Star Activist Ricardo Martinez, the Center’s Public Policy Associate, on civic engagement, organizing and liberation
http://www.goleft.org/index.php/activists/entry/618
GoLeft Star Activist Interview: Ricardo Martinez
GoLeft’s Star-Activist Interviews
GoLeft tracks where pop culture and activism meet (who doesn’t enjoy the escapism of Hollywood and the great shoes?), but the real celebrities of our world are the progressives working every day to fight injustice, improve everyone’s quality of life, and build community. So here’s our version of the celebrity profile: GoLeft’s Star-Activist Interviews, which helps us get to know some amazing people doing fascinating (and important) work.
Interview with Ricardo Martinez
Ricardo is the Public Policy Associate for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in New York City. Our GoLeft interview with Ricardo touched on the radical possibilities of popular culture and how we can learn from laughing more and using the lightness of pop culture to spotlight the seriousness of the issues we care about. You can find out more about the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center at www.gaycenter.org. You can reach Ricardo at
GL: How do you explain your work to people?
Ricardo: Mainly what I do is work on Promote the Vote, the Center’s voter registration, education, and mobilization project working to build a visible LGBT voting constituency that politicians will respond to. We work to make sure politicians see that LGBT people are voting and that politicians act in our best interests.
GL: When did you know you wanted to be an organizer?
Ricardo: I think it is something that just came organically. Part of it is my wanting to bring my whole self into the work I do. Here at the Center I feel comfortable being myself and through my position I can work on all the issues I care about and affect me and the communities I belong to. Being a migrant from Mexico and a queer man finding my place in NY seems to have naturally led me to challenge people around me. I do it to survive.
I grew up in a family culture that did not accept me loving men and where my masculinity existed within narrow parameters. I was expected to fulfill a role as eldest son, as male, that did not leave space for exploring myself or for the growth I needed. As migrants, we were trying to survive economically and strong family ties allow us to do that. And because I love my family, I challenge their definition of family so that we can build a family where we all belong and feel loved and respected.
Wanting to be an organizer comes from my experiences within my family, from a migrant experience, from a queer experience. It is something that I enjoy doing. I’m a little bit selfish. This is the thing I feel most comfortable doing.
GL: What’s great about being an organizer?
Ricardo: I enjoy being in community. Something I really, really like is when I’m registering people to vote, especially when I’m around other people of color and I’m talking to people and showing people respect. I get that respect back. That’s when I feel very good, happy. I feel like I’m part of something bigger. There is lightness to it and we see each other. The mask we wear for the outside comes off, even if it’s for a little while.
GL: What makes you a great organizer?
Ricardo: It’s being able to talk to people with respect. It is understanding that I am part of “the people” and not separate, not outside. We have different stories but we are all struggling and learning.
I don’t come across as having the answers. I connect with people by sharing my story and talking about what they see as the problems and the ways that they want to do something to change.
GL: What do you love about pop culture?
Ricardo: What I love about pop culture is that it’s creative. It’s art. And artists don’t have thought-police. They are free to express themselves. And when you truly express yourself you can bring out the contradictions in yourself and your culture. And when artists do that well, they can break through systems of oppression by looking at things differently.
GL: What’s the last pop cultural reference you’ve used in your organizing?
Ricardo: Our stickers “Sexy People Vote.” When I hand out these stickers, people light up. It’s pop, people want to feel sexy, want to shine in their own skin. I like the slogan in relation to voting because it is subtle; it doesn’t bang people over the head by telling them what to do. I also use it to discuss what voting is – sharing our voices, our beautiful selves. Voting is one way to express your views. It is one way that we should still continue to use. It is a stepping stone to explore other ways of resistance.
GL: Which celebrity would you love to have come out on your issue? Why?
Ricardo: My issue? I have many! That’s a hard question to answer. I think if any celebrity, especially one that was not born into wealth or privilege remembers her or his struggle and is able to remind people that there is a world beyond the latest celebrity gossip about what beach this or that person is vacationing at would be a huge step. And they do, by the work they choose to take on sometimes, what roles they play or lyrics they sing. But celebrities are entertainers. They help us escape. If they are truly talented they can entertain and educate at the same time.
GL: What music lyrics do you live by?
Ricardo: I love the song “Today Was A Good Day” by Ice Cube. He sings about how today was a good day. He recognizes all the things that could have gone wrong but didn’t. He doesn’t gloss over reality, he lists all the bad things that are possible in his life and shows appreciation that those things didn’t happen today. And it’s a great cruising song.
GL: Do you have family support for your organizing? How important is that to you?
Ricardo: Actually I don’t have family support. They know I work for a queer organization but they’d rather I didn’t. They rather I’d work in a non “gay” organization. They think working here makes me “gay.”
Family is very important to me and I’d like to have their support. I would like to be able to take a partner with me to our family barbeques. My other cousins bring their partners. But since I don’t have that family support I think it’s key to grab onto light, keep positive and seek out friends and continue to struggle. I don’t pretend that it’s not a struggle but I make sure to have fun in the meantime.
GL: Is there a relationship depicted in pop culture (fictional or real) that you admire or think is a healthy model? Why?
Ricardo: In the movie V for Vendetta, V meets Evie and he has to take her to his secret hiding place. She doesn’t buy his whole argument for revolution. But in the movie it ends up that she is forced through torture to learn the importance about maintaining that “one inch of life.” I think she is talking about dignity. She decides to hold on to that “one inch of life” and not snitch on V’s whereabouts. She partly held on because another prisoner shared her story. She heard the tragedy and happiness of that story and the courage it took that prisoner to hold on to dignity no matter what.
I also like in the television show Mad Men. You can really see how patriarchy and capitalism impacts and structures the character’s lives. Also in the Keisha Coles show you see how economic devastation trickles down and affects us individually and within our family. The system that we’re in hurts us to such a degree that we sometimes hurt ourselves or hurt others and you see them face this as a family and struggle. If we recognize how capitalism, patriarchy, and racism causes these things we can start addressing them and building relationships around them.
GL: What is one truth you were told about sex/love/relationships from your parents?
Ricardo: It would have to be in terms of relationships because my parents never talked to me about sex. The lesson would be to be honest with the person you’re with and not lie or hurt that person and also not to lie to yourself. My mother always told me to be honest with myself. This is somewhat contradictory because sometimes being honest with yourself and the other person means someone will end up getting hurt.
GL: What is your astrological sign and how does that affect your organizing?
Ricardo: I am a Virgo. This means I am a perfectionist at times and I have to be better at letting go and trusting myself the first time I recheck my work.
