Dolores Huerta quotes

If you haven't forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others. (Dolores Huerta)
When you have a conflict, that means that there are truths that have to be addressed on each side of the conflict. And when you have a conflict, then it's an educational process to try to resolve the conflict. And to resolve that, you have to get people on both sides of the conflict involved so that they can dialogue. View quote
Dolores Huerta
Every moment is an organizing opportunity, every person a potential activist, every minute a chance to change the world. View quote
Dolores Huerta
My mother was a dominant force in our family. And that was great for me as a young woman, because I never saw that women had to be dominated by men. View quote
Dolores Huerta
I think organized labor is a necessary part of democracy. Organized labor is the only way to have fair distribution of wealth. View quote
Dolores Huerta
My mother never made me do anything for my brothers, like serve them. I think that's an important lesson, especially for the Latino culture, because the women are expected to be the ones that serve and cook and whatever. Not in our family. Everybody was equal. View quote
Dolores Huerta
I never felt overlooked because I didn't expect any kind of recognition. I think that's very typical of women. I had been acculturated to be supportive, to be accommodating, to support men in the work they do. We never think of getting credit or recognition or even taking the power. We didn't think it those terms. Of course I think that's changing now and there's a surge of women who are not only running for office, but getting elected. That could make an incredible amount of difference in our world. We will never have peace in the world until feminists take power. View quote
Dolores Huerta
The social and economic revolution of the farm workers is well under way and will not be stopped until they receive equality. View quote
Dolores Huerta
The workers are on the rise. There will be strikes all over the state and throughout the country because Delano has shown what can be done, and the workers know now they are no longer alone. View quote
Dolores Huerta
We've got to take the side of the people that are being oppressed. And if we can't do that, then we're not doing our job, because the people in that minority community or in that community are not going to have any faith in the medical program that is in there if you can't take their side. View quote
Dolores Huerta
It is sad for us to report this, but the clock has been turned back and California agriculture, with the exception of a handful of contracts that we still hold, we now have the labor contractor, the crew leader system back again, we now have child labor back again. (Dolores Huerta)
You can't help poor people and be comfortable. You know, the two things are just not compatible. If you want to really give good health care to poor people you've got to be prepared to be a little uncomfortable and to put a little bit of sacrifice behind it. View quote
Dolores Huerta
Now, some of you might wonder how come I have ten children, right? One of the main reasons is because I want to have my own picket line. View quote
Dolores Huerta
It is no accident that farm workers have an average life span of forty-nine years of age. View quote
Dolores Huerta
Professional farmworkers who know how to do a number of different jobs, whether it be pruning or picking or crafting, they see themselves as professionals, and they take a lot of pride in that work. They don't see themselves as doing work that is demeaning. View quote
Dolores Huerta
once we got the medical plan, we found that that really didn't stop the abuses, because the doctors were still not giving the workers good health care. So the next step was then to build a clinic. So the workers started to build their clinics. View quote
Dolores Huerta
what we're doing is we're not only just giving good health care-fantastic health care-but we are training our own people to be able to do the health work and to administer the program. View quote
Dolores Huerta
Do you know that we were amazed to find out you can get all kinds of information about what's harmful to a pet, but you can't get any information about what's harmful to a farm worker? View quote
Dolores Huerta
I think that the one thing that we've learned in our union is that you don't wait. You just get out and you start doing things. View quote
Dolores Huerta
Can we live in a world of brotherhood and peace without disease and fear and oppression? Si se puede. View quote
Dolores Huerta
We had violence directed at us by the growers themselves, trying to run us down by cars, pointing rifles at us, spraying the people when they were on the picket line with sulfur. And then we had violence by the Teamsters union with the goons that they hired at that time - and by the way, I have to say that the Teamsters union are OK today...They came at us with two by fours. We had a lot of violence, definitely. And then I was beaten up by the police San Francisco [in 1988], which also is shown in the film. (Dolores Huerta)
La Cucaracha speaks for the disenfranchised with humor and a cutting voice. View quote
Dolores Huerta
The question arises, do those governors who wish to be part of a Government subsidized program have a right to expect imported labor when they do not recruit and actually discourage local workers either by extremely low wages and adverse working conditions? View quote
Dolores Huerta
Certainly, some responsibility should be placed back on the growers. It's not fair that they should declare a labor shortage when they make it impossible for people to continue working for them. View quote
Dolores Huerta
To the governor and the legislature of California we say: You cannot close your eyes and ears to our needs any longer, you cannot pretend that we do not exist, you cannot plead ignorance to our problem because we are here and we embody our needs for you. And we are not alone. We are accompanied by many friends. The religious leaders of the state, spearheaded by the California Migrant Ministry, the student groups and civil rights groups that make up the movement that has been successful in securing civil rights for Negroes in this country, right-thinking citizens, and our staunchest ally, organized labor, are all in the revolution of farm labor. View quote
Dolores Huerta