Dr. Green talks with KC Counts about the Sunday march, Monday MLK Breakfast, and moving forward together. Information on MLK Day events can be found on the KRWG Community Calendar and at naacpdac.org
MLK Events:
Below is a transcript of KC's full interview with Dr. Bobbie Green:
KC Counts:
Let's begin, Dr. Green, by talking about preparations for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and what messages you want to get out for the public from this event for the New Year, for 2024.
Dr. Bobbie Green:
The theme is thriving together. And our mantra for this year, the NAACP mantra, is the words of Doctor King who said “I've decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear”, so we're going to reach out to the community, to our partners, our constituents, to anyone who wants to work together with us for the betterment of this Community, the city of Las Cruces, and the state of New Mexico.
KC:
You know, I'm thinking while you're talking about that quote from Doctor King, about deciding on love, that there's a lot that comes after that, a lot of work, because when you're feeling hate, toward a particular community, toward a group of people, that it's a lot of work to choose love over and over again.
Bobbie:
It is a lot of work, but I believe it is a labor of love and think that we've really, given the circumstances and where the country is politically right now, we are so divided as a country. I've never seen it more divided than we are now; the mass murders, the xenophobia, the misogyny, all of those things are detrimental to everybody. They are traumatizing and we can, if we work together, maybe, you know, turn that pendulum the other way and to a place where we can all coexist peacefully. Doctor King also said “we must rise together as brothers or perish as fools”. And so, if we want to rise together, if we want to thrive together, we have got to learn to...we can certainly disagree without being disagreeable. We can celebrate our differences and recognize that the differences is what has made this country as strong as it is, and those who would want to take us back - we simply need to let them know that we're – there is strength in numbers - and we will not go back.
KC:
Well, speaking of which, you might consider it a step back, the ending of race based affirmative action in universities across the country. What do you expect the result of that decision will be?
Bobbie:
Well, as a person of color, a female of color, who has usually been on of if not the only female and black woman of color at the table for years, I know it’s difficult with affirmative action in place. It will probably more than likely be even more difficult without affirmative action in place, but I dare say that the cream always rises to the top, and so those who those brilliant students who excel in spite of, not because of, they will still continue to do so. Well, and hopefully, it will allow the best and the brightest to shine even more brightly. That's what I think will happen.
KC:
That sounds very optimistic. Now something else that is kind of standing before us, staring us down in 2024 are more efforts to curb the Voting Rights Act in several states, [continued] efforts have been underway and so far swatted down by appeals courts and the Supreme Court. What prospect do you see for voting rights in 2024?
Bobbie:
It is going to be a battle, but you know, everything that we've accomplished in this country up until now has been a battle. And so we are prepared to fight that battle. There is strength in numbers. The gerry mandering and the political posturing and the legislation that will thwart the rights of some people to vote and allow the candidate to pick the voters as opposed to the voters picking the candidate that has been an ongoing struggle that we've overcome. And I'm convinced that we will continue to overcome. People are becoming... I think the benefit of this fight is that it increases the awareness of the public. It educates those who didn't understand the importance of voting. They have a better understanding now, painfully so. We all understand what is at stake. And so the more they try to take our rights to vote away, the more we dig our heels in and fight to make sure that our rights stay intact. I believe that will be what will happen in the future and I don't see the effort to stop people from voting will be - I just don't believe it will be successful in the long run and I believe this upcoming presidential election, is one of the most important in the history of this country. I believe the voters will show up in spite of... remember, in the last presidential election they had to stand in line for hours and they stood in that line for hours. They're trying to say they can't - we can't have water. I mean, those are basic human rights that they're trying to deny, which I don't believe is legal and probably challenges will prove that. Yeah, those things are not legal. Everybody knows what's going on. And so.
KC:
And what you're talking about is, that was Georgia specifically, right, where they didn't want people giving other people water.
Bobbie:
Yeah, that was Georgia.
KC:
...lest it be buying a vote, right?
Bobbie:
Yeah, it is a ludicrous argument. And so those kinds of arguments people most people can see through those thinly veiled concerns, you know, and they understand what is really going on. And there's some dog whistles which now have become bull horns. I heard that on the news yesterday. And so, I think that the more they try to take from us, the more we stand up and fight. So you know, there's going to be a fight and there's been fights. I mean, we fought, fought in 1964 and, you know, Civil Rights Act was signed by President Lyndon Johnson. So we're, you know, we will continue to fight and like-minded people, they stand with us. So I think, again, there's strength in numbers and we can thrive together. I have no doubt.
KC:
Let's talk a little bit about the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - the annual breakfast in Las Cruces and any other activities that you want folks to know about.
Bobbie:
Well, we have a very wonderful weekend of MLK events planned. We've got a rally in the downtown Plaza. At 2:00 PM on Sunday, January 14th, that's after church services so everybody can attend their services and then come to the downtown Plaza for the rally. I've got some tremendous speakers lined up. This is a new year, we have new leadership in the city of Las Cruces. I have the new mayor, the newly elected Mayor, Eric Enriquez, will speak to us. The new chief of Police, Jeremy Story, will speak to us. The Fire Chief, Jason Smith, will speak to us. The city Councilor, Yvonne Flores, will speak to us. The vice president of student success at NMSU, Dr. Patrick Turner, will speak to us, and I also have a representative from the ACLU of New Mexico, Saba Ajadi, who will speak to us. So we are looking for a wonderful, rousing rally. At the Plaza, shortly after the rally, we will march from the Plaza to the steps of city hall and hopefully we'll have some other speakers there. The mayor himself, I believe, will greet us at City Hall. So we have a wonderful lineup on Sunday at 2:00 PM. The host of that event will be none other than DJ Black. So we are looking for young people, old people, people of all places, creeds and colors to join us in solidarity as we work to thrive together. That is Sunday. Then on Monday at 8:00 AM, doors open at 7:30 AM at the Las Cruces Convention Center. We will have none other than our own New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torres as our keynote speaker for the MLK 2024 breakfast. So I'm thrilled about the attorney general, who's a little busy right now, and this will be the day before the legislative session begins. But he has found time in his busy schedule to come to Las Cruces and talk. To the people who attend the breakfast, I believe it will be a very powerful event. We also have some young Martin Luther King youth ambassadors who will present at the banquet, so it's gonna be an exciting, wonderful way to start 2024 in Las Cruces. And so I am thrilled. Things are coming together nicely. Tickets are available through our website, naacpdac.org, that's NAACP DAC as in dona ana county.org. Breakfast tickets are $50. They're going fast. So if you want to attend and come and hear our attorney general, you better go online and get your tickets ASAP. So I'm proud of what we are trying to accomplish here and it feels good. It feels very positive, productive. And I'm hoping that 2024 will be the start of a turning point for this city rfor the better and for us working together, I don't see why we can't. I really don't see any reason why we cannot.
KC:
You know, before we turn around, February will be here. It's Black History Month. Anything that you're thinking about now regarding things to look forward to in the month of February that we should touch on before I let you go?
Bobbie:
We're going to celebrate some of our elders during Black History Month. We have our Tuskegee Airman, Mr. Clayton Flowers, who turned 108 on Christmas Day. We're going to honor him. We're going to honor Doris Hamilton, who is the first African American woman principal in the state of New Mexico, we're going to honor Florence Hamilton. They're not related, but they are both educators. And Florence Hamilton is 101, I believe, so we have some elders who have blazed trails for people like me, educators who are now able to work anywhere we want because of those who came before us. So we're going to honor our elders. I don't have the exact date, but I'm sure it will be sometime in February and we're developing the calendar right now. We're also planning a concert. A reunion concert gospel concert on February 17th at NMSU. We're planning some panel discussion. We're going to bring in some wonderful speakers. And we're going to have some students on the panel to discuss the issues that students are having to deal with right now, specifically at NMSU, we've had some bad publicity with, you know, some of the things, scandals and things that have happened. But we're again, we're going to turn around as well. NMSU is a mainstay in Las Cruces and we are proud of our university and our college town, so we're going to work to make sure that the image projects what our values are, and so we're working on a whole variety of things. If you will allow me to come back with a calendar when I have it finalized, I would love to do that anytime.
KC:
Anytime at all. Doctor Green, thank you so much for sharing this time with us and for sharing your thoughts as we head into another celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We appreciate your time.
Bobbie:
You know I love you and I appreciate you. And I look forward to talking more with you, as we plan events in 2024. Thank you so much and thank you to KRWG.
