New Mexico: Land of Enchantment, Beauty and Community

Our Home, Our Hope

New Mexico has been my home for eleven years. We have built our family here, we are raising our daughter here, we opened our dream dance studio here in Albuquerque and we are down the street from my parents, which all feels really amazing.

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However, figuring out how to advocate for our children of color in a public school system that often does not value our children’s full humanity is very heartbreaking. This is where the work of Embracing Equity has been a powerful cross-racial coalition of hope and support.

We know that our beautiful African and Mexican daughter deserves for us to be very vigilant, guiding her to love herself and advocate for herself. We want her to love her coily curls bouncing around and to love her beautiful chocolate skin. We want her to be challenged to reach her highest potential.

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We actively do this at home, but who celebrates her in this way at school? What does it take for all educators to be prepared to celebrate Black and Brown children in school?

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Our Current State

New Mexico is rated in the bottom four in education in the United States each year. It also ranks 50th in child welfare overall. When you couple this with New Mexico’s lack of equitable educational practices (see the Martinez-Yazzie case), you can clearly see that our state has a lot of opportunities for improvement.

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And it’s not that we are sitting here waiting to fail. In fact, it’s very much the opposite. There have been strong individual and community organizers working for a more equitable education system in New Mexico and we at Embracing Equity are so proud to link arms and join these organizers in solidarity.

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Our History

Without knowing the true history of New Mexico and by choosing to ignore the brutal colonialism of this state, the continued erasure of Indigenous communities persists. Celebrating and centering the Hispanic/European perspective within the educational settings and beyond will not ensure equitable actions take place (please see Santa Fe Public schools stance here).

Dr. Bettina Love tells us, “Settler colonialism is a structure, not an event. This means that settler colonialism is not something that happened in history. It is an on-going and ever changing structure that defines everything in settler states.”

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New Mexico has left out Indigenous history within education which creates a community that consciously or unconsciously ignores the 23 federally recognized Tribal Nations in New Mexico.

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For example, the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 is one crucial omission that perpetuates erasure of Indigenous people in our community. In a state where boarding schools were very much a part of the history, we can see the negative impact today as New Mexico continues to ignore Indigenous peoples truths as well as many BIPOC truths that need to be shared. A historical narrative is spread about Black families and the Black community, who are also seen as non-existent in New Mexico, although historically Black families had been settling in the state since 1903. One important Black homesteader colony was Blackdom, which is located 15 miles south of Roswell.

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Our Future in New Mexico

Since 2017, Embracing Equity has been working with schools and organizations to cultivate equitable and inclusive learning spaces. This year, with the support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, we launched a statewide initiative to build capacity for culturally sustaining education.

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The pilot we are implementing in New Mexico is instrumental in upholding true equity and action across the state. There is no more time to waste when it comes to our children’s lives. Anti-racism education means there is a commitment to an embodied practice daily.

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Anti-racism education is NOT:

• only reading diverse books
• just celebrating cultural events/holidays
• a one time recognition of your students’ heritage

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When I first experienced Embracing Equity as an early childhood educator, it was like I finally found my place in the community, among a loving group of people who share a vision for what education can be. I want to spread this feeling of belonging to all educators in my home state.

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Yes, this learning may be uncomfortable.

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Yes, this may make you feel things you do not want to feel.

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AND, yes, the liberation you feel on the other side is astounding.

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Embracing Equity is here in New Mexico ready to be a collaborator and partner to make it possible for all children to joyfully thrive in school…not just survive. Doing this work together will only foster more authentic spaces that every child and family can feel truly seen, valued, and embraced.

New Mexico: I see you. I represent you with pride. Now is our moment to do better by our children. My motivation is my daughter and my dream for an equitable world for her to live in starting right here at home in the land of enchantment, green chile, mountains, desert, hot air balloons, and endless sunshine.

UPCOMING EVENTS in New Mexico:

• October 29, 2022: Summit for Early Science Learning at Explora
• November 2-4, 2022: La Cosecha Conference - check us out at booth L9
• November 5, 2022: Embracing Equity Community Pop-up

LEARN MORE

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About the author:

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Natane Lim (she/her) is a Program Manager at Embracing Equity.

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She is working across the state piloting an anti-racist cohort model to bring equitable teaching practices to educational settings from preschool to higher education. Natane has been an early childhood special education educator for 20 years.