CELEBRATE APRIL 10TH DOLORES HUERTA DAY

HERE IS THE STORY ..Images by Barbara Carrasco

SHE WHO RUNS AGAINST THE WIND

Dolores Huerta
Many times we have chanted SI SE PUEDE (yes we can) and we forget that it was
Dolores Huerta that made this message the mantra of our human rights struggles.
Fred Ross had years earlier recruited this young bright woman and Cesar Chavez
to help build the CSO the community service organization. And later they would
become the central organizers of the FARM WORKERS ORGANIZING
COMMITTEE that later became the United Farm Workers Union.
In my life time I have met many leaders, and celebrities but never anyone who is
like Dolores. What I admire most about Dolores is how grounded she is in defense
of the poor and downtrodden and how well she treats the least amongst us.
Dolores has for her entire life has run against the wind changing the norms of the
time and breaking the glass and at times steel ceilings to allow women and the
forgotten onto their rightful place at the table.
In the process of doing all this work she has protected the rights of the oppressed at
every opportunity.
Today she leads along with her daughter Camila the DOLORES HUERTA
FOUNDATION. I have seen first hand their good grass roots work with the local
communities in the San Joaquin Valley while still remaining a strong presence on
key national issues.
Anyone who has worked with Dolores has many wonderful and colorful stories.
Those of us who over the years have been asked to staff her at public events soon
learn that she is the last to leave an event and only after she has spoken to almost
everyone and has encouraged them to do more. She has a spiritual energy that
seems to be fueled by a DREAM OF A BETTER WORLD.
I came out of a Mexican Culture and a Chicano Movement that were macho centric
environments. Add to this that when I joined up as an organizer for the UFW in
1970 I don’t think I was ready to meet such a powerful woman. I was pleasantly
surprised to see such an amazing smart and strong woman who was the Co-
Founder and vice president of the union. And as history would have it most of the
recognized leadership at that time of the union was male. But one of the major
underpinnings of the movement were women, who like Dolores sacrificed their
families, their health and well being in support of a movement that would protect
workers and would inspire so many others.
Once in Delano in 1972 I was invited to be part of a contract negotiating team led
by Dolores. There we were on the second floor of a motel meeting with these
growers on a very cold day in Delano. I was amazed by the way she managed the
defense of workers rights. She was like Mohammad Ali, doing her own Ali style
shuffle, a bit of Rope a Dope .. and like Ali she would respond with quick jabs and
on occasion a flurry of punches that would leave the growers dumbfounded. If they
gave academy awards for contract negotiations she would have won more than her
share.
Several years ago 2015 to be exact one of the national museums in Washington
D.C. had a wonderful display of Dolores, And she was in DC for the inauguration
of this display And this happened to be around the Fourth of July weekend.. Abe
Bonowitz , and I both had invited Dolores to join us outside of the Supreme Court
where there is an Annual Fast And Vigil Against The Death Penalty. And to our
surprise about one am in the morning Dolores shows up with her staff. She spoke
to us, we sang songs and prayed together.. This was another one of those unique
actions that Dolores repeats on a regular basis. That night she uplifted our spirits
which we needed to continue our work to abolish the death penalty.
https://www.facebook.com/fastandvigil/videos/875835699150863/
Once at her home for a special reception she cornered me as she always did asking
me to take on some new tasks. When she was done I smiled at her and said
DOLORES I NO LONGER WORK FOR YOU.. She smiled back saying YOU
KNOW THAT THIS IS IMPORTANT AND I KNOW YOU WILL DO IT. Later
that afternoon as I met others at the reception I learned that they too had received
their marching orders from her. And now I am happy to be challenged by her since
I long ago learned that what she is asking us to do what is right and just.
Many awards and recognitions have been given to Dolores but the most important
acknowledgement is the love and respect she gets from the people she has
defended.
Dolores at 91 has given and continues to give her all for the protection of
Mother Earth and all of her creatures.