I must warn you that I will try my best to not be to bias for this review because Dolores Huerta is one of my living heroes. I have studied, admired and wanted to be just like Dolores Huerta since I was 14 years old. I even turned against actress, Rosario Dawson, who played Dolores in the movie Cesar Chavez because she dared to lecture Dolores on her choice for supporting Hillary Clinton instead of Bernie Sanders. I will never forgive you Rosario! So, as you can imagine that I lost my mind when I learned that a documentary about Dolores’s incredible life was being developed. I saw the promotion clip that was released during the Sundance Film Festival and my excitement increased 150%. The countdown for the Phoenix viewing was on my radar and finally the glorious day has arrived.
The documentary starts with the audience viewing Dolores preparing for an appearance in her modest hotel in some city in the US. The camera crew films her from the back as a variety of handlers and event coordinators usher her to numerous walkways and backstage set ups before introducing her to hundreds and thousands of audience members that came to see Dolores Huerta. And did I mention that she was 85 years old during the filming? Yeah, this woman has endless energy. The audience is introduced to a young girl named Dolores Fernández (later Huerta) born on April 10,1930 in Dawson, New Mexico. Three years later her parents divorced and she moves to Stockton, California with her mother and two brothers. She enjoyed school and participated in lots of activities in high school. Her mother juggled multiple jobs and seeing her mother be the bread-winner of the house gave Delores the template of how to be working mom. Delores was active in school and had dreams of one day becoming a dancer. Dolores was fond of dancing and developed a passion for Jazz music. While growing up in California, Dolores experienced the racism that was common for Mexican Americans in the 1940s. Delores said that as a child, the most important thing to her was to be accepted for who she is. The wish of acceptance was the spark that lead to her future work.
Delores married her first husband after graduating from high school, gave birth to two children then divorced. After her divorce, Delores went back to school, completed her teaching degree and became an elementary school teacher in Stockton. During her time as a teacher, Delores witnessed the poor living conditions her students where dealing with whose parents were farm workers. Delores was determined to help and by chance met community organizer Fred Ross. She left teaching and started the Stockton chapter of Community Services Organization (CSO) in 1955. CSO’s mission was to end segregation, police brutality, discrimination and improve the lives of farm workers in California, During this time, Delores married her second husband and had five children together. Five years later, Delores helped to create the Agricultural Workers Association (AWA) that coordinated voter registration drives within the farming communities and demand new voter laws. She lobbied and wrote the policies that would allow migrant workers to receive public health assistance in the state of California. Dolores’s successes with AWA got the attention of CSO Director and historical activist Cesar Chavez. Cesar and Delores were committed to improving the work conditions of farm workers and that commitment lead them to create the National Farm Workers Union (NFWU).
Delores states that she is grateful to Cesar for taking a chance on a divorcee with 8 children in the early 1960’s,to help him lead the NFWU and become it’s first female board member. The work that Delores and Cesar dedicated their lives to help create the first agricultural boycott that changed American history. Delores sacrificed months and sometimes years from her children so she could work the front lines of the movement which consisted of hosting house meetings and hundred’s of farm workers’s homes, churches, community centers and meeting with local and federal government officials in order to improve the lives of others. Delores said that what makes successful organizer is that you must love people if you really want to help them. It all starts with love for people.
During the early years of the NFWU, Delores developed a relationship with Cesar’s brother, Richard, and had three children together, The fact that Delores had children from multiple relationships was used against her by the opposition such as Teamsters, government officials and fellow NFWU members. Propaganda was created discriminating Delores because she was a Latina activist and a single mother by the large agricultural companies and the federal government. Delores kept on fighting not because she thought at the time she was fighting for women’s rights, but for farm workers rights. The right to be treated like a human being, provide a safe working environment that doesn’t expose their employees to poison and beatings every day. The right to receive healthcare, an education and safe housing. Basic human rights is what she fought for decades. Battles were won and battles were lost. Delores said what kept her going for so many years was her commitment. She understood the personal sacrifice but she believed her commitment to improve the lives of the underserved workers was bigger that herself and she had to do something about it.
The documentary places the bright spotlight on all that Delores was able to accomplish while surviving discrimination, harassment, police brutality, sexism and racism. The eye-opening moment in the documentary for me was to learn about how deep the level of machismo in her own union. I wonder what issues could have advanced men got of her way and gave her the space just to be? This lesson is still being taught today but, thanks to Delores, women can gain strength to stand up for themselves and bring up others when they honor that voice telling them “Si Se Puede” YES WE CAN.
Visit the Dolores Huerta Foundation
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