FINDING COMMUNITY
Morganton grandson of Guatemalan immigrant uses diverse background to bring people together
Geronimo Martin (left) and his partner, Evelin Vicente-Rodriguez, enjoy a sunset near Morganton.
Geronimo Martin.
Morganton resident Geronimo Martin grew up with his feet in several different cultural worlds.
The grandchild of one of Morganton's earliest Guatemalan immigrants, Martin was raised by a single mother from age 5. He lived on Silver Creek Road, attended public school and went to St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. Most of the time, his family went to Spanish Mass there, but sometimes they would go to Mass in English or Hmong.
"When I experienced life as a child, I got to see other perspectives,5 Martin said. “Sometimes you just experience your parents’ lens, or they teach you beliefs and facts and opinions that they just share with you because you are their children. But we were very fortunate to see other perspectives. ... Seeing all those cultures, we felt very welcome, but we also saw that they did things very differently.”
He said his first Super Bowl party at a neighbor’s house was one of those different moments for him.
“I was thinking, ‘OK, what’s the Super Bowl?”’ Martin said. “That was something new I didn’t know about until I was 9 or 10.”
Martin said Hmong New Year celebrations at the church were another moment when he experienced a different culture.
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Learning from the village
Over the years, Martin said he learned a lot about hard work and discipline from his mother. He also learned about compassion, hospitality and inclusivity from his multiethnic church and his mostly white neighbors on Silver Creek Road.
"My experience growing up in Morganton was a great experience," Martin said. "(My mother) was a single mom working for minimum wage, doing whatever she could do to take care of three kids. ... And during times of tribulation and hardship, there were so many people who were willing to help out. ... They did a really good job making people in my situation feel like they were heard and assisted."
He said neighbors would often show up at his house asking if they could help.
"Our neighbors were very nice and very friendly," Martin said. "Every time we needed help with school supplies or Christmas presents, they were 100% welcoming to us and like we were part of their family."
Coming to Morganton
Martin's grandfather, Francisco Jose, came to the U.S. in the late 1970s and then moved to Morganton to work at Case Farms in 1986. He was among the first Guatemalan immigrants to arrive in Morganton and was featured in the book "The Maya of Morganton" by Leon Fink.
Martin's father left when he was 5. Since then, Martin has found community in diverse groups within Morganton.
"I love having my foot in each space," he said. "I am able to work my network to benefit, not just me, but everyone else as well."
The lessons from his childhood about diverse perspectives have helped him navigate the space between different communities and cultures within Morganton as an adult. He said this has also taught him that we're all more interdependent than some of us like to admit and there's really no such thing as true self-sufficiency.
"It's about perspective and narrative," Martin said. "It's about the narrative and propaganda that's being pushed that it's OK to be exclusive and not inclusive. It's OK to have your land where you want it and no one can touch it. Instead of listening to that narrative, go out and spend time with people. ...
"I can get perspective from a neighbor who is a doctor and I can get perspective from a community member who is having trouble paying his bills because he is getting paid $7.25. ... Having a foot in each door, I can see both perspectives and that's an advantage I have."
In the past, Martin has used this perspective to help teach art to children at The Old School Studio (TOSS). TOSS is an enterprise of the Industrial Commons that gives opportunities for art instruction to underserved children.
At TOSS, Martin worked as the studio coordinator and did community outreach. He said his diverse background helped him make the connections he needed to get the word out.
"I went to schools that were underserved," Martin said. "I did my best to reach out to families and even went door-to-door."
He is also a speaker for another Industrial Commons program called Hometown Walkabout, designed to expose Burke County residents to the diverse histories of the different groups of people who call the area home. At Hometown Walkabout, Martin shares his story as the grandchild of a Guatemalan immigrant growing up in Morganton.
Teaching financial literacy
Martin left TOSS in 2024 and today works for Edward Jones. Martin realizes that moving from a nonprofit art program to a financial firm seems like a drastic shift. However, he said he takes the same mission of bringing people together into his new work in the financial world.
"I think the connecting line is just people in the community serving people," he said. "The role I'm in now is outreach to people, saying, 'I know financial literacy wasn't something you could take advantage of, but I'm here to break down that barrier.' This is accessible to almost anyone. You have 100%, every right to participate."
He said bringing financial literacy to underserved people and families is a focus of his office.
"We're not really tracking down the 1% in Morganton," Martin said. "We're trying to cater to everyone, to the far end of the spectrum who are underserved because everyone has the right to do this, but no one is going out and doing it."
Choose kindness
If Martin could promote one message to his community, it would be to prioritize kindness.
"Whatever language you speak or however you look, I think kindness goes a long way," he said. "Just be welcoming and interact with people you wouldn't normally interact with. ... Let's treat people the way humans want to be treated, regardless of your politics or what you identify as or what color or race. Let's throw all that out the window and try to be humans rather than red versus blue."
He also said it's important to remember that we are blessed to live in this country.
"Instead of focusing on the negative, we should appreciate the positive," Martin said. "We are 100% blessed. My mom is getting surgery for carpal tunnel, and that's something she might not have gotten if she was still in Guatemala."
Jason Koon is the Sports Editor for the Hickory Record and can be reached at jason.koon@lee.net.
