Happy Juneteenth — and a Blast from the Past

Suffice it to say the nostalgia was flowing like sweet tea on a hot summer day in New Mexico in Focus Land this week. 

With this week’s show airing on Juneteenth, Producer Antonio Sanchez set about looking for a story that could animate the holiday with some modern meaning. He recalled that just a few months back, the Albuquerque City Council passed a measure that made permanent the African American Advisory Board — a move sponsoring Councilor Nichole Rogers said would give the local Black community a “seat at the table.” 

Perfect. 

Our team started mulling potential guests for the story — more on that in a moment — then the conversation turned quickly to who should host it. The idea came to us the way Hemingway said people go bankrupt: Gradually, then suddenly.
 
Gene Grant hosted NMiF for 19 years, from 2004 to 2023. He was literally and figuratively the face of this show. His first gig in life after In Focus was as a program and policy officer for Animal Protection New Mexico and, since October, he’s been running the state Office of African American Affairs for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. 

Gene sat with Nash Jones, his successor in the NMiF host chair, last year to talk about his new state job. Viewers were thrilled to see him back in the studio. But would Gene be down to reprise his old role and host a conversation?  When I called him last week, Gene skipped the first bit of Hemingway’s analysis on how people lose all their money — his “yes” came suddenly. 

The rest of the pieces fell into place on a similar schedule. Rogers quickly agreed to talk with Gene about the advisory board, and so, too, did board member Patrick Barrett. (Want another hit of that sweet-tea nostalgia? Back in 2018, when I was working as an investigative reporter for New Mexico In Depth and an occasional NMiF correspondent — a full five years before I came to work here full time — I interviewed Patrick on the show about a series of stories I’d published documenting a federal law enforcement operation that targeted Albuquerque’s Black community.) 

We are delighted to bring you this story on the Juneteenth holiday — and to have Gene back in the host chair for it. 

Also this week, Capital and Main reporter and NMiF Correspondent Jerry Redfern gets out the scalpel to dissect an industry-backed group’s push to expand the use of oil and gas wastewater in New Mexico. And NMiF reporter Cailley Chella wraps up our coverage of LGBTQ Pride Month with a look at the event’s pageant and its titleholders.  

Thanks as always for watching — and reading — and happy Juneteenth! 

– Jeff Proctor, Executive Producer