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Renowned civil rights activist Dolores Huerta came to the Fox Theatre in downtown Redwood City on Monday night for a galvanizing screening of her award-winning biopic, “Dolores.” The film was followed by a provocative live discussion with Huerta, San Mateo County Supervisor Lisa Gauthier and several other activists, as well as an endorsement of Proposition 50 by local officials.
“Dolores,” a 2017 film by Peter Bratt, captures Huerta’s lifelong fight largely for farmworker rights. A co-founder of the United Farm Workers labor union, alongside Cesar Chavez, Huerta navigated a number of challenges throughout her activism, including her identity as a woman and her role as a mother to 11.
Throughout her life, Huerta dedicated her money and time to organizing, and through steadfast determination, founded the first union for farmworkers in the U.S., led major boycotts to improve conditions on farms and lobbied for key legislation like the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975.
Despite being erased from many public history textbooks, in part for her identity, in part due to allegations of a socialist agenda, in part for her comment that “Republicans hate Latinos,” Huerta was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom and Bratt’s film about her won a Peabody Award in 2018. The film is now housed at the Library of Congress.
Following the showing of “Dolores,” which earned a standing ovation from a full Fox Theatre audience, Huerta, Gauthier, as well as Bratt and activist Olga Talamante, took to the stage for a panel discussion, moderated by community entrepreneur Sarahi Espinoza Salamanca. The panel began by unpacking what a healthy democracy looks like.
Talamante, who spent 16 months in an Argentine prison where she was tortured, said democracy, to her, is “representation of the people that need your voice” who “cannot do it themselves.”
For the question of what has changed about how communities build power, Huerta said it’s still all about “sacrifices… asking of people to give of their time.” The movement must continue, she said, until “the day that a farmworker gets the same respect… other essential workers get, like policemen and firefighters.”
Bratt, the filmmaker, said the power of narrative will be immensely important to fomenting change. He noted that President Donald Trump’s team has leveraged story to pursue its agenda.
Gauthier focused on the intersectionality of the fight for rights and equality across racial lines, stating that “we are greater together… Black and brown and indigenous people.” The supervisor added that “we cannot allow people to erase our history, and to erase us in general,” she said of marginalized Americans.
Huerta underscored the imperative of community engagement for community wellbeing, and that community engagement is essential for civic engagement. In order for “our movement to be put into laws,” she said, “the two have to come hand in hand.”
Board of Supervisors President David Cannepa, Gauthier and others used the event as a springboard to endorse Proposition 50, which is on the ballot Tuesday and, if passed, would redraw voting districts in California to combat the growing number of new maps in Republican districts nationwide.
Officials held a rally at Courthouse Square at 10 a.m. on Tuesday to push for the proposition and remind voters that today is the day to flex their democratic muscles. It’s not too late to register to vote. The polls are open at any vote center until 8 p.m.
