March 18, 2009
Dolores C. Huerta
PO Box 62
Keene, CA 93531
(661) 823-6230
E-mail: dhuerta@ufwmail.com
Dear Dolores Huerta,
My name is Melissa Buno and I am currently a Junior attending Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles , California . I am writing to you because I learned about you in one my Chicano/a classes that I am currently taking and became very interested in your work and your story. I am currently working on website project for the class and the person I chose to concentrate on is you. Your activism and accomplishments are very inspiring and affected many people’s lives. On the website, I hope to capture your success while drawing and educating my peers. While researching your work, I could not help but notice how your activism related to some terms and concepts from the two books we read in class titled, Chicana Art: The Politics of Spiritual and Aesthetic Altarities by Laura E. Perez and Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldua.
First off, I would like to tell you how inspiring your work was as I was researching. You are a grassroots organizer and civil rights activist that was very successful in communicating a need for change and bringing the people and the community together. I especially like your quote, “I think we brought to the world, the United States anyhow, the whole idea of boycotting as a nonviolent tactic. I think we showed the world that nonviolence can work to make social change” (Schiff 298). I think your whole idea of boycotting to get a statement across was great. People often think that in order to get themselves heard in the government and in the community that violence is the key. By showing the world, the change can happen and be effective and successful without violence such as boycotting is smart and safe. When I was reading about the grape boycott, I was shocked. I think addressing the issue for safer and more humane working conditions for migrant farm workers was an important cause that needed to be recognized. A national boycott took a lot of preparation and work I do not know how you managed to organize it all without feeling so overwhelmed and in a sense lost. It is very admirable to organize something so big such as a national boycott across the states for a cause that you truly believe in when others are so against you, your cause and your race. To find something in yourself to keep on going and to drive others to believe in you and believe in the boycott takes a lot of heart and dedication that you truly possess.
I also learned that you coined the phrase that is so popular and commonly heard in most strikes and boycotts, “Si, se puede” (Schiff 299). That phrase alone affects many people when fighting for rights, fair labor practices, medical plans, higher wages and safer working conditions. I hear it many times whether it be on the streets, on the news or even in the movies. Those three words continue till now to encourage others to keep on fighting for independence and freedom and that it is possible.
While researching, I learned about your background history and your roots which draws on Anzaldua’s concept of New Mestiza Consciousness. Your parents divorced and your mom brought you up along with your other siblings in Stockton , California where you were first exposed to union action. I can see how your actions inspirit your mothers as she fought for workers rights as well. She was a hard worker and very tight knit in the community that was very diverse. She did not discriminate against other races as others did which was popular at the time trying into New Mestiza Consciousness as Anzaldua discusses which is the idea of bringing all races together and seeing just one together and united. She respected everyone and helped the families that were poor and struggling just as you did through your boycotting and activism. You also learned a lot from Girl scouts where you gained confidence and leadership leading you into organizing a youth club that drew in people from various backgrounds and ethnicities once again representing the new mestiza consciousness of bringing all ethnicities together. I liked this idea because I think it really connected the community and brought them together. Despite the differences in race and color, you managed to bring people together to hang out and have a good time. You built bridges between the ethnically diverse neighborhoods and showed them that everyone can get along equally. Your mom also brought you back to your roots and heritage when she took you back to Mexico city and showed you “that there was nothing wrong with Chicanos” (Schiff 302) and told you to “be yourself” (Schiff 302). Furthermore, not only did your mom influence you but your dad as well as he was involved in a migrant labor force and worked for a progressive labor legislation and managed to fulfill his dream of graduating from college. You yourself graduated from college with a teaching degree where you first felt your call of political activism.
As a teacher, you had students who did not have clean or nice proper clothing or shows due to the family situation and some of your students were often sick because their family did not have health insurance. You said, “I couldn’t stand seeing kids come to class hungry and needing shoes. I though I could do more by organizing farmworkers than by trying to teach their hungry children” (Schiff 302). I think when you first discover that your place is political activism focusing on farm workers rights that is when you find your place in this land as Perez mentions it. In the book, Perez states, “the ideas of knowing your place and having a place are tied together and suggest that the person sense of being at home, whether in society or in you body, whether it is a female, a queer, an immigrant, or a negatively racialized minority body, or a combination of these, is shaped by our sense of belonging socially” (Perez 146). You concentrated on the farmworkers because they were left behind and excluded in the fight for safe working conditions that the industries led. You also recognized that the farmworkers were also excluded because most of them were Latino immigrants and racism at the time played a role in their treatment. You are not only fighting for you culture and background but for your land. It is your place to fight and it is where you feel most at home with who you are fighting for people. Perez states, “The politics of place therefore involves for Chicana/o artists and intellectuals exposing and challenging the assumptions associated with the places and social spaced we have dwelt in, sometimes through little choice, in segregated housing and neighborhoods” (Perez 149). You are fighting and informing others of the injustices in society that need to be heard and recognized. You challenge the people to fight and stand up against the cause. Furthermore, you later joined a Community Service Organization to empower the poor and amplify the civil rights movement to include Mexican Americans. You continue to fight for rights and independence and be the voice of the people who are not heard. Later you met Cesar Chavez and together you started the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) which was the precursor to the United Farm Workers. The UFW first strike was the rose industry and then the grape boycott. Huerta and Chavez were successful with the farmworkers as they brought the attention to more and more people and many different levels leading to their recognition and social change. Through your passion for the people and your boycotts and strikes, you exemplify what Perez means when she discusses a land and a place as you have found yours in the fight for the people.
I truly enjoyed reading and researching your work and thank you for all your hard work that you have put into the fight for civil and human rights. Your life and your story have been truly inspiring and I hope that I can continue to make a difference in fighting for others and being a voice to those who are not heard.
Sincerely,
Melissa Buno
Political Science Major
Asian Pacific American Studies Minor
Loyola Marymount University, 2010
Mbuno1@lion.lmu.edu