“It's a matter of being strategic, but it's also a matter of being brave.”

Dr. Rafael Martínez discusses the process of writing and touring behind his recent book, Illegalized.

Currently an assistant professor at Arizona State University, Dr. Rafael A Martínez is an undoc-scholar exploring the contexts of social movements, immigrant rights, and cultural production. Earlier this year, we discussed his recent, powerful book Illegalized: Undocumented Youth Movements in the United States.

Before officially launching into our interview, we realized we had participated in the same 2006 May Day march in Downtown Los Angeles, nearly two decades ago. That moment of shared connection helped Dr. Martínez later illustrate how social movements and organizing have changed over time, a focus for this first part of our conversation.

ANTERO GARCIA: First, congratulations on the book release! Given the state of immigration policy right now, how has the landscape changed since you wrapped the research for this book?

RAFAEL A. MARTÍNEZ: Well, the book came out last October, and I felt like it's been a journey. I'll start by saying that this is my dissertation turned into a book, so it's PhD work. And I would even go as far back as saying it's MA work as well, because it's my MA thesis. For my MA, I did a landscape analysis of undocumented youth social movements. The work is mostly looking at the different organizations that existed, some of the first orgs that were developed exclusively by undocumented youth. And then for the dissertation, I really wanted to expand on that.

I decided to take a case study approach, which looked at specific moments in undocumented youth social movements that changed the way that we talk about immigrant rights today, as well as changed the possibilities within organizing for immigrant rights. I wrote a good portion of that into the dissertation, but of course, you refashion it for narrative that goes into the book.

The last things that I wrote, believe it or not, were the introduction and the preface. And chapter four is actually something that I wrote once I started my professorship. It wasn't something that was originally in my dissertation. And I felt like chapter four really provided a balance for the book in terms of looking at multiple decades of organizing for undocumented youth movements but also provided a little bit of joy. That was a really strategic and important thing for me after the rest of the book takes a very serious tone.

AG: The case studies have joy. Sure, there are dark moments in terms of deportation, in terms of confrontation within ICE centers, but I found joyous aspects around the descriptions of aesthetic performance throughout the book.

RM: I'm glad you point that out. One of the things that really captivated me about the organizing efforts that I write about is specifically how youth always found a way to be creative, to bring aesthetics, to bring elements of performance into the organizing efforts that they did. And by doing so, I feel like, it's a sense of agency and empowerment, even if in momentary, small moments, it was a form of taking back power. And for the youth, like me and other folks in the immigrant community who were watching these organizing efforts unfold on social media and other media platforms and outlets, we felt a sense of empowerment from witnessing these actions. And so, there is definitely joy and empowerment and all of those things, even though they tackle very serious topics within immigration.

AG: I am thinking of the early internet days that are talked about in the first few chapters of the book. To me, it feels like social media is much more constrained and enclosed today in terms of where people go and how algorithms shape our experiences. Do you see pathways for organizing in digital contexts right now?

RM: I'll start by saying that we began this conversation talking about May Day 2006. Those kinds of demonstrations were really shared by the radio stations and radio as a media platform, not social media just yet. Later on, undocumented youth really take to social media. But I think there's a parallel argument that we could make about the power of social movements. And the critique goes that when social media was developed in the early mid-2000s it was with the idea that it was accessible to the general public, and it would be empowering to people who could create content and educate online for social justice. It felt like this paralleled immigrant rights.

Today it feels like both social media and immigrant rights have gone on this backward trajectory. We see social media hasn't brought democratized and equitable distribution. And now with censoring and different challenges that media is facing, I do think that it also represents a moment where undocumented youth or immigrant rights and other social movements need to think about using media inwardly rather than outwardly.

AG: What do you mean by using these tools inwardly?

RM: When social media platforms came about, there was this idea that we could organize all collectively, publicly. Now we're seeing that social media has those same surveillance issues that we were afraid of, and so the idea now might be of using intentional media that is encrypted, protected, and organized inwardly rather than maybe this public way of getting marches out and doing all these different things that the movements were originally pushing for. I do think that there's going to be a moment of reckoning around that.

AG: I get so demoralized thinking about how the White House uses social media in really horrific ways that are probably really effective for spreading xenophobia. This focus on inward versus outward feels really useful.

RM: The inwardly/outwardly discussion is something that I'm still actively thinking about right now, considering what feels different about the world since the book came out.

AG: Let me ask the blunt question that's been the thing that's been on my mind. You've been on this substantial book tour, going all over the country with a book called Illegalized. I'm imagining you're speaking about your own experiences as someone who's labeled undocumented. How has this felt for you right now?

RM: I've gotten that question a few times on the book tour. People are like, “How are you feeling? Are you okay?” There are two things that I've come to terms with. One is that essentially all the speaking opportunities I've engaged with, I've been strategic about in terms of going to places where I know there's going to be community support and people that I know will hold space for me no matter what the situation might be. In that way, it's been empowering. I was on book tour right as the news of the election broke. That same week I had speaking engagements all week, and certainly none of us expected the outcomes to be what they were. I remember waking up and saying, “What do I say now?” But then being in community and engaging with people felt like the right place to be, I made a realization of how critical these conversations were. That's number one.

Number two, I feel like one of the lessons I take from the people that I write about is that, at the end of the day, we're all subject to this repression that we're facing. And I think that if any state wanted to pursue us on any of these accounts, our information would be out there in some shape or format. Again, it's a matter of being strategic, but it's also a matter of being brave.

All the organizers that I write about are folks that are strategically and comfortably out of the shadows. I felt like I couldn't write this book without mentioning and giving all the details possible. But also, more importantly, is this idea of centering undocumented knowledge production. For me, it was about giving them credit for their intellectual and organizing strategies. They deserve that credit, but I also felt that if I was going to name them and hold them to that standard, I also had to be brave in that same format and hold space, not only for myself and for them, but for the next generation of undocuscholars that are forthcoming, that can understand the importance of doing this work. That was particularly important to me and why it was important to do the book tour as well.

Propina

We’ll continue our conversation with Dr. Rafael Martínez next week. Consider checking out his recent book, Illegalized: Undocumented Youth Movements in the United States.

And a reminder to get some exclusive stickers when you preorder The Cost of Being Undocumented.

You can purchase the book from your preferred local bookstore and upload your receipt here. (You’ve got just a few weeks left to get your set).

We’ll see you next week.