AMY GOODMAN: You’re listening to Democracy Now!, Pacifica’s national daily grassroots election show. I’m Amy Goodman.

Do the names Clara Zetkin and Luise Zietz sound familiar to you? Well, they should. They’re basically the founders, the movers and shakers behind International Women’s Day, which is today. And it was originally set up to focus on female and child labor and the 10-hour day for all workers, celebrated first here in the United States in 1909, celebrated by socialists here in the United States.

Coming up next, we turn to a local activist here in New York. And we’re broadcasting out of Pacifica’s station in New York, WBAI, for the New York primary. We’re joined by Anna Maria Nieves. She is a Latina youth activist from Harlem and the Bronx, and she has an amazing story to tell.

Anna Maria, thanks for joining us

ANNA MARIA NIEVES: Absolutely.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, why don’t you tell us a little about your life? You’re 25 years old. Tell us about what happened before you became an activist, and just give us a picture of where you were born and things that happened after that.

ANNA MARIA NIEVES: Well, I was born in the Bronx. I was born to parents, a father who was a drug addict and a mother who was a schizophrenic who lived in an institution. Because of that, I was put into the court system and put through the foster care system. And I spent some time in the foster care system, and then my father became brilliant. He realized that I could be money to him, and he was able to get me back from the courts. He went to court, proved that he was drug-free — you know, the same thing of switching your urine and all that stuff — proved he was drug-free, got me back.

And I think that’s what started the era of my anger. I lived with him for a number of years. In those numbers of years, he rented me to couples who wanted to pretend like they had children of their own. Lucky for — thanks to him, I have traveled for free to many places.

AMY GOODMAN: Why did they want to pretend they had kids of their own?

ANNA MARIA NIEVES: I believe — I was very young and didn’t ask many questions, but I believe because they couldn’t have children of their own. So, I went to Georgia. I grew up. I was raised in Boston and Georgia. I went to Puerto Rico for a time and to Mexico, and just to different couples here in the city. And I got to experience many things, some things good, some things bad.

But eventually my father got even smarter, and he realized that I could be more money to him if he put me on his welfare budget. And I lived with him through my junior high school years, and I think that was definitely the time of what I consider hell. He took the welfare check, the food stamps, cashed them in for cash, and he would use that for crack, his next hit. He would sell my food, my clothes, my book bag. And that went on for a long, long time.

During that time, my job, as part of this two-person family, was to make sure that his life was going OK. So, that meant when he rented the bedroom for couples to have sex, that meant cleaning the cum-stained sheets. When he rented the bathroom for drug dealers to use, that meant cleaning the blood when a person misshot off the shower curtains or the toilet. And it meant collecting his money for him, so that if he was ever stopped on the streets from selling drugs, that he wouldn’t be sent to jail. So he made me part of the process.

And I also got to, I guess, grow up pretty quickly, because he would leave the home weeks at a time out on the streets, on Jerome Avenue, and I would be home taking care of myself. I would work. I would clean houses after, like, parties and go to school full time, work at the supermarket or the local bodega to make money. Our rent was only $99 because of Section 8, but I think for a 14-year-old, that’s still a lot of money.

AMY GOODMAN: So, here you were, living your life in the way you’ve just described. You weren’t exactly a community organizer like you are today. What changed for you? And what gave you hope?

ANNA MARIA NIEVES: It all really changed when I moved in with a man — I guess he was 19 at the time, so I guess a young man — who seemed like he was the way out. He met me when I was living with my father, and became really concerned about how I was living. And he sort of moved in. My father wasn’t there all the time anyway, so he moved on the living room couch. He bought me a microwave for my room, and he bought me my school books, and he bought me my clothes, and he bought me a lock to put on my bedroom door, the same you would have on your outside door. And he took care of me.

And then my father threw him out one day, and I packed my clothes underneath his and never came back home, and I moved in with him. And I stayed with him for six years. And at the time when I moved in with him, he, I guess, to me, was a father figure. But I guess he saw it as more than that, and he started asking me for payback. And I spent five of those six years being raped constantly and hit when I didn’t want to be raped.

And as part of — from that, and just I really felt like that was it. I couldn’t deal with it anymore. It had been almost all of my life, and I felt like, you know, if you can take what you think is yours, I can definitely take what’s mine. And I tried to commit suicide on a number of occasions. I was tired of the abortions. I was tired of the police that just came to the door and just didn’t care, even though he came to the door bloodied from all the scratches. And he wouldn’t let me commit suicide. He would constantly hide the pills from me, constantly watch me. So, I figured the way to do it was to pretend like I was looking for a better life, so he wouldn’t be concerned anymore.

So, I went to an organization, which, unfortunately, was in a totally different borough from the one I lived in, because we didn’t have the resources in the community I lived in. And I went to get my GED, and they tricked me. They basically said, “If you join our GED program, you have to join this leadership program.” And that’s where I met other young people that were going through the same thing that I was going through. It’s like, you know, I didn’t feel alone anymore. It definitely was like it — and what’s sad to say is that my story wasn’t an isolated story, and there were lots of other young people. And instead of saying, “I’m tired of it, and I can’t deal with it anymore,” looking for a way out, they were saying, “I’m tired of it. I can’t deal with it, and I’m going to do something about it.” And that just really — I couldn’t believe that there was a room full of 40 young people going through the same thing, on different levels going through the same thing, and they were angry, as angry as I were. And I was just thinking, “Wow! This is how movements are started. We can do it right here in this room.” And that just totally inspired me. From there, I went crazy.

AMY GOODMAN: OK, tell us about it. Tell us about what you did.

ANNA MARIA NIEVES: I was just — I was — I felt so, just like, inspired. I just — I couldn’t believe the power in that room. I started reading history books and all about the ’60s and the civil rights movement. And I was dreaming. You know, maybe I was meant to be a civil rights activist and be out there and on counters and in rally lines. And I just looked for every single way that I could possibly be involved in such a thing. And I joined every youth group. I joined a lot of youth councils within New York City government.

So I basically, like — I showed up at a meeting. And you know how they go around, and you do introductions? And I was like, “Hi. My name is Anna Maria Nieves, and I’m from the Bronx. And I’m from Urban X, Youth Uprising. I’m from Jobs for Youth. I’m from 21st Century Leadership. I’m from the Mayor’s Advisory Council.” And I went on and on and on and on. I just joined every possible thing I could to just — I wanted to have — I wanted to have an effect. I wanted to be able to change the lives of young people that were going through the things that I was going through, and to let them not get to the point of where they wanted to try to commit suicide.

AMY GOODMAN: Tell us about Urban X.

ANNA MARIA NIEVES: Urban X was founded in 1991. We were founded because we were at a youth rally, and we were asked to organize this youth rally of a larger youth conference. And at this youth conference, there was a whole panel of police officials, and young people came up and basically just said what they felt about police officers in their community. So, we said, well, since we organized this, of course, you know, we were manning the mics. We felt at the end, we could at least say what we felt.

So, we basically presented the truth. We feel that youth — that police officers should represent our community, should come from our community. They should go through youth sensitivity training, because they obviously can’t relate to us. They can’t communicate with us. If you have to move us off our own street corners, it’s not our fault we don’t have parks to hang out at, and you obviously don’t understand that. So, you must be coming from other — some, like, utopia. You must live in Norfolk or Sussex County. So, we said those things.

And unfortunately, the organizations that we were working with were trying to receive funding from the police department and felt that we jeopardized their chances at getting funding by offending the police department. At the time, even Police Commissioner Lee Brown was on the panel. And they were very upset with us, and they threatened to fire us. And some of us, you know, were teen parents. Some of us paid our own rents and really couldn’t afford to lose the money.

And so, we said, “OK, we’re not going to shut up. We’ve learned that there’s other ways. So how else can we do this?” And we said, “Well, let’s create our own organization. That way, the next time we say something, I can say, ’I’m Anna Maria Nieves from Urban X, and this is what I think,’ and not worry about a paycheck, since we don’t get funded by anybody.”

AMY GOODMAN: And so, that’s how Urban X was born?

ANNA MARIA NIEVES: Yes, that’s how we started.

AMY GOODMAN: Now, you’re a part of Urban X and also something called Do Something?

ANNA MARIA NIEVES: Mm-hmm. Do Something is — Urban X is the radical side of me. Since we don’t get funding, I get to do anything, that basically can tick a lot of people off, but it’s the truth. Do Something is a safer side, but it’s also an important side. It’s a national organization. We work on providing resources and — providing resources for young people and training young people to improve their communities. Our goal is to make every city in the United States a better place to live. And we’re starting in Boston, Newark, Selma and D.C. And in part of providing resources, we actually, I’m really happy to announce, kicked off a new project on January 29th, where we’re looking for the top 10 young people in the U.S., the top 10 young people that are really doing amazing, amazing things to improve their community. And the top winner — these must be under 30. The top winner will receive $100,000,, and the 10 — the nine runners-up will receive $10,000 each to continue their work. So it’s definitely a great opportunity to be at Do Something and to be part of just — I’m so excited about being able to say to somebody, “You’ve $100,000 to just make your community an amazing place.”

AMY GOODMAN: We’re talking with Anna Maria Nieves from Harlem and the Bronx. You’re a community organizer. Urban X, Do Something are your groups. What about the presidential election? You’re 25 years old. You can vote. Have you been voting?

ANNA MARIA NIEVES: Oh, absolutely, ever since I was 18. You kidding me? I registered when I was 17, and I was ready. I was ready with my card. I was proud of it. And I was definitely at the booths at 18.

AMY GOODMAN: In what way could someone like Bill Clinton or Bob Dole or Buchanan or someone else that we hear about every day, the major contenders in the Democratic and Republican primaries, make a difference in your life?

ANNA MARIA NIEVES: That’s a very good question. I definitely think that the president elections are very, very important. And to answer your question, I think Dinkins demonstrated it very well, and that’s by making youth part of their platform. Right now the hottest ticket is domestic violence, and you hear a lot of candidates addressing making the world a safer place for women, because of O.J. You’ll hear a lot about taxes, because that affects another population that votes for them, and that’s the upper class. But, unfortunately, youth under 18, and that’s — I mean, they kind of forget about the 20-somethings, but youth under 18 can’t vote, and so it doesn’t become part of that platform. It’s not important anymore.

But one thing that I always remind young people and politicians, whenever I can speak to them here in New York City, is, you know, you can’t forget about us. I mean, we may be under 18 now, but we’re watching you. We are on your tails, and we are looking out for everything that you’re doing. And we’re not able to vote you in, because we’re not 18, but when we hit 18, we’ll be able to vote you out. If you look at the statistics, the biggest, the largest gap in voting is between 18 and 22. That’s the largest population that does not vote. And with great mobilization around the country, young people can vote someone out with those numbers.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re talking to Anna Maria Nieves, and we do have to wrap up. I was first drawn to your story, first noticed it in Ms. magazine when they named you one of the women of the year, women to watch. You began your story — they began your story by talking about how you go into high schools and what you say to high school students. Why don’t we end with that?

ANNA MARIA NIEVES: Basically, I guess that’s my philosophy on how to get involved. And a lot of young people say, “Well, you know, I don’t understand. How do I get started?” Or youth directors say, “I don’t understand how to get my young people motivated.” And I think the trick is, is to find out what makes them angry. It’s to really tap down and figure out what the hell makes you sick, sick to your stomach, that you just want to vomit, puke, whatever the word you choose. And that’s where you need to get started, because that’s what you’re most passionate about, and that’s what it takes.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, Anna Maria Nieves, thank you very much for joining us.

ANNA MARIA NIEVES: Thanks for having me.

AMY GOODMAN: How can people get in touch with you and your organization, Urban X or Do Something?

ANNA MARIA NIEVES: For Do Something, you can call 212-523-1175. For the BRICK award application that we’re giving out for the $100,000, you can go to any Blockbuster video store. It’s in Mademoiselle magazines, or look on MTV for PSAs, and there’s a 1-800 number. For Urban X, you can call 212-281-3460. And because we’re not funded, it’s just a voicemail. We’re not manned in terms of an office yet, but we certainly will get back to you within a day.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, thank you for gracing our studios this morning.

ANNA MARIA NIEVES: Thank you for having me.

AMY GOODMAN: Anna Maria Nieves, 25 years old, community organizer. You’ve been listening to Democracy Now! And you can get a copy of this tape by calling our Pacifica Archives at 1-800-735-0230. That’s 1-800-735-0230. You can also write to us at our email address. It’s democracy@pacifica.org That’s democracy@pacifica.org. We also have a website, and that address is www.pacifica.org. That’s www.pacifica.org. And don’t forget that conversation with Bella Abzug earlier, and the Contract with Women of the U.S.A. You can see that contract on our website. And you can also call WEDO — that’s the Women’s Environment and Development Organization here in New York, Bella organization — at 212-759-7982. That’s 212-759-7982,

Well, that’s it for another edition of Democracy Now! Democracy Now! is produced by Julie Drizin. It was directed out of our studios here in New York at WBAI by Errol Maitland. Our engineer has been Bernard White. Tune in next week for another edition of Pacifica Radio’s national daily grassroots election show, Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman.