Latest news with #NewMexicoInDepth
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Yahoo
Six years after her son's homicide, a Navajo mother still searches for answers
Since the FBI closed its investigation into her son Kyle's homicide over three years ago, Colleen Harrison Jackson has advocated for the case to be reopened. Here, she holds her son's college diploma while surrounded by photos and memories of her child. (Ungelbah Dávila for New Mexico In Depth) This reporting was supported by the International Women's Media Foundation's Fund for Indigenous Journalists: Reporting on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two Spirit and Transgender People (MMIWG2T). The person he discovered was Kyle Jackson, a 31-year-old citizen of the Navajo Nation. Kyle had fought with another man at a nearby house hours before his body was found, according to witness interviews by law enforcement. Severely injured, Kyle was kicked out of the house. It's unclear how long he lay in the road before dying, but at least one other person passed by without stopping to help him, about six hours before the call to police. In the following weeks, his mother, Colleen Harrison Jackson, visited the spot where his body was found and spoke with the 911 caller, along with some of his friends who had been with him in the days leading up to his death. This story was originally published by New Mexico In Depth Then she got the letter. The FBI had closed its investigation, the specialist wrote to Colleen in March 2022. The letter provided a nine-word explanation: The United States Attorney's Office had declined to prosecute. Standing in front of the post office, Colleen cried as she read those words. 'No one called me and said, 'We're going to close this case, this is why.' No one called me,' she said. 'I just get this letter, and I was very upset because I didn't know what happened. I really just broke down.' To this day, no one has been tried for killing Kyle. Colleen isn't alone. She's one of thousands who have lost loved ones to a national crisis of Indigenous people disproportionately dying of homicide or going missing. Infrequent updates from law enforcement, many affected families say, have intensified the pain they're already feeling. That was one of the key findings of the federal Not Invisible Act Commission, which, in a 2023 report, made numerous recommendations aimed at police and prosecutors improving the way they communicate with families. In an interview with New Mexico In Depth last year, former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Alexander Uballez and two prosecutors in the office's Indian Country Crimes section acknowledged the harm done to families when the federal government delivers difficult news about their loved ones' cases through the mail. During his tenure, which began in May 2022, the office established a policy of updating families in person when possible, according to Uballez. A Not Invisible Act Commission member says that's a step in the right direction. But Uballez, who announced his run for Albuquerque mayor in April, has since resigned at the request of President Donald Trump. The new U.S. attorney for the district, Ryan Ellison, didn't answer a question about whether the policy Uballez described will remain, but said in an email that prosecutors working closely with families is important. Growing up in northwestern New Mexico, Kyle spent time playing along the San Juan River, fishing at a nearby dam with his grandpa, and helping take care of his siblings and cousins. He was an avid reader and enjoyed working on science projects for school fairs. His childhood love of the outdoors continued into adulthood, and he often went on hikes and camping trips. In 2016, he graduated from San Juan College with an associate of applied science degree in the college's industrial maintenance mechanic program. Kyle 'never let things get him down,' Colleen said, and looked out for others. As a teenager, he urged his mom to let friends who had unstable home lives stay with their family, she said. A former girlfriend, Christa Perez, first met Kyle when they were in high school. They reconnected over a decade later and started dating. Perez is a single mom with three kids and was struggling at the time, she said. 'If it wasn't for Kyle, I think I'd still be drinking. I'd still be lost,' Perez said. 'He was there for me no matter what.' He taught her kids how to play a card game, and to this day, Perez said, they ask, 'Are we going to play Kyle's cards or regular cards?' They broke up about a year before his death but kept in touch, up until the week he died. Colleen shared with New Mexico In Depth a Shiprock police incident report, the letter she received from the FBI in 2022, and a report of findings from the University of New Mexico's Office of the Medical Investigator, which found Kyle had died of blunt head trauma. The news organization obtained the recording of the 911 call and dispatch log from San Juan County, along with records maintained by the FBI, primarily summaries of witness interviews from which names have been redacted. On the night of Friday, June 21, at about 9 p.m., Kyle and two other people went to a nearby store to pick up alcohol. Later that night, he ended up at a house in Nenahnezad, where, according to the witness interviews, he and another man fought. Kyle 'may have been struck with a hammer,' according to the report of findings. He then 'moved about the home, bleeding on various surfaces, before being kicked out' early Saturday morning with facial and skull fractures. At about noon on Saturday, a man driving to visit a friend in the area saw Kyle lying in the road, he later told a Navajo criminal investigator. The man believed Kyle, who appeared to have been 'beaten badly,' was dead. He continued up the road and saw busted windows on the house he intended to visit. Not wanting to get involved, he turned around. When he drove past Kyle again to leave the area, he was 'moving around a little bit.' The man 'was afraid the guy might get up and turn on him,' so he drove off just as it began to rain. Trying to make sense of why the man didn't help Kyle, Colleen said she thinks people in her community are hesitant to call law enforcement because they're skeptical arrests will come out of it, and there are fears about retaliation. The 911 call didn't come in until about 6:30 p.m. that day. The caller told the operator he had just arrived home from Farmington when he found Kyle's body in the road out front. 'Does he look to be beyond any help?' the operator asked. 'Nope, nope, not even breathing, nothing,' the caller said. 'He looks—he got hit or something. There's a hole in the side of his temple.' Emergency medical services and then officers with the Navajo Nation's Shiprock Police District arrived over the next 40 minutes. Several other people later arrived at the scene, a police officer wrote in his report, including Kyle's grandmother, who asked to see his body. At about the same time, Colleen was a few miles away, hosting a birthday party for her daughter. She learned about her son's death later that night from his grandmother. 'I knew something was wrong already. I could feel it,' Colleen said. 'And when she told me, I don't even know what happened after that. I couldn't even breathe.' Early on in the investigation, the family was told there was a suspect, and the suspect's arrest might be on the news in another week, Colleen said. Weeks turned into months, though, and that never happened. But when Colleen would call for updates, an FBI victim specialist would sometimes get back to her and say investigators were still working on the case. So the letter — dated March 17, 2022, nearly three years after Kyle's death — came as a shock. The FBI had closed its investigation because the U.S. Attorney's Office had declined to prosecute, the victim specialist wrote. The decision didn't 'lessen the important contribution' Colleen made to the investigation, the letter reads, and her 'assistance and cooperation were greatly appreciated.' Colleen called the Navajo criminal investigator and asked him to explain. The investigator arranged a meeting with the FBI agent. During that sit-down, which Colleen remembers happening about four months after she received the letter, they told her there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute. They said the case could be reopened if another witness came forward, Colleen said. That was almost three years ago. There have been no updates since. In a late February interview, Uballez, the former U.S. attorney, wouldn't talk about Kyle's case, saying the office typically doesn't comment on investigations, whether they're open or closed. But he spoke more generally about how a federal prosecutor decides whether to file charges. (Uballez was sworn into office in May 2022, two months after Colleen received the letter from the FBI.) FBI agents assigned to a case, Uballez said, can 'procedurally, look at it themselves' and decide to not refer it for prosecution. Or 'they could look at it and say, either, 'We're sort of on the fence and we want you guys to make the call,' or, 'We think there's a charge there,'' Uballez said. Federal prosecutors then evaluate whether there were any constitutional rights violations and whether they think a case could be proven to a jury, he said. 'It's a different calculus,' Uballez said. 'Even though we may agree we know who did this, what happened, it doesn't mean that we should charge.' In 2023, the federal Not Invisible Act Commission heard testimony from at least 260 people who have lost loved ones to the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people or survived human trafficking. The commission visited seven cities, including Albuquerque. One of the major themes from the hearings, the commission wrote in a report published in October that year, was that 'authorities at all levels must improve communications with family members, who are too often left in the dark for days, weeks, or months about the investigation.' 'Tragically, a case may be declared 'cold' without a family receiving any information about the investigation,' the report reads. Asked what has stuck with her most from the hearings, Amber Kanazbah Crotty, a commission member and Navajo Nation Council delegate, said families' disappointment with law enforcement either communicating with them infrequently or in ways that don't feel compassionate. 'They're dealing with their missing relative, or there may have been violence, a homicide or a criminal element to their case, but with the lack of communication from law enforcement, it just adds on another layer of, they don't feel that their relatives mattered,' Crotty said in an April interview. Instead of mailing a family a piece of paper informing them their relative's case has been closed, she said, the commission recommended 'a warm hand off.' 'It's not the U.S. attorney themselves, but at least a victim advocate to be there to answer any questions they have, and they're then referring them or connecting them to community resources like behavioral health, mental health support groups, so they're not feeling like this is only happening to them and nobody cares about their relatives,' Crotty said. The Justice Department since 2010 has required every U.S. Attorney's Office with tribal lands in its district to develop an operational plan for addressing public safety in Indian country. 'A trauma-informed approach both considers the emotional impact on victims and their families and is culturally sensitive,' reads the New Mexico office's plan, last updated in 2024. 'The relationship between Tribal communities and the federal government is a fraught one. [Assistant U.S. attorneys] and law enforcement need to acknowledge this history and work hard to gain the trust of Tribal members who may have reasons to distrust the federal government and law enforcement based on past experiences and long histories.' While the office can't share all the details of an investigation or why it made a particular decision, staff have been working to do a better job of communicating with affected families, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eliot Neal said during an interview last year. Neal was hired in 2023 as part of the Justice Department's Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Regional Outreach Program. One 'challenge' the office identified in recent years, Neal said, was families not hearing from law enforcement for long periods of time and then receiving letters — like the one Colleen got — 'out of the blue.' In response, the office instituted a policy of giving families case updates in person when possible, Indian Country Crimes Section Supervisor Elisa Dimas said during last year's interview. 'We've made it a real priority to understand the emotional impact that these cases have on families, to make sure that we go out and deliver this news in person, if we can, along with the victim advocate,' Dimas said. 'Because even though we might not be pursuing a criminal case at our office, we know that there are still resources and support that we can provide, either through the victim advocates or community resources, to these families.' That practice 'came naturally to a lot of us' based on prior experience working with crime victims and their families, Uballez said in the February interview. 'What we did was expand the responsibility to include this more victim-centric, community-centric—you know, to build in time for people to build those relationships. And of course, if resources get drawn down there, either in personnel, or priorities elsewhere get expanded, that could change,' Uballez said, referring to Trump administration directives. Asked if the in-person-when-possible policy will remain, Ellison, who was sworn in as New Mexico's U.S. attorney on April 18, said in an email sent by spokesperson Tessa DuBerry that he understands 'the importance of working with families of violent crimes to ensure there is justice for what they have suffered.' 'I encourage the prosecutors working with victims of violent crimes, including those in Indian Country, to work closely with these families as their cases proceed through federal court,' Ellison wrote. In the spring before his death, Kyle gave his mother a packet of flower seeds. Colleen enjoyed gardening, but she hadn't done it in a long time, and the packet ended up in a drawer somewhere. A few years ago, she was cleaning up around her house when she came across it. 'I just broke down. I remembered him giving that to me, and I said, 'I'm going to make a garden.' So I put flowers all over my front yard, and I'm starting on the back. Trees, flowers, and it's growing,' she said. 'It's all for Kyle.' Colleen has worked doggedly to find answers and get Kyle's case reopened since receiving the letter in 2022. She's attended events, sometimes as far away as three hours south in Albuquerque, to ask for help from federal and tribal officials. She's created posters with photos of her son and information about his death to take to rallies and gotten to know other Indigenous families with relatives who have been killed or gone missing. And she has repeatedly followed up with the investigators and filed records requests to try to learn more about their efforts. She has her own theories about what happened to Kyle, but she worries she'll never know definitively who killed her son or why they did it, let alone that they'll face criminal charges. 'It's a nightmare, and my family is not the same,' Colleen said. 'And I don't know how—you never come back from this. You don't come back from it. You can adjust to it, but my life is different now, it's just so different.'
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Complaint alleges Gallup-McKinley Schools superintendent violated state ethics laws
(Image via New Mexico In Depth) Gallup-McKinley County Schools Superintendent Mike Hyatt is under scrutiny for alleged violations of state procurement and government ethics laws, following a complaint filed Monday with the New Mexico State Ethics Commission. Submitted on behalf of Stride, Inc. and its online education subsidiary, K12 Virtual Schools, the complaint alleges Hyatt sought a $235,000-per-year salary as Stride's Vice President for Academic Innovation, while the company had an active contract with the school district—and when he was not hired for the position, Hyatt sought to terminate that contract. K12 provides online education for the district's Destinations Career Academy of New Mexico. This story was originally published by New Mexico In Depth. 'Superintendent Hyatt is apparently knowingly and willfully abusing his public position, at the expense of ~4,200 New Mexico students' who are enrolled in online schooling, the complaint alleged. In an email to New Mexico In Depth, Monday, Hyatt refuted the allegations, saying the company, not he, behaved in 'illegal' and 'unethical' ways, because of inadequate student-teacher ratios for their online courses. 'We have recently found out the illegal [and] unethical practices of Stride and how they are profiting and increasing revenue by breaking the law in our online program,' Hyatt wrote. 'We notified them of their wrongdoing and had previously notified them to not break the law when it comes to students teacher ratios.' The ethics complaint letter alleges that Hyatt potentially violated the New Mexico Government Conduct Act (GCA) and state procurement code. 'The GCA has specific prohibitions against a public officer or employee seeking employment with a contractor who has a contract with the public officer or employee's employer,' according to the complaint. 'The Procurement Code similarly prohibits an employee who is participating directly or indirectly in the procurement process to become, or to be, while such an employee, the employee of any person or business contracting with the governmental body by whom the employee is employed.' The complaint was filed by attorney Laura E. Sanchez of the law firm Rodey, Dickason, Sloan, Akin & Robb, P.A., in Albuquerque. The New Mexico State Ethics Commission declined to comment on the complaint or its investigation plans. On Monday, Deputy Director Amelia Bierle told New Mexico In Depth in an email that the Commission does not comment on alleged ethics violations before investigations are concluded. Gallup-McKinley signed an Educational Products & Services Contract with K12 in June 2020. Hyatt was district superintendent. According to the company's complaint letter, Hyatt applied for the company's VP position on December 11, 2024 and was initially interviewed on Jan. 21, 2025. On Feb. 21, the company's senior vice president of schools, Adam Hawf, spoke with Hyatt by phone to let him know he had not been hired. 'Mr. Hawf called Superintendent Hyatt, as opposed to issuing him a formal letter, due to the sensitivity of the relationship and fear that Superintendent Hyatt would adversely affect the District's relationship with the Contractor,' the complaint letter states. In his email to New Mexico In Depth, Monday, Hyatt confirmed, 'I applied for a job there in 2024.' Less than a month after the call with Hawf, at a routine monthly meeting with the company on March 10, Hyatt's demeanor had become 'completely different than it had been in past meetings,' according to the complaint letter. '[T]he meeting was hostile […] instead of amicable and collaborative.' On April 1, Hyatt sent a breach of contract and termination letter to the company, citing several alleged contract breaches, including inadequate student-teacher ratios, teacher licensure, and problems with student achievement in Destinations Career Academy students. Three days later, Gallup-McKinley issued a request for proposals to find a new contractor. The termination letter violated a 45-day 'cure' period for contractual disputes, the company contends. The complaint further alleges that Hyatt directed the district to issue the new request for proposals for virtual education services while Stride's contract was still in effect, potentially violating its exclusivity provision. Hyatt knew previously about student-teacher ratio concerns, according to the complaint letter. 'Superintendent Hyatt's conduct after he was denied employment … shows that he is potentially abusing his authority, and not acting in the public interest,' the ethics complaint states. 'He was aware of the alleged student-teacher ratios and the licensure issues prior to submitting his application for employment with the Contractor. He also served as a positive reference for the Contractor with the New Mexico PED [Public Education Department] on February 6, 2025 and for Ohio as recently as February 25, 2025, despite knowledge of the concerns he later raised in the letter to the Contractor on April 1, 2025.' The firm submitted 18 supporting documents with the ethics complaint, including emails and correspondence, the termination letter, and the request for proposals. The company has tried to address Hyatt's concerns within the 45-day 'cure period' set out in the contract but has been hindered by Gallup-McKinley since receiving the termination letter, according to the complaint. Examples include the district delaying teacher criminal history fingerprint clearances and refusing to sign off on teachers' license extensions. 'Out of desperation they are attempting to deflect the harm they have done […] and are trying to create a narrative that I by myself am trying to break a contract for personal reasons,' Hyatt wrote in his email to the news organization. 'Nothing could be further from the truth.'
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Yahoo
FBI sending more agents to New Mexico to address violent crime in Indian Country
Two boys hold signs at an Albuquerque protest against the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people on July 21, 2023. (Bella Davis/New Mexico In Depth) This story was originally published by New Mexico In Depth Neal, who is a member of the task force, told members it's his understanding that agents sent to New Mexico will be working primarily in Farmington and Gallup. 'We have been able to make some great progress,' Neal said about working with agents sent to the state in the past year or two as part of the operation. 'Unfortunately, because it's been a short period of time, I feel like we make progress, and then [the agents are] gone, right? So this is a great opportunity to have them around for a little bit longer.' During the last phase of the operation, in 2024, 50 FBI personnel worked in 10 field offices for four months, according to the agency, instead of six as called for this year. The FBI's Indian Country program had about 4,300 open investigations nationally at the start of fiscal year 2025, including over 900 death investigations, 1,000 child abuse investigations, and more than 500 domestic violence and adult sexual abuse investigations, according to the Justice Department. The federal government has jurisdiction in prosecuting several types of violent crimes in Indian Country, including murder, kidnapping and sexual abuse. Relatives of Indigenous people who have gone missing or been killed in the state spoke to the task force about their frustrations with a lack of law enforcement. Becky Martinez, whose brother Calvin Martinez disappeared in 2019, told Neal that many Indigenous people go missing or are killed off reservations. That's part of why the Justice Department created a regional outreach program focused on the crisis, which is the program he was hired under, Neal responded. 'I have worked on cases that have happened off the reservations where we use FBI resources,' Neal said. 'The FBI has the cellular analysis survey team, for example. We've been able to help state and local law enforcement with cell site warrants, things like that, investigative techniques for cases where the FBI doesn't have jurisdiction. But in those instances, it's going to be an assist kind of situation.' Since Julius Largo went missing near Morgan Lake in northwestern New Mexico in November, his family has organized searches for him, on their own and with help from a local nonprofit, his sister told the task force. 'We don't see any FBI or criminal investigators until there's a deceased body, and that's what sucks,' Danielle Werito said. 'With all these tips that we got, and I submitted to our detective, nothing is being done about it.' Largo is a father and also has nieces and nephews who miss him, Werito said. Mathilda Silago has been missing from Nageezi, also in northwestern New Mexico, since 2019. Her disappearance, Darrell Tsosie told task force members, has been 'very challenging' for his and Mathilda's daughter. 'I just want to tell every person out there online, those in attendance, again, you're in my thoughts. You're in my prayers. It is very challenging. Please don't give up,' Tsosie said. 'Let us keep each other in prayer and let us support one another. And for all of the law enforcement agencies out there, no more excuses. No more excuses. Please work together and let's get these relatives home. Please.' Gary Mike, whose daughter Ashlynne Mike, an 11-year-old Diné girl, was kidnapped and murdered on the Navajo Nation in 2016, also spoke to task force members. 'Please listen to all of these passionate people who represent their loved ones,' Mike said. 'They are hurting. They're looking for justice. They're looking for their loved ones. Please understand, because I have been through that with my daughter Ashlynne.' A 29-year-old man was sentenced to life imprisonment for her murder in 2017. Also on Friday, New Mexico Department of Justice staffers shared updates to an online portal listing Indigenous people missing from New Mexico and the Navajo Nation. The portal now includes a tab displaying photos and stories of people who have been killed, submitted by their loved ones. There's also a tab listing relevant community events. Below are flyers for missing people who were mentioned by loved ones during public comment at Friday's meeting.
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cleanup money for uranium mines and other contaminated sites in budget, for now
The security gate for the Quivira (formerly Kerr-McGee) uranium mine just north of the UNC uranium mine site, which operated from 1977 to 1982. (Photo Kalen Goodluck for New Mexico In Depth) New Mexico could soon be cleaning up some of the hundreds of abandoned uranium mines and other contaminated sites around the state and paving the way for continued efforts — if $50 million for that purpose remains in the state budget. There are at least 302 'orphan sites' in New Mexico, where 'known or suspected contamination is causing a threat to human health or the environment,' according to the New Mexico Environment Department. These sites, in addition to about 50 old uranium mines, aren't eligible for cleanup under any existing programs, and the state can't identify any responsible parties. The state would use the funding to begin cleaning up those roughly 350 sites. This story was originally published by New Mexico In Depth In addition to those orphan sites and the 50 or so old uranium mines the state would be targeting, there are another 200 some odd former uranium mines in New Mexico, some in various stages of cleanup. Many of the old mines in the state are on or near tribal lands, and Indigenous communities have advocated for remediation for decades, citing ongoing health and environmental impacts. Rep. Joseph Hernandez, D-Shiprock, and his family, along with many others in the state, have 'gone through numerous doctors appointments, numerous times taking care of our elders who either worked in the industry or are family members of someone' who did, he said last month during a committee hearing. Hernandez recounted stories his mother would tell about his grandfather getting home after long shifts in a nearby mill with uranium dust coating his clothes. 'And this dust today continues to get blown through our communities, not just on Navajo,' Hernandez (Diné) told the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee. 'This is communities throughout New Mexico. Many families feel left behind.' Hernandez and Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, both sponsored bills this year to add in the state budget $50 million for cleaning up contaminated sites, including old uranium mines. That money is now in the $10.8 billion proposed budget the House passed last week. The funding would be a 'drop in the bucket,' Steinborn said in an interview on Friday. The state environment department already has plans for two sites to be remediated, one of which is a uranium mine estimated to cost between $4 and $8 million. The other is a site with chemically contaminated soil and groundwater estimated to cost $5 million to clean up, the agency reported in a bill analysis. The money would allow the state to 'begin to characterize more of the sites, do some cleanup work, and then lay the groundwork for a plan to do much broader efforts,' Steinborn said. He wants more specifically for uranium cleanup. He's sponsoring Senate Bill 276, a proposal to put $75 million in the uranium mine reclamation revolving fund. Since Steinborn was first elected to the Legislature nearly two decades ago, lawmakers have been talking about the need, he said, but weren't making progress — until 2022. During that session, lawmakers mandated the state develop a strategic plan for cleanup and created the revolving fund. But the fund has sat empty in the three years since then. Money deposited in the fund would be used for 'site assessments, safeguarding, closure designs, surface reclamation, groundwater remediation, and monitoring, where appropriate,' reads a November presentation state environment department staff gave lawmakers on the interim Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee. For some of the abandoned mines, there are owners that the state, including the attorney general, could go after legally, Steinborn said. But some of the companies don't exist anymore, and some of the mines aren't eligible for cleanup under any federal programs. That's where the state should step in, he said. With just a few weeks left in the session, Steinborn said he continues to advocate for $75 million for the revolving fund, but 'we're going to have to fight to ensure' $50 million for cleanup of contaminated sites more broadly — which would include abandoned uranium mines but wouldn't be exclusive to cleanup of those sites — stays in the budget. The Senate is 'having to make budget adjustments and fill some budgetary holes, as it's been explained, that weren't addressed in the House,' said Steinborn, who sits on the Senate Finance Committee, tasked with reviewing the budget. 'If they're having to come up with money to fill some holes, a $50 million pot of money sitting there, it could be attractive to some to say, 'Hey, let's make that number a little smaller and help fill a hole somewhere else.' So it's going to require continued advocacy and education to preserve that, which I will be doing and others should as well,' he said.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Indigenously Positive: A new series about Native joy and empowerment
Bella DavisNew Mexico In DepthMarcus Moquino sat behind a booth painting shoes with intricate, colorful designs, pausing occasionally to talk with shoppers on a bustling November weekend at Isleta Resort and Casino. In the next room over, other Indigenous artists tattooed clients as dance groups and bands performed.I was at the Indigenous Tattoo and Music Fest with a few questions for anyone who was open to talking with me. One thing I wanted to know: What do you want to see more or less of in news coverage of Native Americans?When I asked Moquino, Kewa Pueblo and Hopi, that question, he didn't hesitate. 'I would like for us to actually get acknowledged,' he said.I heard similar sentiments in conversations with over a dozen Indigenous people from tribal nations here in New Mexico and beyond. For the most part, Native Americans are either invisible in the news media or portrayed in stereotypical, harmful ways, people told me time and time again. In a 2018 report by Reclaiming Native Truth, researchers wrote that popular narratives of Native Americans – including in the news — tend to focus on disparities. Those narratives 'often fail to trigger moral urgency among non-Native populations to address oppressive conditions' and can also 'lead to feelings of hopelessness among the communities such narratives purport to describe.'As New Mexico In Depth's Indigenous affairs reporter since 2022, I've written about educational inequities and Native people making up a disproportionate share of the state's homeless population. I've met numerous families whose loved ones have gone missing or been murdered and documented state officials' response to the crisis. These are systemic issues, rooted in colonization, that I think journalists are obligated to shine a light on — to center those most affected, make the causes clear, and examine potential solutions. And as a Yurok woman, it's meaningful to me to report on injustices affecting my own community that have gone underreported for far too the same time, I don't want those to be the only kinds of stories I tell. So, I'm partnering with New Mexico PBS on a collaborative series uplifting Indigenous joy and resilience. The first episode of Indigenously Positive, a collaboration between New Mexico In Depth and New Mexico PBS. To help inform the direction of the project, we headed to the tattoo festival and out to a couple events in many of the people I talked with said, should emphasize Indigenous people's strengths and successes and give more attention to artists and language teachers and young entrepreneurs and community members working to make our world a better place. 'Even our education system in the United States isn't really accurate and sometimes talk about us as a historical people but we're still here and we're still thriving and we're doing wonderful things,' said Ptisawquah (Potawatomi/Kickapoo/Assiniboine), a vendor at the festival who makes plant medicines. I hope you'll watch this first episode of Indigenously Positive. Episodes including this one will air on the station's public affairs show New Mexico in Focus. You'll also be able to find them on you have any suggestions about what we should explore or who we should talk with, I'd love to hear them. You can reach me at story was originally published by New Mexico In series is a collaboration between New Mexico In Depth and New Mexico PBS. Bella Davis was the reporter/producer for this episode; NMPBS Multimedia Producer Benjamin Yazza directed and produced it; NMPBS' Joey Dunn contributed camera work. Bella Davis is an Indigenous affairs reporter focused on issues including education and the missing and murdered Indigenous women and relatives crisis. She is a Yurok tribal member, born in Eureka, California and raised in central New Mexico. Bella's position at New Mexico In Depth is made possible in part by the national organization Report for America. Previously, she worked at the Santa Fe Reporter, New Mexico In Depth through a one-year fellowship, and her college newspaper, the Daily Lobo. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of New Mexico.
