BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — At the age of 91 years old, one of the greatest labor and civil rights activists of our time is still advocating for change. Dolores Huerta devoted her life to fighting discrimination against farmworkers. Change is what she wanted, what she preached, and what helped inspire a nation of farm laborers to stand up.
“Farmworkers that were doing the most essential work for everybody were so discriminated against in the field that they didn’t even have bathrooms,” Huerta said.
In 1962, Huerta and Cesar Chavez founded the National Farmworkers Association. It later became the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). Since then a track record of change followed. In her youth, strikes, boycotts and lobbying helped create labor contracts, safer working conditions and healthcare for agricultural workers.
“If we are going to have a true democracy, everyone needs to participate," Huerta said. "You can’t just have a few people making the rules, making the laws."
The 1960s was a time of change and though Chavez received a majority of the attention, Huerta played an equal part in the labor and civil rights movement. The roles of men and women were different back then but looking back, Huerta said she would have liked to share more of the speaking responsibilities.
“There are thousands of people that really created the movement. I do think I am getting more recognition, but I do agree that as women we do need to not stand back but stand up."
At the age of 91 her activism, passionate energy and stance on civil rights have not faded. Today, she is the president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, a non-profit organization in Bakersfield that focuses on equality, health, safety and education through a program called "Vecinos Unidos" or "Neighbor United."
The foundation works to unite parents, teachers and students in the classroom.
“Children are not born racist, they are not born homophobic, [and] not born misogamists. We need to start teaching children all these things right at the elementary level.”
These days Huerta’s activism is not just limited to labor discrimination and racism, she’s also taking on issues like climate change.
“We have droughts, forest fires, flooding so we know this is something we have to address,” she said.
Education is very important to Huerta. As a mother of eleven, she made sure her children were educated about the movement she was involved in. She is proud to have her daughter Camellia Chavez follow in her footsteps as the executive director of the Dolores Huerta Foundation.
“It is such a pleasure to work with young people. We are an intergenerational organization and an organization run by women of color,” said Camellia Chavez.
Huerta coined the phrase “si se puede” which means “yes we can." It is a mantra that has helped inspire a long line of change. President Obama even used the saying in a number of his speeches and Huerta hopes the mantra will continue to inspire change.
“Let’s talk to one another. Let’s all work hard to get rid of racism, misogyny, [and] homophobia in our society.”
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