Long-time labor activist Dolores Huerta was at the Hands Off! protest in Albuquerque on Saturday. She鈥檚 originally from Dawson, New Mexico, and worked alongside C茅sar Ch谩vez to co-founded the United Farmworkers.
DOLORES HUERTA: I hear that there's probably close to 10,000 people here. I think I heard the number 7,000 but it's very, very huge, yeah, and I know that this is happening all over the United States of America. So for Albuquerque to turn out that many people, I mean, that is so awesome.
91暗网: How important is it for people to come out and protest?
HUERTA: It鈥檚 very, very important right now, because hopefully the administration will hear our voices. We don't know where we are, but we know that we're going to continue to protest, demonstrate, organize and vote.
91暗网: Does this resonate? I know you've been to several protests. Is this a similar feeling for you?
HUERTA: Oh, yes, this reminds me when people were protesting the Vietnam War. That's when we had these huge, huge rallies that came together. And you see now that people are coming out, the spontaneous, the people angry, you know, they want, they want their voices heard.
91暗网: What are some of the issues and challenges we're facing right now that are most impacting people?
HUERTA: Well, we know that the stripping away of all of the government jobs is one thing that's going to be hurting every single community, because in every single community you have people that work with a government. Taking down the Education Department, taking down the National Labor Relations Law, the labor unions, you know, going against the environment. You know this. 鈥楧rill, baby, drill.鈥� You know we have all of these disasters that are happening all over the United States of America. We have to save our planet. You know, we have to save humanity.
91暗网: And what more can people do to stand up against Trump and against his actions?
HUERTA: Well, I think some of the corporations that support him, so we're asking people to boycott some of these corporations that they want to do away with their diversity and equity policies, and people like Target, McDonald's, Walmart, some of these companies we鈥檙e saying, don鈥檛 shop there. Don't go to these places. Withhold your money, spend it elsewhere.
91暗网: And what would you say to individuals who are hesitant to come out to protest, who are worried or scared?
HUERTA: Well, we cannot afford to be scared right now, because if we do not stand up, things are going to get worse. And we had seen that many people here today at this rally, and people are not afraid, and they are in the cold, but people are out here in big numbers, and families are out here. And so we have to join the movement. This is a movement to save our democracy, to save our families.
Support for this coverage comes from the Thornburg Foundation.
