Activist Elizabeth “Betita” Martinez once wrote in an essay that “there is no separating my life from history.” And it’s true: her life is like a thread weaving through the movements for self-determination and justice.  Born in 1925, she has lived more than nine lives: as a member of New York’s heady literati in the 1940s and 50s, a link between the Black Power and Chicano movements in the 1960s, a feminist critic of the sexism and homophobia within Third World solidarity groups here in the U.S. in the 1960s and 1970s, and a respected public intellectual in the left throughout her entire career.

In March 2000, Betita authored an essay for Colorlines that asked “Where Was the Color in Seattle?” engaging a new generation of organizers of color, wanting to make the link between global capitalism abroad and austerity measures impacting communities of color, here at home.  Connections, wrote Betita, “absolutely crucial if we are to make Seattle’s promise of a new, international movement against imperialist globalization come true.”  It was through this essay that I first came into contact with Betita and her ideas, as a young organizer of color both influenced by the 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO), yet also critical of a movement that was largely comprised of white, middle class males.  Her words helped me think about how inclusion figured in other struggles, such as the antiwar movement and, more recently, Occupy Wall Street.

It was with these questions in mind that I had the privilege to engage both Betita and her old friend Olga Talamante in dialogue this past Sunday.  The two have a friendship going back more than 35 years. They first met when Olga was released from prison in Argentina, where she was incarcerated for one year as a political prisoner, and was tortured the hands of the right-wing Peronist dictatorship.  Now, Olga heads the Chicana/Latina Foundation, which develops the leadership of young Latinas, and is active with local LGBT advocacy groups.

Olga and I visited Betita in an assisted living home in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury area, where she was recently moved, bearing ice cream and chocolate (she has a sweet tooth).  Betita suffered from a stroke three years ago.  Since then, her cognitive functions and memory have been slipping away, a tragedy for a life so rich with experiences.  Her friends have rallied to support her, starting a Betita Martinez Fan Club, to organize support and monetary contributions for her care.

But here are snippets of the conversation we got to have:

Colorlines.com: I want to preface this by saying that we at Colorlines approached you to honor as a part of Latino heritage month.  But, we also have complicated feelings about it and my colleagues and I thought that you would too. So, my first question to you is what do you think of Latino heritage month?

Olga Talamante: The media and corporations celebrate one month as Latino heritage month.  But, it’s much more complicated than that.

Betita Martinez: Frozen symbols.  Even Latina heritage is a frozen symbol already, frozen in its definition of what Latina means and what heritage means.  We have to be careful of encouraging it, the symbolization, this point cannot be emphasized enough.

CL: You have played an important role at the intersections of many important movements. [For example, you ran the New York office of SNCC in the 1960s as a Latina.] How did you develop this intersectional analysis?

BM: That has been a wonderful opportunity, to be at those intersections.  The intersections have always been there, people were waiting to see that the intersections were being made.  I was just lucky, I happened to come along during those moments.

OT: You articulated what many of us felt in those times.  You said it.

BM: That’s a big honor.  I am happy when people saw the connections before I even made them.  I didn’t want to be ahead, I wanted to be with the people in the moment.  But, you end up being ahead because you’re different.  That’s the irony of it.

CL: What made you different?  Why did you change your name from Liz Sutherland [an Anglicized version, using your mother’s maiden name] to Betita Martinez?

BM: My mother played a role in that, even indirectly, because her mother’s name is Phillips.  And, she was a very Phillips kind of person born from Tacoma Park, Maryland.  She married my father who worked at the Mexican embassy, while she worked at the Swedish embassy.  So, her mind was already working in multi-directions.  So, it helped me to have a multiple sense of reality and identity, right there.  It made a lot of difference to me: I couldn’t be a simple two-dimensions; I had to be multi-dimensional.

CL: What inspired you to link the Black Panthers with the UFW [who were organizing migrant farmworkers]?

BM: The connections between people and their cultures are very important.  When we make those links, we strengthen those capacities to be human, in the best sense.  [She started to cry with emotion.]  It’s always there, hiding in the rocks, we have to give it a chance to grow.  A big chance.

OT: That’s what the occupiers of Wall Street are doing right now. Lots of people, workers and students, the young and the old.  It’s an evolving movement, changing every day.  New ones are springing up in cities across the country.

BM: [Occupy] is a real place for people to talk, to blossom.  How beautiful, how exciting!

CL: Your essay Where’s the Color in Seattle is inspiring many organizers of color to ask similar questions about the #Occupy movement: Where are the people of color?

OT: I’m excited some people of color are participating, but we should be the majority.  [Occupy] should be led by people of color. We’re the ones suffering from unemployment, from the recession, and from banks being bailed out.

BM: I hope that I’ve been an inspiration for young women and young women of color activists.  I don’t think about my work in the way that you talked about.  It’s an honor, it’s a legacy to maintain.

CL: What advice would you give to young women of color organizers today, on how to sustain themselves in the movement, as mothers?  [Betita wrote in her essay Neither Black nor White in a Black-White World that she “deeply regrets neglecting another identity: being the mother of a young daughter who needed much more attention than she received in those years.”]

BM: We don’t think about this.  It’s an issue we have to think about.  Women do both, raise a family and participate in the struggle, we have to make them connect.

OT: It’s an issue when you were doing this work and continues today.  I work with young Latina college students.  This is a key issue because many of them work and go to school.  Many are activists; many are mothers.  They are doing all three things.  I don’t have one formula except to say that it has to be part of the discussion, otherwise it’s your problem, you have to balance everything, you have to be superwoman.  We have to make it not the individual’s problem, but the movement’s.  We have to setup time and resources that can help women be a part of the movement, because if being a mother or working prevents you from being part of the movement, then it’s not working.

BM: Amen.

To read more about Betita’s life and work, see Tony Platt’s essay The Heart Just Insists.

The green jobs act establishes a Navajo Green Economy Commission and Fund, which can apply for federal and local funds to create green jobs for Navajo youth, as well as sponsor small-scale, green developments that will help to provide needed services to the community.

Nikke is a member of the Navajo Nation (Diné Bikéyah). She is Salt clan born for the Tangle People clan. Her maternal grandparents are of the Big Water clan, and her paternal grandparents are of the Red Bottom clan. She grew up in Gallup, New Mexico.

RaceWire: How do you feel now that the green jobs bill has been passed?

Nikke Alex: I feel really great, even though I’m exhausted. The real work starts now. It’s been 14 months of work to campaign to get the green jobs bill enacted. It feels really great to be at the forefront of the Indian country, to be the first nation to propose green legislation and pass it.

RW: What was the role of Navajo youth in the green jobs campaign?

NA: The campaign was youth-led. The Black Mesa Water Coalition mobilized a lot of young people to come out yesterday to talk with the (Navajo Nation Council) delegates. We wore green shirts and marched to the Council Chambers. We said, “This is for us (the youth). (Older generations) aren’t going to face the harsh effects of climate change. But, we will.” I think youth pushed the delegates to vote for (the green jobs bill). Young people have been involved in the campaign, from start to finish, even writing the legislation.

There’s nothing like this in history. It’s the first time that Navajo youth have come out to the (Navajo Nation) Council. It’s the first time that the Navajo Nation Council’s Speaker has worked on a proactive initiative, rather than reacting and applying band-aids.

RW: Who will get the green jobs created by the act?

NA: We want green jobs for Navajo youth. Right now, unemployment on the reservation is at 44%. There’s nothing for young people. The only ones working are college graduates. There are no jobs. That’s why I’m pushing for the green jobs act because of two reasons: (a) these jobs aren’t coal mining and (b) they’re safe for the Mother Earth. I’m pushing for this, more job creation and development.

Talented, skilled people travel thousands of miles to work. They’re not home to see their family during the week, they only come home on the weekends. A lot of young men go to Las Vegas, Phoenix, or Los Angeles to work in construction or as electricians. Some drive three miles each way, six hours roundtrip, to go to work. A lot of the women also work off the reservation. They work in hotels or as waitresses.

The (green jobs) legislation will help bring back jobs and keep monies in the reservation. Currently, for every dollar made on the reservation, 70-cents gets spent outside. That’s a 70% leakage rate. There’s no economic development in the reservation. There are grocery stores, but they’re not Navajo-owned. One of the main stores is owned by a man who lives in Phoenix.

RW: Are things worse now during the Great Recession for Navajo youth?

NA: It’s always been hard for us. I talked with my grandma recently who lived through the Great Depression. She didn’t realize that there’s a recession right now, because it’s always been this way. Over 40% of Navajo living on the reservation don’t have running water or electricity.

RW: What are the next steps for the Navajo green jobs campaign? And, how can allies help?

NA: Our first steps are to work with the President. He has ten days to sign the legislation, to make it law. (The green jobs bill) was passed by the (Navajo Nation) Council but now we’re mobilizing Navajo youth to get the President to sign it.

For the broader movement, you can help by encouraging the federal government to allocate green job monies to the Indian country.