Photo by Facebook.
BY: JULIET SCHULMAN-HALL, SUMMER 2020 COLLABORATOR AT POWER IN PLACE
Every phone call rang for what felt like an eternity, while she waited for someone to pick up and tell her the words she wanted to hear: her student was safe and cared for.
Monica Martinez was a tenured assistant principal of a middle school, determined to fight for the children she looked after. One afternoon, she realized why one of her sixth graders refused to go home: her home lacked heat or food, and her mother worked two jobs and was often absent as a result.
With the hopes of helping this child, Martinez called the Department of Social Services. She was left with stinging words in her ear, telling her that there was nothing they could do because she was merely a school administrator.
It was at this moment she realized she needed to do more for the young people walking the halls of the middle school at which she worked every weekday.
Martinez was elected as the New York State Senator for District 3 on January 9, 2019 [1]. Her first constituent case after she was elected involved a situation similar to what she had previously experienced with that sixth grader, involving a different child in the same middle school at which she had been an assistant principal. This child, like the last, had no heat at home. It took one phone call from State Senator Martinez to the Department of Social Services, and three hours later the family received oil and had heat in their home.
She realized in that moment that she could help more people as a politician than she did as an administrator.
For all of her life, State Senator Martinez has focused on helping women, animals, and those who are often marginalized and voiceless.
Martinez became the first woman and first Latina to be elected a State Senator from District 3. She has found that politics can be a difficult profession but her family helps her cope and are there for her whenever she needs support. She tries not to take attacks personally, and continues to hold the belief that individuals who try to put her down have something else going on in their lives. Ultimately, Martinez emphasizes that adversity helps her become a stronger and more resilient person and politician.
Upon taking office she found out that two bills intended to protect women had been stuck in the State Senate for years. The first proposed bill is Shannon’s Law, which requires health insurance to cover mammograms for women starting at age 35, rather than at age 40 or older. The second proposed bill makes it illegal to disseminate or publish sexually explicit images without that person’s consent. State Senator Martinez advocated for the two proposed bills, and ultimately was able to help pass both bills and enact them into law. Martinez prides herself on having been able to make a difference in the lives of other women through aiding the passage of these two bills.
Martinez has also worked on bills to help the lives of animals—a topic that is rarely discussed in politics but is crucial to Martinez. According to the State Senator, animal welfare is linked to human welfare and needs to be discussed more. Martinez believes that those who commit crimes against animals are more likely to commit a crime against a human being. She concludes that stopping animal abuse and educating people about animal welfare is both a good in itself, and leads to a better society in which people act more humanely toward each other.
Martinez is currently working on improving and providing more support to animal shelters across New York State. She hopes these efforts will result in the adoption of more animals into their “forever homes” and to discourage and ultimately eliminate unnecessary euthanization of adoptable pets.
Martinez works for all of the people, but believes her mission is to advocate for those who are often overlooked both by society, and by most politicians. The legislation she drafts or advocates for, and her hard work as a NY State Senator presents, in her words, “an uphill battle right now.” But she continues these battles, because she believes that there is nothing which “can’t be done...everything is possible.”
References
[1] “Monica Martinez.” Ballotpedia. Accessed August 10, 2020. https://ballotpedia.org/Monica_Martinez.
Juliet Schulman-Hall is a rising junior at Smith College majoring in English Language & Literature, minoring in Sociology, and concentrating in Poetry. At Smith, she is involved in Emulate Magazine, the club volleyball team, and the Sophian Newspaper. She is passionate about criminal justice reform and animal rights and advocacy and is the Communications Lead for an animal nonprofit called Global Strays.