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Speaker 1: Hey, this is any and Samantha were welcome to stuff

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Speaker 1: I've never told your production of I Heart Radio. So, Samantha,

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Speaker 1: I know, I'm pretty sure we've talked about this before.

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Speaker 1: I know we've talked about how we grew up a

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Speaker 1: small town, but I feel like it comes up all

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Speaker 1: the time. But were you ever interested in any aspect

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Speaker 1: of farming? Do you ever get involved in anything like that?

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Speaker 1: Because I know my school had some organizations where you

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Speaker 1: could go and hang out at a farm or like

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Speaker 1: go visit at orchard in your case perhaps for sectly,

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Speaker 1: but anything like that. Yeah, So we did have the

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Speaker 1: f f A, and it was a huge part of

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Speaker 1: our school, which is the Future Farmers of America. That

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Speaker 1: was almost as popular as being a football player. And

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Speaker 1: if you were both, Oh my god, you know the school. God,

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Speaker 1: I was a part of the four h which kind

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Speaker 1: of can incorporate gardening and such. I just yeah, I

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Speaker 1: am not great with plants and veggies or anything that

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Speaker 1: needs to be grown from dirt apparently or seeds. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I'm not the worst, but definitely not the best. I

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Speaker 1: would not trust me with too much of complicated plants

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Speaker 1: or veggies. So no, alright, alright, Yes, similar we had

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Speaker 1: I was involved before h I will admit, and less

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Speaker 1: to do with like real interest on my part and

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Speaker 1: more than I had a crush on a guy in it.

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Speaker 1: It's like a time to spend time together and we did.

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Speaker 1: We milked that cow together. Well, okay, that's right, that's right.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes I friends who worked on farms, and sometimes I

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Speaker 1: would help out with their chores, and I think I

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Speaker 1: liked it and sort of that this is fun for

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Speaker 1: one day kind of thing. Yeah, well, I did enjoy it,

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Speaker 1: and I really liked Like I had a friend who

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Speaker 1: we would go pick stuff and like get milk and eggs,

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Speaker 1: all that stuff from their farm and we would eat it.

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Speaker 1: And it's something about that just felt so cool to

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Speaker 1: me and so like lovely. I too, don't have a

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Speaker 1: lot of luck growing things, but it's one of the

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Speaker 1: things that I wish I did, and I always tell

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Speaker 1: myself if I ever did get a plot of land,

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Speaker 1: I would try to. I would love to have a

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Speaker 1: garden with food that I could eat maybe one day. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I mean, my partner's all about it, and he's like,

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Speaker 1: we need to learn because as a food shortage coming,

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Speaker 1: you might be right, Yeah, you might eat right. I

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Speaker 1: was recently. I recently thought about that, what would I

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Speaker 1: do if I can there were no grocery stores. I

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Speaker 1: was like, Oh, I would be good. Well, we recently

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Speaker 1: did an episode in Monday Many on unions and we

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Speaker 1: mentioned Dolaura's Fritta and her work in unionizing farm workers.

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Speaker 1: So we want to bring back this classic all about

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Speaker 1: her and all about the work that she did. So

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Speaker 1: please enjoy. Welcome to stuff Mom Never told you from

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Speaker 1: House top works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm Kristen and I'm Caroline. And earlier this week we

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Speaker 1: talked about women and farming and agriculture, and today we

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Speaker 1: want to spotlight a woman who has been highly influential

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Speaker 1: when it comes to female farm workers and also women

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Speaker 1: in union organizing more generally, and that is the incredible

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Speaker 1: trailblazing Dolores Querta. Yeah, Delora, her accomplishments are outstanding, they

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Speaker 1: are amazing. They're enough to blow you away. But it

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Speaker 1: almost feels like she is more known for how unknown

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Speaker 1: she is compared to her partner in activism, says are Chavez. Yeah. So,

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Speaker 1: Dolor Suerta is a labor activist and was a leading

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Speaker 1: figure of the Chicano civil rights movement in the nineteen

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Speaker 1: sixties and seventies, and she, along with stays Our Javes,

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Speaker 1: formed the United farm Workers And some people might be

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Speaker 1: familiar with the nationwide grape boycott that they spearheaded in

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Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties. That will talk about more. And she

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Speaker 1: was influential in devising the entire strike and also being

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Speaker 1: a spokesperson for these migrant farm workers, a lot of

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Speaker 1: them of Mexican descent, who had no one else to

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Speaker 1: speak on their behalf. Really, before and before we get

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Speaker 1: into who is in her biography, I just want to

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Speaker 1: offer this quote from a woman farm worker um that

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Speaker 1: we found in a Dolores suerta reader who said it

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Speaker 1: was Dolores who showed us not to be afraid to

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Speaker 1: fight for a better life for ourselves and our children.

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Speaker 1: And she did it at a time when women didn't

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Speaker 1: have a voice. So who is this incredible woman. Well,

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Speaker 1: this incredible woman was born Dolores Clara Fernandez on April tenth,

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Speaker 1: nineteen thirty, in the mining town of Dawson, New Mexico,

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Speaker 1: and her parents were pretty impressive people themselves. Her dad,

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Speaker 1: Wan Fernandez, was a minor and migrant farmer who eventually

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Speaker 1: became not only a union activist, but who also served

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Speaker 1: in the New Mexico State legislature. Her mom, Alicia, divorced

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Speaker 1: one early on when Dolores was pretty young, and she

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Speaker 1: ended up moving Dolores and her two brothers to Stockton, California,

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Speaker 1: made famous by the book Grapes of Wrath, where there

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Speaker 1: was a large multicultural agricultural community with lots of working

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Speaker 1: class and even poorer families. Yeah, this community was largely

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Speaker 1: made up of Mexican, Filipino, African, American, Japanese and Chinese

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Speaker 1: migrant workers, and Dolores herself had a slightly more privileged upbringing.

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Speaker 1: She didn't work in the fields. She was also bilingual

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Speaker 1: and later attended college. Um but I mean she was

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Speaker 1: still being raised by a single mom for a little

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Speaker 1: while who was holding down two jobs. I believe she

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Speaker 1: was working in a factory and then also was waiting tables,

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Speaker 1: and then she eventually remarried a couple of times. Um

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Speaker 1: but growing up, Dolores piled around a lot with her brothers,

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Speaker 1: and she sites growing up with her brothers as being

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Speaker 1: really influential for later working largely with men like Caesar

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Speaker 1: Chavas and all of the other union activists around her. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: She also cites her mom's independence, the fact that her mom, Alicia,

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Speaker 1: worked her way up from jobs in a factory and

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Speaker 1: also waiting tables to owning her own restaurant and running

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Speaker 1: a hotel with her second husband as shaping her later

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Speaker 1: feminism and her drive to succeed. Yeah, and she was

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Speaker 1: also an active Girl Scout until she was eighteen. Um.

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Speaker 1: She even today cites her Girl Scout troop leader as

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Speaker 1: being one of her major role models. So perhaps of

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Speaker 1: the Girl Scouts. Um. But when it comes to the

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Speaker 1: social justice that would become her life, she talks about

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Speaker 1: how simply by virtue of growing up as a person

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Speaker 1: of color at the time that she did, although you

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Speaker 1: could say the same thing for people of color today,

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Speaker 1: she continually witnessed instances of social injustice and flat out racism. Um.

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Speaker 1: She mentioned at one point a racist teacher who accused

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Speaker 1: her of stealing another student's work, and also her brother

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Speaker 1: being beaten up because of a zoot suit that he

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Speaker 1: was wearing at one time, which was a popular World

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Speaker 1: War two era Latino fashion. So it wasn't always easy

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Speaker 1: growing up, but one thing that really drove her, and

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Speaker 1: this was something that was hit home hard by Mario Garcia,

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Speaker 1: who's the editor of that Dolores Square to reader that

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Speaker 1: Christian's side of a minute ago was her religion. She

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Speaker 1: grew up very Catholic, is still very devoutly Catholic, but

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Speaker 1: she really saw her faith. Garcia writes through the lens

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Speaker 1: of social justice, especially for the poor and powerless. She

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Speaker 1: was driven by her spirituality and her faith that she

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Speaker 1: and her kids and her family and people around her,

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Speaker 1: you can't just sit and rest on your laurels and

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Speaker 1: take care of just yourself. You have to look out

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Speaker 1: for the people who are suffering around you too well.

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Speaker 1: And speaking again to the influence of her mom, uh,

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Speaker 1: she would also give hotel rooms for free two very

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Speaker 1: poor migrant families that might be coming through. So it

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Speaker 1: was something that was very much modeled for her as well.

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Speaker 1: All and when she grows up she starts to head

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Speaker 1: toward a more traditional wife and mother role. She gets

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Speaker 1: her teaching credentials from the University of Pacific Delta College

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Speaker 1: in Stockton, and so she starts teaching. She gets married,

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Speaker 1: she has two kids, but then she gets divorced, which

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Speaker 1: is a really big deal as a devout Catholic and

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Speaker 1: particularly from you know, an Hispanic culture as well. And

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Speaker 1: she really started this time to chafe against those cultural

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Speaker 1: expectations of being a teacher and a wife and a mom,

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Speaker 1: Not that she didn't enjoy teaching, but she felt like

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Speaker 1: it wasn't she wasn't doing enough necessarily. Yeah, So this

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Speaker 1: future charismatic leader notices that the children that she's teaching

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Speaker 1: were coming to school hungry, they didn't have shoes, and

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Speaker 1: so this is when she says, look, I love teaching,

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Speaker 1: I love these children, but I can do more for

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Speaker 1: these families outside of the classroom as an activist. So

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Speaker 1: in the early nineteen fifties, as these early stirrings of

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Speaker 1: activism or bubbling up within her, this is happening amid

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Speaker 1: her second marriage and also getting involved with Stockton's Community

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Speaker 1: service organization the CSO, where she learns about grassroots community

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Speaker 1: organizing under Fred Ross Sr. And even in interviews today,

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Speaker 1: she continually cites Fred Ross as being highly influential for

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Speaker 1: the model of organizing that she would learn and would

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Speaker 1: then apply to the United farm Workers. She alongside says

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Speaker 1: are Chavez. But the things that she initially learned through

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Speaker 1: the CSO were highly gendered. There were women oriented duties

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Speaker 1: that she first took up. Yeah, and so, working within

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Speaker 1: this Mexican American self help association, she worked to register voters,

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Speaker 1: teach citizenship and naturalization classes. She advocated it for neighborhood improvements,

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Speaker 1: things like street lights and playgrounds, and of course was

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Speaker 1: tasked with, you know, setting up for meetings. And this

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Speaker 1: activism and community organizing was very gender segregated at the

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Speaker 1: time because it really wasn't socially acceptable for women and

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Speaker 1: especially moms like Cuerta to drive around sometimes after dart

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Speaker 1: going into strangers homes because fred Ross and the CSO

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Speaker 1: model was all based around meeting people in their homes,

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Speaker 1: consciousness raising kinds of things, talking about the day to

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Speaker 1: day issues, because fred Ross really believed the way that

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Speaker 1: you enact these bigger changes is by addressing the everyday

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Speaker 1: needs of these often impoverished communities. Yeah, and so it's

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Speaker 1: at this point, when she's driving around working with people

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Speaker 1: in the community, that she starts to see how people

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Speaker 1: in her community are living. And this is a huge

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Speaker 1: turning point for her activism. This is the point in

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Speaker 1: nine when she quits teaching and meets up with the

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Speaker 1: CSO executive director, says our Chaves and as her activism

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Speaker 1: picks up, though, her marriage breaks down because her second

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Speaker 1: husband was not really interested in having an activist wife.

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Speaker 1: She was kind of violating a lot of her wifely expectations.

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Speaker 1: So the marriage dissolves. And as that's happening though, in

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Speaker 1: nineteen sixty, Whereta found the Agricultural Workers Association, where she

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Speaker 1: really focuses in on setting up voter registration drives and

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Speaker 1: lobbying local governments again for neighborhood improvements. And then two

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Speaker 1: years later, Chaves and Where To join forces after Chavez

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Speaker 1: resigns from the CSO after the organization declines to take

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Speaker 1: up the cause for migrant farm laborers, and he's like,

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Speaker 1: you know who I need to join me? Is this

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Speaker 1: Dolores Shuerta. Because by this point she had really made

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Speaker 1: a name for herself for being completely devoted to this

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Speaker 1: activism and really invested. I mean, she she had lost

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Speaker 1: a marriage, she quit her job, I mean, she was

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Speaker 1: all in. And so Chadas invite where to to join

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Speaker 1: him to form the United farm Workers. Well, so you

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Speaker 1: know we've talked about her community activism neighborhood association type

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Speaker 1: things like let's improve the neighborhood, let's get street lights

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Speaker 1: out there, let's make sure kids aren't coming to school

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Speaker 1: with no shoes on. So what does all of this

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Speaker 1: have to do with farm workers? Why are they forming

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Speaker 1: groups like the United farm Workers because they hadn't been

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Speaker 1: able to form groups and organize ever before, because migrant

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Speaker 1: farmers have been at the bottom of the societal ladder

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Speaker 1: since the get go. I mean, we could go back

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Speaker 1: and just say, well, example one slavery then after that

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Speaker 1: is outlawed. You know, you you do have migrant farm

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Speaker 1: workers almost always being composed of recent immigrants and rarely

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Speaker 1: being paid living wages, and they're usually taking advantage of

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Speaker 1: by larger agri businesses and embedded throughout all of this

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Speaker 1: is racism because I mean it is usually people of

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Speaker 1: color coming in to take these jobs, and white people

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Speaker 1: historically saying well, you don't really, you know, deserve much

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Speaker 1: better than this, and this is all that you're really

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Speaker 1: good for, this kind of menial labor. Go out in

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Speaker 1: the fields, pick this, harvest this, feed us. But at

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Speaker 1: the same time yelling at those people for taking jobs.

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Speaker 1: Of course, when that is the only arena that we

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Speaker 1: will shuttle them into. Yeah. PPS did an entire series

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Speaker 1: on migrant farm workers and United farm Workers and in

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Speaker 1: one of their posts wrote, whatever group was the poorest

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Speaker 1: and the most recent arrival to this country would end

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Speaker 1: up in the fields. So back in six the National

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Speaker 1: Labor Relations Act had given many American workers the right

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Speaker 1: to organize, but not far workers, because the only way

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Speaker 1: that the government could get this through UH and get

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Speaker 1: Southern politicians to support it was to exclude farm workers

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Speaker 1: from the ability to organize. And there had been attempts

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Speaker 1: to organize and strike in the fields, but really none

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Speaker 1: of them had made any lasting improvements for the workers. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and these were and continue to be some of the

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Speaker 1: most marginalized employment groups in the United States. And when

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Speaker 1: it comes to the US Mexico relationship, and really how

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Speaker 1: Cuerta and Chavez and and that entire group would get

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Speaker 1: involved in California starts really in ninety two with the

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Speaker 1: US Mexico Brassero program, which brings thousands of Mexican workers

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Speaker 1: into US fields in order to make up for jobs

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Speaker 1: that were left by soldiers going to fight in World

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Speaker 1: War Two. Yeah, and the program lasted through nineteen sixty four,

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Speaker 1: and the people participating in it were routinely hand illegally

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Speaker 1: taken advantage of by growers who wanted to undercut wages

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Speaker 1: and break strikes. They just wanted to watch their own

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Speaker 1: bottom line and did not care about the conditions that

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Speaker 1: these workers were experiencing. Yeah, and so when we get

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Speaker 1: to the nineteen sixties and talk about the kinds of

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Speaker 1: things that Huerta was seeing among the people, you know,

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Speaker 1: who were working in these massive farms in California, not

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Speaker 1: only did she talk a lot about just the emotional

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Speaker 1: impact of seeing these families living in dirt floor homes

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Speaker 1: that with wall stuffed with newspapers for installation, they are

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Speaker 1: also just horrific working conditions. I mean, on the one hand,

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Speaker 1: you have them being paid poorly, maybe seventy five cents

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Speaker 1: an hour, but also just in terms of their day

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Speaker 1: to day health, the death rate, for instance, of migrant

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Speaker 1: laborers babies was one percent higher than the national average,

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Speaker 1: and for adults, their life expectancy was just forty nine

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Speaker 1: years old, which is about twenty years below the average

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Speaker 1: of the time. Not to mention, these workers were likelier

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Speaker 1: to get sick with things like the flu pneumonia, intuberculosis.

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Speaker 1: Plus I mean, they're being exposed to horrifically poisonous pesticides

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Speaker 1: day in and day out. And one of the tactics

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Speaker 1: eventually during these strikes that would eventually happen would be

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Speaker 1: for the big farm owners, the big growers, to dump

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Speaker 1: pesticides on these protesters as they're protesting. And you might

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Speaker 1: be thinking at this point, well, why why was no

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Speaker 1: one seeing this as a problem. Why why wasn't anyone

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Speaker 1: concerned about these impoverished barrios. Basically, there were lots of

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Speaker 1: racist assumptions that, well, you know what, these workers could

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Speaker 1: pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. But I mean

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Speaker 1: they just drink away their earnings or just generally inferior,

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Speaker 1: they're not smart enough, so I mean they're just kind

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Speaker 1: of doing it to themselves. Well, which is the stereotype

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Speaker 1: that we have put on every ethnic and social and

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Speaker 1: economic minority that has been in this country forever. And

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Speaker 1: we talked about that in our Spicy Latinos podcast about

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Speaker 1: the evolution of the stereotype of Mexican descended workers in

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Speaker 1: particular or Mexican born workers as being lazy. But it's

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Speaker 1: it's amid this US Mexico Bersero program in the nineteen

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Speaker 1: fifties that Fred Ross and the Community Service Organization in

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Speaker 1: California really begin laying the groundwork for farm workers to

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Speaker 1: be able to organize light, Kristen said, by focusing on

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Speaker 1: those everyday issues like citizenship in childcare, because if you

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Speaker 1: can't even handle the day to day, how are you

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Speaker 1: expected to rise up and fight the system. And speaking

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Speaker 1: of rising up and fighting the system, we're next going

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Speaker 1: to talk about how the Lord Squerta stays are Chavas

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Speaker 1: and the United farm Workers tried to do that starting

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Speaker 1: in the nineteen sixties. When we come right back from

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Speaker 1: a quick break and now back to the show, well,

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Speaker 1: rising up and taking on these massively influential and wealthy

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Speaker 1: agricultural growers was exactly what Dolora Suerta and Caesar Chavez

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Speaker 1: wanted to do, and it was very much a David

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Speaker 1: and Goliath kind of situation when they set out in

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Speaker 1: nineteen sixty two to start the United farm Workers. After

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Speaker 1: years of dedicated activism and community involvement, in nineteen sixty three,

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Speaker 1: Dolores where To successfully managed to secure aid for Dependent Families,

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Speaker 1: which is disability insurance for California farm workers. Again, it's

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Speaker 1: like she's taking sort of what she knows, working from

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Speaker 1: the ground, working from the small to the large with

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Speaker 1: just people in her community, to sort of doing the

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Speaker 1: same thing for workers. I mean, she's not kind of

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Speaker 1: out of the gate saying let's tear apart the entire system.

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Speaker 1: She's like, can we just get them some insurance for

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Speaker 1: their families? And that was unprecedented being able to get

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Speaker 1: that insurance. But two years later, in nineteen, the Delano

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Speaker 1: grape strike begins, and this is what sort of everybody,

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Speaker 1: this is the image in everybody's minds when you talk

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Speaker 1: about where to especially pairing up with Shavas and so

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Speaker 1: it's her idea though, to boycott grapes. Chavas was saying,

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Speaker 1: let's let's boycott potatoes and the potato growers. But Queerta

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Speaker 1: was like, we've got to market this, right. People associate

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Speaker 1: grapes and wineries and wine with California, not potatoes, so

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Speaker 1: let's do this instead. Yeah, she was like, well, people

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Speaker 1: are going to think potatoes and Idaho. So they decided

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Speaker 1: to support this grape strike. And and this also is

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Speaker 1: where we get probably the most famous image of Dolra

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Speaker 1: Squerta from the time where she is standing up holding

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Speaker 1: a sign above her head that says huelga h u

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Speaker 1: e l g a, which is Spanish for Reich. And

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Speaker 1: her prominent position was really influential in effectively boycotting table

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Speaker 1: grapes across the United States because as a woman, she

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Speaker 1: helped female consumers a long way away from California identify

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Speaker 1: with this strike as well. Yeah, and this led to

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Speaker 1: at its height the boycott being fourteen million people strong.

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Speaker 1: This was not just a little thing happening off somewhere

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Speaker 1: on the fringes in California. This was big national news.

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Speaker 1: And of course this is around the time that she

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Speaker 1: coins meaning yes we can and yes Obama. President Obama

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Speaker 1: did take that phrase for his campaign. Yeah, he joked

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Speaker 1: when he was giving her the Presidential Medal of Honor

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Speaker 1: in two thousand eleven that he did steal side from

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Speaker 1: her and was really relieved that she was okay with it. Um.

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Speaker 1: But but a lot of times too, s point is

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Speaker 1: is attributed to Chavez, but again it was Huerta's brilliant idea.

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Speaker 1: And I want to also mentioned that we are very

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Speaker 1: much collapsing all of the nuances and the back and

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Speaker 1: forth of this strike and of this really like five

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Speaker 1: to ten year time period into these few bullet points

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Speaker 1: that we have because we don't have time to go

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Speaker 1: into all of the back and forth, because it really

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Speaker 1: was an intense struggle and negotiation, ongoing negotiations between Huerta

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Speaker 1: and Chavez and these huge growers and also other groups

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Speaker 1: of other other unionized groups being involved and not being

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Speaker 1: involved in and also the California state government. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it was it was not an easy thing to tackle.

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Speaker 1: And one of the tools that these large growers used

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Speaker 1: at one point against the United farm Workers was to

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Speaker 1: bring in the Teamsters union to essentially try to break

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Speaker 1: up the strikes. And so in nineteen sixty six, the

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Speaker 1: United farm Workers merged with the a f l C

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Speaker 1: i O, otherwise risking erasure by the Teamsters because I

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Speaker 1: mean that group was just too powerful at the time,

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Speaker 1: I mean, and and through all of these uh confrontations

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Speaker 1: between Teamsters and or the growers, they were really risking

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Speaker 1: life and limb and not just where San Chaves, all

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Speaker 1: of these migrant farm workers who were striking standing in

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Speaker 1: picket lines. Yeah, I mean, we already mentioned just the

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Speaker 1: act of dropping pesticide on these protesters. But I mean,

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Speaker 1: there was so much more to it. And while Chavez

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Speaker 1: and Whereta did really emphasize the issue of non violence,

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Speaker 1: Chaves talks about being inspired by Martin Luther King and

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Speaker 1: Gandhi Queta and others were routinely targeted and threatened at

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Speaker 1: gunpoint at times, and at one point she was even

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Speaker 1: taken hostage. Yeah, and I mean and two of the

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Speaker 1: Strikers were killed at one point as well. Um, So

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Speaker 1: this was I mean, this wasn't just a you know,

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Speaker 1: a casual negotiation just sitting across the table from someone

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Speaker 1: writing the little you know number on a napkin and

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Speaker 1: sliding it across. It was not polite and also to um.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty nine, the Delano growers signed historic contracts

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Speaker 1: with the uf W o C. But the agrib business

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Speaker 1: scheming really didn't end there because then you have Selinas

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Speaker 1: led US growers also in California signing on again with

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Speaker 1: the Team Sturs union in these kinds of sweetheart deals

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Speaker 1: to edge out the United farm Workers from getting involved.

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Speaker 1: And so then what a square to do? Well, we

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Speaker 1: gotta have a lettuce boycott, that's right, And the grape

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Speaker 1: growers would end up pulling a similar move after their

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Speaker 1: contracts expired. Uh and teamster thugs were using violence against

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Speaker 1: the strikers again, and this is the point when the

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Speaker 1: two farm workers strikers were killed on a picket line. So,

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Speaker 1: like Kristen said, I mean, things are a little tense.

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Speaker 1: It's it's not a good or safe situation. And throughout

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Speaker 1: all of this, throughout all the violence and the tension

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Speaker 1: and the underhandedness on the part of the growers, where

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Speaker 1: to was the lead negotiator And she talks about that,

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Speaker 1: She says, yeah, I think I caught him off guard.

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Speaker 1: And when she's talking about the growers responding to her

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Speaker 1: and having to deal with her as the negotiator, she said, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, not only did it catch him off guard,

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Speaker 1: I think it made them feel guilty. Yeah, to have

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Speaker 1: to negotiate with a woman. She said that they always

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Speaker 1: preferred to try to negotiate with Caesar, but she was

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Speaker 1: usually the one because she was very skillful with negotiations,

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Speaker 1: and um, it's interesting that her her gender as well

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Speaker 1: was it was a bit of a wild card. Well,

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Speaker 1: I mean, she had such perspective to bring to the

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Speaker 1: negotiating table. So not only she personally um other she's

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Speaker 1: been a wife, she has you know, many children, but

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Speaker 1: she has this experience as a teacher, and she has

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Speaker 1: her incredible faith driving her forward and her whole life

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Speaker 1: experience of watching her father in New Mexico with his

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Speaker 1: activist efforts and her mother, you know, being her own

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Speaker 1: standing on her own two feet. And so this is

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Speaker 1: a woman who's really not to be trifled with. And

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Speaker 1: she was just generally good at debate period. Apparently she

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Speaker 1: was really great at just throwing down facts at the

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Speaker 1: perfect time to to counter what these growers might contend. So,

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Speaker 1: if we fast forward to nine, this is a huge

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Speaker 1: year because WHERETA and the UfW were instrumental in the

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Speaker 1: passage of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which was the

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Speaker 1: first law of its kind, granting California farm workers the

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Speaker 1: right to collectively organize and bargain for wages and better

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Speaker 1: working conditions. But the really interesting thing is when it

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Speaker 1: comes to unionizing and organizing because of fine only in

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five, they're legally granted the ability to do so.

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Speaker 1: Because of the agribusiness system and the fact that a

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Speaker 1: lot of these migrant workers. By virtue of being migrant workers,

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Speaker 1: they were employed by many growers. They weren't just working

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Speaker 1: with one one big company or even like one sort

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Speaker 1: of more manageable industry. So the UfW had to kind

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Speaker 1: of figure out a new way to organize beyond typical

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Speaker 1: union locals, right, And so it ended up that people

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Speaker 1: at each ranch would elect their own ranch committee, and

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Speaker 1: then each field off has established a service center to

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Speaker 1: assist members. And I mean they were getting basic things

431
00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:45,359
Speaker 1: like can we have a bathroom, you know, can we

432
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:48,359
Speaker 1: have a place to sleep that's not a shock that's

433
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:50,960
Speaker 1: in danger of falling down at any moment that the

434
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,879
Speaker 1: wind blows. I mean they again, we're starting with just

435
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:56,560
Speaker 1: the basic needs of these workers, just to keep them

436
00:27:56,640 --> 00:28:00,200
Speaker 1: safe and healthy. Yeah, and then as they develop up

437
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:04,720
Speaker 1: this ranch committee system, Huerta in the eighties was also

438
00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:09,760
Speaker 1: influential in developing, for instance, radio station for them to

439
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:13,879
Speaker 1: help all of them keep better connected because back then,

440
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:17,239
Speaker 1: y'all they didn't have the internet. Well, you know, so

441
00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:21,680
Speaker 1: things like a radio station we're also really important for

442
00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:25,159
Speaker 1: keeping them all informed and all organized as well. And

443
00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:29,640
Speaker 1: also if there any like union experts and union historians listening.

444
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:34,040
Speaker 1: We welcome your input on all of the fascinating details

445
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:37,600
Speaker 1: that I know that we are glossing over, because um,

446
00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:42,000
Speaker 1: this isn't stuff I've never told you about um unions,

447
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:45,440
Speaker 1: because we haven't even gotten to the point yet in

448
00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:48,640
Speaker 1: which I mean what I was waiting for the entire

449
00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:50,520
Speaker 1: time reading a lot of this research and listening to

450
00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:53,720
Speaker 1: interviews with Puerta was like, but what about gender? What

451
00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:57,360
Speaker 1: about sexism? This is a woman who was a kind

452
00:28:57,360 --> 00:29:00,160
Speaker 1: of an unlikely spokesperson to begin with, even though she

453
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:04,800
Speaker 1: took sort of second seat to Chavez, as was the plan,

454
00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:09,600
Speaker 1: but she was doing work and in a position that

455
00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:14,200
Speaker 1: women had never done before, hands down, period done. And

456
00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,760
Speaker 1: the way she easily just kind of cut through the water,

457
00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:19,120
Speaker 1: you would think like, oh, well she must not. There

458
00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:21,880
Speaker 1: must not have been any barriers. Surely, surely it wasn't

459
00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:23,800
Speaker 1: that hard of a time. No, people, it was. It

460
00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,400
Speaker 1: was a difficult time. And she did talk to the

461
00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:31,120
Speaker 1: l a times about the sexism that she faced, especially

462
00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:34,800
Speaker 1: because she was in a leadership position. She says, sexism

463
00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:37,480
Speaker 1: is always so painful because it comes from the people

464
00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:40,160
Speaker 1: who are close to you. I think sexism is much

465
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:43,400
Speaker 1: more painful for women than racism is. Until we get

466
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:47,200
Speaker 1: majority of representation, it's always going to be hard for us.

467
00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:49,800
Speaker 1: And I mean, she definitely notes that Chicana and other

468
00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:54,200
Speaker 1: minority women faced the triple threat of race, class, and

469
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:58,440
Speaker 1: gender discrimination. And so, you know, even in times when

470
00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:02,920
Speaker 1: she wasn't facing our right massive sexism, she was still

471
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:07,080
Speaker 1: experiencing like offhand comments from people around her. And so

472
00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:09,600
Speaker 1: this was a very real thing that she had to

473
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:12,360
Speaker 1: overcome and she certainly did and did not let it

474
00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:16,240
Speaker 1: stop her well. And also within her community, the kind

475
00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:21,200
Speaker 1: of sexism that she faced more often than someone at

476
00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:24,120
Speaker 1: a United farm Workers Board meeting not wanting to say

477
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:29,440
Speaker 1: listen to her, was more of a community shaming at

478
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:34,920
Speaker 1: being a Catholic, divorce single mom eventually of eleven, who

479
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,520
Speaker 1: really didn't let motherhood stop her from traveling the country.

480
00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:41,440
Speaker 1: And a lot of people accused her of being a

481
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:43,680
Speaker 1: bad mother. They're like, oh, how could she do that

482
00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:46,360
Speaker 1: to her kids. They don't, you know, have a stable home.

483
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:50,080
Speaker 1: They're traveling around everywhere, they're living off of donations. I mean,

484
00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:53,200
Speaker 1: she's just failing as a mom because she was also

485
00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,960
Speaker 1: when she would leave by herself, she would have to

486
00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,320
Speaker 1: have you know, other family members watch after them. She

487
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:02,120
Speaker 1: wasn't always is by their side, and she essentially kind

488
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:04,760
Speaker 1: of took a vow of poverty so to speak. I mean,

489
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:08,680
Speaker 1: you know, she lived off of donations. Her family didn't

490
00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:11,000
Speaker 1: have much money. She got paid maybe five dollars a

491
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:15,000
Speaker 1: week for her efforts uh to support farm workers, and

492
00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:18,719
Speaker 1: in talking to a r P, two of her oldest

493
00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:21,920
Speaker 1: kids admitted that the whole thing wasn't easy. Sure, moving

494
00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:26,760
Speaker 1: around being poor, having their mother missed their birthdays wasn't easy,

495
00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:29,960
Speaker 1: and they feared for her life. But the lessons that

496
00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:32,240
Speaker 1: they learned from watching her go out and fight for

497
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:35,760
Speaker 1: people's lives and their health and their safety taught them

498
00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:40,280
Speaker 1: about the importance of helping people building a community over

499
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:44,360
Speaker 1: having material things. And also in regard to her personal life,

500
00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:48,520
Speaker 1: she caught a second wave of flak with her relationship

501
00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:51,800
Speaker 1: was Sazar shav As his brother Richard, with whom she

502
00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:57,000
Speaker 1: had children and never married. But she says, basically, by

503
00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,560
Speaker 1: that point she was a feminist and she didn't care

504
00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:02,880
Speaker 1: what people thought of her. I mean, she was so

505
00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:06,000
Speaker 1: invested in her activism as well by that point that

506
00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:09,120
Speaker 1: it sort of made no difference. And I think that

507
00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:11,400
Speaker 1: she had also lived for so many years being called

508
00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:13,200
Speaker 1: a bad mother, she was like, well, you know what,

509
00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:17,280
Speaker 1: I'm just doing me guys um. But when it comes

510
00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:22,880
Speaker 1: to feminism, she really didn't identify with it initially. She

511
00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:25,680
Speaker 1: talks about how when she first heard about women's lips,

512
00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:28,640
Speaker 1: she thought, of it, it's just a white middle class phenomenon,

513
00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:32,680
Speaker 1: which very much goes to what we've talked about many

514
00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:35,400
Speaker 1: times on the podcast about how a lot of times,

515
00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:40,880
Speaker 1: mainstream in quotes feminism has been um overly focused on

516
00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:44,680
Speaker 1: the voices and experiences of white middle class women who

517
00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:49,240
Speaker 1: have more liberty to choose, whereas across the country in California,

518
00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:52,480
Speaker 1: you have women like Cuerta living on five dollars a

519
00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:56,280
Speaker 1: week with eleven children, fighting for the rights of women

520
00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:59,920
Speaker 1: who don't necessarily have the liberty to choose the guy

521
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:03,360
Speaker 1: of choice that white feminists in New York might have

522
00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:05,240
Speaker 1: been fighting for at the time, or even on the

523
00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:07,840
Speaker 1: radar of the day to day lives of these women

524
00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:11,120
Speaker 1: of color working in the fields. And her approach to

525
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:16,960
Speaker 1: feminism was really shaped by witnessing the civil rights movement itself,

526
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:20,400
Speaker 1: and she talks to PBS about how she sort of

527
00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:23,280
Speaker 1: had this moment of clarity, realizing at some point that

528
00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:25,600
Speaker 1: many of us in the civil rights movement, we're out

529
00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:28,360
Speaker 1: there fighting for our people, but we weren't fighting for

530
00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:31,720
Speaker 1: our women. And so, she says, she sort of starts

531
00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:35,800
Speaker 1: to have this realization that fighting for women's rights and

532
00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:38,200
Speaker 1: being a feminist is just as important as fighting for

533
00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:41,400
Speaker 1: workers rights or the rights of people in various racial

534
00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:45,000
Speaker 1: and ethnic communities. And she was also influenced too by

535
00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:49,000
Speaker 1: her friendship with Gloria Steinham, because Steinham and others very

536
00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:52,680
Speaker 1: much supported the uf W and the boycott and the

537
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:55,720
Speaker 1: efforts that they were making in order to help out

538
00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:59,600
Speaker 1: those families as well. And speaking of the uf W,

539
00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:05,320
Speaker 1: I mean she did recognize sexism within her own movement,

540
00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:09,920
Speaker 1: within that Chicano civil rights movement going on um She

541
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:14,760
Speaker 1: recalls in an interview two makers about UfW board meeting

542
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:19,360
Speaker 1: in which someone made just a casual sexist comment and

543
00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:22,480
Speaker 1: she was like, huh, I'm going to start taking a

544
00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:25,960
Speaker 1: tally in this meeting and see how many casual sexist

545
00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:29,680
Speaker 1: comments are made, because you know, she was I think

546
00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:31,960
Speaker 1: the only woman or one of the only women in

547
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:34,640
Speaker 1: the room at the time, and she counted up fifty

548
00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:36,840
Speaker 1: eight sexist comments so at the end of the meeting,

549
00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:40,520
Speaker 1: when Chaves says, okay, does anybody else have anything else

550
00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:43,680
Speaker 1: to add, she raises her hand and says, hey, um,

551
00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:47,919
Speaker 1: I counted up fifty eight sexist comments, and I think

552
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:52,000
Speaker 1: that that's ridiculous. Essentially, I'm very much parit phraising her.

553
00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:55,680
Speaker 1: But she raised awareness to it, and she said the

554
00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:58,799
Speaker 1: next time she tallied up like twenty three. The next

555
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:01,400
Speaker 1: time it was a dozen. And finally she said, it

556
00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:04,680
Speaker 1: got to the point to where, yes, the members were

557
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:07,600
Speaker 1: kind of on their toes and board meetings about the

558
00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:10,200
Speaker 1: way that they spoke about women. And she said, and

559
00:35:10,239 --> 00:35:12,719
Speaker 1: then it once once their awareness was raised, once they

560
00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:14,759
Speaker 1: realized they were doing it, and then it had a

561
00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:19,359
Speaker 1: negative impact they overtime they just stopped. Because the whole

562
00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:22,040
Speaker 1: thing is that she's pointing out is how ridiculous it

563
00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:27,520
Speaker 1: is to have these sexist attitudes and especially sex comments,

564
00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:33,280
Speaker 1: because women were critical and should be critical to movements

565
00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:36,040
Speaker 1: like this, and she really encouraged Javes to get more

566
00:35:36,040 --> 00:35:39,680
Speaker 1: women involved in organizing, negotiating, and overseeing the ranch committees.

567
00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:43,200
Speaker 1: After all, his wife, Helen was involved in the strikes

568
00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:46,640
Speaker 1: and the protests, and at the same time she maintains

569
00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:50,440
Speaker 1: that Chavez was always conscious of the importance of women's

570
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:54,239
Speaker 1: involvement within the movement. Yeah, I mean it was crucial

571
00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:57,200
Speaker 1: to both of them to get entire families on board.

572
00:35:57,200 --> 00:35:59,960
Speaker 1: You can't do this successfully if you have the husband,

573
00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:02,600
Speaker 1: but you don't have the wives and the children. That's

574
00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:05,960
Speaker 1: also part of the motivation for keeping everything as nonviolent

575
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:09,440
Speaker 1: as possible, so that women and children would be welcome

576
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:13,759
Speaker 1: at those picket lines. And it's also well known that

577
00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:19,440
Speaker 1: sometimes Chavas and where To would have loud disagreements, But

578
00:36:20,239 --> 00:36:24,000
Speaker 1: where To maintains that they had a healthy working relationship

579
00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:26,960
Speaker 1: and she never felt demeaned by him by virtue of

580
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:31,000
Speaker 1: her gender. And I mean she she found his sometimes

581
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:34,480
Speaker 1: like almost unwitting sexism to to be laughable. Maybe it's

582
00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:36,640
Speaker 1: more just because she's looking at retrospect, maybe it was

583
00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:39,360
Speaker 1: a little more infuriating at the time. But in speaking

584
00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:42,680
Speaker 1: to the l a times, she said, Caesar once said,

585
00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:45,600
Speaker 1: you know, Dolores, I treat you and Cecilia, who is

586
00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:49,200
Speaker 1: another UfW board member, different, And I said, yes, it's

587
00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:52,480
Speaker 1: called male chauvinism, and he started laughing. But he was

588
00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:56,040
Speaker 1: really good about having women in positions of power, people

589
00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:59,760
Speaker 1: would ask why, and he'd say, because they do the work.

590
00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:03,600
Speaker 1: And it was in doing that work in the nineteen

591
00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:07,400
Speaker 1: eighties that Wuerta was actually on the receiving end of violence.

592
00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:10,880
Speaker 1: During a protest, she was severely beaten in San Francisco

593
00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:14,360
Speaker 1: by a police officer, and this prompted her to step

594
00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:18,319
Speaker 1: back from union organizing for a while, and as a

595
00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:21,360
Speaker 1: born again feminist, she says, she began to stump for

596
00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:25,040
Speaker 1: the Feminist Majorities Project to get more Latina's in office.

597
00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:28,040
Speaker 1: So we really see this like crystallization of all of

598
00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:31,560
Speaker 1: her activism efforts. And when it comes to her legacy,

599
00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:34,880
Speaker 1: I mean, a lot of people routinely ask her the

600
00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:37,719
Speaker 1: question of I mean, are you a little jealous essentially

601
00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:40,520
Speaker 1: of Caesar Chavez getting all the glory for all of

602
00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:43,439
Speaker 1: this work that you are alongside him? Uh to do?

603
00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:47,359
Speaker 1: Are you bummed out that there's a Caesar Chaves day

604
00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:50,439
Speaker 1: but not a Dolora Square today for instance? And she

605
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:54,239
Speaker 1: pretty much just no. I mean, from the get go,

606
00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:57,319
Speaker 1: it was decided that Javes would be the spokesperson because

607
00:37:57,320 --> 00:38:00,440
Speaker 1: the movement needed a face, and her face was also

608
00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:04,480
Speaker 1: prominent as well, but he was the guy and when

609
00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:08,480
Speaker 1: he volunteered to be the spokesperson. She said, okay, do that.

610
00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:11,160
Speaker 1: I mean, I think she was so much more concerned

611
00:38:11,680 --> 00:38:14,560
Speaker 1: with the day to day lives of the people that

612
00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:18,920
Speaker 1: she was working on behalf of. She never wanted to

613
00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:22,560
Speaker 1: make herself out to be a celebrity. And even when

614
00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:26,320
Speaker 1: she was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, she said,

615
00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:29,600
Speaker 1: this medal, it is given to me on the backs

616
00:38:29,680 --> 00:38:33,239
Speaker 1: of thousands and thousands of other people. I wasn't out

617
00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:36,960
Speaker 1: in those fields working they were, Yeah, but she was

618
00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:40,759
Speaker 1: the five ft nothing spitfire who was leading all of

619
00:38:40,800 --> 00:38:46,640
Speaker 1: these people into a movement. So she retired from the UfW,

620
00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:48,760
Speaker 1: and a couple of years later, in two thousand two,

621
00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:52,920
Speaker 1: she found the Dolores square To Foundation to promote social

622
00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:56,040
Speaker 1: justice through community organizing. But it's not like she was

623
00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:58,920
Speaker 1: just sitting around like kicking up her heels saying, okay,

624
00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:01,960
Speaker 1: then they're done that. I've done everything I can. That

625
00:39:02,239 --> 00:39:05,960
Speaker 1: same year that she established her foundation, she led a

626
00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:10,760
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty mile march to convince California's governor

627
00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:14,239
Speaker 1: to support legislation to benefit farm workers and it ended

628
00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:17,120
Speaker 1: up being a successful effort. Yeah, and she has received

629
00:39:17,719 --> 00:39:23,640
Speaker 1: numerous honors and awards and medals, and most recently there

630
00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:27,680
Speaker 1: was a statue of her in Chaves unveiled in Napa Valley.

631
00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:32,799
Speaker 1: So she certainly isn't without her her prizes that that

632
00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:36,920
Speaker 1: she's been given over time. Um, But really when you

633
00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:40,080
Speaker 1: listen to the most recent interviews with her, what matters

634
00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:43,560
Speaker 1: the most is continuing the work and helping the people,

635
00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:47,400
Speaker 1: and also in terms of being a born again feminist

636
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:52,040
Speaker 1: in reminding women to own their work and their accomplishments

637
00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:55,720
Speaker 1: and their achievements as well. So we have some wise

638
00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:58,919
Speaker 1: words from Dolores s where to end on in which

639
00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:02,160
Speaker 1: she says, we as women have to put big lights

640
00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:05,640
Speaker 1: around our accomplishments right and around our ideas and not

641
00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:08,560
Speaker 1: feel egotistical when we do that, because it's a way

642
00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:11,480
Speaker 1: of letting the world know that, yes, we as women

643
00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:16,080
Speaker 1: can accomplish great things. Yeah, those are wonderful words that

644
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:18,479
Speaker 1: that's such an inspiration. I just got a little terry

645
00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:21,600
Speaker 1: just reading that. Caroline. Yeah, and she's such a fascinating

646
00:40:21,640 --> 00:40:23,960
Speaker 1: figure and I hate that we did have to gloss

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00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:27,560
Speaker 1: over so much history. But I hope that this serves

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00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:30,720
Speaker 1: as an inspiration to go learn more both about Huereta

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00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:35,239
Speaker 1: and about the movements that she's spearheaded alongside Chavez Um

650
00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:38,439
Speaker 1: and so I hope that we hear from listeners who

651
00:40:38,719 --> 00:40:41,320
Speaker 1: know more about her. We we got a very excited response,

652
00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:43,400
Speaker 1: and we told people that we were doing this episode.

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00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:47,479
Speaker 1: And so if you have more details into into where

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00:40:47,560 --> 00:40:51,479
Speaker 1: to herself or more insight into the movements that she lad,

655
00:40:51,600 --> 00:40:53,799
Speaker 1: we'd love to hear them. And by the way, she's

656
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:58,600
Speaker 1: still Boycott's table grapes because agribusiness and its relationship to

657
00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:03,240
Speaker 1: migrant workers is not exactly improved over the years, because

658
00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:06,719
Speaker 1: those contracts always go back and forth. Yeah. Back when

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00:41:06,719 --> 00:41:09,160
Speaker 1: she led that one hundred and sixty five mile march

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00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:12,560
Speaker 1: through one hundred degree weather in California, she told a

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00:41:12,600 --> 00:41:15,359
Speaker 1: reporter somebody has to do the work, and she said,

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00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:18,000
Speaker 1: in organizing, you're not going to reach every person, but

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00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:21,160
Speaker 1: you just have to keep pushing for the next one. Yeah,

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00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:25,200
Speaker 1: and this absolutely echoes our podcast on women in farming

665
00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:29,640
Speaker 1: and agriculture and how even more important it is to

666
00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:35,400
Speaker 1: empower those women to feed us as well. So with that,

667
00:41:35,680 --> 00:41:38,160
Speaker 1: we want to hear from you. Mom Stuff at how

668
00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:41,400
Speaker 1: stuffworks dot Com is our email address. You can also

669
00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:45,080
Speaker 1: tweet us at mom Stuff podcast or messages on Facebook,

670
00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:47,239
Speaker 1: and we've got a couple of messages to share with

671
00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:55,560
Speaker 1: you right now. Well, I've got an older letter here

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00:41:55,719 --> 00:41:59,240
Speaker 1: from Vanessa, but I wanted to share it because Vanessa,

673
00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:02,840
Speaker 1: in case you're listening, you should be really happy right now,

674
00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:06,080
Speaker 1: because she writes, I just finished listening to how teaching

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00:42:06,120 --> 00:42:08,920
Speaker 1: became a woman's profession, and it occurred to me, I

676
00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:12,080
Speaker 1: don't think you guys have done women in the labor movement.

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00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:16,799
Speaker 1: So much great history there, the Triangle shirtwaist factory, Brett

678
00:42:16,880 --> 00:42:22,760
Speaker 1: and Roses, Mother Jones, Dolores Suerta, garment workers, teachers, nurses,

679
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:27,799
Speaker 1: hospitality workers, all unions driven by women s e. I

680
00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:30,600
Speaker 1: you one of the biggest unions in the country has

681
00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:33,520
Speaker 1: their very first woman president right now. You could do

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00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:37,080
Speaker 1: multiple episodes if you wanted, but one would be great.

683
00:42:37,640 --> 00:42:41,840
Speaker 1: So Vanessa, hopefully this look at Dolores Squerta's life is

684
00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:45,320
Speaker 1: a good kickoff to focusing on more of those topics

685
00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:49,560
Speaker 1: you suggested as well. And I have a letter here

686
00:42:49,600 --> 00:42:53,800
Speaker 1: from Fernanda that was responding to our Latina feminism episode

687
00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:58,279
Speaker 1: last year. She says, after listening to that episode, I

688
00:42:58,320 --> 00:43:01,160
Speaker 1: had to write you some feedback. I agree that Latina's

689
00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:05,440
Speaker 1: face different challenges than European descendant feminists, but I identify

690
00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:08,959
Speaker 1: strongly with feminism, though I recognize that not every woman

691
00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:11,319
Speaker 1: in my country has it as easy as I do.

692
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:15,160
Speaker 1: In my community, I have white privilege. In Mexico, it's

693
00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:18,719
Speaker 1: not uncommon to discriminate against tan skinned people because of

694
00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:23,920
Speaker 1: their phenotypically obvious indigenous descendants. Also, I live in the city,

695
00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:27,480
Speaker 1: have access to education, currently in med school and healthcare.

696
00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:31,560
Speaker 1: The discrimination is far more noticeable on the mainstream media,

697
00:43:31,640 --> 00:43:34,640
Speaker 1: where most of the news presenters, journalists, and musicians are

698
00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:38,759
Speaker 1: all white and cis gender lgbt Q rights are far

699
00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:41,440
Speaker 1: from being recognized when only in a couple of states

700
00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:44,359
Speaker 1: gay marriage is legal, and in every state people from

701
00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:47,960
Speaker 1: this community suffered discrimination in terms of jobs, education, and

702
00:43:48,040 --> 00:43:51,880
Speaker 1: even health care access. I strive for bringing healthcare and

703
00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:54,919
Speaker 1: support to those who don't possess it while being a bisexual,

704
00:43:55,080 --> 00:43:58,319
Speaker 1: cis gender Mexican woman. I hope one day women in

705
00:43:58,360 --> 00:44:01,120
Speaker 1: my beloved country are able to live in freedom, and

706
00:44:01,120 --> 00:44:03,839
Speaker 1: that feminism also brings relief to the men who are

707
00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:07,640
Speaker 1: oppressed by MACHEESMO. Thanks for shining a light of education

708
00:44:07,640 --> 00:44:10,480
Speaker 1: and humor into my everyday life. And thank you Fernanda,

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00:44:10,880 --> 00:44:13,399
Speaker 1: and thanks to everybody who's written into us mom. Stuff

710
00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:15,640
Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com is our email address

711
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:18,239
Speaker 1: and for links to all of our blogs, videos and

712
00:44:18,440 --> 00:44:21,760
Speaker 1: podcasts with our sources. So you can read more about

713
00:44:21,800 --> 00:44:25,080
Speaker 1: Dolora Suerta, head on over to stuff Mom Never Told

714
00:44:25,120 --> 00:44:31,279
Speaker 1: You dot com for more on this and thousands of

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00:44:31,320 --> 00:44:41,480
Speaker 1: other topics. Is it how stuff works dot com