New Mexicans gather in celebration of fights for liberation

Fighting back against oppression doesn’t always look like a battle. Sometimes, it looks like a celebration of the strength and resilience born out of those painful struggles. Many Americans take part in these celebrations throughout the month of June — from Juneteenth to LGBTQ Pride — and, this week on New Mexico in Focus, we learn about what that looks like in New Mexico this year.

Juneteenth, a now-federal holiday on the 19th of June, commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, marking the day in 1865 when a Union general informed the enslaved people of Galveston, Texas, that they were free. The notice came more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Now, 165 years later, the Black Chamber of Commerce of New Mexico is planning what they say will be Albuquerque’s largest-ever Juneteenth event after decades of backyard reunions and parties in the park. They expect 6,000-10,000 attendees at Civic Plaza tomorrow, with other celebrations happening across the state over the next week. Chamber President Karla Causey broke down what this year’s theme, “rooted in resilience, rising in unity,” means to her.

“We have been through so much as a people, and we don’t allow any of it to stop us,” she said. “They tried to break us, but it didn’t happen… we kept rising. And so, because of that, we’re trying to educate people that it doesn’t matter what oppression is happening in your life — you too can be resilient.”

This is also LGBTQ Pride Month, which can be traced back to the riots that erupted after police raided the Stonewall Inn, a New York City gay bar, in June of 1969. NMPBS Art and Culture Executive Producer Michael Kamins takes us to the Albuquerque Pride parade on Route 66 to learn what it means for those marching in 2025.

“We’re here to celebrate the battle, the fight that’s been fought for generations before us so that we can be visible and exist in this world,” Ash Sena, who was marching with Evolution Strength and Conditioning, told Kamins.

Pride celebrations across New Mexico and the country are taking place in the face of a recent onslaught of executive orders targeting the trans community and the White House declining to issue a Pride Month proclamation.

Join us this week as we learn about how New Mexicans are gathering in celebration of who they are and their communities’ perseverance, both past and present, and more.

– Nash Jones, Host