Author: Sunimari Madrigal

I attended the Diversity in Culture event this week and I heard Ms. Dolores Huerta speak. I would like to start off by introducing her and some of her achievements. Dolores Huerta is a civil rights activist and American labor leader, a mom, a teacher, a leader and so much more. Dolores has worked with Cesar Chavez, and she is also the co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association. Dolores also has an organization named the Dolores Huerta foundation, her foundation aims to inspire and organize communities to find their voice and rise up and volunteer and to also build up volunteer organizations to be empowered and encouraged to make and pursue social justice. The foundation also focuses on work involved in civic engagement, education equity, along with LGBTQIA+ equality, and safety and health . 

I had the opportunity to hear Dolores speak about a multitude of topics such as the ones listed above plus women’s rights, the labor movement, Black Lives Matters, racism and other issues as well. Dolores Huerta has experienced a lot and she had a lot of knowledge to share with us at the Diversity in Culture event. She spoke about her work alongside Cesar Chavez, and their work together to fight for the rights of the farm workers to receive the right compensation for their work, access to restrooms, the right to unionize, etc. Dolores stressed the idea that we are all one human race, one family, and that regardless of the color we are, our eyes, our hair, we are the human race — homosapians. We must participate to help and support each other and different cultures.

After Dolores’ speech, I interviewed the president of the Anthropology club, Kimberly Ramos. The first question I asked her was, Why did you attend the event? 

She explained that the organizer of the event was planned by the anthropology club advisor named Gigi, and she also looked forward to hearing Dolores speak and also promoting the anthropology club.  I then asked her, How was your experience hearing Dolores speak? She stated that she had been wanting to hear Dolores speak for a long time but never got the chance too, so finally being able to hear Dolores made an impact on her. She also expressed how the speech made her feel motivated and driven to organize and participate more In her community. The next question I asked her was, was there anything that she said that spoke out to you? Again she pointed out how Dolores engaged her to get more active in the community, and also the message that we can start with small changes in our community and work our way up.  Lastly, I asked her, What was your favorite part of the event? Kimberly stated that her favorite part of the event was when Dolores actually started speaking, because there was a lot of build up before she started speaking. 

Dolores Huerta is an amazing and empowering woman. She has accomplished so many great achievements and fought so hard for everyone’s rights, and she continues to do as she gets older. She had made such a strong impact on people everywhere and continued to engage in communities that need help, and to push us and motivate us to make change. Change starts with us.