Deadline In New Mexico
On May 13, we had our summit meeting with activists in New Mexico to discuss ways to use Deadline in their campaign to repeal the death penalty. New Mexico is one of our target states. New Mexico recently went into office for a repeal on the death penalty but their bill, House Bill 576, Abolish the Death Penalty, died on a 5-4 vote in its last committee before reaching the Senate floor. They plan on bringing this floor back to the House (where it passed) and the Senate next year.
Our partner, Working Films/, set up this meeting with our new partner organization, New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty. The purpose of this meeting was to work with activists and organizers to see how Deadline could be helpful in their work. We were really able to get a sense of what the main goals for each of these organizations were: to get the Governor to support abolishment of the death penalty in 2006 and to secure some extra votes in the Senate.
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With these goals in mind, we were able to come up with a strategy as to how we could use the film as an informational tool to people in districts that the movement has not been able to reach. We came up with some specific targets that we want to see the film and to initiate disucssion about the capital punishment system in New Mexico.
Overall, it was a great brainstorm session and this meeting is the beginning of an ongoing campaign and partnership between ourselves, Working Films and activists and organizations working on the death penalty throughout New Mexico.
Additionally, we set up a screening of Deadline at The South Broadway Cultural Center, a Center that preserves and educates the community about the cultures and ethnicities that define Albuquerque. After the screening, we had a meaningful dialogue not only about the state of the death penalty in New Mexico but also about some of the problems that exist in the prison system there as well.
This is just the beginning of our work in New Mexico. We’ll keep you updated on what results from this meeting.
Posted by beth at 11:27 AM
