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Internment Camps and the Immigration Debate, “Molly of Denali” Producer Has New Mexico Ties, The Line

This week on New Mexico in Focus, correspondent Megan Kamerick sits down with Nikki Nojima Louis, who was among 120,000 Japanese Americans incarcerated in camps across the West during World War II. Nojima Louis now lives in Albuquerque and works with the New Mexico Japanese American Citizens League, creating plays based on the oral histories of people like her who were imprisoned. Recently she joined a protest with other internment survivors at Fort Sill in Oklahoma where Japanese men were interned during the war. There are plans to use the site to house young migrants crossing the Mexican border.

Correspondent Antonia Gonzales talks with producer Maya Salganek about “Molly of Denali,” a new PBS KIDS series that tells the story of a 10-year-old Alaska Native girl. The show weaves together literacy skills and Native values. It’s the first nationally distributed children’s television series to feature a Native American lead character. Salganek was born and raised in Santa Fe.

Gene Grant and the Line opinion panelists discuss the chile war heating up between Colorado and New Mexico. The group also looks at Governor Lujan Grisham’s appointment of a task force to work on cannabis legalization, as well as proposed changes to the state’s medical marijuana program. The Line’s final topic is on Attorney General Hector Balderas’ push to change the state’s sex offender laws in the wake of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Host:    Gene Grant   

Correspondents:
Antonia Gonzales
Megan Kamerick 

Studio Guests:
Nikki Nojima Louis, New Mexico Japanese American Citizens League
Maya Salganek, interstitial producer, “Molly of Denali”

Line Panelists:   
Michael Bird, public health consultant
Jeffrey Candelaria, Konnection Now & KKOB
Inez Russell Gomez, Santa Fe New Mexican
Mary T. Torres, attorney