“A friend of mine predicted that we would put a man on the moon before farm workers got insurance … and we did,” said Vice President of the United Farm Workers Organization (UFWO), Dolores Huerta to a full audience in Bryan Jr. auditorium.

On Sept. 21, as part of their celebration of Hispanic heritage month, the international studies department and Hispanic Unidos de Guilford (H.U.G.) presented Dolores Huerta, a prominent leader in the Latin American community and co-founder of UFWO with Cesar Chavez.

“Bringing Dolores in enabled us to give people a sense of perspective on Latino contribution to the United States, especially concerning the work of undocumented workers,” said Jorge Zeballos, faculty advisor to the International Studies club.

Huerta began by speaking about the perpetual struggle to earn equal rights for women, gays, and lesbians. She pointed to the under-representation of women in congress and society’s fear of the legalization of same-sex marriage. But her presentation mainly focused on the United States’ current ethical and economic conflicts regarding Latin American immigrants.

“Immigrants come here due to foreign policy agreements such as NAFTA,” said Huerta. “Many of them leave their beautiful homes in Oaxaca and Chiapas because they can’t compete with the Wal-Marts that come in and wipe out their local businesses.”

Due to the invasion of these corporations, along with other foreign imports, corn farmers that could previously make a living in Latin America are forced to take pay cuts and lower their standards of living because they can’t combat foreign competition.

“Mexico imports more corn from the States than it can produce on its own,” said Huerta.

The pressure to compete with foreign imports has forced corn farmers who could once make a living in Latin America to abandon their small businesses and immigrate to the United States.

“The most deprecated people are those that feed us,” said Huerta.

When the National Labor Relations Act was passed in 1935, the government established that all workers were allowed to unionize, except the “Mexicans and coloreds” belonging to the Agricultural Association.

Huerta noted that the prejudice towards immigrants and other minorities that existed when the Labor Relations Act was passed is still present.

“Much of our society today doesn’t realize that we have a problem with inherent racism,” said Huerta.

For farm workers, this racism is expressed through the de-humanizing conditions that they work under in the fields. Huerta recalled recently visiting farms in the United States where the workers lacked access to working toilets and cold drinking water.

Despite these injustices, Huerta reminded the Guilford community that social and structural change has been accomplished in the past and is still being accomplished today.

“North Carolina is taking a step forward with their housing standards for farm workers,” said sophomore Hannah Johnston, who is working with the organization Student Action with Farm Workers. “The state has clarified their definition of a bed to include a mattress; previously it only required metal frames.”

Progress has been made for farm workers in other states, too. Huerta and the UFWO fought to get pension plans for farm workers in California, and they succeeded.

When a student asked Huerta what her central message to the Guilford community would be, she replied, “to reject the inherent racism that has been ingrained into our society, to organize as workers when we feel we are being dehumanized, and to pressure our legislators to make the right decisions when passing bills concerning worker’s rights and immigration.”

“Seeing such a strong woman like Dolores speak, lets us know that all types of change are as possible in the Guilford community as they are in other parts of the world,” said Irving Zavaleta-Jimenez, vice-president of the Senate and founder of H.U.G.

Huerta concluded her presentation by further encouraging the campus community to reject the injustices and divides that plague society and to come together and work for change. She instructed the crowd to repeat after her and yell in unison the South African word “Wozani,” which means to join as one big family.

“Wozani!” screamed Huerta.

“Wozani!” screamed Guilford.