For Immediate Release
Contact: Arnold Vigil
(505) 986-4882; arnold.vigil@nmlegis.gov
NM STATE SENATE HONORS
DOLORES HUERTA
The New Mexico State Senate, through Senate Memorial 82, honored civil rights champion Dolores Huerta as part of “Dolores Huerta Day in the Roundhouse” on Wednesday, February 27, 2019. The memorial is sponsored by Senator Linda M. Lopez (D-11, Bernalillo) and Senator Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (D-16, Bernalillo).
The 88-year-old Huerta, a Mexican-American social activist who helped form a groundbreaking farmworkers union with civil rights icon Cesar Chavez, visited the Capitol on Wednesday. Concurrently, there is a movement to name an Albuquerque street in her honor. She was born in the mining town of Dawson, New Mexico. The mining ghost town is surrounded by a gated fence and is not open to the public, however there are also efforts to establish a memorial there in her honor.
“Dolores Huerta is a true pioneer of the civil rights movement and her name should be revered right up there along with Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King, Jr.,” said Senator Linda M. Lopez, an ever-present voice in the Legislature for equality and justice. “Her courage and conviction paved the way for farm workers’ rights, safety and improved wages. And she has not ended the fight for equality there. She has fought for improved and equal access to education, and other societal and economic inequalities that unfortunately still exist today. It is important that we treat her honorably and provide institutional means that ensure her struggles to improve lives and give voice to the oppressed are properly recognized.”
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