For The Wild - ANAYVETTE MARTINEZ on the Brilliance of the Radical Monarchs ⧸195

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00:00:30.000 Welcome to For the Wild podcast. I'm Ayanna Young. Today, we are speaking with Ana Yvette Martinez.

00:00:38.820 Ana Yvette, co-founder and CEO of Programs and Communications of the Radical Monarchs, is a San Francisco native and child of Central American immigrants.

00:00:48.020 we underestimate our young people and so I think that it's so important for us to just listen to

00:00:53.940 them and let them lead and then equally as important to partner with them and to support

00:00:59.880 them to ask them what are the things that I can do as an adult ally to support you right or to

00:01:07.020 help you achieve this goal or this dream or this change that you want to see happen in your

00:01:14.140 community, in your school, in your neighborhood.

00:01:19.800 Anna Yvette's varied interest in advocacy, community organizing, and empowerment led her

00:01:26.480 to pursue her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Los Angeles, and

00:01:31.220 later her master's degree at San Francisco State University in ethnic studies.

00:01:36.780 Over the past 15 years, she has developed and managed education, social justice, and

00:01:42.480 gender support programs focused on the empowerment and safety for youth, families, and their adult

00:01:48.400 allies. Anna Yvette currently lives and loves in East Oakland with her two children.

00:01:57.740 Well, welcome to For the Wild podcast, Anna, Yvette. This is so lovely to have you here,

00:02:04.900 and I'm really excited to be speaking to you about the radical monarchs. And when I first

00:02:11.120 heard of them, I was so struck by the organization's differentiation between service and justice.

00:02:18.200 So to begin, I'd love if you could share the mission of Radical Monarchs, how it started,

00:02:23.860 and perhaps also the importance of teaching our young ones that being in service is not

00:02:29.080 the same as addressing injustice.

00:02:31.860 Yes, thank you.

00:02:33.140 I'm super excited to be here. 0.99

00:02:35.260 So the mission of the Radical Monarchs is to create opportunities for young girls of

00:02:39.600 color, to form fierce sisterhood, celebrate their identities, and contribute radically to their

00:02:45.420 communities. And the way the Radical Monarchs came about is really personal and organic. So I'm a

00:02:51.800 mother, and when my daughter was in fourth grade, a bunch of her classmates were joining a local

00:02:58.540 traditional scouting troop. And so naturally, she wanted to join to be with her friends. And so she

00:03:03.880 asked me if she could join. And when I looked at the composition of the troupe, I noticed that she

00:03:09.820 would have been only one of two girls of color. And two, the traditional kind of scouting model

00:03:15.560 was something that I was never raised with, right? And so it didn't really have a presence in my

00:03:20.860 home or in my community, in my neighborhood. And my daughter has been raised in a very like radical,

00:03:27.220 political, social justice household. And so I felt like that kind of traditional space wouldn't speak

00:03:34.580 to her experience as one, a young girl of color, and two, as a young girl that's been really raised

00:03:40.280 in a politicized family. And so I started to think about what would it look like to start a troop

00:03:46.420 that took from traditional elements of scouting in terms of camaraderie and sisterhood and the

00:03:53.440 idea of earning badges, but what if all of that centered young girls of color and their experiences

00:03:58.100 and that the badges were actually based on social justice movement work. And so I had this idea.

00:04:05.240 And so I went back to my daughter and I was kind of like, you know, I don't know about you joining

00:04:09.360 that troop, but what if mommy were to like do this little troop for you and some of your friends,

00:04:14.060 you know, and I kind of told her my idea and she instantly lit up and was like, yes, mommy,

00:04:21.140 that's what I want to do. Can we do that? And I was like, sure. Okay, let's do it.

00:04:25.720 And then at the time I was working at a nonprofit doing community work. And as you know, those types

00:04:30.680 of jobs are not nine to five jobs. And so I was incredibly busy with my job, with being a parent

00:04:36.600 and having a family. And my daughter never let go of that idea. She constantly would be like,

00:04:43.140 mommy, why don't we start in that group? And she was starting to recruit like at her school

00:04:46.680 with her friends. She'd be like, oh, I told so-and-so about the group we're going to start.

00:04:50.600 they want to join. When are we doing this? And I was like, oh my God, okay, I guess I have to do

00:04:55.580 this because my daughter is not letting go of this idea. And so I knew that I needed help to do this.

00:05:02.000 I knew that I had enough on my plate already. And so I approached one of my best friends and one of

00:05:07.240 my daughter's chosen aunties, Marilyn Hollenfest. And I was like, hey, I'm thinking about doing

00:05:12.420 this little group for Lupita, my daughter, and some of her homies. What do you think about this

00:05:16.500 idea? And would you be down to help me do this together? And my friend Marilyn was like, hell

00:05:23.040 yeah, that is a super dope idea. And I'm down to help you do that. And so we ended up launching

00:05:28.640 in December of 2014. And in terms of the difference of service and justice, I think

00:05:36.820 that what struck me is when looking at the traditional elements of girl troops, there is

00:05:42.680 this whole kind of element of service. And I feel like service is really based on what someone or

00:05:48.720 something is lacking versus justice, which looks at what is something that everyone deserves,

00:05:54.060 right? And justice is about being aware and about being critical of the systems, right,

00:05:59.520 that create inequities. So for me, that was a really important difference.

00:06:04.000 wow I just love hearing how this sprouted from this request from your daughter and then it led

00:06:15.520 you on this amazing path that has led you here which is so beautiful to hear the origin story

00:06:22.200 and what a dedicated mother you are to say yes and to just go for it and be so creative and

00:06:29.680 I really want to honor you and appreciate you for just doing it. Now, can you talk a little bit

00:06:39.640 about the different types of badges that the monarchs earn? I've heard they range from radical

00:06:45.420 bodies, coding, love, advocacy, pride, and beauty, just to name a few. So what are the monarchs

00:06:53.300 learning through these badges and how do you select which topics to explore?

00:06:57.340 Yeah. So the topics are chosen based on two things. They're based on interest from the monarchs, right? And so with our first troop, we would constantly kind of be asking them, like, what are things that you want to do? What are things that you want to learn about? Or what are things you want to explore in this group? And so we would constantly have these brainstorming sessions with them. And based on the things that they would bring up, me and Marilyn would kind of sit with that and be like, oh, well, this ties into this topic. Let's make a whole badge around this.

00:07:26.420 because typically the monarchs will come up with activities and then we're like, oh,

00:07:29.880 what's an issue that is tied to that activity, right? So the badges and the units come from

00:07:34.540 the monarchs themselves. And also just in thinking about what are things that they're

00:07:38.280 dealing with as young girls of color. And then also almost as importantly, what is happening

00:07:43.620 around them, right? What are they experiencing around them in their community? And so like you

00:07:48.900 mentioned, we have so many different types of badges and units and that the range is pretty

00:07:54.200 big, but to give you a better idea. So we have one Radical Bodies. In the Radical Bodies badge,

00:08:00.620 the Monarchs learned self-defense. They learned about disability justice. They learned about

00:08:06.180 badavism. They learned about consent. Another badge we have is called Pachamama Justice,

00:08:12.240 which is an environmental justice badge. And with that one, Monarchs learned about what role

00:08:16.980 community gardens play in urban communities. They learned about how to make their own vitamin water.

00:08:22.480 They did a hike. We collaborated with Outdoor Afro, which is a national organization that is

00:08:27.500 also based out of here in Oakland. Another badge is Radical Pride. And in that one, the Monarchs

00:08:32.820 learned about the LGBT community. They learned about the gender spectrum. They marched in

00:08:38.240 Trans March. And then we have Radical Advocacy, where the Monarchs learned about community

00:08:43.660 organizing. They were basically trained in the community organizing cycle. They got to meet

00:08:47.840 Dolores Fuerta and see her documentary. They learned about how a bill becomes a law and all

00:08:53.740 about how policy works. And then they got to brainstorm within themselves, what are issues

00:08:59.280 that they feel really impacted by and passionate about that's affecting them and their communities

00:09:04.320 and created speaking points and also came up with solutions that they wanted to offer

00:09:09.960 to policymakers on those issues. And that badge culminates in us taking the monarchs to the state

00:09:15.500 capital where they actually meet with legislators and actually share with them their concerns and

00:09:21.560 pitch to them their solutions. That is so incredible. I'm just imagining what if

00:09:29.060 all youth were able to go through programs like this. I feel like we'd live in a very different

00:09:35.260 world. And I'm thinking back to my younger years and how much wasn't taught to me, and I'm sure

00:09:44.640 are so many of us. We're just conditioned in a totally different way. And the years of unlearning

00:09:49.440 and unconditioning that it takes to wake up to what's the realities of this time and to imagine

00:09:58.460 the radical monarchs diving into these really important, deep topics. And I love this. I feel

00:10:06.860 so grateful for what you're doing. And I want to discuss one of the badges previously mentioned,

00:10:13.460 which is the radical beauty badge and certainly in terms of unlearning and relearning the work

00:10:19.220 that we must do around beauty standards and self-worth is tremendous and this is really an

00:10:24.480 area that also coalesces with conversations on consumerism and the way that these standards are

00:10:30.320 now manipulated to sell us product so i'd love if you could talk a little bit more about the notion

00:10:36.060 of being radically beautiful and how you explore this topic that is so vital to our experience

00:10:42.120 moving through this world in our bodies and with girl-identified youth?

00:10:47.180 Yeah. So in this unit, we really kind of start off talking about what does it mean to be beautiful,

00:10:53.800 right? What does it mean to be beautiful to ourselves, in our families, in our cultures,

00:10:59.720 right? And we also talk about what does it mean to love parts of ourselves that are maybe hard

00:11:04.960 to love, right? And how do those parts of ourselves that are maybe hard to love, how does

00:11:10.180 that make us radically beautiful, right? And radically beautiful meaning like this is the way

00:11:14.020 in which we are constructing beauty and we are defining beauty and we own our beauty and not

00:11:19.380 the way we're being told by media or by society what beautiful is and looks like, right? And so

00:11:25.040 we explore and have lots of conversations around that. And then we talk about media, right? And how

00:11:31.360 does media constantly trying to sell us things to quote unquote, like fix ourselves or make us

00:11:36.720 beautiful right and so it's fascinating and the monarchs always have lots to say and are so aware

00:11:43.740 of what's up you know like it's really not so much about us telling them as them telling us

00:11:50.980 and we culminate that unit by the monarchs they worked with some local herbalists who taught them

00:11:57.420 how to make a natural lip balm and like how we can make things for ourselves to take care of

00:12:03.500 ourselves, right? As a part of self-care and self-love to make ourselves feel beautiful and

00:12:08.600 to really own the beauty we already have with products that aren't expensive and using natural

00:12:13.180 things from our gardens. And so it's a really sweet unit. It's one of the first units that we

00:12:19.160 do with the monarchs as kind of a grounding. Yeah.

00:12:33.500 ¶¶

00:13:00.500 Everybody, everybody all together, everybody right here now.

00:13:07.660 There isn't any place in the world I'd rather be right now.

00:13:15.240 Everybody, everybody stand together, everybody stand your ground.

00:13:22.400 Cause I can finally breathe when we're shoulder to shoulder, stand up now.

00:13:30.500 Yeah, I'd like to transition to talking about the adult-centric culture in movement work.

00:13:56.340 And I'm wondering if you can not only speak to the importance of bringing youth into social

00:14:00.980 justice movements at an early age, but also share with us the wealth, abundance, and courage,

00:14:07.220 and really beauty that is generated when young ones are involved in these issues that afflict

00:14:12.460 their communities. Yes. And so I've been doing organizing and activism for like 20 years now.

00:14:20.180 And in my experience in activism and organizing, the centering and the focus on building leadership within children is usually an afterthought, if at all, in my experience.

00:14:33.120 And so I feel like young people aren't usually given the opportunity to engage or to be activated in social justice work until maybe they're in high school. And that's if they're lucky enough to attend a school, right, that has adult allies or that has ethnic studies or that has clubs that tackle these issues, right?

00:14:55.240 And so I felt like there needs to be a space where we actually center children in this work, because this is the world that our children are going to be inheriting.

00:15:06.360 And as a parent, I think that I was a young mother and I think that as I was raising my children and because I had them as I was organizing and participating in activism, I often thought about where is their place in this work beyond them just coloring pages while I'm facilitating meetings or actions or they're in child care.

00:15:27.700 But it's like, no, where actually are their voices? And how are we actually developing their leadership in this work? So yeah, that's really been my experience and how adult centric movement work has been in the past and how I really wanted to shift that with the work of Radical Monarchs.

00:15:45.700 Hmm. So beautiful. And I feel like any time we talk about movement work and organizing, regardless of the age demographic, the topic of burnout always comes up. And I believe this is something you've spoken about before that you and co-founder Marilyn Hollenquest were really acutely aware that you'd have to develop a program that doesn't burn the group out.

00:16:12.460 So I'm curious how you approach this, as well as what movements and organizations in general

00:16:17.940 could learn about longevity and sustainability, should they center the idea that we cannot

00:16:23.120 expend individuals beyond their capacity?

00:16:26.280 Yes, this is a big one for us.

00:16:28.740 So one of our organizational values is sustainability.

00:16:32.620 And we were incredibly intentional about picking that as a value.

00:16:36.240 This is something that we work really hard to embody as women of color who are co-founders,

00:16:41.800 who both have a long history of activism and organizing and working within the nonprofit

00:16:46.300 industrial complex. So we're incredibly mindful of this, not only with each other, because we

00:16:52.900 practice this with each other as co-founders, but also with our monarchs, right? And so many of us

00:16:59.020 in this work, like you mentioned, have experienced burnout and breakdown. So while working with

00:17:04.800 little ones, we recruit from third to fifth grade. It's like, okay, we don't want them to feel burnt

00:17:09.580 out of movement social justice work by the time they're in sixth grade, right? We're about building

00:17:14.720 long-term change makers and movement makers. So we're incredibly intentional about how we, one,

00:17:23.260 scaffold topics and issues, so to not overwhelm, right? And then equally as important, we're really

00:17:30.260 big on lifting up the wins, right? The wins in this work, which I think is so important to be

00:17:37.020 able to cultivate hopefulness, right? And then every unit and every badge has an element of

00:17:43.240 action. So that's where monarchs get to feel like they are actually in charge of creating some sort

00:17:50.060 of change, right? About that topic or that issue. Another organizational value that we have is joy.

00:17:56.980 Joy is a big one with us. We're working with kids and in general, all of us deserve joy, right?

00:18:01.960 even us who are adults. So joy is a big one. So we make space for that, like laughing as medicine

00:18:09.300 and playing as medicine. And so although we have these badges and we have these units and some of

00:18:15.020 these units and topics can be heavy and can be hard, we're really mindful of how are we cultivating

00:18:20.400 joy within this work? And how are we making sure there's laughter and there's play and there's

00:18:25.480 unstructured time, right? For monarchs to be able to enjoy each other.

00:18:29.580 I love hearing you say this. I think joy is so important. And I've thought about that too,

00:18:38.120 in terms of burning out the young ones before they even start to take on more of the responsibility

00:18:44.420 of movement work. But I do think that there's something too, like how we're inspired to make

00:18:50.340 justice sustainable for the young ones. We should also take that advice for ourselves too, because

00:18:58.080 Because adults are burning out left and right. And that's not a great example for the young ones if they're going, oh, well, look at the adults who are really just miserable doing this work. Because we really want the young ones to want to do this work and not look up to us going like, this doesn't look too good over here.

00:19:16.760 people are really tired and just wiped out and feeling exhausted by it because you know it's

00:19:23.360 huge work it's lifelong work and I really appreciate how much time and and care you

00:19:28.820 put into that and yeah I'm also thinking about just the importance of finding your voice which

00:19:37.300 is something that many of us especially those who identify as girls and women we may not be able to

00:19:44.860 explore until much later in life. Right. And in preparing for this interview, I came across a 1.00

00:19:49.880 quote from a monarch who shared, quote, without being in the radical monarchs, I would have had

00:19:57.300 a hard time standing up for myself. If I was in a situation and someone said something that I

00:20:02.980 thought was really offensive, I probably wouldn't have said anything, even if I really wanted to.

00:20:09.360 The radical monarchs taught me that my voice matters regardless of if people like it or not.

00:20:14.200 that's an important lesson everyone should learn end quote and gosh I know I reflect on this

00:20:22.720 personally in terms of just the importance of finding my own voice in honor of the earth and

00:20:28.280 the vital necessity of us having this ability right now so we can't afford to wait for girl

00:20:34.860 identified youth to exercise their voices until womanhood we really want them to feel like their

00:20:40.420 voice is valuable right now. And yeah, so I'm wondering if you could speak to the importance

00:20:45.840 of cultivating self-determination at an early age. Yeah. So one of the biggest things that

00:20:52.200 we hear from adults is, I wish I had this when I was younger, right? Including this is something

00:20:58.740 that me and Marilyn have said ourselves and was really in the back of our heads as we were

00:21:04.000 creating this program. And I think that many of us come into social justice work or movement work

00:21:11.640 a little bit later in life. And so for myself and Marilyn, it was city college, right? Where

00:21:16.840 we became activated. And so looking at where we're at now as 40 year old women, wow, where would we

00:21:25.140 be? Which is not bad. We're in a good place, but where would we be in terms of our power if we

00:21:32.260 have been exposed to this or given this type of space in third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade.

00:21:38.760 I mean, it's like we'd be unstoppable, right? So activating and creating the space where

00:21:47.440 young people and monarchs can have that sense of self-worth and self-determination at a much

00:21:56.540 younger age than when most of us were able to learn that or still learning that right is such

00:22:03.640 a powerful way to create revolution and to be resistant to what larger society

00:22:11.180 wants us to do right which is to shrink

00:22:26.540 You want to write it down

00:22:41.440 Every rung I can't erase

00:22:46.540 So let me help you out

00:22:49.400 I light up both sides of the page

00:22:54.560 No one ever said this would be easy

00:23:01.080 No one ever said this would be fair

00:23:08.600 But I can burn the house we build together

00:23:17.000 And we can stop pretending that we care

00:23:24.400 i've noticed another theme that is so present in the work that you do is that of sisterhood

00:23:50.120 but not the sort of generic umbrella version of sisterhood, but one that honestly acknowledges

00:23:56.500 the tremendous importance of a sisterhood that recognizes the need to have relationship with

00:24:02.040 those that can empathize with us. You know, a sisterhood that mirrors one's experiences

00:24:06.900 as reprieve from a world that denies this for so many. So I'd love if you could talk about

00:24:12.380 the sisterhood that is cultivated in the radical monarchs and how does it support collective power

00:24:18.200 and leadership? Yes. Sisterhood is huge. One, I think that it's really powerful

00:24:25.480 that me and Marilyn, who are co-founders, are also best friends. So I think that we get to kind

00:24:33.720 of model what this fierce sisterhood look like within our friendship. We call each other,

00:24:39.560 we're like sister friends, we're sister wives, we're like work wives, right? We have a unit in

00:24:46.580 in the radical monarch that's called the radical love unit and the radical love unit

00:24:52.140 is all about interdependence and what does it mean to cultivate relationships that are

00:24:57.040 interdependent and how do we learn the difference between a healthy and a toxic friendship and we

00:25:03.460 actually ground them in a quote that I love by Alice Walker that says no person is your friend

00:25:09.980 who demands your silence or denies your right to grow. And we talk about what does it look like

00:25:16.940 to have a friendship where you are reflecting back to each other, your brilliance or your

00:25:24.620 strength. And that is actually encouraging you to grow and not saying like, Oh, you've changed.

00:25:29.720 Like that's a bad thing. Right. And so it ends up kind of unearthing all these conversations

00:25:35.240 about what it means to support each other's growth and success and to shift the narrative

00:25:40.900 of competition to like, when I shine, you shine, right? Like we're in this together.

00:25:47.280 There's room for all of us here. And so that is really how we root, how we ground and root

00:25:54.860 ourselves in this idea of fierce sisterhood. I love knowing that you are doing this in

00:26:03.340 sisterhood and you have your sister work wife with you that's so beautiful I definitely have

00:26:10.580 those relationships in my life and it makes it so much better I love doing creative projects with

00:26:16.120 people that I love it is honestly one of the best parts of my life and to do movement work with

00:26:23.280 our chosen family in that way these people that are these soulmates that come into our lives is

00:26:29.640 so important and I'm sure that that relationship really seeps through to the radical monarchs that

00:26:38.600 you work with because I'm sure they feel that the leadership is really respecting and loving each

00:26:45.140 other and grateful for each other and what a difference that makes when we can feel that about

00:26:50.040 the people we're creating with and how that reverberates to the folks who get to be a part

00:26:54.620 of those creations. So I love hearing that. And I'm thinking that there is this popular notion

00:27:02.820 that we can't talk about certain things with our little ones or that if we do, we need to be

00:27:09.040 approached or these topics need to be approached in layers or peeled back over time. But

00:27:14.900 this is certainly not the model that the radical monarchs prescribe to, at least from what I can

00:27:19.940 And I'd also mention that to be able to choose what you do and don't talk about varies greatly in terms of privilege. If you live in a county that suffers from severe air pollution, your child will know about environmental injustice through experience.

00:27:36.980 or if you are a person of color, then you have no choice but to have conversations about police

00:27:42.940 brutality. And I'm wondering how have you been able to develop a curriculum and environment

00:27:49.720 where young ones are able to process and carry on conversations about what is unfolding

00:27:55.200 and come away feeling empowered from it? Yeah. So me and Marilyn met in grad school.

00:28:02.240 We were both at SF State getting our Master's in Ethnic Studies.

00:28:06.420 And following graduating from SF State, we went on to work in the youth development field.

00:28:11.460 We both worked in countless schools and lots of different nonprofits, working with young

00:28:16.220 people.

00:28:16.540 And so in that work, we learned and created a lot of curriculum for youth programming.

00:28:22.440 So having that background and experience of trial and error, right, because it's not like

00:28:27.240 you come out just knowing how to do it was incredibly helpful for when we were thinking

00:28:32.440 about creating the curriculum for radical monarchs and fun, right? We both love to create

00:28:37.440 curriculum. We both love working with young people. We did it for so many years. And the way

00:28:42.460 in which we do that in the radical monarchs is one, there isn't anything that we shy away from,

00:28:48.400 I would say. I think that we take any topic or issue on. I think if the monarchs are asking about

00:28:53.260 it, then we have to have a conversation about it. I think that what is maybe different about the way

00:28:58.600 in which we do that work is that I think there is something to be said about scaffolding and

00:29:03.940 about layering. So we don't only talk about colorism in the Black Lives Matter unit, or we

00:29:11.640 don't only talk about trans identity and the radical pride unit. The units and the badges are

00:29:17.280 all incredibly intersectional. And so therefore, it's not like we have to talk about every single

00:29:22.300 thing that has to do with that topic in that unit? Because no, this will come up when we talk about

00:29:26.120 beauty. This will come up when we talk about environmental justice. All these things overlap

00:29:31.420 each other. And so I think that's an important part of the way in which we do our work in Radical

00:29:36.140 Monarchs. In addition to that, every badge and unit has three parts. So the first part is what

00:29:41.860 we call a grounding session. So that's the first meeting on a specific unit and badge where we

00:29:48.300 really kind of take inventory of what do monarchs already know about this topic? We're not coming

00:29:53.920 into these meetings or this work, assuming that the monarchs don't know anything. They already

00:29:59.480 have a wealth of knowledge. So it's about what do they know? Like, what do you already know and hear

00:30:04.060 about this issue or this topic or think about this topic? And then also like, what are your

00:30:08.260 questions? What do you want to know? What do you want to learn about this topic? And then based on

00:30:13.440 what we get from that first session, the middle part of the badges and the units is all experiential

00:30:19.520 learning. So it's field trips, it's them going out into the community and seeing this work in

00:30:26.460 action or talking to people that are connected to this work in action. So they're able to really

00:30:31.000 experience it. And then the last part, every unit, like I mentioned earlier, has an element of action,

00:30:36.760 has an element of them creating something. So there's always this piece where they feel

00:30:42.200 empowered to create some sort of change. And I think that is a really important piece of the

00:30:48.040 work that creates and cultivates hopefulness. Absolutely. And I was seeing this clip where

00:30:57.080 two radical monarchs asked Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for advice on

00:31:03.180 young women of color who want to enter politics. And she responds by saying, quote,

00:31:07.540 stop trying to navigate systems of power and start building your own power. There are so many

00:31:13.720 subconscious forces that make us try to act like somebody else. But when you're a woman of color,

00:31:19.460 there are so many things about you that is non-conforming, end quote. Yes. And I think 1.00

00:31:25.860 especially after the past four years and looking at the nominations for the 2020 presidential

00:31:31.480 election, it's pretty darn clear that this political system is not going to give us what

00:31:37.220 we want. So as we begin to draw to a close, I'd love if you could share how the radical monarchs

00:31:44.660 are teaching a generation to build their own power. And at the same time, what is our role

00:31:50.160 in helping to create a world which we may not see come to fruition, but is nevertheless dedicated to

00:31:57.520 future generations and non-conformity? Yeah. So I think first and foremost, as adult allies,

00:32:04.600 I think our job is to listen, right? I think our job is to listen to young people,

00:32:09.120 to listen to what they're feeling, what they're seeing, what they know. And I think that it's so

00:32:17.260 important for us to get out of the way and to let young people lead. I think that a lot of times,

00:32:22.440 like I mentioned earlier, we underestimate our young people. And so I think that it's so

00:32:26.680 important for us to just listen to them and let them lead. And then equally as important to partner

00:32:32.680 with them and to support them, to ask them, what are the things that I can do as an adult ally

00:32:38.800 to support you, right? Or to help you achieve this goal or this dream or this change that you

00:32:46.200 want to see happen in your community, in your school, in your neighborhood. I think that as

00:32:52.500 adult allies, there's a quote that I hear that speaks to me often that says, be the adult you

00:32:57.780 needed when you were a kid. And so I think that that's something that is constantly in the back

00:33:02.460 of my mind in being a longtime youth worker and now a co-founder.

00:33:22.500 on the room 0.90

00:33:24.580 like a black

00:33:26.440 light with a neon

00:33:28.620 eye at least now

00:33:30.720 now we know

00:33:32.260 who we are

00:33:34.700 new moon

00:33:41.800 heard your bulletproof

00:33:44.200 with your watch

00:33:45.520 wind shaking out

00:33:47.820 the truth there's so much

00:33:50.340 we can see

00:33:51.860 in the dark. At least now, now we know who we are.

00:34:02.140 On a moonless night, on a moonless night, on a moonless night, you are, you are, you are.

00:34:13.440 Well, gosh, this has just been such an uplifting conversation

00:34:24.460 and really leaves me with a sense of not just hope but excitement

00:34:31.700 thinking about this younger generation of young ones

00:34:36.340 who are really being guided by adult allies,

00:34:40.100 which I love that you say that, in a way that's honest

00:34:42.800 and straightforward but also really creative and joyful and just talking to so many of the things

00:34:51.240 that get left out from conventional education that I think a lot of us adults now have had to

00:34:58.340 kind of struggle through and it it takes a lot of effort to try to learn about these things later in

00:35:04.920 life and I think if people already knew them going into their adult life we would just live in a

00:35:09.820 really different world and we would be able to communicate so much differently with one another

00:35:14.620 and yeah thank you so much Anna Yvette for just being so committed and courageous to start this

00:35:23.280 thing like just go for it I love how you started it and I love that your daughters were the

00:35:29.560 catalyst for this and that your motherhood is so dedicated to them and to the other young ones I

00:35:37.380 I love hearing this and I could imagine you just being so excited to build curriculum.

00:35:44.200 Yeah, and I know throughout the years there have been ample requests across the country

00:35:50.340 to create local chapters or share the curricula and programs that you've been creating.

00:35:56.000 And I'm wondering if you could share what the radical monarchs are doing now and what

00:36:01.660 are the plans on the horizon and then maybe how can listeners get involved or support

00:36:06.320 the growth of the Monarchs? Yes. So we have graduated two troops. So troops stay together

00:36:12.580 as a cohort for three years, and then they graduate. And so we've had our first two troops

00:36:17.340 graduate. So we now have two crews of alumni, which is exciting, of which we're still very much

00:36:24.920 working with in our alumni program that helps support these new troops that we've launched.

00:36:31.100 And so this last fall, we launched four new troops here in the Bay Area.

00:36:36.400 So we have two new troops in Oakland, one in San Francisco, and one in Richmond.

00:36:41.100 And we plan on expanding to LA within this next year.

00:36:45.460 And so there's been a lot of growth, a lot of movement, which has been incredibly exciting.

00:36:50.100 And I love seeing the alumni support these newer, younger monarch troops.

00:36:56.620 And so they attend the troop meetings or they attend events and help support and kind of mentor, which is really sweet to see.

00:37:05.360 And then right now we're living through these wild pandemic times.

00:37:10.060 And so we had to kind of like think about, OK, so how do we shift in this moment?

00:37:14.120 How are we creating space for our monarchs in this moment?

00:37:17.300 And so we launched a radical workshop series, which actually is happening right now. 0.99

00:37:22.020 And we contracted a bunch of amazing, fierce, queer, trans women, people of color to facilitate

00:37:29.660 these workshops with our monarchs virtually. And so we have an artist doing a wheat pasting 0.79

00:37:35.280 and street art activism workshop. We have a poetry workshop. We have how to make fire cider.

00:37:41.300 We have one on comic book art. And then we also have one that's a sound bath and meditation

00:37:46.600 workshop. We're screening a sweet short film on a trans mother and daughter relationship.

00:37:54.340 And so that's been really exciting to roll out for our monarchs during this time. And then we

00:38:00.340 created these, we're calling them our pandemic joy kits. And so we had a local vendor that we

00:38:06.300 work with create these little radical monarch drawstring backpacks. And inside there, we gave

00:38:12.000 each monarch a face mask, which is super cute and designed and created handmade by a fierce woman

00:38:18.640 of color artist. We gave them a rose quartz that also came from a black owned botanica here in the

00:38:23.920 bay, a rose quartz crystal. We had another artist create a radical coloring book, crayons. We put

00:38:31.260 a comic book in there. We put some stress relief tea. And our intention with these pandemic joy

00:38:38.940 advocates was for every monarch to be able to find inspiration, comfort, and joy with each item.

00:38:47.480 And so that's something that we've done within this last week in kind of response to this

00:38:53.300 pandemic shelter in place and thinking about how are we centering the young people that we work

00:38:58.660 with through this time. And then in terms of how folks can support us and keep up with us,

00:39:04.640 We have our website, which is www.radicalmonarchs.org. We have a Facebook and we have an Instagram. Our Instagram is, I think, what is most recent. We really keep that updated and post on there. It's the best way to kind of follow us. And it's Radical Monarchs is our handle on Instagram.

00:39:23.140 and I think that the best way to support our growth is really with funding to be honest I

00:39:31.520 think we're a small scrappy organization and I think that we have the desire to continue to

00:39:37.960 expand and grow wherever radical monarch troops are needed and wanted but we need to build our

00:39:43.500 capacity to do that right and so I think that we've done a lot with the little that we have

00:39:47.940 and that we want to do more.

00:39:50.180 We want to reach more young people.

00:39:52.200 And so you can become a monthly donor.

00:39:55.360 You can donate through our website.

00:39:56.980 If you have connections with foundations or with funders,

00:40:00.940 connect us to them, talk to them about us.

00:40:03.180 You can send them the link to our mini documentary,

00:40:06.060 our full documentary that has been traveling internationally

00:40:09.580 for the last year now.

00:40:11.240 There are lots of ways that folks can support us

00:40:13.500 and support our growth.

00:40:15.720 Wonderful.

00:40:16.280 Wonderful. Well, we will also be posting that online so folks can follow the links to you.

00:40:22.680 But yeah, Anna Yvette, before we completely end our convo, I just want to give you the floor. If

00:40:29.300 there's anything that you want to mention about the radical monarchs that we haven't gone over

00:40:34.320 thus far, I really love hearing any stories or even just, yeah, stories or experiences that

00:40:41.140 you've had with your first troops. If there's anything that comes to mind, I'd love to hear that.

00:40:46.280 Hmm. I mean, there's so many stories, right, in this work. But I think that, I mean, I feel humbled and grateful to do this work every day. Every day I am just like, I am so grateful to be able to do this work.

00:41:01.340 And moments where I feel most proud of the work that we're doing is when I get to witness the growth of these Monarchs. And so, for example, our Troop 1 Monarchs that have graduated now two years ago are now 15 and 16 and came in when they were like 10.

00:41:20.060 and seeing them move on from the monarch, still stay connected, but seeing who they've become

00:41:28.600 in their school communities and their neighborhoods. We have monarchs that graduate

00:41:32.600 from our program that have done murals in our neighborhood who were once really quiet and

00:41:38.540 barely ever raised their hands, who ended up running for student government, right? And being

00:41:44.440 student body president in their schools. I mean, it's endless in terms of seeing the types of

00:41:49.660 connections and growth that they've done following being the radical monarchs. And so for me,

00:41:54.280 I think that is what I feel most proud of as a co-founder and what motivates me to continue to

00:41:59.900 do this work. Yes. Oh, I love hearing that. Just the growth of these little ones that you've been

00:42:07.520 able to help usher into their teenage years. And what an important time. I remember that time in

00:42:15.060 My life was really confusing and just strange, you know, so like having some adult allies to help during especially that transition is pretty epic.

00:42:26.020 So I just love your work. I'm so happy we got to speak today. And thank you so much.

00:42:32.400 Anybody who's listening, please do look in to Radical Monarchs more and support this work. 0.53

00:42:38.320 We really need to uplift our youth because they will be inheriting quite a strange world. 0.54

00:42:46.480 So, yeah, we need to step up and really help out.

00:42:49.500 thanks for listening to another episode of for the wild podcast i'm audio producer andrew stores

00:43:11.300 the music you heard today was from lady moon in the eclipse and the mina birds i'd like to thank

00:43:17.420 our host and founder Ayanna Young

00:43:19.340 as well as the rest of our podcast production team

00:43:22.180 Francesca Glassbell

00:43:24.020 Carter Lou McElroy

00:43:25.580 Erica Ekrem

00:43:26.960 and Melanie Younger

For The Wild - August 05, 2020

ANAYVETTE MARTINEZ on the Brilliance of the Radical Monarchs ⧸195

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