Hispanic Bus: Labor organizer urges women voters to organize
Dolores Huerta, Labor Organizer, Urges Women Voters to Organize
August 27, 2007
Andrew Villegas -- Greeley Tribune, Colo.
Dolores Huerta gathers her breath, raises her hand and bellows.
"Si se puede!"
Huerta is in her element leading a group of 40 Latinas, Latinos and others who came to listen to her talk Saturday morning at the Jesus Rodarte Center, 920 A St., in Greeley, Colorado.
"Si se puede," the group chants, clapping their hands to the rallying cry Huerta created in the 1970s. She founded the United Farm Workers of America with Cesar Chavez and was a co-founder of the AFL-CIO.
The Latina union organizer spoke at a Hispanic Women of Weld County event in Greeley Saturday on feminism, Greeley and the racism she says all minorities still face in the United States.
And Huerta, 77, is still organizing.
"Let's do a march in (U.S. Representative Tom) Tancredo's district," Huerta said. "Our march should be one of children and women."
Tancredo and pro-immigrant groups have often butted heads over the representative's views on illegal immigration.
During her speech, Huerta defined feminism, told the audience who she thinks is responsible for the illegal immigration problem and defended Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
"I'm a comeback kid. I do this on faith," Huerta said. Huerta said more women and minorities should run for Greeley City Council and the Greeley-Evans School District 6 school board.
Polly Baca, a former state senator, also spoke at the event of the importance of women and minorities voting in the coming elections.
"If someone like me coming from 5th Street and 21st Avenue, if I can get elected to office and go on to do other things, anyone in this audience can," Baca said.
For Patricia Garcia, a student at Greeley Central High School, meeting her hero Huerta was a life-changing experience.
Garcia, who is the Spanish editor of her school's newspaper, said Huerta is a big influence in helping her persevere through hardship, especially after Garcia's newspaper articles were defaced because they were the only articles in Spanish.
"We had letters to the editor that said 'You should only speak English, this is America,' " Garcia said.
But by following Huerta's example, Garcia said she can do anything.
"She inspired me to go forward to try to make a difference."
Source: Copyright (c) 2007, Greeley Tribune, Colo. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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