UpLift Chronicles_BeyondTheChairEdition_July2023_V.6

FREEDOM’S JOURNEY

Welcome to July, the heart of summer and the 247th birthday of America. This Fourth of July will be sung in the usual red, white, and blue paeans of patriotism and pride. And there will be countless name-checks to the Declaration of Independence and our constitutional rights. Neighborhoods across the city will revel in the celebratory spirit of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

We, the UpLift Chronicles team, want to celebrate, too. And freedom should be euphoric; it should be fireworks and elote, gleaming lowriders and ice-cold swimming pools. We love how we feel when the grill’s going and family and friends are laughing.

But people also celebrate in wartime and that’s what we’re doing. We don’t stop questioning society’s status quo. We keep publishing editions, sharing stories, and posing questions to you, our dear readers, one article at a time. Because patriotism is one thing, but a frightening nationalism is on the rise. The freedoms so many tout, including freedom of speech and assembly, are under attack as books are banned. And our ability to be represented via the power of our vote is being chiseled away. Even if these concerns haven’t landed right on your doorstep in this city and state yet, repressive legislation in states all around us will soon bring these sociopolitical crises closer to home.

So, in this issue, for this Independence Day, we cover matters through the lens of the concept of freedom: voting, guns, education, mental healthcare, and digital inclusion. These are some of the issues and arguments of the day which can’t be ignored. They won’t go away if we pretend they’re not there. And look, we get it. You want to come home, kick off your shoes, care for your kids, and get some downtime over the summer. We’re not saying you need to do the job we signed up for. But we ask you to ask yourself, What can you do? Does civic duty resonate for you? What does freedom really mean?

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the issues we face and how our paper can better serve you. Please take our first-ever Readers’ Survey below and let us know what’s up!

“Freedom” by Jon Batiste

“What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”

by Frederick Douglass

HOW WILL YOU INVEST IN YOUR OWN LIBERTY ?

“We Need to Begin Again”

by Eddie Glaude

Survey

“YOU CAN’T SEPARATE PEACE FROM FREEDOM BECAUSE NO ONE CAN BE AT PEACE UNLESS HE HAS HIS FREEDOM.” – MALCOLM X

COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY

BISCUIT BOY’S OWNER BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER FOR THE CITY’S GREATER GOOD

Deonte “Dee” Halsey is all about community; he’s a “people person.” He’s taught grade school for 23 years and loves his students; he’s gotten mad notoriety for his burgeoning food spot called Biscuit Boy; he’s president of the Rail Yards Board of Directors; and he’s a member of the South Valley Economic Development Center. Things are going this brother’s way.

When we interviewed, Dee had just come from his fifth-grade students’ promotion ceremony at A. Montoya School in the East Mountains. He loves attending because it means so much to the parents and students.

Dee’s kindly demeanor and big, easy grin have served him well. He’s approachable and invested. He’s lived in Albuquerque since 2015 but he’s seen a lot of the States. He was born in Tennessee and raised in Inglewood outside Los Angeles; then he graduated from Tennessee State and assisted in the National Youth Sports Program. Dee got his master’s in physics from Loyola University in Maryland, veered back to teaching, and—after stints in Atlanta, Baltimore, and Houston—arrived in Albuquerque.

Back when, Dee realized he was “a pretty good cook,” and wanted to run a bed and breakfast someday; something like Cecilia’s Café on Sixth. So, he started simple with a mobile food service and soon held Biscuit Boy’s spot down at the Rail Yards. He practiced a lot to get his buttermilk biscuit recipe just right; he dashed in some Southernness, added a bit of science, and was sure to use local flour, flavors, and, of course, green chile.

During the pandemic, Dee switched to a delivery-based model and landed in local coffee shops and high-profile places like Tamaya Resort and Los Poblanos. He has a commercial kitchen in the South Valley but is frank about the food biz’s challenges: the profit margins are slim and the work is very labor-intensive.

The kinds of hurdles Dee faces with his Biscuit Boy crew are the kinds he knows a lot of entrepreneurs face. Which is why he took the Rail Yards Board chair after a second thought. “I was thinking, why [do they want me?] And then I was like, oh, I know exactly why. Because I like the community. I like the Rail Yards. I like Barelas.” The board specifically keeps their entry fees low compared to places like Expo New Mexico or Balloon Fiesta Park and it’s helpful in getting smaller businesses, artisans, growers, and restaurateurs established. Dee believes the Rail Yards will continue to “help our economy grow in lots of different ways.”

Eventually, he sees the community space expanding—not only with the New Mexico Media Academy—but with the Wheels Museum and multi-use, multifamily housing leading to Avenida Cesar Chavez. It’s a plan he hopes benefits everyone in Albuquerque; a site that attracts families and tourists like Union Market in D.C. and Pike Place Market in Seattle. “When we’re doing things for the Rail Yards, we’re doing it more for the people in the city, not just for us.”

PHONE: 505.750.8269

EMAIL: info@biscuitboynm.com

BISCUIT BOY

To get his buttermilk biscuits recipe just right, he dashed in some Southernness, added a bit of science, and was sure to use local flour, flavors, and, of course, green chile.

Rail Yards Market Wheels Museum

WHO’S REPPIN’ YOU?

Last year, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the “Stop Woke Act.” It regulates how race is taught in schools, colleges, and trainings. Rutgers University historian and The 1619 Project contributor Leslie Alexander speaks to such legislation’s impact:

“They are critical of the very concept of being awake…What they would prefer is a generation and a society composed of people who are asleep and ignorant, because people who are asleep, ignorant, and ill-informed are much easier to control than people who are awake, informed, educated, and critically engaged.”

Staying informed often feels overwhelming. But the UpLift Initiative can help make it easier for you to find out who your reps are and see if their solutions align with your values. You can start local and build from there.

SO LET’S DO THAT:

The Albuquerque City Council has nine councilors representing Albuquerque’s various districts.

Recently, the council voted to pilot a free bus fare program, easing a financial burden for many folks who need public transit. The council also considered legislation to address the city’s exploding housing crisis. Councilor Tammy

Fiebelkorn’s bill would have prevented unfair and deceptive rental practices, but four councilors voted in favor and five voted against. These are the types of actions your city councilor can do or fail to do for you. This November, four city council seats will be up for election, so you gotta learn who’s running in your district and scope out their platforms. Then, by the time election day comes around, you’ll be ready to cast your vote!

AND NOW, AT THE STATE LEVEL:

The New Mexico legislative session is held every year beginning in January. New Mexico’s elected state representatives and senators work on legislation for things like housing, gun laws, healthcare, civil rights, and education. For a bill to become law, it has to pass both the House and Senate and be signed by the governor. In the 2023 legislative session, Rep. Pamelya Herndon sponsored HB 9 in response to the tragic killing of young Bennie Hargrove. The bill makes it a crime to negligently allow a minor access to a firearm, and it went into effect in June. Some other bills that passed the session are: free menstrual products in public school bathrooms; automatic voter registration when getting a driver’s license; and protections for reproductive and gender-affirming medical care.

Who we vote for locally can actually affect lives nationally. In late May, the NAACP and other civil rights groups issued a travel advisory for Florida, warning that the state’s recent laws are hostile toward people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals. The Human Rights Campaign declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans because of the spike in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation passed in several states across the country. Our state’s laws can mitigate the effect of federal laws on New Mexican residents. On the flip side, people elected to local and state positions can go on to run for Congress or president of the United States.

So, remember to ask yourself, who’s representing you?

Who’s Running for City Council?

Register to Vote

Find New Mexico Legislation

“Governor signs House Bill 9, the Bennie Hargrove Gun Safety Act”

“Albuquerque will eliminate bus fares for riders in 2022”

“Civil rights groups warn tourists about Florida in wake of ‘hostile’

“A third of Albuquerque’s city councilors are on their way out. The race to replace them has begun.”

laws”

BALLOTS OVER BULLETS

YOUTH EVERYWHERE, INCLUDING ALBUQUERQUE, ARE TAKING ACTION AGAINST GUN

VIOLENCE

America has a gun problem. New Mexico has a gun problem. We all have a gun problem. And unless some mad scientist finds a way to make us all bulletproof like Superman, we’ll have to engage in more realistic means to curb the epidemic of gun violence in our country and culture.

Big news this year is that guns became the number one cause of death for children and teens in America. It’s more than car accident deaths and drug overdoses. And, according to one study, the leading cause of the leading cause is homicide, the numbers for which soared the last few years in comparison to, say, gun suicide.

Does the mere mention of guns—on our streets, in our schools, at public events—make you want to turn your mental channel to something chill like your kid’s fave episode of Peppa Pig? That’s understandable. But while many would like to think our country’s ethical challenges stop at the Land of Enchantment’s borders, it’s simply not the case. In fact, too often the gun plague has infected our families and children right here in Albuquerque.

According to the Journal, this year has seen more guns on APS campuses than ever before. And if anyone has anything to say about it, it’s our very own youth taking the lead. Students and their parents protested at West Mesa High School in late May against gun violence, and Farmington’s mass shooting woke up the sleepy town, where arguments about gun safety and mental health reared as vociferously as on the national stage. Governor Lujan-Grisham said she would pursue an assault weapons ban and age restrictions come the next legislative session; and Mayor Keller’s State of the City touted a “cracking down on guns.”

But while the City and APD are utilizing federal laws to help make Downtown Albuquerque “as safe as it should be,” it’s Generations Z and

Students and parents protest at West Mesa in late May against gun violence

Alpha working with their parents to affect lasting, systemically-minded change. Texas teens, too, have been mobilizing chapters of Students Demand Action since even before the Uvalde school massacre last year. These young people see the need for direct action and policy change. Perhaps they understand that the solutions are cultural, psychological, and structural, not just political. Multiple in-depth articles like Temple University’s speak to Americans reluctantly accepting the possibility or inevitability of being shot, as if it’s par for the course. These youth activists refuse to accept that notion and some adults are catching on, like Here 4 the Kids’ sitin at the Colorado State Capital just last month. That action was modeled after classic Civil Rights Era civil disobedience, from its non-violent stance to the makeup of its protesters.

However, these youthful stalwarts realize it will take more than protests. And they know it’s not just one politician responsible for everything; all have to be held accountable; and

More Guns in APS

better candidates are wanted. These young activists are hopefully typifying a more-informed electorate. And they’re going to be voting soon.

Students Demand Action

Temple University: Solving the Gun

West Mesa Protesters

Colorado Protests

Courtesy Abuquerque Journal, Chancey Bush

INHERENT DIGNITY & INALIENABLE RIGHTS

JULY IS DISABILITY PRIDE MONTH!

Though not yet a national holiday, Disability Pride has been celebrated in the United States with festivals, marches, and parades in cities like Chicago, New Orleans, New York, and Los Angeles.

The celebrations around the country honor the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) passed on July 26, 1990. The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, communication, and access to public buildings. If you’ve seen ramps and sidewalks that allow access for wheelchair users and other folks who can’t use stairs or are impeded by curbs, you’ve seen the ADA at work.

According to Human Rights Watch, “July is an occasion to celebrate people with disabilities, honor their inherent dignity and inalienable rights,

promote their visibility, and applaud their achievements.”

Like LGBTQ+ Pride, Disability Pride has its own flag, designed by Ann Magill. She updated it in 2021, muting its colors for folks with visually-triggered disabilities. The colors of the stripes represent different disability experiences and are: physical (red), cognitive/intellectual (yellow), invisible/undiagnosed (white), psychiatric/psychosocial (blue), and sensory (green). The charcoal background commemorates people with disabilities who have died struggling against societal stigma.

While the NMBLC couldn’t find updates on DPM events in Albuquerque by press time, please inform us of any goings-on here or anywhere in the state and we’ll blast out the info via

our social media. You can also contact The Arc New Mexico below for support and resources. We can still celebrate Disability Pride every day by honoring the dignity of folks with disabilities, celebrating their achievements, and urging our elected officials to keep advancing their cause.

Why and How to Celebrate Disability Pride Month

GETTIN LIT WIT IT

Colson Whitehead, bestselling author and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, is coming to Albuquerque for his Harlem Shuffle book tour. He’ll be in conversation with Albuquerque poet Hakim Bellamy for “A Word With Writers,” a literary series hosted by local, independent bookstore Bookworks. This marks the return of the series since the pandemic. “A Word with Writers” is a fundraiser for Albuquerque Public Libraries. Colson Whitehead’s first Pulitzer was for New York Times bestseller The Underground Railroad, made into a TV series by Academy Award-winner Barry Jenkins. Whitehead won his second Pulitzer for The Nickel Boys, inspired by the notorious Florida’s Dozier School for Boys. Bookworks co-owner Shannon Guinn-Collins is excited to help bring the literary scene to Albuquerque. “Having a partnership with the library is crucial to support the city and literacy. It’s one of the ways we’re giving back to the community.”

Now you can see a nationally-recognized Black author, support a local bookstore, and help fund Albuquerque’s libraries all at once!

A WORD WITH WRITERS: COLSON WHITEHEAD

Thursday, July 27, 2023 at 7pm. Doors open at 6pm KiMo Theatre, 423 Central Ave NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102

Tickets

TWO TICKET TYPES:

Individual: General admission for one person, a pre-signed hardcover of Crook Manifesto, and a donation to the Albuquerque Public Library Foundation. Pick up your book at the event. $34.00

Bring a Friend: General admission for two people and a donation to the Albuquerque Public Library Foundation. Purchase of an individual ticket required. $19.50.

Bookworks event page

Colson Whitehead’s website

Hakim Bellamy’s website

Colson Whitehead

Chris Close

FAITH, HOPE TRUST HOW ADOLE LAW’S BUSINESS NEEDS ENDED UP SERVING THE COMMUNITY’S NEEDS

Before we started interviewing Adole Law about how she established Eli Braids & Beauty Supply, she began with a prayer. It was a fitting way for her to open up about her faithrich personal narrative.

Adole started braiding from her apartment during a dark time in her life. She was working hard to get herself out of a stated “mess” she was in. As her braiding skills became popular, the manager threatened to cancel her lease if she kept working out of her apartment. “Okay,” she asserts, “I’m like, let’s just go find a store.”

She opened her storefront on San Mateo NE south of I-40, taking “everything from my house to the shop,” and figuring out how to “do a beauty supply [store] starting from scratch. I didn’t know what I was doing. [But] little by little, [the business] was growing.”

Ths shop was her personal experiment, bred out of practicality, and it eventually hit a stride. However, “It wasn’t easy at all. A lot of people laughed at me when I started. But I was trusting God,” and she kept pushing herself, saying, “I know I’ll be okay. Five years later, I was like, Oh, I can make it. I will be okay.”

Adole started braiding when she was very little, trying to do her Barbie’s hair, then practicing on friends. She left Togo in West Africa in 2011, after marrying her now ex-husband. They first moved to Minnesota, then Albuquerque in 2013 because he was in the Army. After their split, she started her business out of necessity, and appreciated every challenge. “[Braiding] helped me get on my feet and, after that, it just became a passion for me.” Despite missing Togolese food, she says she loves every single thing about Albuquerque, “because I got my blessing from here.”

Adole opened her shop less preoccupied than others might be about market needs for Black hair products. Back then, she was more concerned about a need within herself. Plus, “I interact with everybody,” she says. Adole noted that when she arrived, “I don’t know anybody, I don’t know who to talk to, so I just start. And everybody who come to me, I love them. I interact with them. It doesn’t matter. You are Black, you are white,” everyone she encounters she serves, “That’s it.” It’s that same etiquette which found her putting this very paper in every customer’s bag when they leave the store; that same sense of community.

When talking with Adole, she exudes a clear sense of agency, faith, and freedom. “I love where I am and I’m hoping for better, so I can serve better my community. Life is not easy, but when you trust God, when you don’t give up, when you don’t hold on to your past, no matter the mistakes, no matter the mess—[then] you get up and ask help from God. You can make it.”

Adole Law

BRENDA HAZEL MARIE BALLOU DABNEY

MARCH 29, 1943 – APRIL 22, 2023

“SHE UNDERSTOOD HER ASSIGNMENT”

“She always made sure to instill in us our African American pride. And her mother, my grandmother, was half-Mexican and half-Black, so we grew up with Mexican food and traditions in the house. [She had] deep, Catholic faith. She understood her assignment here on Earth; she embodied love, light, forgiveness, and empathy. And she’d talk to anyone, it didn’t matter who. People were attracted to her spirit. She knew everyone; she put people together.”– Darlene Rencher, Brenda’s daughter from Wayne, PA “Brenda is an original New Mexican. She’s not a transplant from anyplace. Her family, they were homesteaders. She was short in stature but her faithfilled life was like an astonishing nova. She helped sponsor the first public Kwanzaa celebration in Albuquerque which continued over 20 years. [In her youth,] she played basketball, volleyball, and softball. She was a night owl and had a long, sharp memory

for details. She was late to the party and late to leave. Our friendship bonded through the years with our family, children, friends, profession, church, sorority, and community.” – Geraldine Harge, Ed.D., AACC scholarship chair & Delta Sigma Theta soror

“I used to call her my little sister. When she started the AACC, MLK’s birthday was coming up and the Archdiocese wasn’t doing anything. Brenda went to Archbishop Robert Sanchez and got permission to have a Mass at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. The church was full; it was a glorious celebration.” – Ms. Louise Davis, AACC liturgist & choir director

“MENTAL HEALTH IS FREEDOM.”

July is BIPOC Mental Health Month and we interviewed Dr. Stephanie McIver about barriers to mental health treatment. This is part 1 of a 2-part article.

“Mental health is freedom.” So says Dr. Stephanie McIver, Executive Director for Student Health and Counseling at UNM. Dr. McIver has focused on the mental health needs of Black students around the country—often as the only Black mental health provider on staff—since 1992. She also founded the NM Black Mental Health Coalition in 2014 and was its director until last year. “If we can first address the problem of stigma in help-seeking,” Dr. McIver states, “we are moving toward positive change.” She says we need to get rid of the idea that having emotional or mental distress means we’re “crazy,” bizarre, incapacitated, or out of touch with reality.

There is some very real history that has conditioned the public, especially those in the BIPOC community, to avoid engaging with mental health services. Consider the American Psychiatric Association’s official apology, in 2021, to BIPOC for supporting racist practices in psychiatric treatment. Or the very early, barbaric forms of psychological treatment seen in media like on the TV show Queen Charlotte

“But systems have evolved tremendously,” Dr. McIver says, “to really pay attention to treatments that work, ethical humane treatment, and patient rights.” She also says it’s important to advocate for yourself and ask questions so you feel comfortable getting help.

Mental Health Apps

We have a misconception, McIver says, that freedom is a physical issue. “Freedom is to be self-determining. Freedom is to have safety and contentment. Our mental health issues trap us. They create a lack of safety and prevent us from being content or self-determining. [So,] mental health is freedom.”

Brenda’s Obituary by Veronica Lewis (AACC) African American Catholic Community (AACC)

Dr. Stephanie McIver

NMBMHC APA’s Apology

ROOTS SUMMER LEADERSHIP ACADEMY

JULY 9–JULY 28, 2023 FREE FOR ALL STUDENTS!

THE UPLIFT INITIATIVE IS ALL ABOUT YOU & YOUR FREEDOM.

Find out more about your right to rent, to be employed, to have access to mental and physical healthcare; your right to vote, to surf the web, to recreate, and more at nmblc.org/uplift or scan the QR code at right.

Holla at us at uplift@nmblc.org or call 505.407.6784

UPLIFT CONTRIBUTORS

TRUE NEW MEXICO is an annual anti-racism, youth-centered, artsbased project developed as a collaboration between the New Mexico Asian Family Center (NMAFC) and the New Mexico Black Leadership Council (NMBLC). Each spring, a cohort of Black/African American and/or AAPINH young artists creates original self-portraits guided by the prompt, “What’s your True New Mexican story?”

True NM 2023

For inquiries, comments or ideas: uplift@nmblc.org or 505.407.6784 PUBLISHER