‘We’re All in This Together’

Tumbling down the rabbit hole of news spraying out from President-elect Donald Trump’s transition is an easy temptation: Gaetz out, Bondi in; Mike Huckabee to solve Middle East peace; Dr. Oz… 

Wait. Dr. Oz? 

Speaking of bunny tunnels, I’m reminded of another famous bit from Lewis Carroll’s masterpiece: “‘Curioser and curioser,’ cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English.)” 

The thing is, there’s precisely nothing a show like New Mexico in Focus can actually do about any of this, other than stay clear of the firehose of broken glass. Instead, we’ve trained our eye on what could change in our state after Inauguration Day. 

We’ve brought in a few guests to consider the landscape our state faces in Trump 2.0 so that viewers might better understand what’s happening here at home, as opposed to at Mar-a-Lago. And we plan to have a few more of these conversations between now and the end of the year. 

We’re asking each of these folks some version of the following question: What can people do in a state like ours that did not vote en masse for Trump’s agenda, to stand up to it outside of the traditional, government contexts. How do we carry on as a community here and support one another in living differently from what Trump says he wants to do? 

I encourage you to watch Our Land Senior Producer Laura Paskus’ discussion with Pueblo Action Alliance Executive Director Julia Bernal from last week’s show. Julia’s long-view perspective is enlightening. 

And this week, Laura sat down with Arturo Sandoval, founding director of the Center of Southwest Culture and a co-founder of Earth Day. As is his wont, Arturo put the sharpest possible point on what he plans to do next: “Somebody asked me, ‘What are you going to do as a result of this election?’ I said, ‘I’m not going to agonize, I’m going to organize.” 

I’m also grateful to a pair of other folks who visited the studio to chat with me about what comes next: Maria Martinez Sanchez, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, and the organizations interim policy director, Lena Weber-Salazar. This was a difficult conversation, and I appreciate that neither Maria nor Lena showed any interest in dressing up the threat Trump poses to civil rights and liberties in New Mexico. But they both offered thoughtful, from-the-heart answers to my question about what New Mexicans can do for one another during the next four years and beyond. 

I hope you’ll watch our two-part conversation, but if reading is more your thing, here’s what they told me: 

“I truly think there’s a role for everyone. We’re all in this together, we’re all part of this fabric of history,” Lena said. “Maybe you have access to increased levels of safety right now, or you will be afforded increased safety because of the color of your skin. Maybe you have access to financial resources. Maybe you can participate in mutual aid. Maybe you can open your home. Maybe you have access to community resources or community spaces that you can be opening up and sharing. We have so much power in this state, so much knowledge, and working hand in hand — whatever that looks like for you, for your community, in your neighborhood…I really think there’s a role for everybody, and we just all need each other.” 

Maria began her answer thusly: “All of us as a state, as communities: We will have so much better of a chance at gumming up the works if we as individuals just band together and protect each other, love each other and do what we can in unconventional ways.” She added: “These are not conventional times, so we need unconventional ways of addressing this. Of course we will use the courts, and of course we will go to the Legislature and do all we can in those spaces. But the people of New Mexico will also have a role and a responsibility, I think, in this as well to work with us, to work with each other to protect the people who are going to be most threatened and in the crosshairs of this administration.” 

The transition will continue to be what it is — a series of scares beyond our control — and that promises to continue after Jan. 20. At New Mexico in Focus, we will do our best to remain on this side of the looking glass as we continue to report on what comes in a state that took a pass on the Trump agenda. 

– Jeff Proctor, Executive Producer