Friend-in-the-Know suggested that I look into the race for Nydia Velazquez’s seat in the 7th Congressional district which includes Park Slope. A guy by the name of George Martinez , who has already been profiled in a cover story in the Village Voice, He’s low man on the totem pole is running in a race that includes Nydia Velazques (incumbent), City Council Member Erik Martin Dilan (the choice of Vito Lopez and the Democratic machine), and Dan O’Connor, an Irish-American who speaks Mandarin Chinese and is headquartered in Chinatown (which is also part of the new rejiggered district).
So that’s the field.
For now, I’m turning my attention to George Martinez because sometimes the off-beat candidates are really compelling and offer interesting lessons in grassroots democracy. Martinez was born and raised in the 7th district. He attended IS 88, Brooklyn Tech and Brooklyn College. He’s an Occupy Wall Street activist with an impressive resume. In his own words, this is what he posted on his website (bumrushthevote.net):
My Puerto Rican parents divorced when I was three, leaving my mother to raise me and my sister alone. She worked hard to support our family but we wouldn’t have been able to survive without public assistance. My mother taught me the importance of learning from an early age, and I’m a proud product of the New York public school system. Starting at PS 58 in Carroll Gardens, then IS 88 in Park Slope, followed by Brooklyn Technical High School. I was the first of my family to enter higher education, graduating magna cum laude from Brooklyn College before earning a doctoral fellowship at the CUNY Graduate Center.
While at college, I performed regularly in the NYC underground hip-hop scene and was recognized by Source Magazine as an Unsigned Hype. I was a founding member of the Blackout Arts Collective, a grassroots coalition of artists, activists and educators empowering communities of color through the arts. As a student leader at CUNY I fought against Giuliani’s plans to implement workfare and restrict access to public higher education.
After college I became an adjunct professor at Hunter College and ran many political literacy and organizing campaigns in the local community. Later I ran for City Council and have served as District Leader for the 51st Assembly District. There I led the movement for reform in the county organization and continued to advocate for grassroots political empowerment in our neighborhoods.
I then continued my public service as an assistant director in the NYS Attorney General’s office, advocating for Latino issues. I was appointed a cultural envoy by the State Department and have undertaken cultural diplomacy missions throughout Latin America and Asia. I helped found both the Hip Hop Association and Global Block non-profits, am a civil society partner of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and award-winning leader in promoting small business and social entrepreneurship. I’m currently an adjunct professor at PACE University and an Occupy Wall St activist.
Thank you so much for responding. And you’re right. He’s not low man on the totem pole in the sense that he’s getting a lot of attention b/c of who he is and his connection with Occupy. I am eager to hear him speak. I will amend what I wrote.
I’m not sure I’d call him the “low man on the totem pole”.
I haven’t seen any other candidates get a cover story in the Village Voice.
So while some Occupiers are “skeptical”, the reality is, those are probably the ones that never heard the brother speak. What I know first hand is that people from children to seniors and everywhere in between are enamored by George when they get to hear him speak and what he has to say.
Truth be told, there are occupiers in the park that talk to each other every day and not to many other people, and then there are occupiers working with George to Bum Rush The Vote – we are the primary outreach arm of the occupy movement, we aren’t sitting around in the park, we are constantly outreaching from the lower eastside to Brooklyn and even Queens. hmmm, perhaps the media’s missed something…We ARE the people We’ve been waiting for.