Sam Huisache

An Afro-Indigenous Tejanu Writer, Artist, and Socialist Organizer.

Sam Huisache in their home in Lockhart, Texas. Photo by Niko Hernandez

On Sunday, March 2, 2025 — the Cultural Archive team visited Sam Huisache at their home. We gathered around a big pan of freshly made cornbread for an intimate conversation on their experience being a writer, multi-disciplinary artist, and socialist organizer. Here are some highlights from that chat:

Lais (Archivist): How has being from Texas shaped your perspective on art, creativity, and self-expression?

Sam: People have a lot of ideas about what Texans are like and although some things are true: cowboy hats and barbeque — I feel like as a Texan I've had to focus a lot of my art on clearing up misconceptions about different types of Texans. I love writing stories about people who I feel like I've never read a story about before. I feel like with black Texans in particular, people don't really understand us. In my experience black people from outside of the south tend to be seen as very docile, which is crazy because we are the reason why Juneteenth exists. I like to remind people that we've been here for a really long time and there is no Texas culture without us.

Lais: If you had to describe "home" without using the word itself, how would you?

Sam: Home to me is just any amount of space where no one can see me. So it could be just a tent with a blanket - ya know? It's a place to lie down and hide away from the world.

Lais: What role does your gender identity play in shaping your politics?

Sam: It makes me feel a little bit like YOLO in a way. People always accuse nonbinary people of being attention-seekers but what good attention do I really get from being nonbinary? No one ever thinks it’s a real thing to begin with, so if you’re brave enough to come out as a very misunderstood identity, why would that stop you from speaking out about any of the other things that you believe to be true. Being agender and nonbinary helps me to have an outspoken politic. I think everyone should be loud about their politics. So I feel my gender identity shapes my politics in that sense - you might as well fucking tell people how you really feel.


Lais: How do art and writing shape your organizing work, and do you see creative expression as a form of resistance or a refuge—or both?

Sam: There is no point in being creative if it isn't tied to resistance work or revolutionary work. I feel that art that doesn't serve a greater purpose, is art for the ruling class. I try to use my love of writing to advance my organizing work. I haven't always been very good with it though. I can struggle with messaging and sometimes western socialist spaces can be very anti-art in a way and I understand where that comes from — the status quo wants you to be so absorbed in consuming feel good entertaining things, but people have been reactionary and it comes off as “don't feel good” or “don't enjoy anything ever” – so I like a healthy middle ground you're having fun, you're entertained, but you're also learning and growing as an organizer and activist so that's how I approach my writing these days.

Lais: Why do you think it’s important for minority groups to have access/live in strong, inclusive communities where they can be safest and proudest?

Sam: So we don’t die! It's for survival. So we have people to take care of us when we are ill. Sure it's fun and we get to see our friends but also we stay alive and survive. 

Lais: Are there people in your life who have inspired or deeply influenced your personal journey?

Sam: All my friends and comrades inspire me . When y’all are well, I’m well. When y’all do well, I do well. Couldn't live without y’all, couldn’t do anything without y’all. People of the global south who are comrades and revolutionaries around the world inspire me as well.

Sam Huisache in their home in Lockhart, Texas. Photo by Niko Hernandez.

Lais: Tell us about your background as a writer and working in tech, how do you navigate the intersection of your identity and working in tech?

Sam: I don't want to say it in a way that down plays anything I've done and I don't want to not recognize how hard it was, but in my eyes – I kind of bullshited my way into tech. I realized that as a black person, you don't get the privilege of just majoring in something like art history. I figured I should focus on something that would help me to get a job, and that's also why I went to grad school and got a masters. I didn't believe having just a bachelors was enough. I majored in political science because you can really BS your way into a lot of jobs and different types of companies with a political science degree. You learn math, statistics, how to make arguments, and power imbalances. One of my first jobs here in Austin was doing really basic data entry and research stuff. Then after that I got a customer service job with a mobile video game company. Basically everything people say about the gaming industry just being a toxic cesspool of white incels is true! But I used this job to wiggle my way deeper into tech because I just wanted to prove people wrong.

Lais: Tech is often seen as a space of innovation, but also of exclusion. How do you see technology either empowering or hindering the liberation of Black and queer communities in the South?

Sam: I think the tech industries will continue to hinder our abilities to free ourselves but at the same time we won't be able to free ourselves without tech. I want us to encourage one another to be developing new skills in all walks of life, but also to improve tech. We should be organizing tech workers who are working class, those of us who are often left out of these discussions. Not every tech worker is petty b. A lot of us are living paycheck to paycheck. For example; in Kenya they are basically paying these tech workers less than $2 a day to moderate really problematic and stressful content that leaves them traumatized. So I'd like to see better organizing that even seeks to improve those types of conditions as well. Tech can be a valuable skill that aids in our fight towards revolution and we should be encouraging young children of color to pursue it.

Lais: If someone were to gather the fruit of your life and organizing work years from now, what do you hope they’d taste or experience?

Sam: AUDACITY, sweetness, and electrolytes!

Lais Milburn (left) and Tabitha Hamilton (right) prepare to conduct Sam’s Feature. Photo by Niko Hernandez.