Civil rights activist Dolores Huerta rallied over 650 people to Fresno City College on April 30, delivering an address inside the Old Administration Building auditorium on social justice, activism, and the power of community action.
FCC counselors Francisco Bucio and Lori Natal invited Huerta on stage to be interviewed.
Huerta, 95, spoke about her beginnings as an activist after leaving her teaching profession, and also gave the audience advice on what they should do in the future.
“Respect for the rights of others is peace,” Huerta said on stage, quoting Mexico’s first president, Benito Juárez.
Huerta emphasized the power of non-violent protest methods, such as boycotts, in her community activism. She recalled the strike that she went on with César Chávez in 1965 in Delano for the farm workers, and how, despite all the hardships they faced, they never used violence.
“And César used to say, ‘If we start using violence against the labor contractors or the people that are breaking the strike, then we’ll start using violence against each other,’” Huerta said.
Italia Mendoza, a second-year political science and sociology student at FCC, showed up to hear the activist’s words.
“When you reach out to people and you make them feel like they’re a part of something, they’ll come together and they’ll collaborate,” Mendoza said.
As a Latina woman, Mendoza identified with Huerta when she began studying Huerta’s activist life in Chicano Latino studies classes, which motivated her to make a change.
“Her [Huerta] coming to campus made me look into her further, and she has always, throughout her career as an activist, emphasized how important solidarity between communities was,” Mendoza said. “That’s something that I’m definitely going to start to kind of invite into the communities that I organize with and encourage that a lot more.”
Huerta highlighted the need in the country for universal health care, free college education, and child development.
“When we talk about diversity and inclusion, we are talking about us, right? We do not have free college education. We do not have universal daycare, so our children could be educated and taken care of at the same time,” Huerta said.
Huerta emphasized that the achievement of goals for the country starts by educating the youth.
“People here that go to college can have jobs when they get out of college, but as long as they try to keep people of color out, these opportunities, then we’re never going to be able to achieve the goals that we want for the country,” Huerta said.
Guadalupe García, a counselor at FCC’s Dream Center and advisor for the Students Without Borders club, was attending the event and was captivated by Huerta’s energy to inspire future generations.
“Her desire for motivation is providing all of us who were there to continue fighting for our dreams,” García said.
García spoke about how activism can be implemented among students by providing fellow peers with what they learned here today.
“Activism is a tool we all have, but for some, it needs motivation,” García said. “Let’s figure out what needs to be done right now so we can be active.”
Huerta pushed the concept of unity in her speech. At one point while answering a question, Huerta pointed out that racism is poisoning the Latino community.
Huerta said the first humans settled in Africa, and therefore, everyone shares a small percentage of African blood. She encouraged the audience to hold hands and say, “Hello, my African relative,” to the person on their left and right.
Mendoza also highlighted the importance of events like this to obtain more information.
The event ended with Melinda Salcido, a Grammy Award-winning artist, singing ‘Children of the Sun’ for Huerta and the audience.
