Following the credible allegations of sexual assault against César Chávez, institutions and organizations around the country have been removing the late labor and civil rights activist’s name. In Albuquerque, the local Recuerda a César Chávez Committee was among the many groups facing that task.
Organizers took the moment as an opportunity to bring people together in community in an event designed to foster hope and healing. The newly renamed Sí Se Puede presented “Voces de Comunidad” on April 25 at the Railyards Market in Albuquerque.
Bernalillo County Commissioner Barbara Baca, in an official statement declaring April 25 Dolores Huerta Day, said the committee’s new name reflects a shift in focus toward the living legacy of labor organizer Dolores Huerta.
“The name of our new committee, New Mexico Sí Se Puede Committee, honors Dolores Huerta’s living legacy and signals a renewed dedication to community, empowerment, multigenerational leadership and collective action,” Baca said.
Huerta, a New Mexico native who helped lead the United Farm Workers movement alongside Chavez, is credited with the slogan “Sí, se puede,” or “Yes, we can.”
Attended by several hundred guests and hosted by Chuy Martinez and Santa Andazola, the event featured live music and a series of speakers, including Albuquerque Democratic elected officials State Sen. Linda Lopez and State Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero.
Musical artists included Henry Cortez and Los Heartaches, Oti Ruiz y Voces de Coronado, and Mala Maña. Also performing were the dance group Danza Azteca and New Mexico State Poet laureate Manuel González.
Committee chair Linda Benavides, a longtime activist and former state legislator, said the name change both honors Huerta and reflects the broader challenges facing communities today.
“Dolores is still here. She’s still alive. She’s still our living legacy,” Benavides said. “She champions so many causes — not just farm workers’ rights, but voters’ rights, women’s rights and immigration rights.”
Huerta was not present at the event, but joined the gathering by phone from California. She listened as students from Coronado Elementary School performed songs and offered brief words of encouragement to those present.
“Our work is not finished,” Huerta said. “Our work is just beginning.”
The committee also highlighted its youth outreach efforts, including the annual Dolores Huerta Day of Service, where students help cultivate community land at Sanchez Farm Open Space in Albuquerque’s South Valley. Organizer Anna Maldonado said the program began in 2009 when schools started bringing students to the site to work.
“They started inviting schools to the Sanchez Farm and working alongside Bernalillo County to take care of the land and start growing,” Maldonado said.
This year, students from Rio Grande High School and South Valley Prep participated in gardening projects and learned traditional adobe brick building techniques.
At the event, Manuel Gonzalez, the New Mexico Poet Laureate, delivered a poem dedicated to “the healing of our movement,” invoking imagery of Albuquerque’s neighborhoods, traditions and shared resilience.
“We are building a city that heals, that honors, that shouts joy to the future we need together to be the ceremonia that heals this whole city,” Gonzalez said.
Benavides emphasized that while people can feel overwhelmed and exhausted by the current political climate, she likes to remember Huerta’s emphasis on mutual support as foundational to making change against daunting odds.
“And it's easy to sit back and say, you know, I just can't handle this anymore,” Benavides said. “And I know Dolores probably felt that way, but yet she gets up and she says, the way that we need to do it is people power. And if you've always heard her talk, she'll say, ‘what kind of power do we have?’ People power . . . everyone thinks that, ‘oh, it's got to be some big organization, some great leader.’ No, this movement that we're dealing with is bigger than one individual, and every little individual that works on it together, collectively, we can make a difference.”
