Good intention endangers sachem

It is with great concern that we inform you that KM's own sachem Joy Graves has just escaped having been held captive in the state of New Mexico by the family of "baby Jason" who you may remember the church was asked to help try to protect from an abusive situation at the hand of the New Mexico CYFD foster care system.

On the 23rd of March, Graves set out by bus for the southwestern state to meet with the baby's paternal grandmother, Ms. Margaret Salazar who along with her daughter had begged and peaded that Graves go to them in New Mexico to offer moral support to the family as the state's case regarding the child was set to finalize on the 29th of March beginning at 1 o'clock PM at the children's courthouse.

Graves was extremely ill for a few weeks leading up to the date of departure and ultimately made the trip which proved to only make her sickness and symptoms worse by the time she arrived, which was on the 26th of March 2018. "The bus driver walked off the job in Phoenix, Arizona which stranded us overnight in the bus terminal." Graves says that the only seats were metal and her kidney became inflamed so ultimately she found a place on the cold hard floor and dozed off for just over two hours before being awoken to security threatening to call police and have she and two other women travelers arrested who were also stranded because of the lack of bus driver, for "Loitering" no less!

Apparently Graves and that busses passengers weren't the Only stranded Greyhound goers, some were complaining of having been stuck there for 3 days before her bus became stranded, and a few claimed to have been stuck in that same station for 5 straight days without word or any sign of hope at Greyhound getting them back on their coarse. While Graves was at the ticket counter, she says an elderly colored man had come up to the counter and with tears in his eyes exclaimed "You've kept me here for 5 straight days, either get me on a bus or give me my money back, you can't just keep me here."

The woman working the counter picked up a phone but never tried to say anything into it, instead just pushed a few different buttons and then hung it up and went to the back where she couldn't be seen any longer. Greyhound staff and security then made their way toward the counter, and in the blink of an eye Phoenix Police were rushing through the doors and quickly cuffed and took the elderly man away... how heart-breaking and scary was Greyhounds martyr "example" to the rest stuck in the station! "Most were too afraid to ask for an update as to when they're journey would continue onward, and those few of us who did were quickly targeted with Attitude by the head woman in charge of the station, from constant dirty looks to out-right disrespect verbally as well as conduct-wise."

Little did Graves know, this would be but the WARNING of the danger that was yet to come, and ultimately that it would make her sickness the least of her worries.

So, on the night of the 26th Graves arrived in the capitol city of New Mexico. Little did she know the others that were believed to be in route were held up clear across the country due to unforeseen circumstances. By the evening of the 27th the tension and stress of the delay began spinning the paternal grandmother's head into a world of delusion Graves believed was unfounded but that ultimately led to her realizing she was in an unsafe situation.

In a state completely unfamiliar to her, and desperately needing some over-the-counter medication, Graves was told she was not allowed to go to the store. At that point is when she began being threatened with her physical safety if she tried to find her way to the store on her own. The threats started subtle, quoting statistics on local crime, violence, and shooting deaths and not just from locals but law enforcement officials as well who were "hot" on the paternal grandmother and her daughter according to their and several others accounts who were associated with the family.

When Graves turned for her prescription medications she had brought with her, quickly they too were taken away from her by the family who began telling Graves they believed her to have been sent to them "as a decoy" to distract them from preparing for the baby's upcoming case in child court. "Oh no,, you're not getting anything that will benefit you while my grandson remains in danger because you're distracting me from getting everything filed needed to save him, how Dare you think it's ok for you to be ok and not him!"

On the afternoon of the 28th, Graves was taken to the local VFW building where a public gathering was scheduled in effort of gaining support for the case of baby Jason, but she was quickly taken to a secluded part of the building in which no one else was present. She had been told before being let into the building that should she try to give anyone any indication of being in a distressful situation that she would not make it out of New Mexico alive, and too, she was reminded that everything she had with her including her medications and various identification and such were being held by the woman's daughter to ensure her cooperation. During the short period of time Graves was there for the gathering, no one came which further frustrated the grandmother. "The meet was scheduled for 3 hours, but I was only allowed to be there for like a half hour mid way through the schedule" Graves said. "People did come to the meet after she decided we were leaving, but she didn't want to go back or make any attempt to reach out or connect to them, so I don't know who or how many ever came to support the baby, just that some had."

Upon returning to the Salazar home is when Graves said she began really fearing for her life. "The (the Salazar's) did a complete 360 and were completely enraged from that point on, constantly threatening my life, saying that I was Not going to make it out of their home alive." According to Graves, Ms. Salazar began wheeling threats of her family and their high respect as criminals, stating that they had people all over New Mexico "on stand by" to kill her and that many of them were watching the house she was being kept in. "If any of our people see you outside this house without me, you're as good as dead, they're not gonna Hesitate in popping a cap in your ass... in your head."

Graves says that among the threats of killing her, she was also threatened that they had people who were "eager to torture you and make you pay for costing me my grandson" and says that short after a big male came storming into the house and began yelling and screaming threats at her including directly in her face, saying that he was going to "Make you pay" and that she had "Better be prepared to suffer." Graves was on her phone at the demand of the grandmother trying to get hold of the delayed people when the man came in screaming and yelling at her. He demanded Graves immediately hang up her phone. Not knowing who he was, she was reluctant, until he lunged at her as if he was going to literally take her phone from her.

Little did they know, Graves had gotten a few persons on the phone who heard the threats and the tone of what was going on. Graves made it appear as if she had hung up the phone as instructed but the call continued unbeknownst to them until her phone battery literally went dead. "The man was very scary and intimidate" says Graves, "He never stopped threatening me the whole time he was there, saying things like he has a lot of dangerous connections there locally and how Graves had no one and how no one even knew exactly where she was. At one point Graves says the man literally did a search of her pockets and that he had also copied all her personal information off her state identification, commenting that he now knew where she lived and had property and that he would have no problem "having her family dealt with" too, sadistically laughing several times at how If she managed to get out of the house how she "won't even make it to the end of the block before our people will get you and kill your scrawny little bitch ass."

After the man they called "Abaleeno" finally left, the tension lessened a little in Graves and she began literally begging for her literal life from these people which she continued throughout the entire night and into the next morning, but that evening a tribal elder who had bussed in to help Graves try to connect this family with their tribe was also then threatened by Grandma Salazar several times and in different ways personally himself as well as Graves safety was threatened to him should he not keep quiet as to what was going on, and ultimately the 65 year old elder was left outdoors all night on a bench at the bus station without even a coat to keep warm. He was told by Ms. Salazar that she had people also watching him down at the bus station and that ultimately he'd best just sit tight and keep quiet and wait until they made a final decision as to what and how they were going to deal with the insane situation they had flourished it into in their minds.

Finally, at around 7:30 the next morning, after Graves had tried to reason some sanity into their minds all night long, in between sobbing for her life and also for her elder, Grandma Salazar finally made the decision to load up Graves and her stuff and dump her off near some sort of tribal gas station building next to the interstate, but before she was let go, again she was told that they had people "all around" and that with a simple phone call Graves would be dead within a few short minutes if that's what they decided. Because the Salazar's made Graves travel arrangements, they maintained control over her only passageway out of New Mexico, and never let her have her bus ticket home. Ms. Salazar told Graves that she knew Graves had no money or resources, and said she was not giving her the bus ticket so to make sure she couldn't leave town. The case was to be heard that afternoon and the Salazar's wanted to make sure they kept Graves in their immediate reach.

As soon as Graves was free, she immediately reached out to her elder who had bussed in and he arranged a ride from a stranger to pick her up and take her to safety which was found in a cafe on the opposite side of town from where she was dumped off. Grandma Salazar had also told Graves that if she did Not answer the phone to Salazar's calls, she would have her killed within minutes. Several times Salazar did call Graves phone saying she was making sure Graves knew she was still in her reach and in danger. "All the way up until the hearing Margaret would call saying "You'd better hope my grandson comes home with me from court or your dead, or gonna pay, as well as my family."

Reluctantly Graves says Racism was also a card frequently being used by Ms. Salazar saying how Graves was "A pathetic little white girl" who was in "Chicana turf" and how she could easily and quickly be killed for that alone not even necessarily by Salazar's people who were gunning for her at their request. "She also bragged at how her family, cousins I believe, had been running the prison there for generations, at one point she said upwards of 40 years, and how THEY decide who lives or who is killed in that prison and she even boasted saying that her family had already allowed 32 to be killed within the last year alone. Though Graves had nothing to fear by such threats, given her extremely poor health issues especially in those moments, she admits it did definitely enhance her level of fear without a doubt.

Graves believes that it was the combination of her insisting that the tribal hotline had recorded all the hours of their threats on her life, and because they Knew the elder at the bus station was also aware of them having her held captive that attained her freedom from the situation but too admits that she didn't feel safe until she could find she and her elder a way Out of the state of New Mexico. Her tribe called for the Warrior Society of AIM to safely ensure their passage out of New Mexico which was successful but it was far from an easy task as Graves lung function was so low she could barely get a quarter of a block before having to stop and use multiple inhalers as well as rest a good 15 minutes in between strides to the train. "My elder transformed me so that I looked like a dude, and was right there as I drug across town, I was very fortunate and grateful, he really took care of me and helped me get through it all."

According to the tribe, the threats on Graves life didn't stop there, although they did lose merit once she and her elder were safely out of the state of New Mexico while the threats continued as if she were still stuck their in their reach. Voicemails were actually left Demanding that tribal members "Kidnap" the baby from state care and "Bring him to us immediately" if they ever wanted to see Graves safe and alive again. Another tribal elder also reported to the US Marshall's office an estimated 40 separate voicemail threats upon his life in the same mannerism in which Graves life was being threatened in New Mexico if he too didn't help the paternal grandmother gain possession over baby Jason.

Per the instruction of the tribe, Graves has filed an official report with the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) as to what happened and what she went through while blindly agreeing to attempt to be the moral and spiritual support begged of her by what seemed to her as "An honorable loving grandmother highly concerned for the safety and well-being of her grandson, desperate for hope and support" but who ultimately has yet again proven to Graves that not All, including elders can nor should Blindly be trusted, especially when it comes to personal safety.

Now, she's back on the road continuing her mission!

As always, we Thank you for your continued interest, support and contributions, please stay tuned for future updates!