“I have the right to fight for my rights and I won’t let anyone stop me.” ~Sondra Montez
While in New Mexico for The Project, Pushback Network’s week-long, two-state, multi-media electoral project, PBN Communications Coordinator Brigid Flaherty worked in the field helping SWOP Field Organizer Sondra Martinez get out the vote.
While together, Brigid had a chance to talk to Sondra about what prompted her to get involved with the election and her community. Sondra’s husband, Salvador, is a new citizen who was able to cast his first vote this year.
How did you become involved with SWOP?
I moved to this community in 1997. I started working with SWOP because there were no basic services: no hot water, no roads. I saw a meeting going on where SWOP was giving a presentation. I approached SWOP at the meeting and asked if they could help us get basic services.
Before SWOP, I tried going to the county myself. I’d ask them about the public utilities and why the prices were going up and they wouldn’t give a reason. When I met SWOP, I heard they were involved in giving support to people who were losing their land, and that’s how I came involved in SWOP.
What’s your role at SWOP?
They saw that I had a potential for being very active in my community, someone who seeks out answers to the conditions we’re living in. And they asked if I could come in as a part-time organizer. I thought, sure why not. Recently I became a full-time organizer. I’ve been with them for ten years. I like doing the environmental justice outreach.
How did you get involved in activism?
I had just turned 16 and I hung out with people who were involved in land issues and they brought me in. One thing that happened to me as a result of my involvement in the land grant struggle was that my house got burned down; someone had set up a homemade bomb in the house where I was staying. Luckily no one was injured. We were fighting for justice. I feel like it was a way of intimidating us. By making threats to us, they thought we would stop. Up to this minute, I feel I have the right to fight for my rights and I won’t let anyone stop me.
How has the movement changed from then to now?
The change I see is that when I was younger it was mainly older folks who were doing this. Now I see more youth getting involved and getting educated. At school you hear a lot of lies. They don’t give you the facts about how the land got taken from us and now I see a lot of youth are getting involved and it’s through strategic planning. Now we are more into planning, thinking it through, and making it safe. I also see that people of color are having more power. We don’t get intimidated too easy.
What changes have you seen in terms of women’s involvement in the movement, particularly women of color?
There’s been a lot of change. In the 60’s, it was male-leading. Now, you see female leaders that are coming out. And that has changed a lot.
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