"We are all Africans" - Dolores Huerta

From NGLTF "Creating Change", Denver
Thursday - Part 5


“The moratorium on intelligence in the White House has been lifted,” declared Kate Clinton, the fabulous emcee of Creating Change 2009.

The opening plenary of Creating Change was highlighted by legendary labor leader, Dolores Huerta. Her activities with the farm workers and subsequent support of many causes have made her an icon of the labor movement. Warmly greeted by the group, she spoke to the common causes of every activist movement and wove threads of unity, especially in hard economic times, that must be tended to.

Many of the recipients of bailouts have contributed millions to the campaign to fight Free Choice for Workers, the movement that seeks to allow universal access to unions by all workers, Huetra told us, Many of these same people and institutions have contributed to the support of Prop 8.

She talked of the support we need to give to immigrant workers, reminding us that, with the exception of the First Nations, we all came form somewhere. In 1920 the majority of Americans were foreign-born. These workers are contributing billions of dollars to Social Security.

“I am praying for Ted Haggard,” said Huerta. “I pray for him to get the courage to come out. He is disgraced? By what? For having sex with a prostitute? No! For having THOUGHTS of attraction to a man.” Something is wrong here.

“We must get rid of the ignorance,” she said. According to Huerta, that ignorance is not only dangerous to LGBT youth, but also to our nations mental health.

The KKK recently held a press conference boasting that their membership is up40% thanks to their opposition to immigrations

Now that we have returned to science, Huerta asked the crowd, “What are human beings called by scientists? Homosapiens. And where did the human race begin? “ The crowd responded “Africa,” Recounting the migration of human beings across the face of the planet, she talked of some that had to travel far to the north. “They went were it was colder and their skin became pale. Now they have to use tanning beds.”

To those who would divide us I say, “We are all Africans. Get over it!”

The rallying cry of the farm workers that Huerta coined, was Sí, se puede.” Recently, when she met Barack Obama, he admitted t stealing her slogan. She said, “Yes, you did!” Of course “Sí, se puede” is Spanish for “Yes, we can!”