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DA Drops Charges Against Jennifer Marley. Chainbreaker & Others Win Pinon Awards

By paulgibson51 on October 11, 2017 • ( 1 )

While Marley’s charges were dropped, charges against other protesters stand. Chainbreaker, Common Cause, Santa Fe Dreamers each won Santa Fe Community Foundation Pinon Awards. The blog includes video from the Awards ceremony focusing on Chainbreaker.

Retake Coming Events. There are a number of tremendous Events & Opportunities over the next two weeks, including two House Parties for Chainbreaker and Retake’s screening of two extraordinary documentaries from America Divided. The first film (Oct 21) focuses on water issues in Flint Michigan featuring Rosario Dawson. The second documentary (Oct 29) focuses on gentrification in NY featuring Norman Lear. After the second screening Retake will host a panel discussion with panelists to be announced soon. In addition to these screenings there is an important Retake meeting Thursday night, as the Roundhouse Activism Team advances plans to develop a set of state legislative priorities in collaboration with progressive lobbying partners and with the state DPNM platform committee (SPARC). Click here to get to our Events & Opportunities page and find out more about all of these events.

Marley Charges Dropped.

This was seemingly inevitable, but still welcome news. As reported in the Santa Fe New Mexican, all charges were dropped by the District Attorney the day before the DA had to present evidence to warrant proceeding to trial. Perhaps it finally dawned on the DA that there was no evidence to be had, as video shared in this blog from both the police body cam and from other protesters showed no evidence of any battery on the part of Marley. Battery by police is another matter.

As reported in today’s New Mexican, the DA could refile charges in a higher court or with a Grand Jury, but Marley’s attorney commented: “While there’s always a possibility that charges will be refiled, Marley’s attorney, Dan Cron, said it is unlikely. “In a case like this where the documentary evidence seems to be so clear that nothing occurred, it would be surprising if the state tried to pursue these charges again in the future,” he said. “Dismissing these charges is the right thing to do,” Cron added. “It’s time for the community to heal over this incident.” Click here for the full story.

Chainbreaker Collective Among Pinon Award Winners, Winning Visionary Award

Last night, Chainbreaker members were proud to accept the Santa Fe Community Foundation’s Visionary Piñón Award as #EquitySummer concluded. The speech given by Tomás Rivera, Executive Director of Chainbreaker was a stirring description of the critically important role that they play in advocating for and serving Santa Fe’s most under-represented populations.

Retake has been supporting Chainbreaker Collective’s #EquitySummer throughout the summer and there are two more House Parties scheduled to support their fundraising campaign with all $100 donations up to $10,000 being matched dollar for dollar. I spoke with Tomás at the ceremony last night and he said that they were ten $100 donations short of meeting their match with Monday being the deadline. Fortunately you have three opportunities to help Chainbreaker meet their goal. # 1: click here to get to their Equity Summer home page and make a donation. While the site shows $9263 being raised, but the match only applies to $100 donations and Tomas affirmed they need ten more by Monday. # 2: For information about Retake Leadership Team Member, Jennifer Johnson’s House Party this Thursday from 5:30-7pm, please email us at volunteer4retake@gmail.com. Finally,#3. Esther Kovari, another Retake supporter is hosting a House Party on Sunday night October 15th. Click here for information. If you attend either House Party you will also hear directly from Tomás about the work they do. And trust me, he does a tremendous job of both describing the extent of racial and economic injustice in Santa Fe and of describing how Chainbreaker works to address it. While Chainbreaker needs to get those extra 10 $100 donations, the House Parties are as much about educating you about Chainbreaker and the economic and racial divide in Santa Fe, as it is about raising funds. For a video from the Pinon Awards describing Chainbreaker’s work, look at the bottom of the post.

Other Pinon award winners include, links will take you to the Santa Fe Community Foundation site where you will find a description of the award winners.

Common Cause New Mexico: Policy Champion Award -honors an organization that is creating positive social change by focusing on a policy and systems-based approach to long-term transformation in our region.

Community Against Violence: Tried & True Award – honors an organization that is known for consistent high-quality programming, despite changes in the external environment.

Santa Fe Dreamers Project: Courageous Innovation Award – honors an organization that uses a bold approach to solving a persistent problem in the community.

Chainbreaker Collective: Visionary Award – honors an organization that can anticipate the unmet needs of future generations and has the stamina to achieve success.

Richard Hertz and Doris Meyer; Allan Houser: Philanthropic Leadership Awards – recognize leaders for their dedication to building healthy and vital communities. Awardees have close connections to the Santa Fe Community Foundation and are motivated by a sense of community over a sense of self and exhibit innovative and creative philanthropic responses to unmet needs.