Dolores Huerta is a civil rights activist who has been working to fight for the rights of minority communities since the 1950s.
She will speak at 3:30 p.m. today at the Genome Science Building as a part of Immigration Awareness Week, which is hosted by the Campus Y’s Students United for Immigrant Equality committee.
Staff writer Andy Willard spoke with Huerta to discuss her experiences advocating for the rights of Latinos in America.
Daily Tar Heel: Who do you try to represent as a civil rights activist?
Dolores Huerta: One of the things I’m trying to really promote now in my speaking is that we’ve got to bring all of our movements together. We have a lot of us that work in silos and don’t really communicate with one another, and the issues that we have, that we’re fighting for, are so important. We need to come together to make them happen, whether it’s the environmental organizations, immigrants’ rights groups, women groups, LGBTQ organizations or peace organizations.
We’ve got to reach out to each other to support each other’s causes so that we can be successful, because otherwise it would be difficult if we’re just working on our own causes.
DTH: How have you tried to represent the Latino community throughout your career?
DH: Most of my career working in civil rights for Latinos is in trying to bring them rights that they didn’t have — going back to the ’50s, where we were able to get their ballots in Spanish language, and not only Spanish but other ethnic languages.
DTH: Was it your involvement in the Latino community that brought you to fight for farmers’ rights?