#doloreshuerta — Public Fediverse posts

Mentor Monday YO! Dolores Huerta! #MentorMonday #DoloresHuerta #LaborHistory #UnionStrong
#WorkersRights

If the rules to settle our economic problems are not forthcoming, we will call a general strike to paralyze the state's agricultural economy. We ...

In 1965, the National Farm Workers Association announced their decision to join the striking Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee on Sept. 16—Mexican Independence Day.#Activism #BarackObamaandtheObamaAdministration #BookExcerpt #California #DoloresHuerta #EconomicJustice #Economy #ImmigrantandMigrantWomen #LaborUnions #LatinaWomen #Mexico #WomenofColor #WomenWorkers #WomensHistory #Work #WorkersRights #WorkplaceDiscriminationandHarassment
Revisiting the Speech That Made America See Farmworkers: Dolores Huerta and the Power of Saying, ‘We Exist’

View from the Sixth Floor: On Privilege, Disparity, and Knowing When You Have Enough

First published at CounterPunch

I’m currently working from the roof of the Austin Public Library, or at least I was working until I got distracted and started writing this instead. And before you picture me sitting cross-legged in gravel between a fire escape and an HVAC unit, I should clarify that our library has an actual rooftop garden—complete with tables and chairs and native plants, shaded by a solar panel arbor—which I have to assume is not standard for libraries across the country.

From six floors above street level, I watch the traffic move up and down Cesar Chavez, and the runners loop around the Lady Bird Lake hike and bike trail. Twenty or so years after the name change, my brain still wants to call it Town Lake. I suspect Cesar Chavez Street will have a new name soon as well. Dolores Huerta Boulevard has a nice ring to it.

Six floors is an interesting height. It’s high enough to give you some separation, low enough to still see details on the ground. Details like the homeless man with the dirty red backpack sleeping on the park bench in front of a trendy, upscale sushi and cocktail bar where the average diner drops at least a hundred bucks a head. Never been, but I just googled it. I doubt the man on that bench has a hundred dollars to his name, let alone to spend on raw fish and cocktails mixed, no doubt, by a bartender with a waxed mustache who has strong opinions about the provenance of the gin. The man sleeping on the bench has a dog, a small, wiry-haired mutt, sitting at his feet, and I’m guessing it’s the dog that made me focus on this particular human, because he is far from the only person living on the street that I can see right now.

With billionaires governing the country and buying the press, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about wealth disparity, about how wide the gap actually is between folks like Elon Musk and the American middle class. And it’s pretty freakin’ wide. The numbers are so big we can’t really wrap our minds around them. Like trying to visualize the distance between galaxies. Or the number of times Trump has lied in the past month. We’re talking about guys with enough personal wealth to buy nations, or at least feed poor ones. Or maybe even bankroll a presidential election, get handed a government department as a thank you, and spend a few months firing working class federal employees. The word privilege comes to mind, though suddenly it’s not just the oligarchs and tech bros I’m thinking about.

Because from up here, literally looking down on people with almost nothing, on a Monday morning, casually typing away on a MacBook Pro from the rooftop patio of a public library overlooking a beautiful lake, it’s impossible not to recognize my own. My own privilege, that is. Not my own library or lake.

I’m a white man in America. And while I don’t feel bad about that, or think anyone should apologize for who they are or where they were born, it doesn’t mean I can’t recognize the advantages of my birth that I had nothing to do with. Of course being born a white man in America isn’t an automatic free pass to the easy life. The man on the bench down there is also white, and I assume also American. But still.

We weren’t wealthy when I was growing up. Money was tight and my parents worked hard every single day for what we had. I think that’s a big part of why I’ve always worked so hard too, but I’m also smart enough to know that’s not the whole story. I’ve reached a point in my life where I’d call myself comfortable.

The World Bank estimates that nearly half the world’s population lives on less than $6.85 a day, which puts “comfortable” in a different light. I’m not in Musk’s zip code, not even close, but the man with the dirty red backpack on that bench probably can’t imagine my problems, and if he could, he likely wouldn’t even see them as problems. I don’t have to worry about where my next meal is coming from, or whether it’s coming at all. My kids go to a good public school, and I’m not losing sleep over next month’s rent. Getting sick won’t spiral me into crushing debt because I have healthcare through the VA, which is its own complicated kind of privilege, one I earned by signing up to go to war at twenty, but one that nobody should have to earn.

The privilege conversation tends to get flattened into a binary: you either have it or you don’t, you acknowledge it or you’re the villain. But I think maybe it looks a lot more like a ladder with no visible top and no visible bottom, and almost everyone is simultaneously looking up at someone and looking down at someone else. 

Maybe the trick, the thing most of us either subconsciously or actively avoid, is actually looking down.

I’m not trying to justify anything or make myself feel guilty about where I’ve landed, just thinking on paper. Looking at a man and his dog sleeping outside a fancy restaurant that I could afford to eat at reminds me that I’m on this ladder too. 

Hard work got me a few rungs and luck got me some others. Being born when and who and where I was probably handed me a few rungs I didn’t earn at all. By any global measure I’m near the top of that ladder, though that says more about global poverty than it does about my bank account. By the American standard of exponential growth and endless accumulation, I’ve barely climbed off the ground. And honestly, I’m not really interested in climbing any further.

Maybe that says something about my lack of ambition and drive. I’m genuinely not sure. I’m not going for false modesty here—the guy who can’t stop telling you he doesn’t care about money is almost as annoying as the guy who can’t stop telling you how much he has. What I can say is that enough to pay the bills, provide for my family, and still be able to spend a Monday morning casually writing from a rooftop patio feels like plenty of freedom to me. Anything beyond that sounds like it might be more trouble than it’s worth. Though I’m also aware that what I’m calling “enough” is out of reach for a lot of people through no fault of their own.

***

It’s always bugged me that the accepted answer to a man sleeping on a park bench—at least the one you hear most often in this country—is that he could be successful, maybe even a billionaire himself, if he just worked harder and “pulled himself up by his bootstraps.” I’m sitting here six floors above him, high enough up to feel removed from his life, but not so high that I can’t see he doesn’t even have any boots. And somewhere above both of us—so far above us it’s almost abstract—there are people with enough personal wealth to end hunger, fund universal healthcare, and still have enough cash left over to buy a new private jet every week.

In the wealthiest country in the history of the world, working class people are literally dying because they can’t afford insulin, and families are bankrupted by medical bills for illnesses they had no way to prevent. Kids go to school hungry while their parents stretch minimum wage paychecks just to keep the lights on.  And the guys at the top of the ladder who depend on that labor are focused on getting even higher. I don’t know what you would call that, but I don’t think the word is success.

Nick Allison is a writer and editor based in Austin, Texas. His work has appeared in Slate, HuffPost, The Fulcrum, and elsewhere. Follow him on Bluesky @nickallison80.bsky.social

#CesarChavez, figure emblématique des ouvriers agricoles latinos dans les années 1970, accusé de viols
Un bouleversant témoignage à 95 ans de #DoloresHuerta
https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2026/03/19/cesar-chavez-figure-emblematique-des-ouvriers-agricoles-latinos-dans-les-annees-1970-accuse-de-viols_6672443_3210.html
Les révélations d’une enquête du #NewYorkTimes sur le fils d’immigrés mexicains, travailleur agricole dès l’âge de 10 ans, suscite la consternation dans le pays. Plusieurs Etats ont déjà annoncé l’annulation des célébrations du 31 mars, journée d’hommage à ce héros du peuple latino instaurée par Barack Obama, en 2014.

Happy Birthday to Dolores Huerta, born this day 1930.
Feliz cumpleaños señora.
#DoloresHuerta

Abramorama Acquires ‘American Agitators,’ Documentary On Fred Ross Sr. Who Mentored Dolores Huerta And Fought For More Just America
#Acquisitions #Documentary #News #Abramorama #AmericanAgitators #DoloresHuerta #LuisValdez #RaymondTelles

https://deadline.com/2026/04/american-agitators-abramorama-acquisition-1236785148/

@MikeDunnAuthor

https://portside.org/2026-04-04/dolores-huerta-and-farmworkers-overshadowed-cesar-chavez-finally-get-their-due

#DoloresHuerta #FarmWorkers #LabourMovement #Organize #Solidarity #unions

@viacampesina

https://portside.org/2026-04-04/dolores-huerta-and-farmworkers-overshadowed-cesar-chavez-finally-get-their-due

#DoloresHuerta #Farmworkers #Labourmovement #Organize #Solidarity #unions

NOW ON VERDANT SQUARE RADIO ==

NOW PLAYING == All of It with Alison Stewart Short 3/27/26: Revisiting the Legacy of #CesarChavez https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2YqQVUZb8w#farmworkers #womensrights #history #activism #latinousa #npr #WNYC #AlisonStewart #news #BelieveWomen #metoo #MariaHinojosa #DoloresHuerta

https://mastodon.social/@VerdantSquareRadio/116314357542663796

#news #arts #left #commentary #radio #publicradio #community #progressive #green #kyndmix #vsn

@viacampesina

C̷e̷s̷a̷r̷ ̷C̷h̷a̷v̷e̷z̷ Farmworkers’ Day March 31st 2026

https://19thnews.org/2026/03/women-farmworker-movement-cesar-chavez/

#DoloresHuerta #farmworkers #labourmovement #organize #SíSePuede
#solidarity #UFW #unions #venceremos #viaCampesina #WeFeedYou

“History shows us that women have done this time and again—working to liberate others from a broken system, all while being neglected, unprotected, and left to suffer in silence."

~ Dr. Jamila K. Taylor, president and CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research

#DoloresHuerta #CesarChavez #farmworkers #women #SexualAbuse #patriarchy #WomenofColor
/6

“Women of color will give our whole bodies to create better worlds, and what happens? We’re stuck choosing between liberating others or advocating for ourselves. We’re burdened under the egos and fables of men who used their power to disempower us."

~ Camille Hernandez, author

#DoloresHuerta #CesarChavez #farmworkers #women #SexualAbuse #patriarchy #WomenofColor
/5

"She deserves justice, and we need to investigate why so many women who are the heartbeats of our movements are made to pay so dearly and are failed by the community so deeply.”

~ Ijeoma Oluo, activist and author:

#DoloresHuerta #CesarChavez #farmworkers #women #SexualAbuse #patriarchy #WomenofColor
/4

“Abusers thrive on silence. They use decorum, respectability politics, shame, and deceit to manipulate others while abusing their targets.

One of the most powerful things we can do is disrupt this cycle by telling the truth. Shoutout to Dolores Huerta for showing us how courageous we can be when we believe in ourselves."

~ Jenn M. Jackson professor of Black Studies

#DoloresHuerta #CesarChavez #farmworkers #women #SexualAbuse #patriarchy #WomenofColor
/3

“The silence she kept for 60 years was not weakness. It was the impossible weight that survivors of sexual violence are forced to carry—often to protect others, often at profound cost to themselves. That she carried it while simultaneously building one of the most important labor movements in American history makes her courage almost incomprehensible."

~ Feminist Majority Foundation

#DoloresHuerta #CesarChavez #farmworkers #women #SexualAbuse #patriarchy #WomenofColor
/2

In honor of Dolores Huerta and her courage in speaking out about her sexual abuse at the hands of previously revered farmworker organizer Cesar Chavez, Genevieve Davis and Lisa Follet offer "a collection of cross-movement statements: from labor leaders and unions, reproductive justice orgs, immigrant rights groups, scholars, writers and activists."

#DoloresHuerta #CesarChavez #farmworkers #women #SexualAbuse #patriarchy #WomenofColor
/1

https://msmagazine.com/2026/03/21/a-movement-responds-leaders-rally-around-dolores-huerta-after-chavez-allegations/

@MikeDunnAuthor

https://www.democracynow.org/2026/3/20/dolores_huerta_cesar_chavez

#CesarChavez #democracynow #DoloresHuerta #UFW #WeFeedYou

Tucson #Arizona has now renamed Cesar Chavez Day as Dolores Huerta Day!

https://azluminaria.org/2026/03/24/tucson-renames-cesar-chavez-day-to-honor-dolores-huerta/

#CesarChavez #DoloresHuerta

"This [i.e., Dolores Huerta speaking out about her sexual abuse by Cesar Chavez] is an important opportunity to think about how movements for civil rights and social justice are not immune to the patriarchy and all its violence. There is no place for violence against women and gender non-binary people in the fight for economic and racial justice."

~ Maria L. Quintana

#DoloresHuerta #CesarChavez #patriarchy #farmworkers

https://www.contrariannews.org/p/another-lesson-from-dolores-huerta

Yes to Dolores Huerta. Yes to C̷e̷s̷a̷r̷ ̷C̷h̷a̷v̷e̷z̷ Dolores Huerta Ave. Yes to believing women the first time. Yes to Farmworkers’ dignity and respect. Yes to C̷e̷s̷a̷r̷ ̷C̷h̷a̷v̷e̷z̷ Farmworkers’ Day on March 31st. ¡𝚂𝖎́ 𝑆𝕖 𝗣𝘶𝗲𝒅𝕖! #DoloresHuerta #Sí #SundaySketch

Yes to Dolores Huerta. Yes to C̷e̷s̷a̷r̷ ̷C̷h̷a̷v̷e̷z̷ Dolores Huerta Ave. Yes to believing women the first time. Yes to Farmworkers’ dignity and respect. Yes to C̷e̷s̷a̷r̷ ̷C̷h̷a̷v̷e̷z̷ Farmworkers’ Day on March 31st. ¡𝚂𝖎́ 𝑆𝕖 𝗣𝘶𝗲𝒅𝕖! #DoloresHuerta #Sí #SundaySketch

"I'm speaking to other men like what the heck are we doing as young boys, teenagers, young men, people who achieve a level of wealth, status, power that this is acceptable? ...

Because ultimately this has to come down to guys telling other guys, "Hell no. No, this cannot be acceptable.'"

#CesarChavez #DoloresHuerta #SexualAbuse #rape #women #Latina #patriarchy #misogyny #farmworkers
/13

"When these occurrences happen, which is tragically frequently, I find myself wondering what is going on in male culture that breeds this mindset. It's a systemic thing. This is affecting men who are wealthy and poor, white, black, and people of color in sall different sectors and fields. And it's like what the heck are we doing?"

~ Jemar Tisby

#CesarChavez #DoloresHuerta #SexualAbuse #rape #women #Latina #patriarchy #misogyny #farmworkers
/12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhJ4IG-fVzo

"But these days, as opposed to Cesar Chavez’s days, when women’s rights lagged behind other civil rights advances, there’s a lot more of it in conservative religious settings that intentionally elevate men above women, use harsh parenting to teaching children to unquestioningly obey authority, and restrict women’s roles."

#CesarChavez #DoloresHuerta #SexualAbuse #rape #women #Latina #patriarchy #misogyny #farmworkers
/11

"Because whether you’re talking about Cesar Chavez or Joseph Duggar—that’s right, a second Duggar son has been arrested for the sexual abuse of children—it’s all the same thing.

It’s patriarchy. It’s the abuse of power. It’s some people being assigned a lesser value than other people.

It can happen anywhere, and it does."

#CesarChavez #DoloresHuerta #SexualAbuse #rape #women #Latina #patriarchy #misogyny #farmworkers
/10

"I’ve seen a few more conservative types commenting on the Chavez story with something akin to, “See, abuse happens in liberal circles, too.” And that’s true, it can, and it does.

But this kind of statement is also misleading."

~ Holly Berkley Fletcher

#CesarChavez #DoloresHuerta #SexualAbuse #rape #women #Latina #patriarchy #misogyny #farmworkers
/9

https://hollyberkleyfletcher.substack.com/p/the-cause

"If Chavez was anything like legions of other men, including Epstein and Pelicot, then he abused and raped girls and women out of the arrogant belief that he had the right to — that their experience of his crimes did not matter. That they did not matter in their bodily autonomy, their dignity, or their personhood."

#CesarChavez #DoloresHuerta #SexualAbuse #rape #women #Latina #patriarchy #misogyny #farmworkers
/8

"We have, in the Chavez case, an important reminder that even progressive politics and the passionate belief in certain kinds of justice is no bulwark against the misogyny that envisages girls and women as, effectively, human property."

~ Kate Manne

#CesarChavez #DoloresHuerta #SexualAbuse #rape #women #Latina #patriarchy #misogyny #farmworkers
/7

https://www.thecut.com/article/cesar-chavez-abuse-entitlement.html

"We are taught to hold everything together, to sacrifice ourselves, to endure quietly for the greater good. In Dolores’s own words, she stayed silent for her family, her community, and the farmworker movement to which she devoted her life.

Pues ya basta. Enough is enough."

#CesarChavez #DoloresHuerta #SexualAbuse #rape #women #Latina #patriarchy #misogyny #farmworkers
/6

"And yet, some will still ask the familiar, painful question: Why did she stay silent for so long?

The answer is both simple and devastating. This is what too many women do — especially Latina women. We are raised to be caregivers before anything else; protectors of our families, our children, our communities."

#CesarChavez #DoloresHuerta #SexualAbuse #rape #women #Latina #patriarchy #misogyny #farmworkers
/5