A LOVE LETTER TO RINI TEMPLETON AND BETITA MARTINEZ
I write this on the day after the March 2020 election. At moments of despair, I find comfort and growth in touching the past.
This is a love letter to the people who face the highs, ride the lows, and stay in it. To the people who struggle and still believe. To the people who do this work acknowledging ego, and aiming to leave ego behind. To the people who work to amplify the beauty of people and the world we live in, without denying the ugliness of oppression. You inspire me and I hope to continue to walk this road with you.
This is a love letter to Rini Templeton, an art-activist, and Elizabeth “Betita” Sutherland Martinez, Chicana feminist and community organizer. Rini and Betita you shaped my leadership. You are in my organizer DNA.
LUCILLE CORINNE “RINI” TEMPLETON
Rini Templeton, my early memories of organizing at UC Berkeley is marked with the images you created. These images have continued to inspire me, so much so that the art on the Colibri Collaborative website is made and inspired by you. Your tenacity and commitment in echoing the voices and struggles of people throughout the Americas taught me that the best way for me to show up is to listen. Thank you for chronicling our movements so that we can continue to learn from them. Thank you for showing the dignity of the struggle and working people. And for the striking images that demonstrate the beauty around us.
ELIZABETH “BETITA” SUTHERLAND MARTINEZ (AKA BETITA)
Betita, you may never know how you have influenced me. Your relentless pursuit of justice with love at the core is who I strive to be. And when I see and face in-fighting within the left, your words console me. This is not new and moving forward, we can be different.
“..Sometimes/in this
here movement/ you go down, down, down/ dragged by the smallness of
people”
And yet, you stayed in it. Like a disciplined revolutionary, you tried to solve these problems internally and didn’t participate in a toxic “call-out culture.”
To Betita and Rini, thank you for grounding me in the beauty and struggle of humanity. Another world is possible, but only if we are guided by love, light, and compassionate conviction. It starts with us.
Hay hombres que luchan un día
y son buenos.
Hay otros que luchan un año
y son mejores.
Hay quienes luchan muchos años
y son muy buenos.
Pero hay los que luchan toda la vida:
esos son los imprescindibles.
There are men who struggle for a day
and they are good.
There are men who struggle for a year
and they are better.
There are men who struggle many years,
and they are better still.
But there are those who struggle all their lives: These are the essential ones.
-Bertolt Brecht