Martinez talks as the keynote speaker of Multicultural Day at
Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., on April 20, 2023. Photo by Owen Meza.
Activism, advocacy and awareness seem to be important to a lot of college students.
The Multicultural Day keynote presentation gave Pierce College students the opportunity to hear from someone who has been participating in all three for most of his life.
Activist and hip-hop artist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez was the keynote speaker during Multicultural Day on Thursday, where he spoke to students and faculty about his experience as an activist and why it’s so important to him. He shared personal anecdotes about growing up indigenous and how it connects to his activism today.
Martinez emphasized the importance in bringing awareness to many different social justice issues, from the climate crisis to people of color(POC) solidarity, and urged the students to use their voice and become active participants in bringing awareness to these issues.
“Each of us, in our own way, with our own voice has a very specific and important point to make,” Martinez said. “We’re counting on people around us who share our vision. And everybody who showed up here today, that’s a beautiful first step.”
Before Martinez’s presentation started, chair of the Diversity Committee Michael Habata briefly spoke to the audience about Multicultural Day and how the events strive to highlight and nurture the diverse Pierce campus. The keynote presentation specifically aimed to encourage students to become advocates themselves.
“I encourage you all to have a sense of curiosity to know who your neighbors are and to embrace the differences that you have,” Habata said.
Habata also stated they wanted Martinez as the keynote speaker because they knew that he was someone who could really connect with the students. The purpose of the event was to make students understand that they are capable of making a difference.
“Xiuhtezcatl is someone who’s younger, he’s a hip-hop musician, he’s an activist and we thought that combination would be someone that students could be excited about,” Habata said. “Young people today, especially college students, really care about making a difference and they want to be able to feel like they can.”
Student Alexandra King-Sing shared her thoughts on the presentation.
“I found the speech really inspiring,” King-Sing said. “I really liked that he spoke about indigenous activism. I feel like it was really enlightening.”
As a student herself, King-Sing was able to reflect on how the contents of the presentation landed with the students. She shared how hearing the speech could have really impacted the audience.
“I think it’s important that he spoke to college students because in college you’re still learning who you are,” King-Sing said. “Maybe somebody who wasn’t sure about who they want to be or what they want to do would have found inspiration in his speech and think that they want to go into activism.”
