What We’re Reading – March 2023

03/17/2023
By: Jessica Hartzell

In honor of Women’s History Month we are highlighting the legacy of Dolores Huerta – feminist, activist, organizer, and cofounder of United Farmworkers Union. We love the documentary Dolores (2017) and we will allow a few quotes from the film speak for themselves: 

Hatred and racism are extensions of violence. And if we become that which we are trying to end then we become like the oppressor. And we are trying to set up a different system. (Dolores Huerta)

Dolores Huerta: We have many cases, many affidavits of cases, where workers have been poisoned by pesticides. Or they have serious illnesses. And also there’s of course many reports of deaths that have been caused by pesticides.
Reporter: Isn’t that just sort of an occupational hazard? Is there anything that can be done about it?
Dolores Huerta: Well, we believe that something can be done about this but of course in order to do this we need the cooperation of the employers. 

 

One of the things that was very helpful in the beginning was Dolores being out there in the picket line made it ok for for women to be in the picket line, so it made it alright for the husbands to permit their wives to be in the picket line, and their daughters and their mothers and so forth. (Cesar Chavez)

 

I too have a dream that I learned from Dolores Huerta. That farm workers can share in the wealth that they help to produce. (Unidentified)

Dolores does a beautiful job of capturing the decades of effort and the ethos of the political climate that Dolores Huerta worked within. We honor Dolores Huerta and her enormous contributions to environmental and social justice, and hope you find inspiration in her story as well.