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 Ester Martinez
“If nobody speaks out, how will
things get better?”
Ester Martinez was born in Michoacan, Mexico. Her parents were
landless peasants who traveled throughout the region working the
corn, bean, and chile crops of more prosperous farmers. In 1980,
Ester and her husband came to the United States on a dangerous
all-night trek through the Arizona desert. They both found work
in the fruit fields of California, and moved from town to town
before settling in the small Central Valley community of Alpaugh
in 1990.
However, she found that Alpaugh had more than its share of problems.
Her children were not treated well in Alpaugh’s public school,
where many of the white teachers and students resented the Mexican
immigrants moving into town, and the school was woefully lacking
in textbooks and basic supplies. Ester wanted her children to get
an education, so when she heard about a group of parents who were
organizing to push for school improvements, she knew she had to
get involved. This experience, she said, showed her the power of
people joining together and speaking out.
Her political involvement deepened a few years later when one
of her children became suddenly ill and spent several days in bed
vomiting. When she talked to the neighbors about it, she discovered
that Alpaugh’s water was contaminated with arsenic and various
microbes, and was not safe to drink. Then, adding insult to injury,
the Alpaugh Irrigation District increased her family’s monthly
fee for the undrinkable water from $20 per month to $45 per month.
And the water was only getting worse.
“I knew I had to do something,” she says. She began
working with other farmworkers and Alpaugh community members, and
CRPE, to push for a clean, safe source of drinking water. For now,
her family still drinks bottled water, which is a big expense for
a household of 12 people. But Ester is undaunted. “People
here are scared, they don’t like to speak out. They think
no one will listen, because we’re just a small town. But
if nobody speaks out, how will things get better? That’s
why I’ve got to do this. Somebody has to stand up.”
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