5/29, Dolores Huerta receives the Presidential Medal of Honor, our Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. Dolores Huerta was back in her birth state of New Mexico on May 16th, speaking about our Congressional race. An interview with her aired on May 19 KUNM's "Women's Focus".
Huerta spoke to Susan Loubet about her view of current national issues and her activism which continues in her 8oth decade. Earlier in the day, she had mentioned the "War on Women," and Loubet started by asking her about that. At the end of the interview, she spoke about the need for women in public office.
On May 29, The White House honors Huerta as a civil rights, workers, and women’s advocate. With Cesar Chavez, she co-founded the National Farmworkers Association in 1962, which later became the United Farm Workers of America. Huerta has served as a community activist and a political organizer, and was influential in securing the passage of California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, and disability insurance for farmworkers in California. In 2002, she founded the Dolores Huerta Foundation, an organization dedicated to developing community organizers and national leaders. In 1998, President Clinton awarded her the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights. (White House proclamation)