Xiuhtezcatl Martinez knows his activism is different.
By the time he was 15, standing before the United Nations, Martinez had been active in environmental justice for years.
"My mother was very involved in the environmental movement, running a global nonprofit called Earth Guardians that I was heavily involved in as a young kid — doing a lot of work to fight against local fossil fuel extracting, shutting down coal-fired power plants in our hometown, fighting against fracking... and starting to understand the intersection of race and social and environmental justice at an early age," Martinez said in a WGLT interview ahead of a Tuesday visit to Illinois State University.
That precocious activism led him before the United Nations when he was 15 and to be one of a handful of youths who were the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Barack Obama's presidential administration in 2015, arguing that future generations have a constitutional right to a stable climate. Dismissed by a federal appeals court, the lawsuit is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, where the plaintiffs have asked that dismissal be overruled.
Amidst this backdrop of social and environmental advocacy, Martinez has also been making music inspired by his Xochimilcan and Mexican heritage — which, in turn, has brought him to be an opener for acts like Jaden and Willow, Bassnectar and to music festivals across the country.
All of these achievements that distinguish him, he said, are why he tells people not to use him as a blueprint for activism.
"I think oftentimes the most visible people aren't really the best examples of what actually creating change in your community really looks like," he said. "The messengers or the spokespeople for our movements are just that — we're spokespeople. The people who are on the ground, who are in the communities, who don't have the cameras in front of them, who don't appear on stages or get invited to speak at dinners [are] the ones really responsible for the realization of the ideas that I'm talking about."
The idea that anyone can be a part of making social, cultural and environmental change will be a key part of Martinez's message to attendees of Illinois State University's Latino and Sustainability Dinner on Tuesday evening, where he is a featured guest.
"I feel that my art is what speaks to me the most — it's what makes me feel the most alive and most fulfilled."Xiuhtezcatl Martinez
"I think we've been really poorly sold this idea that activism looks really specific and happens in a linear way. And I think the overlap with popular culture and celebrity culture and influence culture with activism has also sold us this idea that you have to be conventionally attractive, or palatable, oftentimes lighter-skinned, in order to be heard and have an impact with your voice," he said. "I think what is most effective is: 'How can we integrate what we're fighting for, what we believe in, onto the paths that we're already on? How can we fight for the causes that are close to our hearts while continue to pursue the development of our creative practices, our careers, or our academic pursuits?"
That latter part is something Martinez said he's been working on closely: As he's grown, he said, he's turned to into incorporating messages of environmental, social and racial justice into hip-hop.
"I feel that my art is what speaks to me the most — it's what makes me feel the most alive and most fulfilled. And I've found a way to pursue that in a way that doesn't compromise the work that I've done in the rest of my life," he said. "Actually, it's the realest expression of that. Now the majority of my activism, my organizing, is taking a route of working deeply with community, with young people, through the arts, storytelling and through music."
Martinez said he hopes to reiterate to students at Tuesday's dinner that they, too, have their own pathways to creating change — and that their pathways don't have to be grandiose to make a difference.
"I think: Don't put so much pressure on yourselves to either go all-in and make your whole identity and your whole life about fighting for justice, or, [ think] 'It's too big, and I can't do anything because I'm busy with homework.' Whether it's through choosing to opt out or actively playing a part, like we're all contributing to what the future ends up looking like," he said. "Your contribution can be small, and it doesn't have to be world and earth-shattering. It's like it's the collection of these small decisions, of these small contributions, to me, that that make the world change."
ISU's cultural dinners each semester have been a feature since the early 1980s and are open to the Bloomington-Normal and university communities. This year's Latino and Sustainability Cultural Dinner is a joint effort between multiple groups, including the Association of Latinx American Students and Organization of Latino Employees groups.
