Monday, April 13, 2026 7:00 pm NHCC | Bank of America Theatre 2026 AfroMundo Festival: “Futurism: Manifesting the Envisioned” Featured Regions: U.S. & U.S. Territories: Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Mariana Islands Screening of documentary “The Fight to Preserve & Revitalize the Chamorro Language.” Directed by Brian Muna. 2025. 13m. Followed by a panel discussion and Q&A. Panelists include Ashby Combahee, Library and Archives Program Manager at the Highlander Research and Education Center; Darlene T. Gomez, attorney for Medicine Wheel Ride; Gabby Langkilde, founder of Pasefika Presence; and Akilah Martinez, award-winning Diné creative technologist and cultural bearer. Moderated by CHamoru filmmaker Brian Muna. The 2026 AfroMundo Festival is free to the general public with limited seating and includes films, concerts, literature, oral traditions, panel discussions, culinary and other arts to foster a greater understanding of our shared humanity. Learn more at afromundo.org. PLEASE MAKE YOUR RESERVATION HERE! Panel discussion with: Ashby Combahee is the Library and Archives Program Manager at the Highlander Research and Education Center. Their work focuses on the documentation and preservation of southern grassroots liberation movements in United States. They are a co-founder of Georgia Dusk: a southern liberation oral history. Ashby started the Southern Memory Workers Institute at the Highlander Center, which is a 5-day popular education workshop sharing skills in public history, archival preservation, documentary arts, and political strategy. They are also a research fellow with the Folk Education Association of America, focused on resourcing Black craftspeople and Black-led folk schools. Darlene T. Gomez is a lifelong native of Northern New Mexico, having been born and raised in Lumberton where her ancestors homesteaded before New Mexico was incorporated into the United States. She has been practicing law for over 19 years and specializes in Indian Law, Complex Family Law, and advocating on behalf of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Relatives (MMIWR). Darlene attended the University of New Mexico School of Law where she first began her pro bono work fighting for clean water in her hometown of Lumberton. She was the inaugural recipient of the Carlos Vigil Scholarship, among numerous other awards while in school. Darlene is tirelessly passionate about giving a voice to the voiceless through her pro bono work. She has been a fierce advocate for primary and secondary victims of the MMIWR crisis since 2001 and spends much of her time organizing rallies, mentoring and advocating for secondary victims, preparing and distributing press releases, and serving as the attorney for 15 families of MMIWR victims. She is a founding member of the New Mexico MMIW Task Force and serves as the general counsel for the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Medicine Wheel Ride. She is widely considered a leading expert in MMIWR through...
NHCC is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Hispanic arts and culture.
