(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Murphy Austin Adams Schoenfeld LLP, focusing on business law and commercial litigation, is proud to support "Rob on the Road: Region Rising".

More information available at murphyaustin.com.

- [Announcer] On "Rob at Home", an illuminating conversation with Dolores Huerta, the trailblazing labor leader and civil rights icon shares personal stories behind her tireless activism from California to the White House.

Don't miss this inspiring interview with the living legend whose powerful voice continues to change the world.

- Dolores Huerta, it is so nice to see you today.

Thank you for joining us.

- No, thank you for having me.

- I love having you here.

You are a legend and an icon for labor rights and for civil rights, and you're an active icon.

When you show up, people listen.

What does that mean to you?

- Well, I have to share with you my youngest son, Ricky, who says, "Mom, you're not an icon.

You're an I can."

- Oh, I love that.

Wow.

(Dolores laughs) - And, you know, when we speak about organizing, for many years, you know, I was active in the community.

I belong to my church organizations.

I belonged to a couple of community groups there, you know, where we had fundraisers for, so at Christmas, that we could hand out food baskets to people, you know.

I was a girl scout for 10 years.

The whole idea of being service to others, it was a part of my DNA growing up.

You know, it was my mother who was very charitable.

She was a businesswoman.

But there was a transition in my life.

And this is an important one.

There's a big difference in doing service to others.

And in saying to people, "No, I'm here to help you take the power, not to have someone come and do something for you, but to teach you how to do for yourself."

- [Rob] Hmm.

- The fact that you have the power to make these changes in your community.

You have the power.

And that is a very big transition to make people understand that.

- And I love the I can, and it's all throughout your work and your life, showing people that they can.

And it's gone all the way to the White House with si, se puede.

Tell me all about si, se puede, that's your slogan that I could say you lent to President Obama.

(laughs) But that is a very powerful statement.

Where did that come from inside of you?

- Well, I think from my own experience, because once we do find out that we can make a change, that it is a very powerful feeling, because we do have that power, but we very rarely have to act on it or think that we can actually do anything.

And the word, by the way, in Spanish, it has two meanings.

It does not only mean yes, we can, it means yes I can, okay?

So, yeah, and when people understand that, so then all that we have to do then is give people the directions, you know?

Yeah, this is the map.

This is all you have to do, but you have to do it, 'cause nobody's going to do it for you.

And if we sit around and wait for somebody to do it for us, you know, it's not gonna happen.

And in the process of doing at the advocacy work that people need to do, there's a lot of growth there.

And they don't realize that they are leaders, you know?

And part of the process, of course, is doing the work is through engaging others, you know, making sure that we get other people also involved.

So that kind of creates the movements that we need to change things.

But most people don't understand that.

And, you know, Helen Keller said that apathy is one of the most illnesses we have in humanity.

And that this is the hardest thing to cure.

That people, you know, people are apathetic and they don't think that they can do anything.

- How do you stay inspired on a day-to-day basis?

How do you keep being Dolores Huerta?

I mean, really, how do you keep that strength?

Because it is so impressive.

- Well, we have to look back and we have to see of the accomplishments that we were able to muster, you know?

- Mm-hmm.

- And when seeing, well, how did that happen?

Well, it just happened by people coming together, you know, again, doing the advocacy work that they needed to do with the representatives.

And so we have to look back and, for instance, we just talked about the women's movement, you know.

We look back when women didn't have the right to vote.

People of color didn't have, you know, Black people didn't have the right to vote.

Our indigenous people of the United States of America did not have the right to vote, you know?

And we look back and we think, "Really, that could have happened."

So that we know, you know, the changes have been made and will be made, but we have to also put ourselves in that picture that we're the ones that are going to make it happen.

And I know that the challenges that we have right now, sometimes, they seem overwhelming.

But the thing is that if we don't engage, then we know ourselves as homo sapiens as people can be wiped off this planet.

if we don't do something about global warming right now, you know.

We know that it's a threat to all of us.

You know, we don't want to not do anything and then have to have to see our planet, not our planet but our humanity, destroyed here, because we didn't do the work that we needed to do to stop global warming.

- I'd like to ask you, what, for you, are the most burning issues today that you are fighting for?

- Well, we have a number of them, of course.

I think at the top of the list, it's got to be saving our democracy.

And we are working on a piece of the legislation.

One of them that we're working on right now in at the capital of Sacramento is to have automatic voter registration like they have in some other states, so that people do not have to register to vote, but that they're automatically included in the voting lists, okay?

And we have the DMV, the Department of Motor Vehicles that registers people, but then people have the option to opt out and not register to vote, and we believe that voter registration is really an obstacle to people voting.

And over the years, it was actually used as a vehicle to prevent people from voting.

And so, there are some states that have already adopted the measures of having automatic voter registration.

So that they're automatically registered to vote.

So that when you go to a person, you're not having to convince them to register to vote, but you just have to convince them to vote.

And it would take that one step out of that.

So there's about almost 5 million people in California that are not registered to vote that are citizens.

And so we have to change that, change our procedures to make it easier for people to vote.

- Are you seeing progress?

- Well, as I said, that there are a number of states on the East Coast that have adopted these measures already, which is kind of a surprising to us, because in California, we always think that we're supposed to be the first, right?

(laughs) - Mm-hmm, Mm-hmm.

- The fact that other states have beat us to this process, that means that we in California have to step up.

- Let me ask you, you have been an organizer pretty much all of your life.

Organized could be your middle name.

(laughs) It really could.

We've seen the power of organization through your actions.

What called you to see the power of organizing?

- Well, growing up, like many young people of color and a woman, you see that all of the type of, you might see these kind of discriminations that one faces, or that one is subjected to.

You know, growing up, again, in the '50s I saw the segregation that we had, you know, the way that people of color are treated.

And then one had the mindset that you couldn't change anything, that you had to accept this.

That if you were a person of color or a woman, that you're treated differently than other people.

And there was nothing you can do about it.

But when I learned that there is a process, and it's called the democratic process is that, again, you get people to vote.

You vote in good representation at either your local level, your city council, board of supervisors, or the state legislature and the Congress, that this is the way you make the changes.

And when I learned this, it was like I say finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

So we don't have to live with discriminatory or unfair practices or, you know, the type of discrimination that we face that you can actually do something to change it.

But you have to get people involved to make them understand that we do have an advocacy process.

And that this is a way that you change a law, but then it's not just changing a law or creating a new piece of legislation, but actually to make sure that it is implemented, that it is enforced, and that people are held accountable.

- That's an incredibly important process.

All of the steps you just said are incredibly important.

And I'd like to ask you, what would you say to people who are watching today who are hearing your words and are inspired to do something, but don't know how to get involved.

You know, someone in high school or in college.

How would you encourage them to be an influencer in the right ways?

- Well, we all have representatives and, again, and our city councils, and our board of supervisors, and our state legislatures, and somewhere near you, they have an office and you can go to that office and you can say to them, "These are the types of changes that I think that we need to be made our community."

Or, "These are the resources that we need in our community."

For X, Y, Z, whatever it is that we need.

And then we ask them to advocate for us.

And of course, sometimes they will, sometimes they won't, but then we have to get other people to join us in that advocacy, 'cause just one voice alone doesn't quite do it.

You have to get a lot of people involved.

- Yes.

And it is very interesting to see the power of actually going to someone's office and saying, "I want change.

I want to see something."

You may be hearing this and think that your voice doesn't matter, but it does, especially when you show up.

- Yeah, and then if they don't listen to us, then, of course, we have to get our community members in our community to also join us so that they're not hearing just one voice, but they're hearing hundreds of voices, you know.

- Tell me about the Peace and Justice Center, - Well, thank- - The Dolores Huerta Foundation Peace and Justice Center.

- Wow.

- Well, thank you.

Yeah, yeah, we are building a building here, and that's exactly what we're calling it, the Peace and Justice Cultural Center, and we want to have an organizing academy there that will teach people this art of organizing.

And the type of organizing that we use was taught to us by a man named Fred Ross Sr. And he did a lot of work with the Oakies and the Archies that they called them back in the day.

They came into California, and he was the manager of the Wheat Patch Labor Camp, which was the model for John Steinbeck for "The Grapes of Wrath" and in the movie, "The Grapes of Wrath", the book and the movie.

So Fred Ross was that person, and then he worked with the Japanese when they were put into the internment camps.

Then he went to work, you know, creating in the Latino community, advocating to get rid of segregation that existed here in California between Mexican children and Anglo children.

And then he worked to organize in east Los Angeles, elected the first Latino elected to the city council and then the congress, Ed Roybal, okay?

So then he went across the state and organized all of these chapters.

And I was organized in a chapter in Stockton, California.

So that's where I learned my organizing skills from Mr. Fred Ross Sr. - Wow.

- And this is the idea of the grassroots organizing.

It's just so incredible, because you'll never have enough resources to hire people to make the changes.

So you have to make people understand that they're, again, going back to the beginning of our conversation, that they are the ones that have to engage to make the changes their community.

- You brought up your mom earlier in the conversation, and I have to ask you, what do you think the greatest lesson your mom taught you is that lives in you today?

- Well, there were a couple of things that she said.

One of the things that she said is, "Remember when you make a decision, where it's gonna have the greatest impact 50 years from today."

- Hmm.

- You know, that was a very important one.

The other one- - That's a big one.

- Yeah.

- That's a big one.

- It is, it is.

Sometimes we are torn with these decisions, right?

So when I decided to quit being a teacher and become an organizer, that was a big decision that I never regretted for one minute that I made that decision.

Although it was very conflicting for me at the time to be able to do that, you know?

- Mm-hmm.

- So the other thing she always said, you know, "Whatever you can do to help people, you have an obligation and a responsibility to do that, even if they do not ask you.

If there's any way you have within your power to help people, you need to do that."

You know?

The other thing, "Never, never take any compensation for the justice work that you do."

You know, the work itself is a reward in itself.

You should never accept any kind of monetary compensation.

And then the other one is, "Don't ever give up, okay?"

- Mm-hmm.

- Don't give up.

You just gotta have to keep on working until you accomplish what your goals are.

- You have taken those life lessons and turned them into legacy movements, for real, of all that you have done and are going to do, because I know you have a long-term plan for the future coming up with all things that you want to get done.

But of all the things that you have done, what sits in your soul that brings you truly a deep sense of pride?

And I'm talking about the kind of pride that when you close your eyes, you feel truly humbled by.

- Well, I think of all of the leadership that has come out of the work that I've done, which I think is, you know, just ordinary people becoming extraordinary leaders, the number of people that have been helped by the work that I was able to do, of course, and not just myself, but working with other people to make things happen.

When I think of the Farm Workers movement, I know that there are farm workers that are getting a pension check every month, you know, because of their work in the union, the United Farm Workers, you know.

When I think of one of the big wins is we worked on the Amnesty Bill of 1986 so that people who were undocumented here in the United States could get the legalization process.

And that was huge.

And thinking there's probably thousands and thousands of people that got the legalization status, and to know that this advocacy work that we do made it happen, I mean, it's truly miraculous.

- I- - It fives me chill bumps.

It's huge.

- I think the democratic process is truly miraculous, and I think that the founding fathers of our country, when they set up the Constitution, and the idea is that somehow people could choose their own governance, you know, that you didn't have to have kings and, you know, princesses to do it for you, but did you somehow, you ordinary citizen, did you have the capacity to choose your own leaders?

I mean that is pretty remarkable when you think about it.

So then we just have to make people understand what a gift this is, the democracy, see, is such a gift that we have, but we have to learn that we are part of that.

And if we do not participate, it doesn't work, you know?

And so I think that's the work that we have to do.

- The only way to keep it is to actually keep it by being active.

- Yeah.

- The democracy that we are privileged to have, we are seeing how fragile it can be.

- Exactly.

And, you know, I like to quote Robert Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy, just minutes before he was assassinated in Los Angeles, he said, "We have obligations and responsibilities to our fellow citizens."

We have obligations and responsibilities to our fellow citizens."

And we know we heard that those words a lot during the pandemic.

I mean, the pandemic taught us that we all had to take care of each other and take care of ourselves so that we could, again, take care of each other.

And that this is such a big lesson that we have to learn, that we are not alone in this world, that we have to depend on other members of our society to keep our society alive and well.

And, again, voting and being involved in the democratic process is part of the wellness of our society.

- You know, you bring up the pandemic and I have to say that when the pandemic crisis that had everyone shut down, there truly was a protection for your fellow human beings from people, and how quickly, from polarization, from whatever, that can fade away.

And we have to remember how important it is that each one reaches one, every single person.

And that we have to remember that together, we truly can change the world.

You are proof of that.

You are proof of that.

- And we have a virus called fascism.

- Yes.

- That (indistinct) are into our society.

And that this, you know, fascism comes from a word to punish and to hurt.

And we know that fascism then, the idea that we prey on people that are weaker than us or different than us, and somehow we should do something to punish them, because they are different than we are.

That goes contrary to everything that our democracy stands for.

But we have to recognize that that is also an evil that we have to confront and that we have to work very, very hard to make sure that that does not infect us, and that does not continue to divide us.

And, again, and the one more thing, too, and I think a lot of the division that we have in our society comes from ignorance.

If we look at the whole map of the United States, and we have all of these red states, and then we have the blue states, and we look at, okay, what's happening with the red states?

You know?

Where does all this hatred come from?

Where does all this racism come from?

Well, in the red states, they were taught that the Civil War was about a war between the states.

They were not taught that this was a war about ending slavery, you know, about ending human bondage.

And so this is why you have all of this misinformation.

And then again, that misinformation turns into, again, advocacy on the wrong side of the issues, right?

Instead of advocating to get rid of racism, to get rid of sexism, to get rid of homophobia, it's just the opposite.

It's just the opposite.

- And- 'Cause people are (indistinct) and then that means that our educational system is failing us, because in our educational system, we do have to teach little boys that little girls are equal to them, you know, and they need to be respected.

That slavery is wrong.

And that racism is an illness that we have to get rid of.

- What do you feel like must be shared from you right now?

What is the most important thing that you feel you need to share with people watching?

- Well, just to remind us all that we have a job to do and that all of us can engage in, and not only do we care, but that we have to engage.

You know, again, this is the way that we could keep our democracy alive is, but making that a parcel of our lives.

And, you know, there's always places that we can go to for information and resources.

Thank goodness that we have the internet, you know?

That didn't exist when we were doing our initial organizing, you know.

It had to be one-on-one, it had to be on the telephone, et cetera.

But now we have the internet where people can communicate.

So we really have no excuses why we're not engaged, you know, and always finding the information that we need and making that commitment, you know, and then adding just one more step to that or one more job to that would be to share with other people what you learned, you know?

And, you know, share with your members and your family.

Share with your neighbors and say, you know, "Do you know that democracy depends on us?

That we have to engage and encourage other people, recruit other people to also come and join a justice movement, a democracy movement."

Which is exactly what we need today.

- I just am so grateful that I could actually sit here and talk with you, because you bring so much inspiration and hope, and I love what your son said, icon, I can.

- Mm-hmm.

- I can.

- That's all of us.

All of us can be an I can.

Absolutely.

- Thank you so much for joining us here today on "Rob on the Road".

- Thank you very much.

(uplifting music) - [Announcer] Thanks for joining us.

You can watch when you want at robontheroad.org.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Murphy Austin Adams Schoenfeld LLP, focusing on business law and commercial litigation is proud to support "Rob on the Road: Region Rising".

More information available at murphyaustin.com.