[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 44 (Monday, April 10, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO DOLORES HUERTA

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 10, 2000

  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, today I pay a heartfelt tribute to Dolores 
Huerta, pre-eminent American labor leader and social activist, on the 
occasion of her 70th birthday, which we celebrate today.
  Dolores Fernandez Huerta was born April 10, 1930, in Dawson, New 
Mexico. The mother of 11 children, the grandmother of 14, and the 
great-grandmother of four, she is a hero to farmworkers, to the Latino 
community, to women, to the labor movement and to me.
  I have known and worked with Dolores for many years, and I can say 
that this is a person whose brilliance, incomparable leadership ability 
and sheer energy would have propelled her to prominence no matter what 
field she might have chosen for her life's work. How very fortunate for 
the farmworkers of this nation--and for all of us--that she chose La 
Causa, the cause of justice for farmworkers.
  I say all of us because our nation is diminished when some among us, 
those who do the hard work of harvesting the food we eat, are deprived 
of decent wages and working conditions. She organized and co-founded 
the United Farm Workers of America with Cesar Chavez in 1965 in the 
belief that in the union there is the strength to achieve economic and 
civil rights for farmworkers.
  In the 35 years since then, she has fired the souls and minds of poor 
farmworkers who, thanks to her, can imagine and achieve better lives 
for themselves and their children. She is a wellspring of ideas and a 
brilliant strategist--I can personally attest to that--but she has also 
physically put herself on the line for her fellow workers and has been 
subjected to life-threatening injury for it.
  It has been my great personal fortune to be able to count Dolores 
Huerta as a colleague and a friend. Dolores, for the inspiration that 
you provide by your selfless devotion to improving the lives of 
farmworkers, for the breakthroughs you have achieved and the goals you 
continue to set for all of us, and for your example of a life spent in 
service to others, we thank you and wish you a joyous birthday and many 
happy returns.

                          ____________________