Today we’d like to introduce you to Mellissa Martinez.
Mellissa, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Being born and raised in the energy capital of the world has been otherworldly as a low-income resident. Witnessing the city’s notoriety for being innovative for having the largest medical center, being the frontage for gas & oil companies, and for being a space frontier. It always felt like watching behind a rose colored lens, hearing about Houston on paper for others to learn about. When in reality we’re stellar for being one of the top cities in the country of the housing crisis, for being the most uninsured populations, for being on the frontline to climate change, and for having transportation inequalities.
So growing up in Houston, you have systemic & cultural expectations to achieve the American Dream just like every city in the nation strives to sell. To become someone with wealth and excel with the abundance of opportunities here. But through lived experiences, being raised by a single mother, low-income, first generation, it has never been tangible to experience the same opportunities as my upper middle class counterparts. Being raised with disparities and hardship like wondering if your parents will afford rent or enough food on the table, or your mother compromising herself a meal in order for her kids to have new shoes for school or so that they can eat first. Witnessing gender & racial violence in our interpersonal spaces and many more injustices has made me keen to the world’s reality than it is on paper. This theory that feeds to the status quo of systemic aftermaths of problems, then only has people believe that their lived experiences do not exist and that things are just the way they are.
The status quo had me fooled until my senior year of high school and early college in the awakening of the #BlackLivesMatter movement with the beloved young man, Michael Brown Jr in 2014. It was during those moments of digital congregations on social media that created accessible spaces for critical thinking skills by Womanists and Black feminist thoughts that you don’t necessarily engage within education systems. So by my own feed and that phrase of “you are what you eat” online consumption I will always feel forever grateful to be led to such kind, wise, wonderful elder organizers living on the praxis of engaging critical thought with black feminist values. It helped me in a lot of ways as a non Black, brown latine to acknowledge and work at my own internal oppressive attributes that white supremacy has bestowed in all of us from our systemic structures we live in. It’s certainly been a process to unwire conditional behavior and thoughts of how we’re told to perceive ourselves and our differences regarding age, race, gender, disability, etc. As a result, it has instilled a grand seed of hope. Those things don’t have to be the way they are just because institutions and systems built to forever be accustomed to. Especially in the wealthiest nation in the world, it doesn’t mean there isn’t any room or lack of resources for morally creating something better.
For example in Space City, a lot of Houstonians are desensitized to our car centric culture. That we must accustom to our roads and freeways being our only means of transportation. Further leading us to be dependent on vehicles to transport ourselves. Growing up in the southwest side of Houston, in Sharpstown and in Alief, being from a low income household it’s been difficult to own a car. Your only means of transportation has been by foot or bus or carpooling within a single owned car in order to drive to your grocery store past highways. I recall holding my mother’s hand as a child walking by highways to get to Houston Community College or carpooling with neighbors and coworkers as a friendly community member. On the other hand, the city can also be desensitized to climate change. The city being a huge causing factor with our gas and oil industries being a big machine powerhouse, at the cost of having it’s own people being frontlines to environmental injustices. Experiencing several catastrophic storms from hurricanes, tropical storms, and winter storms all my life as a young 26-year-old, caused by preventable measures and not being prioritized to begin with. We have our Black and brown neighborhoods close to oil refineries, specific neighborhoods like Kashmere Gardens being recognized as Cancer Clusters, being inaccessible to our medical centers along with the ongoing health crisis due to affordable and accessible healthcare. We have migrated survivors of previous climate catastrophes around the world or next door to us such as New Orleans natives coming to the Big Heart of Houston…survivors of the unhoused & victims of gender violence.. the list continues. Having direct impact from several issues stated it churns my spirit to want betterment and to be a part of a collective change. With my drive, ambition, and willpower to start something new with this bold visceral heat for hope to have relational experiences with others and educate and to uplift my communities. It has led me to seek community engagement and to be apart of a solidarity foundation for others to rely on when systems overlook the oppressed.
It’s why I became a community organizer and work with nonprofit and grassroots efforts with local and state governments; in an effort to challenge the systems that impact marginalized and vulnerable communities. As I not only want betterment for my family and I, but I hold within enough compassion and empathy for others despite our differences in struggle. That the grit I have to help end the suffering of our public health and public safety crisis is shared among many and if we can dream of liberation, we most certainly can achieve it. So by the graffiti art on i-45 that states “Be Someone”, I would definitely relate to my calling is to go wherever I’m needed and to be there.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way? Specific individual obstacles and challenges would definitely be as a Houstonian is the car rides! The means of transportation from growing up to be taken to my pre-k through 12th schools to Houston Community College, and to attending the University of Houston, was a hassle. I attended several HCC campuses. Let me tell you it’s been QUITE the journey. I am a proud nontraditional student. I am someone who very much defines the phrase “life happens” and having to adjust to life’s plans rather than to the desired goals you’ve set on trying to achieve such as wanting to be the first in your family to complete college. All while trying to figure out how you’ll afford a class or two, or needing to come back once you saved up enough is hard already as a working class person with the stress for food and stability of shelter. There will be times I would lose sleep to catch up on studies since that is when things will be peaceful and quiet from the chaos going on in the world and then having to wake up at 3am and head to UH to make it on time because traffic is quite a unique attribute in Houston based on where you live and your mode of access.
Overall, being a working class person there is the biggest obstacle of them all, the ability of being present. When you’re so attuned to being in this go-go-go mentality, to hustle, to survive, to provide, to live, and keeping your head afloat. It is so hard to be self-compassionate and relax. The ability to let your guard down when our society has instilled so much stigma, shame, frustrations, and pain of what you’re able to afford. Most importantly of what you deserve, worthy of dignity and confidence with the ability to afford and access health and safety measures. As a brown young fem, living in a cishetpatriarchal, eurocentric beauty ideal society, self-esteem is quite the toil. I’ve witnessed it with neighbors, community members, and family members of mental health by uncontrolled circumstances by terrible legislation taking it’s toll in our physical and spiritual wellbeing. Overcoming these obstacles is something I learned that is a practice, a routine to process. By having a foundation within your identity that you are worthy of respect, that you are loved, to be seen, and taken cared of. The confidence of being comfortable with yourself and what is truly within your control and what is not. That no one cannot ever take away because at the end of the day you have yourself, your loved ones, and your communities. That your lived experiences are enough to validate your realities and worthiness. No matter how many mal-intentioned media ads there are of what is deemed appropriate in style, body image, teeth, skin, and skin textures. What you survived and have today is enough and beloved. Worthy to be celebrated and be compassionate over. I am proud of myself and for anyone else that resonates with this.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’ve worked as a teacher, caretaker, and tutor. Where I look after children and adults to help in any educational capacities. It’s helped me understand developmental psychology and how people process. It’s something I’ve passionately always wanted to do. To understand folks and meet them halfway to get them where they need to be at. Outside of being in academia, I organize, advocate, and learn from actively listening to my community members on current critical issues that go on at the city and county level. With a specific focus on actively learning the intersections of class and race on public health and public safety policies affect communities. I’ve been mentored by Movement School Campus on digital ad creation by Riley Roberts, whose been Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s digital communications leader, and electoral organizing for criminal legal reform by Tiffany Cabán, who is now a council member in NYC and previously ran for DA on a decarceral platform. I’ve also been on the shoulders of other seasoned local Houston organizers and watching them do the groundwork of reproductive work with mutual aid, public health & safety, and also climate grassroots efforts. I’ve also undertaken the Complete Communities University program by the City of Houston to understand the budget cycles, fundings for programs, and how to be a part of city neighborhood interventions. I have organized, advocated, and led events for reproductive justice, climate justice, transportation justice, comprehensive education, and abolition with nonprofit groups, concerned individuals and community leaders. I’ve also helped with mutual aid projects with Houston DSA, Sunrise Movement Houston, and Say Her Name TX. Such as distributing food for Snow Storm Uri and I have created a statewide mutual aid directory with the help of other Texan climate activists due to climate change and environmental injustices for cities and neighborhoods to be connected to direct aid near them in times of need. I have also done organizing work for Harris County, Medicare for All Coalition, and Houston DSA Medicare for All Working Group to fight for free universal healthcare as Houston is home to having the most uninsured district in the entire country and a county of over one million uninsured residents.
From being activated to hearing others struggle from systemic and oppressive structures, while also undergoing my own hardship is what led me to become where I need to be for my communities. That I must be committed to my values and principles to seek justice and access to resources to vulnerable and marginalized communities. I believe in order to do this work you must be an effective leader, meaning to center and actively listen to affected groups, to grow and be comfortable in making mistakes, and finding strength in vulnerability. My current work is on researching the city and county to map out for public health and safety betterment, along with a community safety agenda with her community members, and overall seeking the goal of liberation from oppressive systems for the wellbeing of my fellow neighbors to flourish and have the tools needed to be empowered in Houston. The meaning of “Houston Strong” is what truly prevails in my work ethic and the solidarity toil we do for each other amongst our diversity and unique differences is what makes me proud to be a hard working Houstonian.
What are your plans for the future?
When I think of the future, I think of liberation. My future plans will involve advocating and wanting to make the world a better, healthier, and safer place to live in. As a student, my studies are currently centered on completing my BA in Psychology. I would personally love to continue any research to provide data of lived experiences that go unheard of which is irrefutable. To continue understanding people, advocate, and fight harmful stigmas to help alleviate frustrations into understanding our beautiful diverse way of processing. How as individuals, we survive from systems that influence a huge role in our everyday life. Where I also see this in public policy, legal studies, and community outreach campaigns with grassroots efforts. I could not see myself away from any fight that’s needed to pursue what’s needed to be done. No matter the smallest or largest amount of ways to help someone out. Because at the end of the day, every intention of good deeds is meaningful, significant, and purposeful for me. As I desire all my current work to manifest in abundance in the future of tangible equitable and just policies that liberate from poverty.
I see a future from my current work where Houstonians and Harris County residents have free universal healthcare coverage for all residents, non-citizens included as to being home to the largest medical center in the world. The ability to take time from work without worrying of losing pay to take care of themselves and their loved ones. To have gender reaffirming care be accessible and affordable for all ages. Reproductive justice and trans liberation of having reproductive freedom of lodging. Becoming an abortion positive culture in order to have safe, accessible, and affordable medical treatment for all. Comprehensive coverage for all plans of dental, vision, mental health, and pharmaceuticals to be included. To have the care that we need from having high rises of asthma and cancer rates due to being in frontlines of environmental injustices.
I see a future from mapping and community safety work where Houstonians and Harris County have the appropriate community investment needed. To have an expansion of community recreational and public parks for our biodiversity, of educational resources, of healthcare coverage, of job employment resources. For our Public Works department to thrive from flooding justice equity and ultimately for our community to be rid of the oppressive violence from the prison industrial complex.
As my future plans are to continue to provide care with mutual aid efforts and to work towards a paradigm shift that Houstonians are worth more than having to be resilient in the face of adversity. Because my devotion to my community of Houston, is strongly upheld by my devotion to myself. We will always be strongest in being mobilized, but I hope that my communities understand to be self compassionate and celebrate joy in being present. To take the time, individually, to reflect within themselves as well as to see the greatness that I see within them and to recognize that it can become a reality if we show up for ourselves in our interpersonal spaces as well. We help others through compassion by also applying to ourselves.
Contact Info:
- Email: mmartinez.mtz94@gmail.com
- Website: https://medium.com/@mmartinez96
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hey_duchess/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/hey_melly
- Other: bit.ly/TXMutualAid
Image Credits
Photo #1: Public comments at the Texas Transportation Commission (TTC) meeting in 2021 with Stop TX DOT i-45
Photo #2 Press Conference with public comments by Stop TX DOT i-45 in 2022
Photo #3 Medicare 4 All Political Education Event with M4All Working Group with Houston Democractic Socialist of America (DSA)
Photo #4 Complete Communities University program by the City of Houston.
All image credits taken are from public recordings by myself and Stop TX DOT i-45 & Medicare 4 All Houston DSA public events.
