Attack ads twist truth about Damon Martinez
Washington D.C.-based group trying to denigrate his commitment to civil rights
As a woman who grew up in the segregated south, and as a mother who lost her son to police brutality years ago, I am supporting Damon Martinez for Congress because I trust in Damon’s commitment to civil rights. The fact that a Washington, D.C.-based organization is pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into attack ads that question his work reforming the police department is everything that is wrong with politics.
As I watch these attack ads, which twist the truth for their own purposes, I have to wonder, where was this D.C. organization before, when I and others were working so hard to end the police violence against our kids? Where was this D.C. group when my son was killed by police, when our families are going hungry and our neighbors don’t have enough to eat? They show up to criticize someone who has done the hard work of advocating for us, but they’ve been nowhere and done nothing to help us.
I first met Damon Martinez when he attended community meetings regarding problems with the Albuquerque Police Department. In 2012 I was leading the fight to bring the Department of Justice to Albuquerque to investigate APD, given the number of killings I had witnessed since I first moved here in 1977. Over the previous four years, police had killed 23 people and wounded 14 others, and we’d had enough. So I invited fellow community activists to join The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center Board’s Task Force on Social Justice for Public Safety, of which I am president and a founder, to advocate for the DOJ to intervene.
It was at that time that I got to know Damon Martinez on a personal level. I was touched by his compassion, his understanding and his willingness to listen. Damon took on the hard work of introducing the Department of Justice’s findings in the matter of police brutality, and he worked to reform the department. Because of Damon’s work in holding the leadership at APD accountable, we are now seeing changes in how our police force conducts itself, which means fewer mothers will suffer the loss I suffered.
In early 2017, three years after the implementation of those reforms, the Albuquerque Journal reported that police shootings were at their lowest in six years. That’s progress, and it’s thanks to Damon’s work on our behalf. For this outside group to try to claim that Damon Martinez has done anything other than be a full-throated and vocal advocate for holding leadership at the police department accountable demonstrates that they have never endured police violence, and they have no understanding of the good work Damon Martinez did for this community.
Over the years, I have come to look upon Damon Martinez as a true servant leader. He has walked the talk on ensuring that all of our civil rights are protected, and I know he will continue that work when he represents us in Congress. Damon is being attacked by outside groups now that New Mexico voters are beginning to learn about all the good work he has done on our behalf, and so of course his polling numbers are going up and his support across this district is increasing.
Damon doesn’t have a political machine working for him. But he does have mothers like me, and community members whose lives he’s touched over the course of his career as a public servant. He will work tirelessly to protect and uplift our community. I am supporting Damon Martinez, and I urge all those who care about civil rights and police accountability to do so as well.