ago and we had a sergeant's car damaged and almost tipped over. So, you know, unfortunately, again, like I want a better answer and we'll look for a better answer, but there is not an easier answer. Historically, when there's been a few officers there watching, they've become targets or they have instigated others and there's been violence. So ABD said they had some undercover officers there to observe. Even as the clash got more and more tense and things spun out of control, they didn't step in, identify themselves, you know, try to do something. Why is that? You know, it's my understanding that they were at the exact opposite end of the scene. So what happened was kind of at the intersection of mountain by the statue, it's my understanding

our folks were way back in Tigway Park observing. And so the specifics on that, I mean, you have to ask like physically what they were doing, but I know they were not close by as well as told. You know, the lack of police presence there and allowing these militia members to have the space to feel like they needed to step in. This week, the chief guy said, APD opposes this vigilante action. You've said the same thing, have police on the street been too tolerant of these groups? I mean, we've heard these reports of them being referred to as armed friendlies. Have police been too tolerant of these militia groups? Well, we, I want to remind folks like, unfortunately, in New Mexico, right, you can't push those groups out. They unfortunately are protected by two constitutional rights, the freedom of speech and the freedom

to bear arms. And we want the power to change that. So I think the challenge is we can, we have two options. We have de-escalation, which has been our policy. And I understand now that's, that's been really challenged and we have to look at that. The other thing we're looking at is if we actually, you know, try and put officers between the two groups because they both have the constitutional right to be there. That typically in other cities has led to much more violence. And so this is, it's just a very difficult challenge. And again, we're trying to de-escalate things. And unfortunately, for those folks, I mean, you tell me and our department what we can do legally and we are interested in learning and doing that. I mean, you know, we've seen at events in the country where protesters are put into these first amendment free speech zones, you know, behind these chain link cages. Why can't you have a second amendment as zone where everyone who wants to bring the

gun gets behind this cage and that's their, their space? I think it's something that we're looking at and we actually asked our department to consider that kind of approach. Again, that has been the other approach that is also the approach that led to lots of violence in other cities because people all of a sudden tear down those cages and start shooting at each other. So I mean, that is literally happening all around the country. So we just have to be careful and do the best that we can. If your proposed department of community safety had been in place fully funded up and running everything you wanted, would anything have happened differently on Monday night? You know, that department is really meant to reduce the over-policing and trauma that communities of color have seen in their neighborhoods. And also free up officers to just do basic police work and not try and have to solve every problem that people call 9114. So I think in some ways, these are very different concepts.

But I like to believe that to your point, there is a way to have unarmed folks available to try and keep the peace at protests. But as you pointed out, when people are there with AR-15s, I mean, an unarmed civilian who works for the city isn't really going to be able to make a difference. So I think these are, you know, both mostly different ideas, but that community policing or community safety department, I think does send a strong signal. Again, we've been trying to de-escalate violence in our city and we've been trying to untraumatize interactions with the police. And so there is a common thread here. Until yesterday, our community had been speaking loud and clear for years that police were too intrusive doing too much and over policing our community. And so that's what that department is really designed to do. And it's also designed to reflect the fact that for decades, we have laid at the feet of officers every challenge facing our community.

And even through the DOJ process, we just say do more, do more, get behavioral health training, get homeless training. And we're also understanding that that's not effective. We need to have the right response at the right time. And that means a trained professional, whether it's a social worker or a psychologist. So one of the things you mentioned you want to do is ask the state legislature to change a state law that prevents you from dealing with some of these militia members and their guns. Is what you're asking for is the ability to take away guns from people who show up to a protest just because they have a gun? Well, we want to be able to regulate firearms at protests in the same way we would regulate firearms at schools or at community centers. And they're not allowed right now. And that's what we'd like to do. And I think it's a very reasonable thing. And I think that's the only way where we can actually try and prevent these things from happening like as the protest starts. And then it also gives everyone legal reason right away. As soon as somebody shows a gun, you take away that gun.

And that's what we do in our school system. That's what we do in our community centers. We need to be able to do that on public property. That's what we need. Last question. The Albuquerque Museum Board of Trustees voted last week. They asked you to take the Onyante statue down. They knew it was controversial from day one. And they were afraid that it would be damaged. Why did you wait? So in Albuquerque, we have laws. And there is a federal gift act law for public art that says that public art cannot be removed without the artist's permission. And so right after we got that letter said, let's reach out to the artist. And we wanted to have truth and reconciliation dialogue from both parties about this. And come up with a resolution which may or may not have been removing the statue, but to have the community decide what to do because of the deep history of this. And that's what we announced on Saturday. And that's what I think given all the trauma and the colonial scars that are so fresh

in our community, there's still we still have to do that tearing down the statue doesn't change those wounds and the change for the need for dialogue. So what happened is given that there's a man in the hospital with physical wounds right now. Was that a mistake? Well, I think we acted as soon as we could. Obviously, if I knew that that would have prevented anything, we would have tried to do it sooner. The artist gave us permission and then we took it down. And it's something that absolutely anything I could have done to prevent that shooting I wish I could have done. And you know, to be honest in this job in these times, there are there are challenges every day and there's things I would have done differently every day. Thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you. All right, we're back with the line now and we've all just watched Gwyneth's interview with the mayor. You know, a couple of weeks ago, she mentioned I spoke with him as well. He said he expected more incidents like the one outside of Jackson, Wink, where armed

counter protestors showed up, you might recall that. So Tom, I want to ask you right now, your sense overall, what you just heard and how the mayor's handling this situation tough enough, not tough enough, is he is he thinking ahead clearly enough? What was your sense of it? Well, you know, he's the mayor. So he gets to make the decisions. There were two things that really jumped out of my in my mind. One was seeking permission of the artist as a reason to not take the statue down. That raised a huge question mark with me as far as, you know, you know, assigning a decision to committee and then assigning it, you know, a decision like this to the artist versus what we see in Santa Fe with Mayor Allen Weber just making the command decision. I don't think there was any consideration with regards to, you know, how things were funded or, you know, how the artist felt or anything like that. So I thought that that was really interesting. The second was, and he came back on this is when he talked about changing freedom of speech

and changing the right to bear arms at first that hit him really kind of strangely, but he came back later on and provided some needed clarification as far as really applying the same rules to protests that we see in school zones and, you know, churches and things of that nature. So I thought that, you know, that particular approach was good, but clearly those decisions are made up in Santa Fe. Yeah. Hey, Crystal, the idea that the mayor put out there that this idea of over-policing that we've been stuck in for the last bit of time as a reason to pull back and really kind of go the other way on this. How did that strike you? Because I, something about that really didn't quite ring for me. I'm curious of what you thought of that. And it's going to say, did you see my reaction and I crunched a little bit? And the reason why I reacted in a way where over-policing, I don't think was the right word is, we had a crime problem.

Did we forget about that in Albuquerque where, you know, we had to call in city counselors to literally walk our neighborhoods to see broken glass in our driveways, and we also had to ask why at the same time, you know, there was a shortage of cops. The definition of over-policing in his eyes, I think, is a different definition in mind. And I will heavily criticize the community action organization. There's no doubt in my mind, and I forgive me for forgetting the name of the new department, even though I might not remember the name, I know that I'm not terribly a fan of it. The reason why I'm not is because it absolutely cuts out public-private partnerships out of nonprofits that do a lot of these services already. And when they said that they're going to be redistributing millions of dollars to internally to create this department, they're going to get that money specifically from nonprofit budgets.

And they're not addressing the core problem, which is the violence of these individuals, mental health with mental health issues, addiction, et cetera, homelessness, it starts within their families. So they're putting band-aids on the branches of the root of the problem. And I'm very worried that the department will not actually execute this, and I'm worried, you know, I'm worried about the nonprofit that I'm serving on very heavily domestic violence resource center. I'm afraid for saying the sexual assault nurses that might lose a number of calls, which they're funded by CYFD and APD, they're going to lose a lot of funding because of projects like this. And I understand that the intent is there. But again, I think- Crystal, if I can get a favor, let me get Sophie in here real quick. Sure, sure. Yeah. Crystal, if I got a question again, this is- Kelly, the mayor is talking about the use of force and the gremlins in his background. And my question is, are we relying-

Is the mayor relying too much on this idea? Has he swallowed the APD line that use of force was such a problem? We now have to go completely the other way now. Is there something lost in the middle in your view? I think it's a work in progress. And so I think I have to reserve judgment on some of the elements of it. But I do think, frankly, that the community safety program is a response to some very direct feedback that the mayor's office has received both from the community and from police officers, where we have seen over time, and I think you could, frankly, date this back to the Reagan administration in this country. But we've seen over time that more and more, we rely on police officers to be everything. It's- it always, I sort of both laugh and cringe every time somebody calls 911 because their dominoes, pizza hasn't arrived on time.

But people really are viewing the police as a panacea for everything. And at the same time, we have members of the community who are saying, I would never call 911. I would never call the police, because what I see is my neighbor, my family member, we just had this situation happen here in the Greater Albuquerque community. I can't trust that in this situation, which requires more nuance, more training, et cetera, that if you send APD in, that my family member, my neighbor won't be killed. And so I think that context of concern about how policing has been used, and the burdens that have been placed on police officers, and therefore also the lack of resources in some other areas, which is just more appropriate, for instance, for social workers to deal with social work level of problems than it is for APD officers to deal with them. And I understand that there is a, you know, that the police sometimes have a power trip.

There's no doubt about that, but I don't understand why an entire department is being created when we already have partnerships within APD that's actually working. Like the crisis intervention team, that's a separate department. They refer calls to domestic violence advocates, they'll refer to CYFD, they don't just leave people hanging. And so that's why I understand that the police do have an abuse of power to a certain degree, but that means properly. Call it an abuse of power. I think they just have way too much on their plate and the proposal from the mayor, while it still needs to be extremely vetted out, and reporters have pointed that out, it's still a very good idea and something that kind of formalizes that process of that art of law enforcement. Well, to leave that there, there will be so much more to talk about in the coming weeks certainly. No doubt, part of that's going to be the new program the mayor talked about, the creation of the new community safety department, he talked about with Gwyneth. Lots of implications there, who's going to pay for it, where's the money he's going to come from, and what are the goals?

We'll see how that all plays out. Be sure to check it out on themexicoinfocus.org. If kids not graduating from high school in America today, they're going to struggle in the job market. They need at least that high school degree to pursue maybe post-secondary education or to get a skill, but it's all based on literacy and math, and if we don't invest in those crucial first few years of life, kids enter kindergarten so far behind, we're going to spend millions and billions of dollars trying to remediate them in many cases that doesn't work. As we sat down to our various desks to record the line of Thursday, most political eyes were trained on the Capitol certainly, as lawmakers returned to Santa Fe to plug a $2 billion hole in the budget, that starts July 1st. But wait, as they say, there's more. The governor delivered a call just hours before the session's opening gavel. It also includes four key areas of police reform, changes to the election code, tax relief, and changes to some licensing issues for alcohol in notary public.

So, is that too much, or is this the moment to get at things like that? Well, looking at the list, in particular, the items related to COVID-19, they seem pressing to me, and this is the only bite she's got at this apple, right? So, the governor, so do it or don't do it, but I don't think that many of these things really cannot wait, especially the election issues, the sending absentee ballots without having to have them requested first. We can't predict today where we will be in November the thought of the legislature coming back a second time prior to November in order to get that taken care of, especially since we had a really recent ruling from the Supreme Court that laid the groundwork for why it had to happen through the legislature. So, I think that one in particular, some of the other ones, if not now, I don't think they can wait until next year. And, I'm not sure that anybody, you know, four weeks ago, even though we were still in the middle of the pandemic, expected that we would be moving so quickly on police reform,

but that issue has overtaken the state and has overtaken the news and our thoughts and our lives, failing to take advantage of that opportunity also feels like it would be a missed opportunity. Hey, Tom, on Sophie's note there, I can't help but think about John Arthur Smith's quote the other day saying he wants to get in and out of this thing in one day that he can think, he can do this in one day. It's possible? I mean, what do we think in here? Well, yeah, I mean, I think it's possible if the only thing you're talking about is how do you plug a $2 billion deficit, but, you know, clearly, you know, the House and the governor have other plans in mind for John Arthur and the members of the New Mexico Senate. Yeah, so, yeah, I don't think it's not a one day in and out. It's probably three days and, you know, any, I would not anticipate much of the governor's agenda getting through the Senate just because of the way politics are, but you're not saying that they're worthy or not worthy, you know, I personally would like to see a

lot of the items related to COVID specifically, you know, changing some of the laws with regards to, you know, restaurants and, you know, delivery options, things of that nature as far as businesses that could be restricted. I also like to see, you know, some use of the Severance Tax Fund to, you know, help municipalities deal with decreased gross receipts tax revenues. So there are a lot of specific things that I think are worthwhile that are larger than the $2 billion budget plug, but, but nonetheless, you know, give them a chance to make law, they'll make law. Right. Hey, Crystal Ciarza, as we know, the Capitol is closed to the public and lobbyists and such. Some of the meetings taking place online certainly Republicans tried to, you know, Clint Pearl's deal went down to defeat three to two in the Supreme Court to allow the legislature to meet with only virtual participation. So you're a sense of how this virtual approach is going to work. Is the public going to get served here? Or what's the, what's the danger point as you look at this?

Sure. You know, myself and another line panelist, D.D. Feldman, you know, the both of us are on the board for the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government and upholding open meetings is huge. And, you know, the, what the Supreme Court said is, you know, the words of the open meetings act to say the government entity must allow reasonable public access. And if you, you know, if we were to dumb that down, you know, internet access should be everywhere. But as Tom knows from working with concast, internet access is not always everywhere in New Mexico. And so, you know, I, I, I think, transparency is absolutely important at this time. You know, there's a condition that we haven't even thought of, which is if there's any bills that need to be made public and there's amendments, you know, will, will the public at least get 48 to 72 hours to see the, to see it because we usually get 30 or 60 days during a session. That's a very good point. Yeah. And, you know, ADA compliance in terms of access to internet, we talked about that. You know, and here's, here's the thing where it's like, okay, let's take the token millennial

and ask her, what does she think about the use of technology with government? When sometimes, you know, some of the senators and, and, and members of the house can't even use their self one to send a text message or a tweet. So, of course, this is really, this is going to be a major challenge and we bet we hope that's for technology to really shine some transparency and sunshine into our government. But the broad budget process is not going to be as transparent as it needs to be. The state Supreme Court even said that they, they really don't want to interfere with the government governmental decision making and their ability to act. I think that before you even, you know, the, the court in this particular situation with this particular special session, all of us in business, all of us in the community individuals have had to learn how to pivot and use technology to, to continue our livelihood. Now the government has to do the same thing to not only continue livelihood, but to make sure that the public has access to the, to, to government period.

That's a good point. Hey, Sophie, you know, the idea that, you know, we're hearing a lot of comprehensive stuff being put on the, on the table here, and I just got to come back to this time issue. You know, the idea that we can get to all of these things in a quality manner, have a quality discussion, have the public feel like they understand what the issues are before a vote comes up. There's no way. There's no way. Yeah. Within the timeframe that they're discussing, there's, there's no way. I mean, I sort of, when you were talking about John, I through Smith saying it was going to be a one day session, I thought, well, because all he wants to do is say, I'm done. He's out, right? He's done. Um, one of the things just to pick up on what Christel was saying, one of the things that I hope we come out of from this tough moment where I think there won't be enough access. There won't be enough discussion. All of those things are going to be kind of pushed aside because of the pandemic and because of the need for, the parent need for expediency. Um, I know, for instance, that New Mexico fog has been for many years was pushing for

additional access through the internet for streaming, et cetera, et cetera. We're finally there. And then what I would like to see is that we take another big step forward in terms of digital access for people who are not able to be there in person, as we have seen in our businesses, in our course and in other arenas. You know, Tom, the committee hearings of the day, we streamed here at New Mexico in focus. And just like you would expect things dropped, good amounts of the committee hearing dropped. It just, it's, you know, it seems to me there's an, if you want to start trouble with this situation, there's going to be plenty of openings here because if any given legislator decides they don't want to play along with this, you got to have a real mess on your hands. It seems to me committee leadership has a real discipline issue on their hands here. What's your sense of that? Oh, yeah, committee leadership does, you know, Senate leadership, House leadership. But all of the legislators have an increased responsibility to really increase their level

of transparency and accountability because when you're off camera, when you're off microphone, you can have conversations that will never be picked up and shared with the general public. So that's in, is an essence of very real concern. Well, and I want to add just really, really briefly that if we're questioning transparency, how truly do we trust our government to make the best decisions possible for our communities? And that's one thing that I think people need to take into consideration at this time. So, well, and according to our perception survey, the trust of government is for state and federal is down around 20 and 30%. So not much. Well, it's, I'm going to stay with you on that. I just anticipated another question. You sort of touched on this just a little bit earlier, but the ramifications for November, you are in an election season. And how these men and women comport themselves during this special seems to me, has huge ramifications for voting in November. Oh, absolutely. They're both sides that are really taking a lot of notes, recording a lot of video footage.

You know, it's, a lot of this, I think, is, I would like to think is for the good of the good as far as good, good of the state. But unfortunately, a lot of this is really going to be twisted to say, here's all the things I tried to get done, but couldn't because of the legislature. Yeah. I hear that loud and clear. Absolutely. Hey, guys, next to the panel for rolling with all the changing news this week, there was a lot. There's no doubt. COVID-19 continues to define the bounds of life for many of us. This week, correspondent Laura Pasca speaks with photojournalist, Roberto Rosales of the Albuquerque Journal. He's been there a long time. Mr. Rosales has been documenting the impact of coronavirus and the communities it's hit across New Mexico. Roberto, you've been photographing all over New Mexico, including Gallup and the Navajo Nation. I'm curious. What you wish that people better understood about the impacts that COVID-19 is having on communities and families all across the state? I think we need to understand that this is, we have to be a little more sympathetic.

I don't think they're getting that emotional support that they deserve, you know, at first, a lot of folks just wanted to stay away because they felt like, oh, I know they don't want to welcome outsiders and all of that and that's not the case, they're just going to be hurt and they want to show that this is so important for future generations. So if you and I don't go to Gallup on the red, we're helping, but at the same time, we need to let that community know they have our full support. And I don't think we've done a great job in showing that. As you've been shooting around the state, whose stories have really stuck with you after you've come home? I remember this young lady, Tammy, who I met in a supermarket in Gallup when the COVID-19 pandemic was just starting.

I met her in the parking lot as she brought her entire family to the shop for grocery. And we had a very casual conversation. A little did I know two weeks later, half of people in that car that she was traveling with would be infected with coronavirus. Now, another two weeks, her aunt died and her brother and her stuff came down with coronavirus. So they were quarantined in one of the local tells. And while doing another story, I managed to talk to her while she was quarantined. She told me how difficult this had been. It was devastating. And her story really stuck with me. And I want to do a story after all this is over and see how everybody's coping with it. She's one of the people that I cannot forget throughout the many stories that I've done

on the job of our preservation. So switching gears a little bit, you have covered protests for years from the James Boyd after the James Boyd shooting a few years ago to the Black Lives Matter protests that are happening right now. What do you see different about what's happening today out on the streets? I think there's more unity. Where in the past, it was still an issue that affected a lot of folks here in New Mexico, but I think it's a wave that we've been across the country and it's time for everyone to get on board and that's the attitude that I'm seeing. This is our time. We're going to get on this wave. So the movement, the ideology is a lot stronger now. They feel that they have more support, whereas in the past, with the James Boyd situation, it was more of an isolated issue here and now that we're here in the Southwest with APD

and they're used to force or unnecessary force itself five to six years ago. So now if it's really people feel like this movement, they can be a part of it will include more folks. So as a photojournalist, you do not have the luxury of doing your work by Zoom and staying home. And I'm really curious, Roberto, how are you staying safe over the past three months and looking ahead also? Well, when this pandemic started, everybody was very apprehensive because we were still getting data on how the fires just transmitted. So in the beginning, we would keep our distance, even beyond 60. You know, everybody was skeptical as to really, how do you contract it? And then we slowly and slowly try to move it in closer and closer and keep it in our distance to about the speed.

Using different methods, more Zoom lenses that really take handy when you couldn't get that close. But as far as my own protection, wearing N95 masks all the time to love in goggles, like I actually bought from 60 goggles. However, I will not enter somebody's home in order to make like your quarters and so forth unless they have recovered. I think all those stories that I've done recently to Corona have been either outside or in an environment where it was contaminated or it was cleaned up. So I didn't put myself at risk and I also didn't want to put others at risk. It's been rough and I think going forward, you have to keep that mentality going for your own protection. We can start to get lazy if you will and forget to wear a mask, forget to wear gloves. But you've got to think of the people you've come.

They come first. Well, Roberto, you are a treasure and we are so lucky in New Mexico to have you. Thank you for all your work and please stay safe out there. Thank you so much, Laura. Appreciate it. Thank you for all the work you do for our state. I really appreciate that. Mark Kennedy Shriver was born into one of the United States' most notable political families. He served in the legislature for his home state of Maryland. But since 2003, he's been one of the loudest voices in a growing course of advocates for early childhood development and education. He's had his eye on New Mexico for the past few years. Carersbudget Russell Contreras talked with him this week about our state's challenges, especially as lawmakers look to trim money from the state budget. Mark Shriver, thank you for joining us here on New Mexico and focus. Thank you very much, Russell. I mean, I appreciate it. The group saved the children just released an annual report on child poverty. And the report this year had some stunning statistics nationally, especially for kids who live in rural areas and the deep south and in areas where there's a high percentage of Native American populations.

What did the reports say? Well, first of all, it's the first ever report that looked at countywide indicators on child well-being, Russell. It is looked at over 2,600 counties in America, ranked them from the top, which is in New Jersey and the bottom one, which is in Alaska. Folks can go to save the children, a dot org slash report and see the childhood report there, see how their county is doing and ask their political leadership to make substantial and systematic changes for kids. So we not only ranked each county, but we ranked each state and in New Mexico, unfortunately dropped this year one spot to 47 out of 50 states. And we looked at a number of indicators there and I'm just making sure that I'm reading the statistics right. But it is New Mexico is 50 out of 50 when it comes to child food security, which means one in four kids in New Mexico is not guaranteed a nutritious meal on a regular basis.

It's also bottom 50 out of 50 when it comes to high school graduation rates, and 48 out of 50 on child homicide rates, and 42nd when it comes to teen pregnancy rates. So these are tough statistics for the state in New Mexico. We've done a lot of work, save the children, has with Governor Luha and Grisham and other leaders in the state legislature to try to increase the investment in early childhood education, which we think is a strong, strong step in the right direction. Among the things in the report, when you talk about food security, this is a combination of just hunger and also access to quality food. What's going on in these counties where we're seeing this food insecurity gap? Well, you're seeing it not only in New Mexico, but you're seeing it across particularly the south, in the southeast. And as we talked about a second ago, you're seeing it in minority, majority counties. So counties that are majority African-American in the deep south and rural are struggling amazing numbers. Native Americans,

again, that are in rural America. Native American majority districts are also struggling, some of the hardest-hit counties in the country. And you're seeing a lack of access to high quality food, and you're seeing a lack of money, frankly, in commitment from the federal government to help supplement people's need for high nutritious food. So often, as we've talked about in the past, politicians are elected officials say, hey, kids are our most important resource, but when the rubber hits the road, and when you look at the investments as a country, we don't invest in high quality early childhood education. We're 90% of brain growth happens in the first five years of life. And as a country, we don't invest in most cases until children are in kindergarten. You don't see a commitment to making sure that there's a safety net for families so that they can access high quality food. And then you end up seeing New Mexico in last place when it comes to food security. And you see kids in counties all across New Mexico, in Kueh County, and in Luna

County, where those kids are struggling with food insecurity. They're struggling with poor education. And they're at risk of dying in early childhood, and they're through 18 years of age. It's really outrageous. I mean, one of the things you guys recommend, and you pointed out the graduation rates, and New Mexico is, again, lower on the on on ranked in terms of graduating students in a four-year time frame. But the group recommends the expansion of early childhood education programs that are holistic. One of those exactly that the group is recommending that new places like New Mexico invest in. So say the children has long worked not only in America, but in rural America with an emphasis on education, and particularly early childhood education. So what we see is that 90% of the child's brain growth happens in the first five years of life, yet we don't invest as a country in those first critical five years to the degree that we should. So what we're calling for is an

investment in whole visiting programs that are results-based and effective that help prepare kids and families to enter kindergarten ready to learn. We're calling for early childhood education services for three, four, and five year olds. Early head start, head start, increasing the quality and accessibility for childcare in New Mexico and across the country. And then, of course, we're calling for investment in early and those first, second, and third grade. Because if a kid is not reading the grade level by the end of third grade, that kid's going to struggle in elementary school and in high school may not graduate from high school. And if kids not graduated from high school in America today, they're going to struggle in the job market. They needed at least that high school degree to pursue maybe post-secondary education or to get a skill. But it's all based on literacy and math. And if we don't invest in those crucial first few years of life, kids enter kindergarten so far behind, we're going to spend millions and billions of dollars trying to

remediate them in many cases that doesn't work. And of course, last year you came to New Mexico and talked to some of our elected officials about early childhood education, expanding the programs. It's a debate we've been having here for a number of years. What did you find when you came to Santa Fe and talked to Governor Luhan Grisham and some of the state lawmakers about early childhood education? Well, you know, save the children action network, which I'm the president of, which is save the children's advocacy arm, endorse Governor Luhan Grisham in the primary, because she had a strong position on early childhood investment and investing in that. So we were excited when she won. And she has put her money where the state of New Mexico's money where her mouth is, and made investments in early childhood education, high quality. It's important that it's high quality. And this this session right now, where I know there are cuts going to be made, but we want to make sure that those cuts are minimal. And when it comes to those first five years of life, you've, you and I've talked to before, poverty and tackling poverty has been a passion

of yours. What is driving this passion and what it's a stake if we do not tackle poverty right near at this moment in this country's history? I mean, you look Russell at what's going on in this country when a kid who is four years of age living in poverty is 18 months behind, you know, our kids when they were four. Okay, that means 18, they're 18 months socially, emotionally and cognitively behind our kids. And they spend the rest of the lives trying to catch up. So it's a completely uneven playing field by the age of four. And when people talk about what's the best ROI for public investments, if we get those kids at grade level entering kindergarten, they're going to be able to pursue whatever their dreams are, whether they want to be a lawyer or a doctor or a veterinarian or a car mechanic, whatever it is. If a kid has a good education, they can pursue their dreams. If they can't, we're going to spend millions and millions of dollars in education and juvenile delinquency and adult correction system on social services. So to me, it's the most

important social justice issue in the country right now. There's an election coming up this year. It's a presidential election. It should be, will be debating a number of things from the response of the coronavirus to our economy. But there are a number of people who are trying to get poverty as a, as a major issue on the, in this campaign, 50 years after the current report, said basically the same thing where there's a growing gap between those who are in extreme poverty and who have wealth. Why should poverty be a main issue in the upcoming presidential campaign, when we have other things that we are, should be addressing in, in this election? I think if you look at the issue where there's so many families in this country that are food insecure today, that one four months ago. And there are millions of families that were food insecure before the pandemic. And it's hard to believe that in the richest country in the

history of the world that there are kids, one in four kids in New Mexico that are food insecure. Don't know where their meals are coming from. We have over 30 million kids in this country that rely on schools to deliver breakfast and lunch. Those kids don't have access to those meals this summer. And their families are struggling. I mean, come on, this is the United States of America. We got to be doing better for our people than saying we're willing to allow one in four kids in New Mexico to be food insecure every day. And we got to be able to do better than to say, look, by the age of four, if you live in poverty in America, you're not going to be able to compete against, you know, Mark Shriver's kids or kids that are in the middle class. It should be the number one issue was, as you said, came out under the Johnson administration. Michael Harrington wrote about the other America some 50 some odd years ago. No kidding, there's another America. Let's wake up and smell the coffee and make a difference. And that's what I think Governor

Luan Grishon is talking about doing in New Mexico. And we're going to work with her and hold her accountable and push her and be alongside her as she does that when it comes to early childhood education. Mark, thank you for joining us here on the Mexico and Focus. I really appreciate you making the time for us. Thanks for having me, Russ. We really appreciate it. When you live in our state, the past is never far behind. We honor those you came before us in many varied ways, statues, being one of them. But we witnessed this week at the Onyate statue in front of the museum for many of us live via Facebook. It's left a lot of questions on APD's response. The governor is calling for an investigation, as well as the DA. Couple of city counselors have been sharply critical about APD's non-response. Might be reasonable to conclude that the mayor now finds himself with a chief of police arguably unnoticed. As you heard from the panel, there are still many questions regarding APD's response still to be answered. On top of all that, there are still unanswered questions

regarding APD's response to the Jewish Floyd March aftermath. So we'll see how that all plays out over the next couple of weeks. Also, stay tuned for our coverage for the special session, which started Thursday at noon. Are you fit into the process? Is the big question yet to be fully answered? Thanks again for joining us and for staying informed and engaged. See you again next week in Focus. . Funding for New Mexico and Focus provided by the McHughan Charitable Foundation and viewers like you.