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Real News For Real New Mexicans.
The Chile Wire with Abe Baldonado. Hey, y'all. Welcome back to The Chile Wire. We are on episode 11 and this week, I'm excited to introduce my guests, Don and Damara Andrade. These two individuals have been advocates in Albuquerque public schools, protecting children and families from explicit materials.
Abe Baldonado:Don and Damara, thank you very much for joining the Chile Wire this week. How are you?
Damara Andrade:Thank you for having us. We're good.
Abe Baldonado:Dave. Of course. And so, y'all, just a few episodes ago, we had a concerned parent that brought to our attention some of the explicit books that were circulating in our public libraries here in Albuquerque. But you all have done a lot of great work in Albuquerque public schools to identify some explicit books that are happening there. But, before we kick off and we dive into some of the materials you all have found and some of the work that you've done, I just love to open up an opportunity for you all to introduce yourselves and just share a little bit more about who you are and, you know, how we got here.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. Okay.
Don Andrade:Why don't you kick it off?
Damara Andrade:Alright. We have a ministry. We're called the hitched apologists because we're married hitched. And apologetics is just essentially a word, you know, to describe we defend the Christian faith by providing good evidence. And we, like you said, we got involved in creating a guide for parents, a 125 plus sexually explicit books.
Damara Andrade:We did that last year when pastor John Amonchukwu came to the school board. He spoke out against the sexually explicit books, and we're like, well, what is all the ruckus? Because there was a lot of ruckus when he came in. Sure enough, we looked up, and there was hundreds of explicit books within the Albuquerque public school systems.
Don Andrade:Yeah. And as you said, that moment when we decided to tune in and see the broadcast live on YouTube at the school board meeting, we saw the kind of pushback that John was getting, and we decided, hey. We need to look into this ourselves because this is very interesting. This is something that we've never really decided to even invest any time into looking at. And when we finally started digging in and just seeing, wow, here's another one and another one, and just having our jaws drop about, wow, how is this available?
Don Andrade:And to schools all the way down to elementary school. And it just continued until we got more than a 125 as as the title of the guide goes.
Abe Baldonado:Wow. That that's shocking to me. Yeah. But also, I'm glad that you all got involved because I think there's a lot of parents and guardians that just are unaware. You know?
Abe Baldonado:I know we've spoke previously that, you know, they just they're busy and that their assumption is that schools are doing good by their children and that, you know, they're being provided high quality educational materials. But some of what you found, we could say aren't really educational, I would say.
Damara Andrade:No. Far from it. And, you know, it's like you said, I think a lot of parents kind of treat schools like a daycare system. They drop their kids off, but they don't get in the habit of really opening up their backpack to see what their kids are reading and what they're consuming. And this stuff isn't educational.
Damara Andrade:You know, this is essentially porn. That's what it It has, you know, graphic descriptions in the, you know, in its novels. It has pictures of sexual acts between adults, between kids. This stuff is very harmful Yeah. When consumed for adults, let alone kids.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. It's not your Romeo and Juliet,
Damara Andrade:your No.
Abe Baldonado:Odyssey, Canterbury tales, some of the things of literature that you learn when you're in high school or whatever it may be, but, you know, this is not that. And so, what inspired you all to create this book? And I would love for you all to just show our viewers Sure. Just a glimpse of the guide that you put together for families.
Don Andrade:Yeah. So this is the guide that we have right here. And this guide is actually available on our website. If you go to the hitchedapologist.com, scroll to the bottom, there's a free PDF that you can download as well as you can email us on the contact form and we can get you a physical copy because sometimes just having it in your hands and being able to present it to the people around you is just that much more impactful. But the guide is very user friendly, so in the front of it, we have schools by by district and which books are in those schools and it's all in a columned outline
Abe Baldonado:Yeah.
Don Andrade:And you can see which ones have actually been checked out, which ones have never been returned and we have it all broken down for parents to see. And then as you get through, there are samples of every book that we found, and you can just check that all out and share it with everybody because it's it's pretty wild.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. Absolutely. And just this is a terrific guide that you all have put together. And I I'm assuming you all have done a lot of collaboration with others to make this happen. And can can you all share a little bit on just some of the collaborators that you've been able work with?
Damara Andrade:Absolutely. So when we first started this book guide, like I said, it got me interested when John Amanchuku came here. That's kinda what inspired us to get this whole thing started. So I started working on the book list in Albuquerque, then I ended up reaching out to Sarah Smith, who's in Las Cruces. I believe her website is New Mexico Freedom Alliance.
Damara Andrade:Mhmm. And she was actually doing a book guide herself in Las Cruces, and she has, like, 95 plus sexually explicit books that she's found. And then we were able to work with somebody in Rio Rancho and help her put together a book guide too as well for Rio Rancho, and there's quite a bit of books over there as well. And currently, recently, actually, a few days ago, I'm working with someone putting a book together in Socorro.
Abe Baldonado:Oh, wow. Yeah.
Don Andrade:On top of that, just with getting the guides made, we had lots of people who poured into to kinda, like, outline things to kind of also do some edits, make it look a little bit better. So there's a lot of there's minor parts and big parts too, then helping with the distribution. We had, printing companies that wanted to really help get this out, they gave us discounts. And there are so many people involved with that, but it it's just and then even going as far as to when the last legislative session came was in play.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah.
Don Andrade:And there were two bills that were gonna be protecting these types of materials in the public schools, which is was our aim, and then there it was also protecting it in the public libraries.
Abe Baldonado:Right. And that was, I believe, the library protection act.
Damara Andrade:Yeah. HB 27, I believe, and SB five fifty two. Yeah.
Don Andrade:You remember. That's good. Yeah. And we first learned about the public library one from Jody Hendrix from Mhmm. New Mexico
Abe Baldonado:family. Jody's a good friend of ours and has been on in the Chili Wire before.
Don Andrade:Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:She's great. Has done tremendous work and has been an advocate to protect children. So that's great. I I mean, just you know, it's a sense of community here is is what I'm getting is that you've had a lot of folks help you out. And to hear that, like, printing and publishing companies really wanna help you all get this out, I think that's magnificent.
Abe Baldonado:You already hit on how it's been used. So, I mean, I'm assuming many of our legislators have even seen this. Mhmm. Yeah. I'm sure there's some that would maybe wanna ignore it, but That's actually don't wanna believe you know, they would probably tell you this is nonsense.
Abe Baldonado:This stuff isn't circulating in our public libraries.
Don Andrade:Something I was gonna touch on as well is that Vince Torres was a huge help when it helped to getting these out to the legislators' hands. And we had, Rebecca Dow and Crystal Brantley and Anthony Thornton. A lot of them got their hands on this. And at one point, they made, I think it was two or 300 copies of this and distributed it on the floor for those two bills, and it effectively, it silenced the bill. It killed the bill.
Don Andrade:Yeah. And Vince was telling me a few months after that, he's like, things kinda got changed up there in Santa Fe because they it just didn't come from, like, a big conservative organization. It came from two concerned parents from Albuquerque who decided to put this together and take the time to do it, which kinda shows, like, anybody can do it if you just take the time. You know?
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. Absolutely. Andrea Cloak, who was on our podcast recently, she, came on the podcast, spoke about what her friend encountered in the public library here in Albuquerque. She sent a letter. Her friend sent a letter to the library, and they actually took it off the pre K shelf because it was called You Know Sex.
Abe Baldonado:It was a book that was very detailed for a preschooler, and they realized that there was a mistake. I mean, they moved it, of course, to another section, but they at least took it out of the preschool section, you know, is a good thing because, I mean, I couldn't imagine this preschooler being exposed to that and having to have a conversation with your pre k age child Exactly. About some of the things that were in that book.
Damara Andrade:Yeah. That's interesting that you bring that up because we were actually at our public library a few months ago, and we ran into a book called Let's Talk About Abortion in the kids section, as well as a book called This Book is Gay, which we have here. This was in the kid's section as well.
Don Andrade:And there's a sample in there if you wanna
Damara Andrade:Yeah. So graphic stuff here, but this was Wow. In the kid's section for any kid to pick up. And, you know, unfortunately, we live in a day and age where, again, parents are so trusting of their kids. They let them go.
Damara Andrade:They go in the library, and it's like, you don't this is what they have available to them.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. Well, and I think it's disappointing that there's folks that defend this because I we've seen a lot of that is Yeah. That they downplay this, that it's harmless. It's okay. Yep.
Abe Baldonado:Children need to learn about it. And it's like, no. The in our school libraries, children need to learn skills that they need necessary to be successful in their careers, you know, whether it's math, science Mhmm. History, whatever it may be. But when I see some of this stuff, it's indoctrination.
Abe Baldonado:And some fragile minds, especially your younger students who haven't fully developed.
Damara Andrade:Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:You know, they start asking questions. I think most recently, we were talking pre show that, you know, Snoop Dogg recently came out and said, we went to watch a movie, and I can't even have a nice movie night with my grandchild because now they're asking me questions at a very young age that I don't know how to explain. Mhmm.
Damara Andrade:Right. And I think it's interesting too because a lot of the pushback that we get and we've heard, a lot of people will say, well, you're just book banners. You know, material, kids need to see themselves in this material, or else they're gonna get depressed, you know, higher risk of suicide, and just so many excuses. But, you know, the ironic part in that is when we get called book banners, what I find so funny is you go into a store, and they have a section called Banned Books, but the books are there. I'm like, well, can't really be banned, can they?
Damara Andrade:Because the books are in the store Mhmm. Ready to buy. You know, we're we're not at Barnes and Noble. We're not at Amazon. We're not protesting any of that.
Damara Andrade:We're talking about, first of all, our tax dollars going to an educational system that should be about education
Abe Baldonado:Exactly.
Damara Andrade:But yet they have access to these sexually explicit books without their parents there.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. I mean, you hit the nail on the head on that. I mean, it's fascinating because I'm sure there's gonna be people watching that are gonna say, these guys are exaggerating. It's not that bad. And not once have I ever heard you all say you wanted to ban books.
Abe Baldonado:Just saying we shouldn't expose these books to children at this age. If, you know, their parents want to show them to them later on, whatever, that's Right. A parent's choice. Right? I think we're talking about Mhmm.
Abe Baldonado:Parental choice, parental freedom here. But for strangers to be having these conversations with our children or, you know, I even think about students who may pick up this book, have a lot of questions. Parents aren't around. You're not around. Mhmm.
Abe Baldonado:Who do they have a conversation with? A complete stranger? And that's a potential risk that we see.
Damara Andrade:Mhmm. Yeah, exactly. And that's interesting because we were at an event a few months ago with New Mexico Family Action Movement, and this girl came up to us, and she's like, I'm glad that you guys are doing this because years ago, I actually got exposed to sexually explicit content in school. I opened up the book, and that image will forever be in my mind. I'm like, that's the reason why we're doing what we're doing because these kids are affected, you know, by what they consume.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. And I mean, they they're not fully developmentally yet to, you know, really understand what they were shown. Right? I mean, it takes years. I mean, even high schoolers I I think about my time as a high schooler, and I thought I knew it all, but I was pretty naive.
Abe Baldonado:And even in my early twenties, right, it takes a long time for just as individuals and to to grow as humans and to develop our our mindset. And so I I think you're right. But, Damar, when we were chatting earlier, you brought up some great just background on the dangers that exist when kids are exposed to this and some of the statistics that you've had. I'd love for you to elaborate on that.
Damara Andrade:Yeah. So I actually brought this paper because it's a lot. So there's one study that was done by the National Library of Medicine. So it says, a seventeen year study of children beginning when the children were in seventh grade or ninth grade found that exposure to sexually explicit media, including books and graphic novels, is associated with unsafe sex, multiple sexual partners, and early sexual debut. Other studies that were done found that it could lead to dating violence and sexual violence.
Damara Andrade:This was done by the European Journal of Developmental Psychology. And then in 2021, in Journal of Sex and Martial Therapy, found that pornography consumption is associated with both animalistic and mechanistic dehumanization, which predicts sexually aggressive attitudes and behaviors. And I I found this certain quote very fascinating. So it says, men who use more pornography are more likely to see women as closed minded, impassive, cold, or mechanical, much like instruments or robots. They are also more likely to see women as uncivilized, irrational, unsophisticated, or lacking self constraint, like animals or beasts.
Damara Andrade:The two types of dehumanization combine to provide male pornography viewers with a specific sexual script in which women either are denied their full agency in human nature or only have agency only within the narrow role of wild sexual creatures that lacks characteristics of human uniqueness. So that's very concerning, especially young boys who are consuming this stuff or have access to this kind of thing. They're gonna grow again, it's an unrealistic outlook on sex. Mhmm. And when they pick up these books and when they read the material that's in there, when they see the material that's in there, this is the kind of stuff that it can cause.
Damara Andrade:This was a study done on adults, let alone kids.
Abe Baldonado:Right.
Damara Andrade:So I can't even imagine, you know, we live in a culture where kids are, like, so depressed and, like, lacking identity. This is the last thing I think that they need.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. No. I completely agree. And I think we're seeing some of the effects right now with our youth from those studies that you've showed. I mean, we see domestic violence is always on the rise.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. Sexual abuse is on the rise. I mean, it's something that I think can be attributed to what we're seeing here with a lot of these, sexually exploitive, books. Yeah. So, yeah, it's just shocking to me that we even have to have these conversations.
Abe Baldonado:And there was actually a bill, and I'm sure you know about this, but there was a bill that was, introduced by representative John Block to protect children from harmful material, and the legislature, like, refused
Damara Andrade:Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:Just completely refused to do anything about it. I'm like, this is common sense. Like, why wouldn't you wanna protect children under the age of 18 Right. From these exploitative, books and just materials that are out there? Like, why wouldn't you just wanna do that?
Abe Baldonado:And it's just shocking to me that Mhmm. They just think, no. It's fine. It's normal.
Damara Andrade:Right. Exactly.
Don Andrade:Yeah. And that's that's a great segue to something that I had thought about a while back was that they have safety precautions for children inside the computer labs or they go to library. They can't access certain sites. It blocks them from going to certain sites, but then they have the same content on the shelf. They could just take
Abe Baldonado:off the shelf take it off the shelf. It's
Don Andrade:like, what? It's so inconsistent in the logic there. And and, yeah, it's just to me, it just makes no sense. And then the same thing when it goes to you trying to approach the school boards and talking about this. It's almost like it's hard to get through to them too because you recently had that event where one school board member was talking about the other one.
Don Andrade:They caught her Yeah. With the but then it's like there was an outrage. Right? Like, people are like, wow. She's using unethical language.
Abe Baldonado:Use that language.
Don Andrade:It's like, but Look look at the language you're having in the books for the kids, but you you wanna put these standards on adults and how they're supposed to operate ethically with each other, but let the kids just go whatever, do what they want with this stuff.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. So No. You're you're exactly right. And that board member was not punished or censured at all. And so we've ultimately said, it's okay.
Abe Baldonado:This behavior is okay to to do. And now you've set a precedent for others to be like, well, I can call someone that word. I can talk about people like this. And it's like, no. We need to hold people to a higher standard.
Abe Baldonado:There needs to be a level of professionalism. Right. And it's not normal to talk that way about others. So just curious, how how has the feedback been from the school board? I know you all have been pretty active speaking with the school board, and you've mobilized others to also start getting involved as well.
Abe Baldonado:What has been the the response from school board members?
Damara Andrade:Yeah. So usually when we go to the school board, it's usually a one way conversation. We have a mic, and we get to talk to them. They don't talk to us, so we don't really hear their feedback. But we can see other people within the school board meeting, and they usually either get annoyed of what we're doing Yeah.
Damara Andrade:Or, you know, we have some teachers come up to us who are actually concerned. So it's kind of like a mixture of both. But beyond that, I mean, like, DJ was talking earlier about this, but, you know, the last time we went to the school board and we had a team come with us, and he read out of the book. And, you know, the guy in the background was kind of like motioning like this. Like, should we cut it off?
Damara Andrade:Like, what should we do? So, you know, it makes people uncomfortable, as it should. Yeah. Because this stuff needs to be talked about.
Abe Baldonado:Well, and you just said something that I really caught is that there's even teachers that are concerned Mhmm. About what's circulating in our public schools, and I think that's very telling. Now it's not unusual for most school boards usually don't engage with the public. So, folks, that's don't don't get ahead of yourself and be like, how dare they not they usually don't. But I'm just curious.
Abe Baldonado:Have they been open to speak off, you know, the record and, like, out of a board meeting just as, you know, leaders that, you know, are elected to have conversations with their constituents. Just curious if you all have had conversations just off you know, outside of a board meeting where they followed up and just have been like, hey. Yeah. You know, we hear your concerns.
Damara Andrade:Yeah. So not we haven't talked to them individually outside of the school board. We usually have just been going to the school board so far, but others have.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah.
Damara Andrade:And there's maybe like two on the school board that I'm aware of that are willing to talk about this situation, because we actually know somebody right now. Her name is Mike Peterson. She's working on a policy at APS currently and trying to bring change within that. And it's, again, it's based off ratings, PG, PG 13 Yeah. You know, rated R.
Damara Andrade:So she's trying to bring that into play, and I think only a few school board members right now in Albuquerque have been willing and open to hear her out. Other than that, I'm not a 100% sure. You know, it's kinda weird because sometimes people will say something and then, like, in the public, they, like, say another. Yeah. So it's kinda hard to keep track of all of that.
Damara Andrade:But yeah.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. That's the frustrating part about politics and that world is, you know, things are said one way and then said another way Right. In another situation. But I I am hopeful. And if you all ever hear that there is momentum moving, would love for you to share that with us here at the ChiliWire to get out with our following and to just get more folks involved to say, hey.
Abe Baldonado:Support this policy. And Yeah. Know, we're in the middle of local elections right now, so we're electing new school board members. So, hopefully, they'll take note and they'll listen and do what's right for the children that they serve and the families that they serve.
Damara Andrade:Exactly.
Abe Baldonado:I wanna give you all a moment to talk about some of the accomplishments that you all have had after creating this guide and then also what you hope to accomplish. I I have no doubt that you all have even bigger goals. Yeah. So I would love to hear more about that.
Don Andrade:Yeah. So back to one of the big accomplishments was when those two bills are being put on the floor. Yeah. Just having two parents step up and do this and it being shared to everybody up in Santa Fe and then them saying, hey. We're not gonna we're not gonna bring this out of the table and vote on it.
Don Andrade:We're just gonna let it die. That was that's a huge even us. We were like, well, we didn't know that was the impact it was gonna do, and it it allowed parents to have the opportunity to still go and make complaints to schools individually or go to school board members and voice their opinion. And if the other things that I've gone through, I think it would either effectively block that or made it very hard to continue to do that. And that that was a huge victory.
Don Andrade:And then also just being able to get this content out to more people to make them more aware. That's been one of the biggest driving factors for us is just set up where we can give these materials out, make it more known. Because again, as Damara said, there are people usually just tend to drop off their kids at the school. They don't really invest what was what's happening there. And so letting them know, like, this is what's happening and this is what's available and just bringing that awareness has always been huge.
Don Andrade:And, again, like, being able to work with different individuals from different organizations and them doing their part to help get this content pushed out or however they did it, even with Mike from Freedom Families United. Mhmm. He's starting to make that policy and try to put that in now that it's an election year or and just trying to get something pushed there. You know, it's there's a topic. Making Yeah.
Don Andrade:Something Yeah. And so right now, we've been able to see a little bit more momentum going forward with people actually going to school board meetings even if we are not there. Yeah. And they decided to go and talk to it, at least be that bug or in the ear or or stone in the shoe, if you will. And we had one particular lady who said, I went and took a class how to do public speaking so that I could effectively go She's his grandparents.
Don Andrade:Amazing. Yeah. So I wanna be able to present this correctly in the proper way to them every time. And I was like, wow. If we had like 10 more grandparents like you who would come every week to the school board meeting and just do that Yeah.
Don Andrade:It would be make a difference, you know? And so we're starting to see that. And then, of course, seeing how the Albuquerque one is spread and then the Las Cruces, and then now we got one working towards Santa Fe. So Coral one just came on, Rio Rancho. It's like spreading across New Mexico, and that's what we wanted.
Don Andrade:We wanted to have this just decentralized where people were able to pick it up and do it in their own city, do their research and fight for it in their city.
Abe Baldonado:So just curious, do you all help folks that wanna start it up, like, in another city or town or village? I'm guessing they reach out to you. So what what does that look like? And and I'm thinking, like, rural New Mexico. I think there's probably some folks out there that eventually you know, I grew up in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
Abe Baldonado:They may say, hey. I maybe wanna do an audit myself of what's circulating in Las Vegas City public schools
Don Andrade:or
Abe Baldonado:Raton, what wherever it may But just curious what you all offer and what services you all provide to help them kick start that up.
Damara Andrade:Yeah. So the biggest one is going through the school library online. I feel like that can be the biggest challenge. So I'll usually go on, and I'll usually, like, create, like, a Word document, and I'll do, like, a snippet of the screen, and I'll, like, post, like, okay, this is how you search for books. And then we also have a list of books to to look out for.
Damara Andrade:So I'll send them all of those resources. And then another one too, you know, getting involved in the school board meetings and talking to other people. I've created scripts too as well that I put on New Mexico Family Alliance with Sarah Smith on her website. So there's like 17 plus scripts that I've made. It comes at it from the scientific harmful effects.
Damara Andrade:It comes at it from the religious perspective. It comes at it from the common sense perspective, because at the end of the day, this really is It's about common sense. Yeah. Absolutely. I don't even like calling it common anymore because it's not common in like practical sense.
Damara Andrade:But, I mean, you know, again, parents just don't know, unfortunately, what's in the schools. That's been our reaction. So if any way we can help other people get this together, we're there.
Abe Baldonado:Well, and I think of the more vulnerable populations and more the vulnerable parents and vulnerable children who, you know, mom is single, dad is single, they work multiple jobs. You know, they don't have the time to either engage or get involved or just have the awareness, you know, and then also those who are in and out of foster homes, are homeless, you know, that they don't have support systems in place to have conversations about what they've just been exposed to and exposed.
Damara Andrade:Absolutely. And another thing too is, you know, this kind of material is often shown to sex trafficking victims. You know? It's like, what's happening with those kids that are in the schools? And they're picking up this stuff.
Abe Baldonado:Is a very big problem Yeah. Problem in our state. And unfortunately, we're not talking about enough. You know, I think a lot is focused on you know, when we talk about border security and immigration, you know, it's just like, oh, you wanna deport people. No.
Abe Baldonado:It's much bigger than that. It's the crime. It's the human trafficking, the child exploitation that is actually happening in our communities. And while we're sleeping at night off I 40 and I 25, it's it's there. And and it's a reality, and it's it's scary.
Abe Baldonado:And, you know, I think, you know, my wife and I just got married last year. You know, when we have children, I'm worried. I'm I'm concerned. I'm concerned to send them to school. I'm concerned about them being alone.
Abe Baldonado:You know, it's just a very different time than when I grew up. And when I grew up, you know, I lived in a small town, and we used to be able to be out all day away from home. And, you know, mom and dad didn't have to worry about, you know, you getting kidnapped or anything. Like, it was you could go ride your bike all day, and as long as you were home before the light you know, sun was down and the lights came on, like, you were fine. And Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:You know? But that's not the world we live in today. I couldn't imagine leaving my kid outside all day and not watching them. And I think a lot of parents feel that way.
Damara Andrade:Mhmm. Oh, yeah. Even our 10 year old daughter, it's like, she used to go to a public school, and I pulled her out of there. Like, as soon as we walked through the halls and there's LGBTQ flags all over the place, I'm like, nope. I'm not doing this.
Abe Baldonado:So Well, and that's just it. You know? I've I've had family recently tell me that they're being exposed to those types of things in the classroom, that it's there. Like, it's Right. You know?
Abe Baldonado:And I've had people say, no. It's not. I'm like, you think my family member would lie to me that that's what they saw on the teacher's, you know, board or whatever they have set up? I'm like, they're not lying to me. But again, you know, it's it's this I I don't know if people don't wanna believe it or Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:I don't know. What what do you all think? Like, do they wanna believe it? Do they not?
Don Andrade:Yeah. I mean, to me, what that brings me back to is that you know that that stuff's gonna be there because we know that people have an agenda. People have a they have beliefs. They have a worldview. Okay?
Don Andrade:And because of that worldview, it drives them to communicate information in a certain way. And when we have kids there, we have to realize that this information is gonna be communicated either by you or by somebody else, and they're effectively taking you out of the equation and being the the communicator to your children about these ideas. Now what we do with our daughter is we expose our daughter to different worldviews.
Abe Baldonado:Mhmm.
Don Andrade:And we say, this is what they say about things, and this is what we as Christians believe as, and we give evidences for why we believe what we believe. And then we also go and say, you know, this is why they believe what they believe. But you're not gonna get that. You're gonna get a side where it's like, this is the truth, and let me tell you why this is the truth, and it doesn't really matter what your parents think.
Abe Baldonado:It's, you know
Don Andrade:Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:Teaching kids what to think rather than how to think. Right?
Damara Andrade:Exactly.
Abe Baldonado:What what you just explained, it's, you know, you're enabling your child to be a free thinker, like, educate them from all sides. And then as they grow, they'll make their own decisions. They'll have their own views and opinions and that's healthy. That's good. Like, they'll be able to disseminate information and
Don Andrade:Right.
Abe Baldonado:Identify, you know, what's real, what's fake, you know. And today, I I remember my time in the classroom, I had students who didn't even know primary from secondary sources. Yeah. So when they're believe like, I'm not shocked that they're believing posts and fake news that they're seeing on social media and, you know, just a lot of dangerous rhetoric and they just, oh, that's so true. And I'm like, no, actually, that's not true.
Abe Baldonado:That's, you know, people are being facetious and, you know, it's
Damara Andrade:Well, we live in a postmodern culture too where, you know, kids are being taught there's no such thing as objective truth. You know, there's no such thing as objective morality. So, you know, flowing from that, it makes sense why we're seeing so much of this evil out there, even within the school systems. And then another big factor is queer theory. You know, we brought this book, genderqueer.
Damara Andrade:This is at Monzano High School, Valley High School, Early College Academy, and it has, again, there is no such thing as neutrality. This is the stuff that our kids are, yeah, being exposed to. So these worldviews, postmodernism, queer theory, this is the biggest driving factor of kids being exposed to all of this.
Abe Baldonado:I'm I'm just shocked right now at what I just saw when you opened that book. Yeah. Again, this is not education. No. Like, this is not education.
Abe Baldonado:And I have a deeper appreciation for what you all are doing right now to bring this awareness because I really believe that most parents do not know that this stuff is circulating in their school libraries, and it's very dark stuff. Mhmm. That that is shocking. So how do we get more parents involved? What are you all doing to get more parents involved with the work that you're doing?
Damara Andrade:Yeah. So, you know, it's just spreading awareness, whether that's going through the school board, talking about it anywhere we can, like on this podcast, you know, in everyday conversations that we might have with other people. You know, we have pamphlets that we hand out. And then those people that we talk to, I tell them to talk to other people. Like, awareness is key.
Damara Andrade:That's, like, the biggest key there. And then, of course, I think parents, you know, getting this into the hands of parents. Because we've spoken to a lot of them, and you're right. They just they don't know. The majority of parents we've come across, they're like, wow, I didn't I didn't know it was this bad.
Damara Andrade:Mhmm. So we want more parents to go to the actual schools and start challenging these books or at least getting them to be opted out of even being able to have access to these books.
Don Andrade:Right.
Abe Baldonado:There there should be parameters, right, of what a school librarian can order. And Yeah. You know, I'm not I believe in free speech. Like, am, like, the king of I I love free speech, but I also believe that we have to protect our youth. We have to protect children.
Abe Baldonado:We have to make sure that there are age appropriate texts in their schools and Mhmm. Also educational. And but I I also think there needs to be some parameters of what can be ordered and what can't be ordered. Like, how does it relate to a child's education? And, you know, the these, what I've seen so far, are not it.
Abe Baldonado:I can't even tie it into science, to anatomy, to biology. Like, I can't even say that there's a reasonable place for it to exist in our public schools.
Damara Andrade:Yeah, exactly. And, you know, there's a difference between an anatomy book and this, like completely two different things, you know, and just spreading that awareness is important.
Don Andrade:Yeah. I would also expand on that and just say the most powerful thing is getting this book into people's hands. And if you have it, sharing it with the others around you and letting them know. Because we were at the National Day of Prayer in Civic Plaza. We set up a table there, and we were handing out these books.
Don Andrade:And I remember a gentleman came up, and he spoke to me, and he said that, you know, there's much more bigger fish to fry than this. These kids are just gonna be exposed to at home. They have cell phones. They're gonna access it how they want to. And I said, but how does that still change the fact that the schools are the ones doing the exposing?
Don Andrade:Right. Like, are two different cases here. Like, that's their freedom and that's their parents who give them access to do that. Again, it comes down to their parents giving them the access.
Abe Baldonado:Right.
Don Andrade:This isn't the same thing. And we got into it for a little bit there, but then I ended up showing them this book on the table. And, this one is let's talk about it. And this one's at West Mesa Volcano Vista in Rio Grande. But when I showed him what was was in there and they and this is, like, a more tamer picture of what's in here because there's more, like, sexual content of actual, like, penetration and stuff going on.
Don Andrade:And he was like, well, I get what you're saying now. Yeah. So it's like, you
Abe Baldonado:they see it. It takes seeing it to believe it. And Right. Know, that was the during the last podcast that we did with Andrea Cloak, that was just it. You know?
Abe Baldonado:There was some friends and family that, you know, when I told them about the podcast we were doing at at face value was like, oh, it's not that bad. And then I'm like, here are the pictures. Yeah. And then that changed. It's like, oh, yeah.
Abe Baldonado:That does not belong in a pre k section in our public library. Yep.
Damara Andrade:Right. Because parents are being told one thing, like, oh, yeah. You know, this is just educational, and they're just taking it at face value. But then when they see it, their whole attitude changes. And it's a bipartisan thing.
Damara Andrade:You could be Democrat, you could be Republican, and still be against this Again,
Abe Baldonado:you make a good point, Demora. This is not political. Yeah. Like, it's not political. It's just common sense.
Abe Baldonado:It's just safety. It's just for the well-being of our future that Mhmm. We address this. It's it's not political. This isn't this impacts Republicans as much as it does Democrats or whatever you wanna call.
Abe Baldonado:Like, it doesn't matter. Like, this is not a political spectrum thing. Like, this is Right. These are children. Right?
Abe Baldonado:They're not children aren't Democrats or Republicans. I mean, even adults. I mean, we've come to a world now where it's like, we identify people based on their political party, and that's like, that's not it.
Damara Andrade:Like Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:I don't wanna be known as, like, Abe's this or Abe's like, I just wanna be known, like, hey. That's Abe. Like, that that's Abe. Right? That's that's gone.
Abe Baldonado:That's Demara. Yeah. You make
Don Andrade:a good point because it's the people that have been inviting us to actually share this stuff has been the Republican Party, but we'd be just as happy to go to a Democratic event and show this off that they wanted us there. Yeah. But we we haven't got that invite yet. You know? And, like, we don't want this to be something where it's like, we're we're being driven by just this side.
Don Andrade:It's like, that's not what it's about. This is about common sense that every parent should be able to just be able to see in it. And a great example of that is at our printing company that made our copies of our books. One of the people that was seeing the pages get printed and they were binding it, he was highly against this. He got mad at the owner for doing it and he called them a book banner, all these different names, and he said, I can't believe you're part of this right wing, you know, conservative, whatever.
Don Andrade:And he said, why don't you just open the book and check it out? He did, and he's now on the side of common sense.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. Well, and that's just that not once in this interview said, we wanna ban these books. We're just saying these books don't belong in our public school libraries. Mhmm. Right.
Abe Baldonado:That's not a book banner. A book banner is not like you're burning the books and you're saying, these books don't belong at all. That that's not what you're saying. Right. I'm gonna make a plea right now because some of my good friends and people that I love are Democrats.
Abe Baldonado:Listen to these guys. Like, have a conversation, reach out. I I think you'll be impressed with the guide that they put together, but also very shocked and disappointed about some of the texts that we're seeing circulating. And I just I make that plea to my good friends who are Democrats that I know are reasonable, common sense people that there's a problem. We have stuff circulating that really shouldn't.
Abe Baldonado:And I know they'll agree with me, but I just make that please. I hope even our leadership, you know, whether it's the governor and the Democratic leadership, I hope that they open some doors for you all to just have a conversation because I think once they see it, you know, they they can't deny Right. That this is not appropriate.
Damara Andrade:Exactly.
Abe Baldonado:So, you know, we're getting close to time, but just wanna open up to, you know, what are your future goals and what's happening now and what are you looking forward to? I guarantee you the next sixty day session will see these bills make their way back to our roundhouse, and we'll have to be aware and prepared to mobilize folks to be like, woah. Woah. Woah. Let's Yeah.
Abe Baldonado:Let's slow this down.
Don Andrade:Yeah. I would say, you know, it when that the the ugly bill bills rear their head again, I would love to see more cities in New Mexico having a book made so that when that happens, we can have more, like, a quantity, more people coming out in the voice and their opinion and say, know, it's not just Albuquerque and Las Cruces. It's all these other cities now, and they can present that and take that to the roundhouse.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. You have Gallup. You have Farmington. You have Hobbs. You have Lincoln County.
Abe Baldonado:You know, you just have different places that aren't, you know, tied politically or by urban rule. Like, I mean, this is just New Mexico. Like, people are concerned.
Don Andrade:Yeah. And this is this is just what's happening in New Mexico. There's so many other states where there's people that we know that are fighting the same fight. You got Gary what was it? What's his name again?
Damara Andrade:Oh, man. I forgot his last name. He's in New York. He's a New York pastor, but he was actually successful Yeah. At removing over a 100 books from the school system.
Damara Andrade:That's New York. Yeah. You know, the most democratic state out there. So it's possible. You know?
Damara Andrade:Again, awareness And is
Abe Baldonado:it just shows that it's not political lines that this is an issue. Right? It's like,
Don Andrade:oh, hey.
Abe Baldonado:We see. Yeah. These books probably shouldn't be there.
Damara Andrade:Exactly.
Don Andrade:And then I think in is it California where we have the kitchen table activist?
Damara Andrade:Yeah. The kitchen table activist. That's a really good resource
Abe Baldonado:Yeah.
Damara Andrade:To go on. She has a website, and she also has a plethora of books in every state.
Don Andrade:Yeah. So, yeah, there's people fighting all over the country.
Abe Baldonado:Yeah. There's another one if y'all are ever interested in our viewers, Protecting Texas Children. Mhmm. That's another group that was founded, and it protects you know, of course, they advocate for protecting children from exploitation and sexual content. And so they've done a lot of great work in Texas, and they're continuing to to do some stuff.
Abe Baldonado:They have an email chain as well that they have, but I was gonna mention that to you all as well that they're doing some great work if you're ever interested. And, course, our viewers as well. Well, Don, Damara, I appreciate you all coming on the Chili Wire.
Don Andrade:Thank you.
Abe Baldonado:The fantastic work, and just thank you for being advocates for children and for families across New Mexico.
Damara Andrade:Thank you so much.
Abe Baldonado:We appreciate the invite. Yeah. My pleasure. Well, y'all, that's it for this week's Chile Wire. We look forward to seeing you next time.