Latinx icon Dolores Huerta arrested

Dolores Huerta has been a fixed figure within the Latinx community for over 60 years, peacefully fighting for labor workers and their families within the U.S. and pushing for their concerns to be heard and acknowledged by local government officials.

On August 20, Dolores was arrested at one of these such events as she joined 500 Service Employees International Union members during a Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting.

The group was protesting for worker’s wages to be raised after going for 11 years with no salary increases. Dolores, one of six, was taken into custody for allegedly not leaving the meeting after being told to do so. 

“All of these supervisors make over $100,000 a year, while these people have gone without a wage increase for 11 years, and it’s time. Que es tiempo,” said Huerta in an interview with reporters

She continued, with only the fire that can be found within a Latina, “If supervisors can’t take the heat, they should get out of the kitchen.” The wage negotiations have been taking place over the course of several months, with supervisors only suggesting a 10 cent raise.

Dolores first got her first taste of what it meant to help others from her mother, Alicia Chávez — who was very involved in their local community and a member of several civic organizations.

In 1960, Dolores went on to co-found the Agricultural Workers Association, which helped set up voter registration drives and also pressed municipalities for neighborhood improvements. By 1962, she had teamed with César Chávez and created the-now United Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (née National Farm Workers Association).

She has also been awarded numerous accolades: she was the inaugural recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights from the-President Bill Clinton; and she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then-President Barack Obama.