Dr. Sarait Martinez is leading with language justice

More than 200,000 immigrant farmworkers power Central California's agricultural industry, including over 60,000 people from many diverse and distinct Indigenous Mexican communities. Across those communities, more than 16 unique Indigenous Mexican languages are spoken, bringing issues of access and translation to the front and center of daily life – navigating work, civic engagement, and social services. When Latino communities are treated as linguistically homogeneous, much critical information remains out of reach. The Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño (the Binational Center for the Development of Oaxacan Indigenous Communities, or CBDIO) was founded in Fresno in 1993 because Indigenous farmworkers in California’s Central Valley could not access social services offered only in English and Spanish. Since 1993, their mission and services have grown tremendously beyond language justice to also include building community power through economic justice, education justice, health justice, immigration justice, and worker justice. The CBDIO has also entered its second generation of leadership with Dr. Sarait Martinez as Executive Director. In this episode, Dr. Martinez shares about:The invisibility that Indigenous Mexican communities face even within Latino spacesWhat “language justice” means in practice and how they work to ensure people can participate in decisions about their lives regardless of what language they speakHow the CBDIO transformed the “3 sisters” farming method into their “4 sisters” organizing frameworkCBDIO’s recent wins recovering over $50,000 in stolen wages and expanding interpreter access. Next Episode, meet Danielle Bergstrom. Danielle spent a decade as a city planner before deciding the most powerful way to shape Fresno was to start her own news platform and tell people what was actually happening in their city. Subscribe to PathBreakers on [Spotify] | [Apple Podcasts] | [YouTube]Learn more about the CBDIO at https://www.centrobinacional.org/Listen all of Season 2 at https://pathbreakers.kresge.orgCo-Hosts: Tracey Pearson and Jamie BennettProducer: Juliet HinelyManaging Editor: Krista JahnkeProduction support: Jennifer Kulczycki and Tracey PearsonSpecial thanks on this episode to Kresge’s American Cities and Arts Programs, especially Kara Elliott-Ortega and Katie Van Dusen.Thanks for listening!