Indian Boarding Schools; Sit-in for Reading

This week on New Mexico in Focus, correspondent Antonia Gonzales speaks with two New Mexicans about their thoughts and emotions after President Joe Biden’s formal apology for the harm caused by Indian boarding schools.  

Sixth grade student Rainier Long is an avid reader. When his school, Carlos Gilbert Elementary in Santa Fe, cut library time to make room for a technology class, Rainier organized a series of escalating protests. Rainier tells Our Land’s Laura Paskus why he believes time spent in a school library is just as important as any other class subject. 

Peter Simonson, the outgoing executive director of the ACLU of New Mexico, sits down for a two-part conversation with Executive Producer Jeff Proctor as he looks back at his career protecting civil liberties for the last 24 years. 

Host: Lou DiVizio

Segments: 

Protecting NM Civil Liberties for the Last Two Decades  
Correspondent: Jeff Proctor  
Guest: Peter Simonson, Executive Director, ACLU – New Mexico 

Descendent & Advocate Respond to Boarding School Apology  
Correspondent: Antonia Gonzales 
Guests: Dr. Joannie Suina, Ed.D. (Pueblo of Cochiti), NABS, Center for the Futures of Native Peoples 
Gerilyn Tolino (Diné), Carlisle Indian School Descendent 

Two Decades of Change at the ACLU of New Mexico 
Correspondent: Jeff Proctor 
Guest: Peter Simonson, Executive Director, ACLU – New Mexico 

Sixth Grader Protests School’s Slashed Library Time 
Correspondent: Laura Paskus 
Guest: Rainier Long, Student, Carlos Gilbert Elementary