Dolores Huerta speaks to Santa Cruz youth: ‘The future belongs to them’

Civil rights icon Dolores Huerta commanded some 300 people tuned in to the Latino Role Models conference, speaking from the Beach Flats Community Center in Santa Cruz.

SANTA CRUZ – As Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk tourists rode roller coasters in the sunshine, 91-year-old civil rights icon Dolores Huerta commanded some 300 people tuned in to the Latino Role Models conference, speaking from the Beach Flats Community Center about inequity, youth leadership and women’s rights.

The symposium – held by nonprofit Senderos, Santa Cruz County’s Office of Education and Cabrillo College – aims to empower Santa Cruz students ranging from sixth grade through college.

For more than 60 years, Huerta has been a force in civil rights, labor rights and social justice. She, along with César Chávez, founded the United Farm Workers union in 1962. Huerta was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.

Huerta spoke to young adults on the importance of civic engagement, voting and confronting racism.

“Nobody can take your education away from you,” Huerta said through a translator. “It’s important that parents support their children to go to college and university.”

Huerta said she particularly worries about Latino girls, who may be held back from attending college.

“I get sad when our girls get scholarships to go to college but it is common for our Latino parents to deny them of this opportunity because they are female,” Huerta said.

The labor leader also spoke to women’s autonomy, and the right to choose, at a time when right-to-abortion laws are being stripped or weakened across the U.S.

Before ending her remarks, Huerta — who spoke for more than 40 minutes — launched a call and response. In a billowing voice she asked the crowd “quien tiene el poder?” or “who’s got the power?.” The room confidently responded, “nosotros hacemos,” – in English, “we do.”

Huerta reflects

In an interview with the Sentinel, Huerta said that over the course of her lifetime, she’s seen more Latino youth attending and earning college degrees.

“I’m going to be 92 years old in a couple of weeks, and I look back and I remember when I went to college, there were only a handful of us Latinos in college. Now, we see a lot of young people in college, and many organizations are ‘Hispanic serving,’ and maybe have 40-50% Latino kids,” Huerta said.

She added that more resources need to be put toward establishing pathways for youth of color to attend college, particularly within the Black community.

“There’s still a lot of progress that needs to be made,” Huerta said.

When asked about the state of farmworker rights, Huerta – who left her post at United Farmworkers in 2002 – reflected on her decades of work in that area.

“César said to me, ‘We need to organize farmworkers and form a union, I want you to help me do this’,” Huerta said. “I thought he was kidding at first, I even started laughing. He said ‘No, I’m serious. But we will never see a national union of farmworkers, because the growers are too rich and powerful, they’re too racist, and they’re too greedy.’ It’s still happening,” Huerta said.

While United Farmworkers does serve the country, its members are strongest in California, Oregon and Washington, according to its website.

The state of the farmworker union is weak, largely because of an enduring power imbalance between farmworkers and growers Huerta said: “We have to eliminate the racism that exists in our society. There’s no reason any of these corporations should get away with not paying workers a living wage.”

Huerta also spoke to environmental justice, and said it is critical that Latinos and people of color are at the forefront of transitioning from oil to renewable energy in California.

When asked if she could distill her wisdom into one mantra for youth of color, Huerta responded: “The future belongs to them.”

She added that success for those young adults remains an uphill battle: “They have to fight for their future,” Huerta said. “Unless they fight for themselves it’s not going to happen.”

Residents respond

Cabrillo College nursing student Omar Mendoza, who attended Saturday’s conference, said he was especially struck that Huerta advocated for LGBTQ rights.

“Knowing how my culture can be with that topic, and she being 92 and so supportive and accepting about it, I was like ‘wow, this is a woman we all should learn about,’” Mendoza said.

Senderos’ Executive Director Gabriela Cruz spoke to Huerta’s advocacy work at the national level for California’s communities of color, but noted that Huerta remains rooted to the Central Coast.

In 2015, Huerta rallied to preserve the Beach Flats Community Garden when it was threatened by development.

“She’s being welcomed back into the community several years later and the garden is still there due to her advocacy with local organizers. It’s a really special moment,” Cruz said.

To Senderos’ cofounder Nereida Robles Vasquez, the day was a boost of encouragement.

“We have to keep working and engage our youth to be leaders, to become leaders, because they are the future,” Robles Vasquez said.