美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Dolores' Focuses On Life Of Labor And Civil Rights Leader Dolores Huerta

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: 

Now, if you follow the history of the civil rights movement, then Dolores Huerta is a name that you likely know. She was one of the co-founders of the group that became the United Farm Workers working with the late Cesar Chavez. After more than six decades of activism, she's still going at 86 years old. Yesterday, she took part in one of the many women's marches around the country in reaction to the inauguration¹ of Donald Trump² and his policies.

Although Dolores Huerta has been a prominent figure in the civil rights struggles going back decades, now there is a documentary that seeks to tell her story anew and to cement her place in this country's civil rights and labor³ history. In it, we hear from famous feminists⁴ voices such as Hillary Clinton and Angela Davis, but we also get a glimpse of just what has made Dolores Huerta a legend among activists⁶.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DAVID ROBERTI: She's indefatigable⁷. She's unorthodox. You know, Dolores will bring in hundreds of people who will camp outside your office. So when Dolores is in Sacramento, everybody knows she's in Sacramento.

MARTIN: That's former California State Senator David Roberti talking about Dolores Huerta in the new documentary about her. It's called appropriately enough "Dolores." It was written, produced and directed by Peter Bratt. And the film premiered this weekend at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. And that's where we caught up with Dolores Huerta. I started by asking her about what message she had for those who took part in the Park City women's march.

DOLORES HUERTA: Well, my message was that we have to get back down to basics. We have to start organizing at the neighborhood level to get people educated to vote. There's just so many facets⁸, I think, of the ignorance in our society that have to be corrected if we're really going to have a democratic society and a society that is just and that respects all of the members of this society regardless of who they are, what color they may be, what sexual orientation⁹ that they have or what gender¹⁰, you know, they happen to be.

MARTIN: I mentioned earlier that the documentary is written and directed and produced by Peter Bratt, but it's executive produced by the music icon¹¹ Carlos Santana. And in the sort of background notes for the film, Peter Bratt describes getting a phone call from Carlos Santana saying we have to make a film about Dolores. The suggestion was that the filmmakers felt that your role in the building of the farm workers' movement had not been given adequate attention. The role of women in general on the struggle for farm workers' rights had not been given its due. Do you feel that way?

D. HUERTA: Well, I do believe they call it his story - history. And so, you know, that's, I think, the case of many aspects of the civil rights movement where men were really given most of the attention of the work that was being done, even though we had very many women that were at the forefront of the struggle and at the forefront of the movement.

So it's not just the history of the farm workers' movement. It's the history of our United States of America and general history of many, many organizations. And so a women's place in history has never been given the attention that it needs to be given, and, again, that's why we have a lot of the misogyny in our society today.

MARTIN: Well, but I'm going to keep going back to you Dolores because the film was about you. And you know what else though? It also talks a lot about the personal costs of having dedicated¹² yourself so wholeheartedly to organizing. And, you know, I want to mention here that you have 11 kids, and a number of them are interviewed in the film. And I just want to play a quick cut of a couple of your kids as they reflect on their childhood. And here it is.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "DOLORES")

EMILIO HUERTA: It was very hard. I'll be honest with you, tough.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: The movement became her most important child. I realize the importance of the work, but I was also very jealous of it. So there's scars there. You know, there's scars there.

MARTIN: Did you know that?

D. HUERTA: Oh, of course. Those are the choices, unfortunately, that women have to make, and hopefully some day we'll have adequate day care, so that more women can get involved in movements. And I just want to say to mothers out there in the world that might hear that my children grew up very resourceful and strong in spite of them having to live with different families and that I had to drag them all over the country with me.

And I want to say to mothers out there, you know, take your children to marches. Take them to meetings because this is a way that they can become strong, and they understand what politics is all about because they are actually living it. And so there are, of course, regrets that my children did have to make so many sacrifices, but at the end of the day, they turned out great.

MARTIN: (Laughter) How do you like the film? Do you like the film? As I mentioned, you obviously have trouble talking about yourself, so I'm betting that maybe this process of having this film made about you was, perhaps, a little bit more painful than some might have imagined. But do you like it? And do you hope that people see it? And when they see it, what do you hope they'll see?

D. HUERTA: Yeah. Well, I hope that people do like the film. I hope that this movie will inspire people when they see that farm workers who were the most discriminated¹³ and the most poverty-stricken people in our country, you know, had the courage to stand up and to fight for their rights, to organize. That way we'll inspire other people to say, hey, if those poorest of the poor could do it, then maybe we could do something great also.

MARTIN: That is Dolores Huerta. She's a lifelong organizer and activist⁵. There's a new documentary about her called "Dolores." It premiered this weekend at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. And she was nice enough to speak to us from there. Dolores Huerta, thank you so much for speaking with us.

D. HUERTA: And thank you very much for having me.

1 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 feminists   

n.男女平等主义者，女权扩张论者( feminist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Only 16 percent of young women in a 1990 survey considered themselves feminists. 在1990年的一项调查中，只有16%的年轻女性认为自己是女权主义者。 来自辞典例句
• The organization had many enemies, most notably among feminists. 这个组织有许多敌人，特别是在男女平等主义者中。 来自辞典例句

5 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

6 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 indefatigable   

adj.不知疲倦的，不屈不挠的

参考例句：

• His indefatigable spirit helped him to cope with his illness.他不屈不挠的精神帮助他对抗病魔。
• He was indefatigable in his lectures on the aesthetics of love.在讲授关于爱情的美学时，他是不知疲倦的。

8 facets   

n.（宝石或首饰的）小平面( facet的名词复数 )；（事物的）面；方面

参考例句：

• The question had many facets. 这个问题是多方面的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A fully cut brilliant diamond has 68 facets. 经过充分切刻的光彩夺目的钻石有68个小平面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 orientation   

n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍

参考例句：

• Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
• The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。

10 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

11 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

12 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

13 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？