George “Rithm” Martinez gives motivational talk to youths

George "Rithm" Martinez

Youths from around the country will be converging on Saturday morning in the capital for a conference and concert designed to motivate and inspire them.  The event is connected with the work of several stakeholders including the BNE Trust, and the violence research by Doctor Herbert Gale.   The organizers have brought in a special guest and motivational speaker for Saturday morning’s event. George ‘Rithm’ Martinez works with the U.S. Department of State as a cultural envoy. His works has taken him throughout Central and South America. Martinez stopped by our studios to tell us more about what he will do at the George Price Center in Belmopan.

George ‘Rithm’ Martinez, Cultural Envoy, U.S. Department of State

“My specialty in hip hop is Mcee-ing, which means microphone control to move the crowd. It’s the ability to say with just your voice in the ancient African tradition of call and response for example, to use my voice to motivate action and motivate the crowd to A: celebrate and cheer, the positive action or positive energy of a show or to mobilize toward addressing very serious community issues that plague us all. So I use my talent making music and of rhyming as a griot, the ancient tradition of the storyteller.”

Sylvia Laasner, Project Coordinator, BNE Trust

Sylvia Laasner

“We are sponsoring, in collaboration with the George Price Center, the conference whereby they invited one hundred young people across the country to join us as part of the crime research Mrs. Vasquez is conducting as well. We decided to bring in someone who can be a motivation beside the idea to reach out and to give young people a message that someone is there to care for them, someone is there that wants to know what are the problems. So that’s why they decided to identify someone who could come to entertain and motivate and we found out about George Martinez.”

George ‘Rithm’ Martinez,

“The idea is to say that community building means that all vested interests in the community have to come together. So I’m here to give a message to young people; your voice counts, organizing matters and we you to participate in creating a better Belize for tomorrow. But I’m also here for a message to policy makers, teachers and police that holistically growing our community is the only way to save our community is the only way to save our children and our children are the future. So if we’re not focused on making sure young people have all the tools to be able to A: resolve conflicts in their homes and community, B: be able to see a positive future of economic development and personal sustainability and C: a place where  their own talents and creativity matter.”

There are no more spaces available for the symposium at the George Price Center, but the concert at Independence Park is open and free to all. Martinez says he is connected to Central America because his father-in-law is from Honduras, and his wife is from Belize.