Policing the Police, The Significance of the Afro-Frontier & Santa Fe Period Pods

This week on New Mexico in Focus, Executive Producer Jeff Proctor interviews Albuquerque City Council President Pat Davis about delays in council’s handling of citizen oversight for APD. That’s as Mayor Tim Keller is pushing to transfer authority over the system away from the council. The mayor cites staffing woes, a lack of training for police oversight board members and other problems to justify his proposal. Councilor Davis responds and explains why he thinks citizen oversight should be independent from the city’s executive branch.  

Over the past decade, former New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission director Norman Gaume has urged lawmakers to fund state water agencies and protect the water resources. Now, as president of New Mexico Water Advocates, he talks with Our Land’s Laura Paskus about the 2023 Water Security Planning Act, some of the serious problems around the state and the need for community-driven solutions. 

Founded at the turn of the twentieth century, Blackdom was a freedom colony in southern New Mexico formed by Black settlers hoping to escape the Jim Crow South. New Mexico in Focus correspondent Russell Contreras sits down with Dr. Timothy Nelson to talk about his new book, “Blackdom, New Mexico: The Significance of the Afro-Frontier,” which explains how the colony’s goals grew and shifted between 1900 and 1930. 

Correspondent Antonia Gonzales speaks with the director of Free Flow New Mexico, and three other people who have been vital in getting a new ‘period pod’ up and running at the public library branch on Santa Fe’s Southside. It’s one of three 24-hour kiosks in the city providing access to free menstrual products.  

Host: Lou DiVizio 

Segments: 

Policing the Police 
Correspondent: Jeff Proctor 
Guest: Pat Davis, president, Albuquerque City Council 

New Mexico’s Water Solutions are Possible—but not Easy 
Correspondent: Laura Paskus 
Guest: Norman Gaume, NM Water Advocates 

Blackdom, New Mexico: The Significance of the Afro-Frontier, 1900-1930 
Correspondent: Russell Contreras 
Guest: Dr. Timothy Nelson, Author, “Blackdom, New Mexico: The Significance of the Afro-Frontier, 1900-1930″ 

New ‘Period Pods’ Aim to Limit Period Poverty in Santa Fe 
Correspondent: Antonia Gonzales 
Guests: Laurie Merrill, executive director and founder, Free Flow New Mexico 
Margaret Neill, library division director, Santa Fe, New Mexico 
Israel Haros, Chicano poet, artist, muralist 
Selena Fernandez, artist