Top 95 Quotes & Sayings by Dolores Huerta - Page 2

As a youngster and being a Latina, you see so much injustice.

There's just so many facets, I think, of the ignorance in our society that have to be corrected if we're really going to have a democratic society and a society that is just and that respects all of the members of this society regardless of who they are, what color they may be, what sexual orientation that they have or what gender, you know, they happen to be.

Sometimes, we have to promote ourselves. Just go out and be very active about trying to find an opportunity.

As we've focused more on our food and where it comes from, people now have greater awareness of what's being put onto our food, pesticides, labeling issues, and consumer health.

If you don't know, your labor unions and community organizations, there's somebody you can ask to guide you. A lot of people, especially in the Latino community, they have this big ballot and all these names and propositions on it, and they say 'Oh my God'. They don't know which of these to vote for, so they don't vote.

Our society is connecting workers with the products people consume and recognizing workers for their contributions. It is important to do that, and to have organized labor - a middle class - to preserve our democracy.

I think we brought to the world, the United States anyway, the whole idea of boycotting as a nonviolent tactic. I think we showed the world that nonviolence can work to make social change.

Employers able to work together with workers and sharing gains and profits will lead to a much better world, getting away from income inequality.

The racist rhetoric from politicians is inspiring people to organize, as more people see what happens by not getting active.

Gloria Steinem in the women's movement. Eleanor Smeal of the Feminist Majority. There are all of these great wonderful women I've met that are so inspirational.

The first time when I was organizing, I went out and started knocking on doors to see if people were registered to vote. I was a door knocker. I didn't even have the confidence that I could register people, so I just was out there door knocking. That was my first experience.

In fact, the corporations are driving out the competition and it is not getting better, especially when they are not paying income taxes. Thank goodness for the social media out there, because we sure can't count on the corporate media to get the word out.

I had been a Girl Scout from the time I was 8 to the time I was 18 years old. I had belonged to my church organization and youth groups. But, you never really found a way that you could make a change.

Exercise your right to vote.

Through that organization [Community Service Organization], I met Cesar Chavez. We had this common interest about farm workers. We ultimately left CSO to start the National Farm Workers Organization, which became the United Farm Workers. I was very blessed to have learned some of the skills of basic grassroots organizing from Mr. Ross and then be able to put that into practice in both CSO and the United Farm Workers.

Why is it that farmworkers feed the nation but they can't get food stamps?

My son, Emilio Huerta, is running for congress. He was a young man who was marching and picketing.

You could really belong to a group of people and with other people, you could really make some significant changes - through the electoral process, of course, by registering people to vote, and by supporting good people who were running for office. For me, it was like I had found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

We need to keep ringing the bell, wake people up to get our democracy together. Farm workers are like a symbol, and it is good that people are paying attention.

People can take power over their communities and over their lives. Some people don't realize they can do that. They think 'It's OK for other people, but I myself can't do it.' Hopefully, that will come out of the film.

If we don't have workers organized into labor unions, we're in great peril of losing our democracy.

Once I learned about grassroots organizing, I got so enamored with it because I thought 'Wow this is the way you do it!'

Of course, we have leaders in the African American community as well that we've all worked with. One of the great rewards of being an activist is that you get to meet all these wonderful people. And there are many unsung heroes. There are so many out there that are good people that are working hard.

Going door to door and talking to people, convincing them to vote - this is what I call Organizing 101.

I call myself an addicted organizer.

Especially as a teenager, I was always being racially profiled by the police. You just see all this injustice, and you want to do something about it, but you don't know how.

My kids have lived experiences that could have never been duplicated otherwise. That's one thing about people who get involved in activism, you live so many experiences that otherwise they wouldn't be there. This is why peoples' lives are so enriched.

I am happy to see that, increasingly, people care about farm workers. There is tremendous interest in where and how our food is grown.

As organizations, we have to find ways to create more opportunities, especially for our young people. A lot of corporations, they have to make opportunities for young people - create internships, for example, even if it's only half-time.

When you talk about sacrifices, the ones in my family who have sacrificed are my children, because I love what I'm doing. I love the work. I love to go out there and talk about organizing the people. To me, that's something I really enjoy.

I was very fortunate to have known Fred Ross Sr., who was organizing the Community Service Organization (CSO) way back in the late 50's and early 60's. I was able to work with him.

I think, if anything, my children are the ones who have sacrificed because I've had to too many times be absent from them. But, at the same time, they have lived very enriched lives and probably experienced things they wouldn't have if not for the movements. So, there are some rewards.

I'm glad that the fact that people are still getting poisoned by pesticide drift is gaining attention.

How do I stop eleven million people from buying the grape?

My children grew up very resourceful and strong in spite of them having to live with different families and that I had to drag them all over the country with me.