WEBVTT - How Does Dolores Huerta Work? 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:04.320 Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio, 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:10.920 Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bogebam here. More than fifty years ago, 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:14.200 a determined young woman stepped up and created the iconic 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:17.680 slogan see see which is Spanish four yes we can 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:20.680 that would lift up the voices of the voiceless and 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:22.560 change the state of labor as we know it in 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:26.720 the United States. That woman, civil rights activist, Dolores Puerta, 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:29.320 would go on to co found the National farm Workers 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:34.479 Association with Caesar Chavas in the nineteen sixties. During her 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:37.960 nearly forty years of work with that organization, Querta helped 0:00:38.040 --> 0:00:40.599 launch the first farm workers strike in the country, which 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:43.519 kick started the fight for union rights and labor organizing 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:46.400 in the agricultural sector in the US and changed the 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:51.040 lives of farm workers forever. Querta was born on April 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:53.800 tenth of nineteen thirty in the town of Dawson, New Mexico. 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:56.280 That She was one of three children, and their parents 0:00:56.320 --> 0:00:59.040 were activists. Her family had been in the US for 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:02.040 five generations, and her great grandfather fought in the Civil War. 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:05.720 Her father was a minor farm worker and union leader 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:10.240 who later went into state politics after her parents divorce, 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:13.440 Jortha moved with her mother to Stockton, California, where they've 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:16.800 lived in a community of Mexican, Filipino, and Japanese Americans. 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:19.840 According to the book Dolores Quortha Get to Know the 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:23.440 Voice of Migrant Workers, Porto was a talkative, inquisitive young girl, 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:27.800 and her grandfather nicknamed her cithe linguas Spanish for seven 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.800 tongues for the article this episode is based on How 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:35.200 Stuff Work. Spoke by email with Mario Garcia, author of 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:38.720 a Dolores Worth the Reader. He said, when her family 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:41.920 moved from New Mexico to Stockton, California, her brothers had 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:44.600 to work in the fields, and Jorta, as a teenager, 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:48.320 also wanted to join them. However, her mother forbade this 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:50.520 because she did not want her daughter to work in 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:54.320 the fields. Querta's mother did permit her daughter to work 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:58.040 in industrial packing sheds, where the working conditions weren't much better. 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:02.000 Garcia said, I think this early exposure to the harsh 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:05.840 working conditions of farm workers provided a context for Dolores 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:08.880 later working to organize these workers to do away with 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:14.840 the more exploitative aspects of farm labor. After graduating. Hrtha married, 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.760 had two children and began teaching elementary school. Many of 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:21.960 the students were the children of impoverished farm workers and 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:25.640 came to school hungry or missing essential items like shoes. 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:30.320 Hostas Works also spoke by email with Sarah Warren, author 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:33.760 of the book Dolores Querta, A Hero to Migrant Workers. 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:36.239 She said that Whetha quote was driven to do more 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:38.760 for the children she planned to serve when she found 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:43.600 out how their families were being abused. At age five, 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.280 Huerta became immersed in activism, joining a local group run 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:50.520 by Fred Ross and learning how to become a labor organizer. 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:54.239 Garcia said as a young adult, she became involved with 0:02:54.280 --> 0:02:58.120 the Community Service Organization or CSO, which was an organization 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:01.480 mobilizing Mexican Americans in civil rights work and voter registration 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:05.840 in the nineteen fifties. At the CSO, Quarte met Cesar Chavez, 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:08.000 who would go on to become one of the most 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:12.160 widely recognized Mexican American labor leaders in US history. Quarta 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:15.360 and Chavez began to work together for improved working conditions 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:18.040 and wages for farm workers who earned as little as 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:22.639 seventy cents an hour at the time. Garcia said, Cesar 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:26.880 recognized Dolores's talents as an organizer plus her own personal strength, 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:29.320 and so when he began to organize in the fields 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:33.880 by nineteen sixty two, he recruited Dolores to work with him, 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:37.200 and together, Chaves and Puerta founded the National farm Workers 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:41.080 Association in nineteen sixty two, which later became the United 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:45.440 farm Workers Union. Quarta remained vice president of the United 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:51.200 farm Workers until Chaves and Puerta had a complex relationship, 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:54.080 according to scholars. From one point of view, they were 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:57.200 comrades in the fields, working for better conditions for the 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:02.120 most marginalized workers in society. Hostuff Works also spoke by 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:05.320 email with Monica Brown, author of Side by Side The 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:09.120 Story of Dolores Puerta and Cesar Chavez. She said, as 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:12.000 Dolores once told me they were comrades. They spoke to 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:15.960 farm workers on the backs of flatbed trucks. Garcia said, 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.479 Dolores saw herself as equal to Cesar, and he accepted this. 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:23.000 Caesar didn't always agree with Dolores, but he learned from 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:25.080 her as she was one of the few persons in 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:27.520 the union who was not afraid to criticize the CESAR, 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:32.640 which he appreciated. Wuerta and Chavez became most well known 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:36.320 for organizing the nineteen sixty five Delano Grape Strike and boycott. 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.880 Striking Filipino grape farm workers sought the help of the 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:45.239 emerging National farm Workers Association, which largely represented Latino workers 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:49.760 at the time. Ahuerta marched along with Chavez for workers rights, 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:53.000 brought together the Filipino and Latino workers on the picket line, 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.640 and led a nationwide boycott of non union table grapes 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:01.360 in nineteen seventy. Their steadfast organized being paid off, resulting 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:04.200 in union contracts as well as better wages and working 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:08.400 conditions for the grape workers. How staff Works also spoke 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:11.720 with Stacy Soward's author of c a Puite the rhetorical 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:15.200 legacy of dolors Wertha and the United farm Workers. She 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:18.360 said dolors Porta played a big role in getting farm 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:21.800 workers to participate in union activities, to boycott grapes and 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:25.480 other produce, to pickut farms, and become members of the union. 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:31.760 In President Barack Obama awarded Quarta the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:35.159 recognizing her, not Chavez, as the original source of the 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:39.719 phrase see s poe. Obama famously appropriated the slogan for 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:43.640 his own presidential campaign, but Querta's rallying cry had been 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:47.200 used for years to organize farm workers and inspire advocacy 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:52.240 for other civil rights issues. Brown said Dolores Wortha first 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.400 spoke the famous words see se poe while speaking to 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:58.479 a group of workers who kept saying, we can't organize 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:04.599 the workers here. We can't. Dolores responded, see see yes 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:09.200 you can. Quarta became an iconic activist and a source 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:11.800 of pride from Mexican Americans and others within the Latin 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:16.480 American community. Her organizing helped bring about the Immigration Reform 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:19.400 and Control Act, which granted amnesty to one point three 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:25.400 million undocumented workers. Quarta is approaching her ninety second birthday 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:28.719 this April of two, and remains active on the front 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:32.240 lines as a civil rights advocate and labor organizer. She 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:35.120 holds media events and hosts TED talks on how to 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:39.600 speak out and become empowered through activism. Soward said her 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:42.800 legacy today is that she's become a social movement icon. 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:47.039 She's demonstrated how one moves from individual action and concern 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:49.839 for community to working with other people on those issues 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:54.880 to creating an entire social movement. A Quarta also founded 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:58.440 the Dolores Puerta Foundation in two thousand three. The nonprofit 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:02.360 focuses on empowering and training grassroots organizers in lower income 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:06.720 and disenfranchised communities in California, including work on lgbt q 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:11.160 i A issues. Although farm workers have more collective bargaining 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:14.000 opportunities as a result of quart Does work, they still 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:19.120 experience widespread exploitation, harsh working conditions, and wage theft. In 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:22.280 recent years, Quortha has been vocal in pushing for immigration 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:26.120 reform to provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:28.600 who constitute a large share of farm workers in the 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:33.720 United States. Moreover, Quorta continues to boost the civic power 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:37.320 of the Latin American community, specifically through efforts to turn 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.120 out the vote. The community played an important role in 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:44.840 the election, turning out in record numbers. Soward said she's 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:47.720 been very active and registering people to vote and getting 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:50.600 people to the polls. Her foundation works to get people 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:53.920 more involved beyond voting, such as organizing voters to vote, 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:57.239 but also to participate more fully on social justice issues 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:02.000 in their communities. Garcias said her legacy of taking on 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:04.680 issues of social justice not only in the fields, but 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:07.480 in the fight for women's rights, civil rights, voting rights, 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:13.840 and for world peace are all part of her legacy. 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:17.960 Today's episode is based on the article Dolor's Bertha the 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:21.520 labor activists behind the slogan sees on how stuff works 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:24.400 dot Com, written by Terry R. Lagata A brain Stuff 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:26.280 is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:28.480 stuff Works dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klang. 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:31.440 For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the i heart 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:34.120 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:34.840 favorite shows.