Huerta Urges Students to Carry on Legacy of Chavez

Dolores Huerta, la mujer behind the United Farm Workers, implored a group of Ventura College students Wednesday to carry on the legacy of Cesar Chavez and strive to end racism.

The fiery 69-year-old civil rights leader--who led the grape boycott with Chavez while raising her 11 children--said it is up to young people to keep his fighting spirit alive.

“I call upon you to join in the legacy of Cesar,” she told about 75 students who came to hear the UFW legend and peace activist, who was at Robert Kennedy’s side the day he was shot.

As part of Ventura College’s Cesar E. Chavez Commemorative Week, Huerta spoke at the campus quad. The events began Monday, six years and three days after Chavez’s death.

“The civil rights movement was built with people like you,” she said. “It is you who will have to change the society to bring justice to everybody--for farm workers, to end racism and to end sexism.”

On Wednesday, Huerta reflected on her years working with Chavez and some of the UFW’s accomplishments. There are now 27,000 unionized farm workers in California, she said. They earn wages that begin at $10.45 per hour and receive a healthy pension.

Although Huerta lives in Bakersfield, she often travels to Ventura County in an effort to unionize the county’s 5,000 strawberry fieldworkers. In July, she helped to organize a Ventura County chapter of the National Strawberry Commission for Workers Rights, made up of local leaders who support better conditions for farm workers.

“Some people strive to meet movie stars,” said former Ventura College student Jeri Nava-Maynez, 31, who had her Cesar Chavez T-shirt autographed by Huerta. “I strive to meet people like her.”