Capitol riot a stark reminder of racial divide
State lawmakers, advocates promote bills intended to address systemic racism
When Doris Fields reflects on the racial divide in the U.S. over the past four years, it underscores for her what has happened over the past 400 years.
The unease the country felt during the presidency of Donald Trump reached a boiling point with the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Yet the riot merely highlighted issues that existed well before his presidency, said Fields, a poet, activist and member of the Santa Fe branch of the NAACP.
“I think our major blind spot — for some of us and not all of us — is we’ve been looking at the hope of America and the promise of America and not looking at the reality,” Fields said.
The reality is racism became more overt during Trump’s presidency with the rise of white supremacy groups, and
the indifference some people showed was equally complicit in its growth, said Barbara Jordan, an activist and Air Force veteran who lives in Rio Rancho.
Trump “showed us what America is,” said Jordan, a member of the Black New Mexico Movement, which advocates for police reform.
As the country transitions to a new administration this week, and as it honors Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, some local leaders see an opportunity to stem the racism that seemed to rise during Trump’s time in office.
The number of racially motivated incidents over the past four years has forced people to avoid remaining neutral about racism, said Cathryn McGill, founder and director of the New Mexico Black History Organizing Committee and a member of the New Mexico Black Leadership Council.
Protests stemming from the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police last year brought that to a head, McGill said.
“Covert racism, either conscious or unconscious, is even more detrimental,” McGill said. “We have a personal responsibility for knowing history and understanding your place in it. Your responsibility to step up or step back, as the case may be, becomes paramount in these times.”
The best way to attack racism is to start at the local level, said Amy Whitfield, president of the New Mexico Black Leadership Council.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham created the Council for Racial Justice in July to facilitate dialogue on these issues. A collection of community and business leaders, students, activists and politicians, the council has developed mission statements that focus on racism.
“We have [had] a lot of really great organizations and advocacy groups working on this issue in New Mexico for many years,” Whitfield said.
At its Jan. 13 meeting, the group focused on proposed legislation it deemed important in advance of this year’s legislative session, which begins Tuesday. One bill the council is advocating for is Senate Bill 7, co-sponsored by Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque. The bill calls for state agencies to develop and implement policies that address and prevent institutional racism. It passed the Legislature in 2017, but then-Gov. Susana Martinez vetoed it.
Lawmakers will also tackle the issue of qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that can shield law enforcement from being held personally liable for actions that violate a person’s constitutional rights.
Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton, D-Albuquerque, has introduced the Black Education Act, which would require school districts to develop programs and curricula that focus on Black culture and anti-racism. It would also require anti-racism training for school personnel.
The council has also expressed support for House Joint Resolution 1, a proposed constitutional amendment that would invest an additional 1 percent from the Land Grant Permanent Fund into early childhood education programs. Whitfield said education is an important component to battling racism. She said many poor and minority students often get left behind because of a lack of access to programs that can help them.
“So many of our children in poverty and children of color are showing up for the first day of school behind their white counterparts,” Whitfield said. “This is ultimately about prevention — the prevention of racial disparity, the prevention of the impact of negative social issues and social inequities.”
McGill said some of the proposed legislation has good intentions, but she cautioned against simply throwing more money at trying to solve inequity, especially when it comes to education.
“We must look at the pedagogy and how we are teaching students,” McGill said. “We are certainly failing them. I am not sure putting more money into the situation alone is going to make the change. There has to be some bold leadership and a willingness to have a wholesale overhaul in the way we educate.”
Social programs designed to help those in need are usually underfunded, Fields said, while the upper class benefits from tax cuts that allow the wealthy to keep more of their money.
“We have looked toward the dream and believed in the dream,” Fields said. “Most of us Americans have lived for the dream and worked toward the dream. What we haven’t been focusing on is the nightmare underneath. But we can reach the dream. I believe we are working toward that idea of a full democracy.”