Washington, D.C. — Today, we honor the extraordinary life and legacy of Dolores Huerta, whose lifelong commitment to workers’ rights, economic justice, and immigrant justice empowered generations to organize for a future rooted in dignity and opportunity. Huerta understood that economic and immigrant justice are inseparable. Immigrants, Black Americans, and working-class people have long helped move this country forward, even as many are denied the rights, resources, and opportunities we need and deserve to thrive as full citizens. Through her courage and organizing, Huerta showed generations what is possible when ordinary people come together to demand something better and paved the way for women, immigrants, working people and young people, especially, to step into their leadership and claim their rightful place in our democracy.
In response to the passing of Dolores Huerta, United We Dream’s Executive Director, Greisa Martínez Rosas, issued the following statement:
“Dolores Huerta’s life is a reminder that the fight for freedom and justice for all working people has never been about one issue or one movement. It’s about whether the immigrants who help toil this land and feed this country, the Black Americans whose unpaid labor built its economy, and the working people who hold our communities together, can exercise the fullness of citizenship.
Citizenship is more than a piece of paper or social security number, and Dolores knew that. It is experienced by those who live with certainty in knowing that their safety, rights, and stability will not be compromised. Those who never have to fear affording rent, being deported to a country they’ve never been to, or being racially profiled while walking home from school. What Dolores knew to be true her whole life, is what we hold onto today: that what binds us together as working people in America are our shared experiences; none of us have truly been able to walk in the fullness of our citizenship. It is only when we realize this and come together as one, that we can carry the torch forward that Dolores lit years ago; a torch that holds the vision of democracy that recognizes and honors working people’s full participation in it and functions for all of us, not just the few. May Dolores rest in power. We will carry her light forward.”