On Saturday, the denounced Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham's to deploy National Guard troops to Albuquerque to assist police with ongoing public safety challenges.
Members from social justice organizations including Pete Guajardo from the were in attendance to speak on how sending the National Guard could be dangerous.
鈥淒eploying troops in the streets of Albuquerque will not make our communities safer, it will only further intimidate and criminalize our people, especially Brown, Indigenous, Black, unhoused and impoverished,鈥� he said.
He said what is being presented as a way to protect the community is actually a way of controlling and dominating.
鈥淲e do not need surveillance and suppression, we need investment in our people,鈥� said Guajardo. 鈥淪upport the root causes of crime in Albuquerque, such as poverty, homelessness, addiction and trauma.鈥�
member Deborah Jiron from Isleta and Kewa Pueblos spoke about her nephew Jamie Braveheart, who went to a South Dakota hospital ER seeking treatment for substance abuse and was shot five times by a police officer in the waiting room.
鈥淭hat's the problem when you have this type of enforcement by the police, by the military, by anybody that threatens and makes you feel threatened, it's not a safe way to help our relatives,鈥� she said.
Jiron said there are different ways of handling those in need and it starts with building trust.
Despite Albuquerque ranking high in crime for the past few years, the city has seen decreasing numbers in the first quarter of , with aggravated assault, homicides, shootings and robberies all down compared to last year.
Support for this coverage comes from the Thornburg Foundation.
