Mother-daughter duos. Activists raising activists. Rabble rousers for social and environmental justice. 🙌🏾 Dolores Huerta and Judi Shils!
My mother and I had the gift of seeing the brilliant, new, inspiring documentary Dolores about her magnificent, unwavering, ever-deepening life of service – for immigrants, for human rights, for women, for the LGBTQ community, for public health, for racial justice, for the environment, for the marginalized, for the oppressed, for humanity. After watching the film, listening to her speak, and conversing with Dolores and her daughters, I can say with certainty: this 87-year-old woman is and always has been an indefatigable, tenacious, strong, dignified, effective force for positive, deliberate and necessary change.
Dolores has taught millions how to organize and solve the most pressing problems in specific communities, national contexts, and the global landscape by equipping them with advocacy skills, focusing on the local level, training parents and youth, and believing in people enough to boost self-confidence and offer timely reminders around personal strength and fortitude to do the work that must be done for a more fair, equal, just society. With an intersectional, collaborative, inclusive approach, Dolores has long championed grassroots actions and mass marches (which she calls “a prayer in motion”) alongside corporate pressure and effective boycotts (like the famed grape one which she pioneered with her partner Cesar Chavez), as well as targeted legislation and widespread voting campaigns.
Dolores speaks with passion, clarity, purpose and urgency about our obligation to fellow citizens to show the seeds of justice, which will then bloom for, with and because of us all. Go see this film!
To Dolores! To my momma! To all the mamas around the world! To Mother Earth!
