Camila Chávez and her mother, Dolores Huerta at DNC in Chicago.
Once again, Dolores Huerta (who else?) is attending the Democratic National Convention held this year in Chicago as a delegate from California. And she has company from Kern County. Her daughter Camila Chavez, Noe Garcia, and Ashley de la Rosa from the Dolores Huerta Foundation are also fellow delegates.
“You can cut the energy here with a knife, it’s so thick with joy,” said Huerta in a phone interview from the Windy City. From what we’ve seen so far, there’s been a strong lineup of powerful speakers who have energized Democrats in a mass rally to get Kamala Harris and Tim Walz elected as president and vice president on November 5. Given a front-row seat at the convention, Huerta is often seen on TV when the camera pans to the audience. But once the euphoria dies down, Democrats have some serious work to do.
“It’s not just about applauding and cheering. We have to go back to work our areas and do the hard work of going door to door and convince our people that they have to vote!.” said Huerta.
A huge part of that task is getting people who have become naturalized citizens to register to vote, and then making sure they do vote. “They don’t understand that democracy doesn’t work unless people participate,” said the 94-year-old Huerta. “If we don’t vote, the people that are working against us, talking about deporting people, rounding up people, those are the people that are going to win,” she said.
The iconic labor and civil rights leader has attended every Democratic National Convention for the past 56 years as a delegate from California, save one. Ironically, her first DNC was in 1968 also held in Chicago which descended into riots in the streets and chaos on the convention floor, unleashing a fierce response from city authorities. A federal commission later described the police response as a “police riot.” Richard Daley was mayor then and he gave police cart blanche to quell any demonstrations. But things were also tense inside the convention.
“The California delegation had a secret service person assigned to us who was following us around, and there was a lot of hostility toward the people that were pro-peace and against the war in VietNam,” said Huerta who added things this year are different.
“You don’t get that sense here today. There’s a lot of security, but you don’t feel like it’s being aggressive, intrusive, or hostile in any way,” she said.
Not to say that protestors are happy with the way Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat, has handled security issues. Numerous rolling barriers have been put up at major intersections to keep protestors at bay. The main message protestors want to send is to end U.S. aid to Israel and call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. Up to now though, none of the violent police response that happened in 1968 has materialized.
“I think protestors are getting their message out,” said Huerta. “To get to the convention you have to pass by where they’re protesting so that people are able to see the protestors, and some of them right in front of the convention as people walk in,” she said.
Once back in Kern County, expect to see volunteers going door-to-door to remind people to vote as November 5 approaches. It’s not enough says Huerta, to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the White House. Said Huerta, “Once Kamala wins, she cannot govern unless she gets a Democratic House and Senate to support her.”
