2008 Woodie Awards
Delores Huerta speaks on human rights
Janine Camara
Issue date: 9/25/07 Section: Campus News
From the Jena 6 to farm workers' rights, activist Delores Huerta covered a host of pressing human rights issues in her speech, entitled "Making History and Fighting for Those Who Cannot." The human rights activist was this year's speaker for the Office of Multicultural Affairs' Human Rights event.
Huerta, a mother of 11, has been a powerful voice in rallying for justice and dignity for more than half a century. Huerta began her civil rights career fighting for the expansion of farm workers' rights in California and worked with César Chavez, the renown Mexican-American activist who championed labor rights.
"It's really going to spark a new civil rights movement," Huerta said of the Jena 6 case, which involves the prosecution of six black teenagers in the small Louisiana town of Jena for the alleged beating of a white teenager.
The alleged beating is said to be one of many incidents erupting from racial tension in the town. It occurred nearly four months after nooses were hung from a schoolyard tree socially reserved for white students. One or more black students requested permission to sit under the tree and the nooses were hung soon afterward.
The EUC auditorium held a medium-sized audience that listened intently to Huerta's message of equality and respect for all. She spoke not only on the Jena 6, but on women's issues, racism, gay rights and the national immigration debate.
"We have to remind everybody that unless you're a Native American, you are an immigrant to this country," Huerta said.
"We have 12 million, they say, undocumented people in this country. What are they doing? They're working," she continued.
Huerta contended that the mass migration of Latino immigrants was spurred by economic policies initiated by America that crippled the economies of developing nations and forced their citizens to look for livelihoods elsewhere.
"Well we better look at ourselves in the mirror because our free trade agreements create the displacements," Huerta said.
Huerta, a mother of 11, has been a powerful voice in rallying for justice and dignity for more than half a century. Huerta began her civil rights career fighting for the expansion of farm workers' rights in California and worked with César Chavez, the renown Mexican-American activist who championed labor rights.
"It's really going to spark a new civil rights movement," Huerta said of the Jena 6 case, which involves the prosecution of six black teenagers in the small Louisiana town of Jena for the alleged beating of a white teenager.
The alleged beating is said to be one of many incidents erupting from racial tension in the town. It occurred nearly four months after nooses were hung from a schoolyard tree socially reserved for white students. One or more black students requested permission to sit under the tree and the nooses were hung soon afterward.
The EUC auditorium held a medium-sized audience that listened intently to Huerta's message of equality and respect for all. She spoke not only on the Jena 6, but on women's issues, racism, gay rights and the national immigration debate.
"We have to remind everybody that unless you're a Native American, you are an immigrant to this country," Huerta said.
"We have 12 million, they say, undocumented people in this country. What are they doing? They're working," she continued.
Huerta contended that the mass migration of Latino immigrants was spurred by economic policies initiated by America that crippled the economies of developing nations and forced their citizens to look for livelihoods elsewhere.
"Well we better look at ourselves in the mirror because our free trade agreements create the displacements," Huerta said.
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