<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0ZntZC_0wClNXqC00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0ZntZC_0wClNXqC00" width="800" height="533" ><figcaption>Red shawls drape chairs at the front of the room as families and victim advocates mark Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque on May 5. The shawls represent relatives who have gone missing or have been killed in what many have described as a crisis in Indian Country. Susan Montoya Bryan/AP File Photo</figcaption></figure>Following criticism from advocates, the Indian Affairs Department says it will host a listening session in Albuquerque next week about the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people.The announcement came Tuesday at the fourth meeting the department has held this year to inform the public of the work it and other agencies are doing to address the crisis.Officials hoped the quarterly meetings would give community members the space to “keep in touch with each other,” Indian Affairs Secretary Josett Monette, then the deputy secretary, said at a legislative committee hearing last November.Earlier in the year, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration had shuttered a task force focused on MMIP, even though, according to some members, its work was just beginning. A group of affected families protested the decision.The task force was useful, members said, because it brought together dozens of people – including families, service providers, nonprofit leaders and law enforcement – who could freely share ideas. (The New Mexico Department of Justice is in the process of establishing a new MMIP task force. It’s unclear who the members will be.)The meetings announced by Monette at that hearing last November seemed intended to help fill the gap left by the disbanding of the task force.But the meetings haven’t lived up to some expectations. Darlene Gomez, an attorney who represents families who have lost relatives to the crisis, raised concerns to a department staffer last week.“This does not seem to be a community based meeting but a meeting that is very controlled by (the Indian Affairs Department),” Gomez, who was a member of the now-defunct task force, wrote over email in reply to an announcement from the staffer.At least five other people replied to the email, which Gomez shared, to express similar opinions. Chastity Sandoval, who was also a task force member, wrote that she had stopped attending the meetings because of the same issues Gomez brought up. Community members need to “have a place to ask questions or share what they need,” Sandoval wrote.The most recent meeting, held in-person and virtually on Tuesday, did not allow public comment. The chat function on Zoom was disabled and virtual attendees couldn’t see each other.“We’re always here to listen,” said Shaniya Decker, special projects coordinator for the department, during the meeting. “We’re here to be an advocate for MMIP. So we want everyone to feel heard. We understand that due to the timing of this meeting, we weren’t able to have that, but we are going to have a three-hour listening session to really make sure that we’re hearing everyone’s concerns.”Next week’s listening session will be in-person only, according to spokesman Aaron Lopez. The department plans to hold more than one “throughout the state,” Lopez wrote, and “if we determine a virtual one is necessary, we will hold it at a later date.”The session is planned for Thursday, Oct. 24, from 5-8 p.m. at the UNM School of Law in Albuquerque.This story was originally published on New Mexico In Depth and is republished here with permission. </div></body>

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State agency plans MMIP listening session after criticism of meetings

Following criticism from advocates, the Indian Affairs Department says it will host a listening session in Albuquerque next week about the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people. The announcement came Tuesday at the fourth meeting the department has held this year to inform the public of the work it...