Dolores Huerta is still organizing, still fighting, and still challenging the next generation to create lasting change. In this Tejano Talks interview, Domingo and Hiram sit down with UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta to discuss voting, ICE enforcement, farmworker rights, women’s leadership, and the real story behind “sí se puede.” Huerta explains why protest alone does not change power, why voting and organizing matter, and what today’s activists can learn from the farmworker movement. She also delivers a direct challenge to men: reject violence against women and sign a pledge not to abuse them. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ IN THIS EPISODE — Huerta on the parallels, and the differences, between ICE enforcement today and the law enforcement she faced in the farmworker movement — Why she believes marching alone does not work, and voting does — A direct challenge to men, and a pledge she is asking them to sign — The real story behind "sí se puede," told by the woman who said it first — Why Huerta says the farmworker movement is remembered for its struggles, but not for the schools, clinics, and careers it built CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome, and introducing Dolores Huerta 00:47 "Our democracy is in peril" — organizing under fascism 01:22 Then and now: batons and tear gas vs. ICE in the fields 02:47 Her message to young people facing discrimination 03:50 A history of poll taxes and voter suppression in Texas 04:20 Are young people less motivated today? Huerta's answer 06:00 Why she says voting, not just protest, is what changes power 07:26 The energy at the Texas Democratic Convention 07:46 Two Latino governors? Hinojosa in Texas, Becerra in California 08:04 "Real men don't hit women" — a challenge, and a pledge 09:07 Her own story: stopping her father, at age 10 10:31 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm 10:45 The farmworker movement's overlooked legacy 13:06 Hiram: "we should be listening to women" 14:22 The origin story of "sí se puede," told firsthand 16:11 "They've always done the impossible" — a call to organize 18:06 Closing: "you embody everything Tejano Talks is about" 18:59 Closing: go vote, give Texas a birthday present ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ GUEST: DOLORES HUERTA co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, later the United Farm Workers, in 1962 and served as UFW vice president until 1999. She coined the phrase "sí se puede" during a 1972 fast in Arizona. Arrested more than 25 times for nonviolent civil disobedience, she survived a near-fatal police beating in 1988 while protesting outside a campaign event. President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. At 96, she continues to organize as president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Tejano Talks brings you unfiltered conversations with the leaders, activists, and storytellers shaping Texas politics and culture. We are committed to a simple idea: men with real strength don't abuse their power. Their strength comes from what they give. Real men honor the women who built us up and refuse to write them out of our stories. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ HOSTS: DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer and one of the most important Latino political figures in Texas. He served on the Dallas City Council and, in 1993, became the first Latino ever elected Mayor Pro Tem of the city. In the Texas Legislature, he co-authored HB 1403 — the Texas DREAM Act — which guarantees in-state tuition to any graduate of a Texas high school. In 2006, he organized the largest march in Texas history, when more than 500,000 people filled downtown Dallas to demand immigration reform. He is a former national president of LULAC and has practiced law for more than 40 years. HIRAM GILBERTO GARCIA is a journalist, producer, and public affairs strategist based in Austin. His frontline coverage of the 2020 protests drew wide local and national attention. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Subscribe, and comment below to tell us which political figures and Tejanos you want to see next. #TejanoTalks #DoloresHuerta #UFW #CivilRights #TexasDemocraticConvention
