Things are not okay right now. Families across the nation are reeling from Tuesday’s tragic assault on children. Our reproductive rights are being dismantled, and anti-trans legislation and voter suppression laws passed, while numbers of racially motivated mass shootings surge and climate catastrophes rage on. (Not to mention the baby formula crisis!) These incidents are not isolated and disconnected. They point to where policy, patriarchy, toxic masculinity, and white supremacy intersect, and they pose deep threats to our lives and democracy. To work for gender and racial justice in this moment feels like drinking out of a fire hose.
How do we hold the intensity and complexity of these times? At NewMexicoWomen.Org, we sharpen our intersectional analysis around gender and racial justice, show up to protest and protect our rights at local rallies (watch our fierce Program Co-Director here), we mobilize more resources for gender justice and healing, and amplify the messages of grantees across the state who are organizing and providing services on the ground. Simultaneously, we celebrate the women of color who are leading the movement, both in New Mexico and across the country. And, as always, because we are in this for the long haul and cannot afford more burnout, we support our community to build in time to rest, connect, and recover.
The stakes have always been high in this work, and over the past month with the leak from Politico about overturning Roe v. Wade, the stakes just got much higher. Thank you for having the courage to walk this path of gender justice and healing with us. We need your support more than ever.
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Building Pathways to
Non-Violent Masculinities
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Members of the NM Healthy Masculinities Collaborative respond to the question "what does healthy masculinities look like to you?" in this video produced by Taslim van Hattum.
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The NM Healthy Masculinities Collaborative launched our NM Healthy Masculinities Toolkit at the beginning of April. This body of work is a seed—an attempt to respond to the violence and emotional distress both perpetrated and experienced by men and boys. In this time of anguish following the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, our Collaborative is determined to build pathways to nonviolent and healthier masculinities for self-identified men and boys. This is essential component of gender justice and healing is not in the abstract, it is tangible - it is about saving our lives. In that vein, we continue to build on this work through the NM Healthy Masculinities Toolkit. Click here to read our response to the shootings.
Read our recent op-ed, Boys Do Cry, in the Santa Fe New Mexican here, listen to members of the collaborative on the radio here, watch our Instagram Live dialogue between NMW.O's Program Co-Director Fatima van Hattum, Transgender Resource Center of NM Director, Adrien Lawyer, and NM Health Equity Partnership member, Joseph Hill here. Watch our Collaborative's new video here. And, most importantly, download the free toolkit and find out more about the ongoing work, here.
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As we celebrate Asian American Heritage this month, we are deeply aware that the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) experience is often excluded from our state history and narratives, and that violent, racist acts against AAPI residents are also on the rise nationwide. As intersectional feminists, it is our commitment to continue to build relationships with AAPI community members, examine history and how it impacts our present, and listen to the experiences of our AAPI partners, as they inform our work for gender justice and healing. Below are five resources for doing just that:
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Watch the local documentary project, I Am Not A Virus, produced by Korean-American artist, Argus Paul, in partnership with the Asian American Association of New Mexico, in which New Mexican residents of Asian descent candidly express their thoughts and experiences related to COVID-19, following racialized hate speech by President Trump in the Spring of 2020.
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Check out the TRUE NM Photo Voice project created by 10 young artists who crafted self-portraits in response to the tricultural myth that many Black and AAPI New Mexicans experience today. This project is a partnership between New Mexico Asian Family Center and the New Mexico Black Leadership Council.
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Read this Smithsonian article detailing the significant but little known 1882 case, Territory of New Mexico v. Yee Shun, in which New Mexico’s Supreme Court validated the testimony of AAPI residents in court, setting historical precedent for this important civil right nationwide.
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Invest in the powerful work of our partners at the New Mexico Asian Family Center.
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Explore the stories of Five AAPI Women Who Made a Major Impact on Our History, in this Bustle article.
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Join Us in Welcoming Our
New Program Manager, Elsa Lopez!
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Elsa Lopez is originally from a small farming community in Chihuahua, Mexico and has lived in New Mexico for 25 years. She has a BA in Finance and Marketing from the University of New Mexico. As a community organizer for over 20 years, she spearheaded racial and economic justice campaigns in New Mexico and nationally to build power and advocate for immigrants and low wage workers.
Elsa’s commitment to racial and economic justice is rooted in her own experience as an immigrant student. In 1998 she became one of the first students in the state to expose the barriers to college access for undocumented immigrants. She later organized other students to pass state legislation granting access to college for undocumented immigrants in NM. After experiencing the power of organizing to overcome inequitable and oppressive systems, she became determined to activate and empower hundreds of working families across the state, collectively creating and shaping the immigrant’s rights movement in NM over the last two decades.
She continues to be inspired by the tenacity, resiliency, and courage of her community who dare to reimagine and create a more just and equitable future for our familias. She is restless and curious, loves food, hiking in the mountains, gardening, and photography.
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