City of Albuquerque bans NM Crusaders for Justice float at Twinkle Light Parade

By Faith Egbuonu

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    ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (KOAT) — The city of Albuquerque banned New Mexico Crusaders for Justice from participating in this year’s Twinkle Light Parade. According to the city, the victim’s rights advocacy group was in violation of the rules at last year’s event. The ban results in a one-year suspension from participating in the parade.

Sally Sanchez, Co-Founder “We stand for the families. They’re not going to stop us from being the voice for our loved ones,” Sanchez told KOAT.

“I’m not going to let one person at the city stop us from trying to participate again. It’s not going to stop us from trying next year. This, to me, did not make sense. We have support of city personnel,” New Mexico Crusaders for Justice co-founder Sally Sanchez told KOAT.

“The reasons that they gave us in the e-mail that they sent to us, I think, were a little ridiculous, especially because we had a police escort. APD gave us an escort to the parade. Chief Medina and APD stand behind us,” Sanchez said. “They appreciate what we do. They work with us. We have great working relationships, not only with APD and the mayor, but with the sheriff’s office and with the FBI,” Sanchez said.

What is New Mexico Crusaders for Justice? New Mexico Crusaders for Justice was founded in May 2021. They are an advocacy group of approximately 900 members statewide that supports families whose loved ones were taken by gun violence and violent crime. They also create a safe space to honor lives taken by advocating for justice and seeking positive change within communities.

Violations listed via-email to NM Crusaders of Justice from the city of Albuquerque Your participation in the 2022 Twinkle Light Parade was not in line with the rules for the parade. Your acceptance to the event was based on your agreement to follow the rules of participation.

Your group broke multiple rules:

GAPS: Gaps in between entries can be dangerous as spectators look at the opportunity to cross the street. Stay close to the group in front of you to prevent gaps and pay attention to entries around you. Entries should be 15 feet apart.

Your group had a three-minute gap by the stage that grew into more than a six-block gap by Girard. Your group did not follow directions and came into the staging area before the assigned time and on the wrong street. When addressed, your group went to another wrong street, impacting access for other entries. ENTRIES: Appropriate entries will be accepted in the parade by a confirmation email. Space is based on size and area available. Only approved vehicles will be allowed into the parade.

An unauthorized vehicle entered with the entry. STAGING: All entries must enter staging through the correct street and from the correct direction assigned.

Your group did not follow directions and came into the staging area before the assigned time and on the wrong street. When addressed, your group went to another wrong street, impacting access for other entries. VIOLATIONS: Instructions by Parade Staff must be followed at all times. Violations will result in immediate disqualification or may affect your participation in future events.

Your violations affected the parade logistics as well as the organization of the parade. Stay up-to-date: The latest headlines from KOAT Action 7 News

NM Crusaders of Justice e-mail in response to the violations: Dear Bree,

I am in receipt of your letter regarding the Twinkle Light Parade, and I am not in agreement with the violations that you are stating. I understand that you and your team wanted things to work differently this year. I understand that you and your team did not want to have gaps.

Let’s address the first violation, our walkers were walking the fastest that they could, most of the time we were running to try to keep up with our float. The driver of our float had your team constantly hitting his truck with their wand telling him to go faster. Your team kept yelling at our walkers to run and catch up to our float. At one point it actually caused me to have an anxiety attack, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t run anymore, and my fellow Crusaders had the driver stop for medical reasons to get me loaded into the back of the trailer. Our walkers were trying their hardest to stay with our float, but nobody’s legs can walk 10 miles an hour and still be able to hand out all the goodies we brought to hand out to the spectators. We did not have this problem last year as the parade went so much slower than this year. So many of our spectators told us that they were not even able to get pictures of the float as it went by so fast. I understand that it was raining and maybe that is why you were pushing everybody through so fast but that should not fall on us as a violation. Again, we did not have this problem last year.

Violation number 2: We did not have an unauthorized vehicle in the parade. We put us down for a truck and a trailer. That is all that was on the street and that was all that was staged.

Violation number 3: Last year we arrived 45 minutes early and drove down the street that the high school parking lot is on and waited for our people to arrive, loaded them in the back of the trailer and proceeded to our staging area. This year the streets were already blocked off when we got there again 45 minutes early to gather our people and go to our staging area. Had we been notified that you were going to close down the streets that early we would have figured out a different route to pick up our people. Your people are the ones who directed us to the street by the parking lot of the high school and told us we could wait for our people. They should have told us we needed to leave the area if we were causing such a disruption on the empty streets that we were on.

I don’t feel that your assessment of us or our float is accurate. I don’t feel that we should not be able to participate in the parade next year. Seeing how this is a city event I will be speaking with the mayor about your decision and unfairness to our group.

Respectfully,

Sally Sanchez

Co-Founder/ Managing Member

Sanchez provided KOAT with their e-mail in response to violations listed on Dec. 22, 2022. Sanchez addressed each violation, but stated she did not receive a response from the city in regard to the allegations. “When I e-mailed them with our explanations of the events that occurred, I didn’t get a response back. We are the voices for all of the victims of homicide. To be able to see their loved one on the float brings them a little bit of joy,” Sanchez said.

“Where we were trying to go was by Highland to pick up all of our participants and they had that road blocked off. The year before it was open, last year, it was blocked off. In 2022, it was raining. They were pushing all of the entries to go faster. We can only walk so fast,” Sanchez told KOAT. “We’ve had people tell us they couldn’t even take pictures with us, because the float was going by so fast.”

KOAT reached out to the city of Albuquerque in regard to the ban. They sent KOAT a statement:

“All Twinkle Light Parade entries take a mandatory class and agree to follow established rules to help ensure a safe and joyous event. This specific entry failed to maintain the flow of traffic, even after multiple requests from parade organizers. Their delay created a safety issue when spectators prematurely thought the event was over and spilled into the streets. The group was issued a one-year suspension—a measure consistent with what has been applied for parade violations in the past.” – Tanya Lenti, marketing manager.

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