Excerpts from an Interview with Dolores Huerta
Early Family Influences

Vincent Harding: I wonder if you could remember out loud some of the people, some of the situations, some of the institutions that you feel had an important influence on you and who you were becoming and who you would become.

Dolores Huerta: Well, I believe that part of who I am began where I was born which was in the state of New Mexico, which is bilingual state. That was important, because as a young child I grew up speaking both English and Spanish as did my grandparents who were both born, on my mother’s side of the family, born in the state of New Mexico. In our classes, although I left when I was only seven, but going to kindergarten and to first grade, our teachers spoke to us both in Spanish and in English. So it was a very natural type of way of communicating in both languages, and, of course, that really enriches one’s life.

My father was very intelligent, very intelligent, he had a very strong personality, a very handsome man. He looked very Indian, in fact I look like my father, but he had green eyes. So he had a very striking appearance and he had a very good way with words and I can see my father as an organizer. In fact, my Dad, wherever he went he was a very strong union man. He organized the government employees union at the government facility where he was working. He was very strongly devoted to the cause of unionism. He felt very strongly about that. I would hear stories about them organizing the union when I was small, around my dad.

My grandfather was very… he said you should never lie, never tell lies. He always used to say that the English language was the language of liars. He wouldn’t let us speak English in his presence. We had to speak Spanish although he could speak English as well as I can. I caught him once speaking English. He said that the Anglo culture demanded you put everything in writing because they didn’t have--their word wasn’t any good.

My mother, also, she didn’t believe in profanity. Especially if you swore at another person. Even to call--there's a common word in Spanish that they use which is pendejo, which means, kind of dumb. But my mother had a totally different translation for that. When you called somebody a pendejo that meant that person did not have God’s grace. So you always wanted to be in God’s grace, right? And the way that you did that is to help people, to help other people out. Never expect any type of remuneration for that help. If you saw someone that needed help, your obligation was to help that individual. If you had the ability to help them you needed to help them.