Latin Life Denver Media (See Video of President Obama Tribute to Dolores Huerta below)

Many of us in Colorado have fond memories of Dolores Huerta. She has visited our state many times for many causes. Lots of us have take photos with her at the numerous events she attended. Her family stated that she died today, October 28th of cancer.

Huerta’s family said in a statement through her Bakersfield, California-based foundation that she died Wednesday at home.

CBS news quoted the family as saying “As you can imagine, this is an incredibly difficult time for us, and we ask for privacy as we grieve this incredible loss to our family,” the family said. “We know that many of you around the world share in our mourning.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who considered Huerta a close friend, ordered flags be flown at half-staff in her honor.

“Dolores represented the best of us,” Newsom said in a statement. “California — and the United States — would not be what we are today without her resolute spirit, her passion for justice and fairness, and her commitment to those overlooked and forgotten.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass described Huerta’s legacy as “proof of what ordinary people can accomplish when they organize.”

“Dolores reminded us that no matter the odds, no matter the obstacle, we can build a greater life for ourselves, our community, our city, and our country,” Bass said in a statement. “She never, never stopped working. She was fighting for civil rights every day, into her nineties. Those who knew her, worried about her, but the intensity of her fight continued on.”

Denver Mayoral candidate Lisa Calderon posted a social media statement saying: “I am deeply saddened to learn about the passing of our beloved civil rights icon, Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers. She will be remembered as a woman warrior who taught so many of us how to organize and fight against impossible odds to change the course of history for workers’ rights.

My formation as an organizer came from her work fighting in the fields and the streets for better working conditions for those with the fewest protections. When I was a child, my mother took me on the picket line to boycott grapes because “there was blood on them.” I grew up with images of Dolores holding a megaphone, leading boycotts, protests, and marches. I am grateful to have had a strong, fearless Mexican American woman show me what it looks like to be a bold and powerful leader.

As a survivor myself, I appreciated the courage she showed us in her final year by speaking her truth after carrying that trauma for decades to protect the movement she built. My heart goes out to her family. I hope they find comfort in knowing her legacy will live on for generations, especially for young women who benefit from her bravery.”

Raul A. Reyes of NBC news wrote: “Dolores Huerta, arguably the nation’s most well-known Latina civil rights leader, has died, her family said in a statement. 

She was 96.

The labor leader was the co-founder, with Cesar Chavez, of the United Farm Workers (UFW), the first nationally recognized union for farmworkers.

An inspiration to generations of Americans, Huerta spent decades fighting labor injustices and political, racial and gender inequalities.

Huerta was “the most famous Latina that has ever been in the labor movement, and the renown was well-earned,” said Matthew J. Garcia, professor at Dartmouth College and author of the 2014 book, “From the Jaws of Victory: The Triumph and Tragedy of Cesar Chavez and the Farm Worker Movement.”  

“She was extraordinary,” he said.

In her UFW heyday, Huerta cut a striking figure, a fierce young Latina shouting through a bullhorn, rallying workers and leading marches. This was a rare sight at a time when Hispanic people had yet to become a political force. She was the embodiment of a “Chicana,” a politically active Mexican American woman claiming her own power.