Dolores Huerta had spent decades advocating for labor rights and marginalized people when she went to a central California college and met a group of farmworkers’ descendants — many of them students who choked back tears over the then-94-year-old taking the time to listen to them.
asserted
old → spend → them
That was the effect Huerta had on young people, said Ana Padilla, executive director of the Community and Labor Center at the University of California, Merced, which had hosted Huerta for the event.
asserted
which → have → event
“It was transformative,” Padilla said.
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Padilla → say → ?
“Something that I heard a lot from students in particular was just how accessible she was.
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she → hear → students
That’s just what made Dolores a natural organizer, just an ability to connect immediately with really anyone.”
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Dolores → ’ → anyone
The activist and icon who helped improve the lives of laborers in farming and other industries died Wednesday from cancer at 96.
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who → help → 96
She was surrounded by family at her home in Bakersfield, California.
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She → surround → Bakersfield
While most people would spend their golden years enjoying retirement, Huerta never stopped fighting.
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Huerta → spend → retirement
Living up to her famous rallying cry, “Sí, se puede!” (“Yes, it can be done”), the civil rights activist marched alongside protesters, spoke on countless panels and lent her voice to progressive causes well into her 90s.
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activist → live → 90s
And it wasn’t just on issues impacting Latinos but also African Americans, the LGBTQ+ community and women.
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it → impact → Latinos
Not just an organizer, Huerta during every major election encouraged voters and endorsed candidates.
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Huerta → encourage → candidates
She also pushed more Latinos to consider running for office.
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She → push → office
Even after Huerta revealed in March that she was among the women and girls who say they were sexually abused by César Chavez, the labor leader she was inextricably linked to in history, admiration for her only strengthened.
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admiration → reveal → her
Huerta once said she simply wanted encourage younger generations, particularly women, to use their voice.
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she → say → voice
“I hope that they know they have a place,” Huerta told The Associated Press in August while attending the Los Angeles premiere of the documentary, “American Pachuco.”
“Never be afraid to take the leadership,” she said.
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she → hope → leadership
A living Latina legend who continued to show up
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who → live → ?
From the United Farm Workers union to the Latino Victory Project, many groups said they would not exist if not for Huerta.
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they → say → Huerta
She co-founded with Chavez the National Farm Workers Association in 1962.
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She → co → 1962
It would become the United Farm Workers of America a few years later and then join with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee.
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It → become → Committee
The movement fought for better wages and working conditions for agricultural workers such as fair hours and access to bathrooms.
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movement → fight → bathrooms
Her work has garnered her accolades including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in 2012.
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work → garner → 2012
Her leadership has made Huerta almost a mythical figure especially in Latino households.
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Huerta → make → households
Anabelle Sanchez, 20, of Lansing, Michigan, texted her parents when she learned of Huerta’s death.
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she → texte → death
Sanchez, who is Mexican American, was a child when her mother taught her about Huerta.
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mother → teach → Huerta
“I’ve always looked up to her.
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I → look → her
She was very civically involved throughout her life and just using her voice even when things were scary,” said Sanchez, a Michigan State University political science and public policy major who hopes to emulate Huerta’s “strength and her courage.”
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who → involve → strength
“She was a part of everyday life and she would always go to events like pretty much up until her last breath,” Sanchez said.
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Sanchez → go → breath
“Always being an advocate, thinking of others who may not have that opportunity.
uncertain
who → think → opportunity
That’s just something that will always stay with me about her.”
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that → ’ → her
Irasema Coronado, director of Arizona State University’s School of Transborder Studies, became friends with Huerta over 20 years ago when they met at a feminist-centered conference on a cruise ship.
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they → become → ship
She remembers Huerta as someone with boundless energy who showed up for people.
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who → remember → people
She recalls Huerta attending a protest in Phoenix and then leaving immediately after to make appearances at demonstrations in New Mexico and Texas.
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Huerta → recall → Mexico
“She was everywhere,” Coronado said.
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Coronado → say → ?
“She never missed an opportunity to be on the right side of something.
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She → miss → something
I never saw her with a script.
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I → see → script
During the farmworkers movement of the 1960s, Huerta put up with a great deal of sexism being the only woman in the room.
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Huerta → put → room
“She was expected to be quiet and stay in the background and instead, she was out in front and demanding change,” said Kathy Spillar, executive director of the Feminist Majority Foundation, of which Huerta served on the board.
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Huerta → expect → board
The two women met at a conference for the National Organization for Women in the late 1980s.
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women → meet → 1980s
Spillar approached Huerta with the idea of launching the foundation.
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Spillar → approach → foundation
“It was the only way that the issues Dolores was talking about could be addressed,” Spillar said.
uncertain
Spillar → talk → ?
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
