Civil Rights
Civil rights are rights guaranteed by the Constitution (federal and state) and laws authorized by the Constitution. Women, Black and brown people, those who identify with ethnic minorities and some religions, LGBTQ, and people with handicaps often have a heightened awareness of how they are treated unequally under law and have developed advocacy groups and legal strategies to protect their rights. Given white supremacy and divisions fostered during the Trump administration, civil rights are increasingly threatened.
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What We Are Doing
We actively supported the passage of the New Mexico Civil Rights Act, and now are working with legislators and others to ensure its implementation by local government agencies.
We created a slide Slide presentation to build a common understanding of the scope of civil rights protections and the nature of civil rights violations.
We are working on law enforcement reform in order to strengthen policies that protect everyone’s civil rights. Recently, we had input to revisions to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office “use of force” policies.
We will work with interim committees of the New Mexico State Legislature to encourage expansion of civil rights protections through state law — several bills introduced in 2021 did not make it — and hope to see them back in future sessions with stronger advocacy.
