It Could Happen Here - Fascism Comes for a New Mexico School Board

Episode Date: December 1, 2021

Robert sits down with Lucas Herndon, a father and activist in Las Cruces, about right wing attempts to dominate his local school board. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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That's iHeart.com slash podcast awards. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast. And we're kicking off our second season digging into tech's elite and how they've turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google Search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech brought to you by an industry veteran with nothing to lose. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts from. welcome back to it could happen here the show about things not being great and maybe trying to make them better um i'm robert evans uh this week we got we have a special little little little

episode for you um i'm gonna sit down and talk with lucas herndon um lucas you are from new or you live in new mexico at least. And you wanted to talk to me a bit about some stuff that's going on in your school boards. We just did a two-parter on fascist attempts to kind of take over and dominate school boards around the country. And you've got some personal experience with that. So I wanted to kind of just turn this over to you to start us off. Yeah. Thanks, Robert. Thanks for having me on the show. Yeah. My name is Lucas, and I live in Las Cruces, New Mexico, which is in the southern part of the state. We're close to the border for people that are interested. And yeah, my experience that happened last week

is sort of the quintessential, it could happen here. Yeah. It done did. Yeah. It done did. Exactly. Yeah. Las Crucesces um politically speaking is actually a very progressive little town yeah i mean in general new mexico has been for what you know however you consider that progressive or not is has been blue for quite a while as in terms of like voting like it's not uh it's not like texas politically least. Right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we voted for Bush the first time, but have voted blue every election since 2004, like federally. So in my little stretch of the state, our congressional district has been red, but the

city of Las Cruces, which is the, like, we're the biggest city in the southern part of the state, we're the second biggest city in the state. Our city council has not only been democratic, but like progressively democratic. We have, as of this recent election, you know, from the beginning of November, we now have an all female city council. um there is uh at least we have um uh one one if not two trying to think sorry currently there are two um folks on the city council who have immigrated from mexico in their life um one will still be on one is now running for congress um we have um the school board that currently is sitting is generally progressive. And the one we just elected, we just elected our first openly queer person onto that school board.

Our little group of legislators that go up to Santa Fe every year is very progressive. So, again, just to kind of reiterate, like Las Cruces, New Mexico, pretty progressive little place. New Mexico, pretty progressive little place. And yet at the school board meeting last week, totally dominated by a public attendance of very far right extremists spouting all kinds of nonsense about all kinds of things. So yeah, it was pretty wild. Yeah. And this, I mean, this has happened, this happened in Portland, Oregon too, which is also famously, I don't know, I wouldn't call Portland politics progressive, but solidly democratic. And the school board meeting gets taken over by far right activists. This is, yeah. So when did you kind of first become aware of this? Well, so it was a weird convergence of my personal and my private, or I'm sorry,

my personal and my professional life, where I I work for an organization called Progress Now New Mexico. So it's like I do progressive politics for a living. But and a colleague who works for the ACLU here had asked if I would go and help lend support to this gender inclusion policy that the school board was going to be commenting on. They weren't voting on it that day. It was what's called a first reading. And she asked if I could go and if I could just speak. And I was like, yeah, absolutely. Be happy to. So I was going to go and talk about this in a professional capacity. And then that day like before I went to that, my daughter, who's in middle school, texted me a picture. A bunch of kids had on Monday of last week, which was like Trans Awareness Week or Trans Visibility Week.

Some kids had shown up wearing trans flags and pride flags on that Monday, the following day, that Tuesday, some kids showed up wearing, um, thin blue line flags in response, like indirect response. Yeah. Um, and in my daughter and, you know, my daughter is aware enough to know what that means. So she texted me and was like, I can't believe this shit. And I was like, I know. Um, so then I'm like, right. So then I'm like, okay, well now I want to go speak about this gender inclusion bill

or policy personally. Right. Like now it like has impacted me. So I show up at, you know, about an hour before the meeting's supposed to start, because the third thing that kind of happened was that I, I am, I'm on like a bunch of mailing lists because of my job. I'm on like a bunch of mailing lists because of my job. And sure enough, the local GOP, who is not very active because again, they kind of lose all the time. They sent out a like, come show up at this thing, you know, email. So I showed up early thinking, okay, well, I want to see if there's going to be something. And at first I was like, Oh, like, I don't think they showed up. I don't think that they turned out.

That's good. But it turns out they were all like hiding in their cars so that they could swarm the building at once. And so then about half an hour before the meeting, they all walked in at once. And I was already sitting inside the room. And they all came in at once. And they took over all the chairs. They were standing room only. To the point where there was a bunch of FFA kids that were there that was supposed to be

recognized for, you know, FFA something or other. And like they had to kick some people out so that they weren't violating the fire code. That's how many, yeah. So anyway, that's kind of how it all that's the setting for where this all happened. It turns out that at the same meeting, there was going to be a policy discussion on a different policy that had to do with New Mexico's revision of social studies standards. And of course, that got everybody hot and bothered about so-called CRT, which isn't a

thing. But so like they were there, but I mean mean but the folks that showed up to speak i mean they were all over the place they were talking about critical race theory they were talking about the gender inclusion bill and like trans violent the myth of trans violence and um but then of course like like covid protocols and all kinds of i mean just again like way out there stuff um and actually kind of funny i was listening to knowledge fight this morning and, and, uh, Jordan and Dan really hit on it that like, they have just figured out that these are places they can go and yell. And like, no one, you know, like school board people aren't going to like, they're all just, these are all just like teachers, like retired teachers who are on these school boards.

And they're like, they're not there to just, you know, have these like whatever discussions. So they're not going to, you know, they just like let these people yell and they did so anyways it got it got heated uh pretty quickly because i mean again these people just like go off and they get they rile themselves up and there's lots of applause and anyway that's kind of how it all started i guess or that's what it was and i mean has has there have you noticed kind of any sort of mobilization in the community now that this has happened? Because it seems like the first ones of these, at least, always take everybody by surprise. People are not used to, still not really used to school board meetings being, shall I say, interesting? Certainly important, but like not a thing that you have to really be concerned about for the most part. And that's changing. Have you seen the community kind of start to adapt to that? Yeah. So I put some content out on my local Twitter and got some traction there, thanks to sort of your retweet, I think.

But then the biggest thing was that kind of going back to what had happened at my daughter's school, that progressed. That got worse, if you will. The following day, the Wednesday of last week, some kids showed up in an actual Confederate stars and bars flag, which is, yeah, that's nuts. Yes. Famed Confederate state, New Mexico. state new mexico but you know mesilla new mexico which is right down the road was it was the capital of the confederate uh territory but yeah but it wasn't a state at that point it was not a state i mean you do yeah and i'm not aware of were there battles in new mexico and i know we had some in like further south texas than you would think but i was not aware of any there's a couple there was one famously up north called the battle of glorietta and then um and then there was one

here where i live wasn't a battle it was a bunch of confederates got um stranded and super drunk and then uh couldn't cross the desert fast enough so they got stranded up in the mountains at a place called baylor canyon and they can they get to the top and like the North was just sitting there, like waiting for them and was like, well, you're captured now. Well, see, that's clearly, that's some history worth celebrating right there. Oh yeah. A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. I think that the biggest, like one of the scariest,

but biggest things is like, and this goes towards the, this is a slight tangent, but like the social studies revision, for in the state of new mexico uh there are two paragraphs in our history book about the gaston purchase um like i live in the chunk that is the gaston purchase and um like the gaston purchase is like james gaston was a notorious racist who left the south and took all of his railroad money went to california and mexico lobbying hard using his influence and money to try to create a slave state in baja mexico like that's what he was trying to do and like that part of the that part of the context of why the gas and purchase even happened is like

totally left out of history books. And it's like, if anywhere it should be taught, it should be taught in the place that is called the gas and purchase when it comes to the United States. So anyway, just a little tangent there, why it's important to have context in history. So, sorry, going back to my daughter's school and these kids wearing the stupid stars and bars. So that sorry, going back to my daughter's school and these kids wearing the stupid stars and bars.

So that I so like I went and spoke to the assistant principal and was like, so I understand that your answer to this was to ban all flags. Yeah. And he was like, and he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because they're causing a disruption to education. And I was like, yeah, but I, you know, I feel like you're giving the false equivalency to like, you know, gender and, and pride acknowledgement to, and versus actual flag. Yeah. It's,

it's, I mean, it's this constant, this has happened in a couple of places, including a town in Oregon where it's like, this is sort of the, the centrist and kind of the right wing solution to this is just that like, well,

if, if kids can't wear racist hate flags, then gay kids can't wear a flag that says that their existence is valid, you know, because those are the same thing. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's frustrating. It is frustrating. So that was not my favorite thing.

And so then the culmination of that this week was that my daughter's social studies teacher who had allowed the kids in her class to make little paper flags after the real flags were banned was fired. Jesus Christ. And because it's a personnel matter, no one is willing to tell me more. I've called the president of the school school board who'd actually in all fairness he doesn't actually probably have that much sway over these kinds of things i would imagine that happened at a level a level that was not his but yeah yeah but i mean but i but i have anyway so i did call him i also called the school and got very little information from them obviously so you know who knows but again like that's how it was perceived from the kids in her class

yeah um and that's so like what we know happened is that we know that after the flags got banned she let kids make flags out of paper and hang them up and by friday she was gone so like not a great response no not not not ideal not like you yeah yeah so anyway that's kind of where we left that but i guess maybe what maybe what i should say to get back to your original question which is to say like have we seen a mobilization that yeah like so i alerted the newspaper the reporter is who that teacher like a couple weeks ago had actually been in the newspaper because she had also like um she she spearheaded this like response like a poor like a girl who wore a hijab to school had been bullied and like when news got around in the school like the like the majority of the

student body and this teacher like went up and above out of their way to make her feel welcome and like walk her to her class and like it got kind of viral on local tiktok so like this teacher got quoted in the newspaper so i like called i called the rapport i tweeted the newspaper and i was like it's like you guys know that the teacher who was in like star lit in your article is fired for allowing kids to voice their thoughts about these flags things. Right. Yeah. And they were like, no, we didn't know. And I was like, you should probably find more. So, so I, you know, I don't know where we're going to be at now. The next reading for the gender inclusion policy is the 14th of December.

So we've got a couple of weeks before that next school board meeting. I think that on my end, like there's going to be some local organizing to try to get some better, more inclusive voices to be a part of things. I don't, you know, I don't know what the interim will hold because it's like, you know,

it's the holidays and there's a lot going on and Kyle Rittenhouse and Build Back Better. I mean, there's like, you know, there's always a million things happening. So it'll, you know, there will have to be some drum beating to like get people to show up to that. But on the other hand, I think with some of the momentum we have, and I think people will show up in mass for the 14th in support, at least.

This is the kind of community that in general, we have shown up and shown out to support, you know, these kinds of issues in the past. But I do think that up until now, people felt pretty asleep about it. Welcome. I'm Danny Thrill. Won't you join me as the fire and dare enter? Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows, presented by iHeart and Sonora. An anthology of modern day horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America. From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters, to bone-chilling brushes

with supernatural creatures. I know you. Take a trip and experience the horrors that have haunted Latin America since the beginning of time. Listen to Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows as part of my Cultura podcast network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jack Peace Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series, Black Lit, the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of

Black literature. I'm Jack Peace Thomas, and I'm inviting you to join me and a vibrant community of literary enthusiasts dedicated to protecting and celebrating our stories. Black Lit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audiobooks while commuting or running errands, for those who find themselves seeking solace, wisdom, and refuge between the chapters. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. Together, we'll dissect classics and contemporary works while uncovering the stories of the brilliant writers behind them. Blacklit is here to amplify the voices of Black writers and to bring their words to life.

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where we get into todo lo actual y viral. Listen to Gracias Come Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah, and I mean, and hopefully you do see the kind of response you're expecting. Can you walk me through sort of how the kind of attempts, like you talked about getting the local media aware of what had happened to that teacher. How are people, like, what does the actual organizing effort look like on the ground? Like, how are you trying, how are you and others trying to get the word out so that, you know, there's a response to this?

Yeah. So I think that the first thing is, is that there was, there was a problem with the way that the school board handled public comment that first time in an attempt to help limit their own sort of exposure to some of the toxic stuff they knew was coming their way. They had, um, they had instituted, uh, a limit on public comment. Um, you had to show up by a certain time and fill out these little pieces of paper saying that you were there to comment about something. And if you weren't there, then you couldn't sign up. And the problem was, was that all these like old white male retirees who are sitting around listening to Alex Jones all day, they had nothing better to do than show up to this meeting at three

o'clock in the afternoon. a bunch of for instance teachers students parents um they were busy because they were in school or like picking their kids up from school yeah um so i think one of the things that we're going to try to do is get public comment uh ahead of time and we're going to try to like bombard the not bombard that's that's a violent word but we're going to try to like just make sure sure that voices from the community that hadn't been represented are represented and sent to the school board ahead of time. I think we're going to try to go and save physical space ahead of time for those of us that can, right.

For those of us that can we'll go and we'll try to save physical space. And we did learn that even if they keep that policy for the little forms, we can we can actually give that time, we can fill out other people's names, right? So we're going to try to like, make sure that we have better voices. That was one of the things, if you listen to the recording of what I said at that meeting, I asked the school board president, if it's possible for me to yield my time, because it had literally been like a dozen white men out there spouting nonsense. And then I get up there and I'm like, yeah, Hey, um, we've heard from enough white men. Can we have like a member of the trans community or one of the women of color who are here

to talk about this? Um, but couldn't get here in time. And their, their legal team was like, Oh no, like you didn't sign up in time or whatever. So, um, but it turns out we could have put their names down ahead of time. So we're going to try to organize that thing so that people can show up and save, you know, physical space. Um, and then, um, I think the other thing too, is to try to involve some other local elected officials from the County and city level. Cause again, we have these really amazing progressive candidates who have come from all walks of life, including immigrants and members of the LGBTQ community. So having them come and speak in their official capacity,

I think will carry a lot of weight for the both for the school board, but also just for the public to hear from those voices. Yeah. Where are these like, have you have you gotten any kind of research on where the people showing up are coming from? Are these like folks within your community? Or are these people coming from kind of outlying areas to swarm these meetings? Like, is there kind of an active research contingent? of part of my job with Progress Now New Mexico. My title is Energy Policy Director. I usually spend most of my day talking about oil and gas stuff. However, I've been doing this job long enough that before I became that person, I was actively researching and tracking a lot of white supremacy activity in the state, especially along the border, some of the border militia stuff a couple of years back. So in that regard, I knew regard, um, I knew, and I knew a number of these folks, a lot of them do live in the city, but so our,

our County is considered rural by the census, even though we're a city of a hundred thousand people, but we're a big County. So there's, there's 200,000 people here. So, um, so there was, you know, it's, it's hard to tell how many people may or may not have lived in, for instance, the public school district. But what I can tell you like hands down is that of those dozen folks that spoke before I did, like, there's no way that at least, I mean, maybe one or two of them had kids that could have gone through the Las Cruces public school system, but like the majority

of them far and away, like either aren't from here at all or, you know, they've lived here for a long time, but they are they are not active parents or even grandparents of kids that live and will go to school in this in this district. They're just they're just agitated right wingers. Yeah. And it's how does this all tie in? Because New Mexico's had I think it's kind of been on the back burner in terms of like national attention. But y'all have had some really significant dustups, not just with, you know, the border militias for years, there have been violent acts and even murders as the result of that stuff going on. But like during last year's, the protest over George Floyd's murder, y'all had some really ugly, shall we say dueling rallies were like right wingers shot at people and some really

some nasty situations. I'm wondering are like those folks like are you seeing that kind of organization being brought into the school board meeting or is this just kind of bubbling up as part of the same stew? It is. Yeah, it's loosely affiliated for sure. it is yeah there it's loosely affiliated for sure um and and the crossover the crossover is hard to tell depend i mean what am i trying to say there's there is crossover it's hard to tell how on purpose it is or sort of the fact that this is like a small population community state, right? So what I mean by that is that some of the physical

white supremacists who showed up last year at one of our BLM support, you know, George Floyd related peaceful protests, who they showed up at a parking lot across the street you know armed long guns tack vests all that kind of stuff who that those were the folks that when i when i went and filmed them and and put them on blast to to try and sort of out them as best we possibly could or at least identify them um they came back and doxxed me uh as and then a number of my colleagues up north in Albuquerque. That was about a week before there was a shooting of an anti-fascist protester in Albuquerque. And it was during sort of all of that stuff that I was like trying to talk about all this out loud and got tied in to a few more other anti-fascist voices in the state. So since then,

we've all been kind of working together. We found each other on Twitter, thankfully. And so, so what it seems like is, is that like the folks that showed up to the school board meeting were what I'll call usual suspects, like politically active old, you know, right-wingers. That being said, in that room, there were a number of people that I've identified as showing up to anti-vax rallies, a number of the Trump train rallies that happened last year before the election.

And at least one person who I recognized as being, I have never seen carry a firearm, but like has been at rallies where people were carrying firearms and that kind of thing in response to these, you know, in response to like peaceful protests. So there is crossover for sure. Welcome. I'm Danny Thrill. Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows, presented

by iHeart and Sonora, an anthology of modernday horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America. From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters to bone-chilling brushes with supernatural creatures. I know you. Take a trip and experience the horrors that have haunted Latin America since the beginning of time. Listen to Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows as part of My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jack Peace Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series, Black Lit, the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. I'm Jack Peace

Thomas, and I'm inviting you to join me and a vibrant community of literary enthusiasts dedicated to protecting and celebrating our stories. Blacklit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audiobooks while commuting or running errands, for those who find themselves seeking solace, wisdom, and refuge between the chapters. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. Together, we'll dissect classics and contemporary works while uncovering the stories of the brilliant writers behind them. Blacklit is here to amplify the voices of Black writers and to bring their words to life. Listen to Blacklit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts. Curious about queer sexuality, cruising, and expanding your horizons? Hit play on the sex-positive and deeply entertaining podcast Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Join hosts Gabe Gonzalez and Chris Patterson Rosso as they explore queer sex, cruising, relationships, and culture in the new iHeart podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions.

Sniffy's Cruising Confessions will broaden minds and help you pursue your true goals. You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Sniffy's Cruising Confessions will broaden minds and help you pursue your true goals. You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions, sponsored by Gilead, now on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday. Hola mi gente, it's Honey German and I'm bringing you Gracias, Come Again, the podcast where we dive deep into the world of Latin culture, musica, peliculas, and entertainment with some of the biggest names in the game. If you love hearing real conversations

with your favorite Latin celebrities, artists, and culture shifters, this is the podcast for you. We're talking real conversations with our Latin stars, from actors and artists to musicians and creators sharing their stories, struggles, and successes. You know it's going to be filled with chisme, laughs, and all the vibes that you love.

Each week, we'll explore everything from music and pop culture to deeper topics like identity, community, and breaking down barriers in all sorts of industries. Don't miss out on the fun, el té caliente, and life stories. Join me for Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German,

where we get into todo lo actual y viral. Listen to Gracias Come Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Where do you see this going? Like, because you've been kind of paying attention to this for a while, not just the school board stuff, but just kind of the general problem of right-wing organizing in your area. Like, where do you, where do you see this heading within kind of the context of New Mexico? Well, I mean, so we haven't really talked about this, but like, so while, while here in Las Cruces, we did really well during the November election in terms of our

school board, we reelected a really good progressive school board president and two new good progressive candidates, including, like I said, the first, you know, queer openly queer person. So that's amazing. However, up in Albuquerque, they lost seats to some of these far right wing candidates. candidates. And so the Albuquerque school board is not, not looking as good politically. So I mean, so on the like, I guess what I'd say is on the soft end, what I expect is more continued pressure in sort of the, the, the, the way these things are supposed to happen, which is to say like continued presence of the right wing folks at meetings, yelling, taking up space, slowing things down, running for office when the time comes, you know, those kinds of things I see. I guess I wouldn't be surprised though, if, if I, if there were further escalation of things in a, you know, in the way we've seen other places in terms of some sort of a, you know, an armed response or somebody showing up to, you know, New Mexico's open carry state. And so people can walk around with guns all the time.

I mean, that's the other thing too, is like, while I didn't see anybody with an open carried firearm at the school board meeting, there were guys wearing like, you know, Vortex optics brand hats, thin blue line shirts, a guy with like a Remington shirt, you know, and like, I don't begrudge anybody from gun culture. I'm, you know, I'm a lefty with a gun. So it's like, I get gun culture, but like when you show up in those things and in those spaces with that kind of. Yeah. You're making a point. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. You kind of, yeah, you're making a point. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yeah.

You're, you're, you're not the, the, yeah, I get that. Have you, is there some kind of,

have you seen like any kind of budding left wing armed response? Like, is there, do you guys have like an organized group of folks who have been showing up when there are armed protests in the area? I mean, I always have my gear with me. I mean, I've got a ceramic plate. I've got my, you know, rifle and pistol. I am a member of a number of different groups. I've been a member of the SRA. I've worked with some of the armed groups up in Albuquerque. So down here, there hasn't been a ton, but I've got a, I've got what I'll call a loose affiliation with a number of folks that I would trust to be armed if need be.

of nervous about and I did have my gear for remained peaceful. And, and we, you know, we took over some streets and blocked traffic for a couple hours. And there was never any violent response from anybody other than maybe like one car at one point trying to push through and car got banged on. And that was about it. But so, so, so to answer your question, like, yes, there are those of us that are left wing and armed. And there are those of us that have been able to show out if we needed to. Thankfully, we haven't had to at this point. Yeah. Well, all right. I think that's everything I had to ask. Is there anything else you wanted to get to, to make sure to talk about today? Well, I just, I mean, I would be, I would be not doing the best of my job if I didn't mention the fact that like one of the talking points of the right wing here at our school board is that New Mexico's education system is 51st in the country. And my assumption is that that has to do with DC's public schools being counted.

Jesus. Yeah, that's not a great record. Yeah. It's not, it's not a great record. And, and, and I, and I, you know, as a parent of a kid who's in the public schools, I, you know, I cannot ignore that. Right. That's, so that's a legitimate talking point.

But the, but the thing that they want to bring it about is that, you know, they're, you know, it's because we're trying to be gender inclusive. It's because we're trying to, like, you know, teach kids about, like, actual history that happened, whatever. And the reality is it's because our education system is, unlike most places, funded by the oil and gas industry and not by like our communities um and so like you know 18 months ago oil prices crashed right and yep the state of new mexico had to have an emergency special session for our legislature to figure out how we were going to like fund things like cops and schools and like whatever um and then like now you know oil and gas is like gangbusters and we're you know record prices and like the state of mexico has this like surplus

budget but the thing is is that like that that extra money that we're going to get this time doesn't make up for the like cyclical bad you know way that we fund our schools so i just want to like tie in that like like, like all of these things tie in together, right? Like we can't talk about education in New Mexico without talking about the oil and gas funding. And so anyway, so like, because that's my, you know, that's part of the reason why I was going to go talk about this stuff at the, on my professional level is that like, I get to talk about education as an as an energy expert in the state of new mexico because energy and education are so intertwined here um and like

when you have literal like coke brothers founded um and and um like monetarily supplied think tanks in the state of new mexico who are pushing out this kind of propaganda and encouraging people so that there's a group called the um rio grande foundation and like another one called power of the future uh pta yeah power the future new mexico like both of those organizations are like tied to the coke brothers because the Koch brothers are tied to oil and they're pushing these right-wing talking points. And it's all part and parcel of just like, you know, clouding the information space. That's what they want to do. They want to have, they want to have the new cycle dominated with things like CRT and gender inclusion studies to, you know, to tie up things

like school boards so that, so that the electorate is busy talking about these things while meanwhile, they're just raking in money, hand over fist, you know, stealing our oil. So anyway, I just, that's so important to me to like make those connections especially in this state. And it's something that a lot of people don't consider and don't think about. And it's just really important to me that people understand that. a fight that we continue to see is important here and that everybody should be paying attention to both wherever it happens, including in Las Cruces and around the country.

Cause they ain't given up and they can't be ignored. Yeah. And that's, and you've mentioned this many times over the years, but like, that's the kind of thing is like, we have to show up. Yeah. We can't just let them have these spaces. And, um, and I think that this, this past school board meeting was a great example of why. Um, and, and I'm, I'm really counting on a lot of my, my, my friends and close, you know, the, the, the folks that I have come to love and support in this community, um, to show up and show out for that, because that's, you know, we've been there, right. We've, like I said, you know, and if you look up Las Cruces politics over the years on the news cycle,

like you'll see stories about our, you know, progressive city council and passing a living wage and, you know, banning plastic bags. I mean, like all these, like, you know, we've, we've tried, we've, we've tried to be that kind of little community. And, um, and, and yet, you know, these folks are still there and they're still allowed and if we give them the space they will take those spaces over so yeah yeah absolutely so thanks for having me on let me talk about this yeah it really means a lot thank you for stepping up because it is this is the thing that's a giant pain in the butt um is that everybody's got a lot going on life is complicated there's all sorts of shit to do in the old world. But every time these fascists and their affiliates decide they're going to try to take over something, you know, as busy as people are, as exhausting as it is, you do have to like – they can't just be allowed to do it.

Like that's how they win is they have unlimited energy for this shit. And if they're not like the thing that causes them to lose energy is actually being outnumbered and shown to be like, like, like being kind of pushed out by communities. You can do it. It takes it, but it requires people showing up. Yes,

that's exactly right. So I appreciate the signal boost means a lot to me. And this is a great local orgs that people can support. immigrant student rights, migrant student rights. They've been very active in this for a long time. So yeah, definitely shout out CAFE here in, I mean, all of New Mexico, but specifically in Southern New Mexico. They're doing a lot of work.

And then Dreams in Action, which is part of a national network for dreamers. But again, here in New Mexico, I've done a lot of good work. Okay. Yeah. Thank you very much, Lucas.

All right. Um, and that is going to do it for us here at it could happen here. Um, until next time go, uh, I don't know. Uh,

hang out at a school board meeting, go take up space from fascists. Yeah. Go take up space from fascists. Yeah, go take up space from fascists in general. It Could Happen Here is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, visit our website, coolzonemedia.com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app,

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