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Remembering John Delloro by Karen Brodkin

Published on Tuesday, 22nd June, 2010 at 9:56PM
Image of young John Delloro

  Remembering John Delloro

 

The first time I saw John he was wearing a dress and leading the crowd in a chant “Jessie Jesie you’re a mess. . . (I forget the rest of the chant) at a protest against clothing-maker Jessica McClintock for not paying her workers. He was energetic, charismatic, funny and politically very astute. The next time was when we both turned up outside—actually quite far outside—UCLA Chancellor Charles Young’s home in a gated community in the Santa Monica hills. It was a protest by SAGE (the Student Association of Graduate Employees) demanding that the university negotiate with their union. Again I was struck by John’s leadership—and drawn to that same wonderful mix of passion, intelligence and creativity.

 

Related Post: 
DHLI Mourns the Death of Its Executive Director, John Delloro

Thoughts about DHLI: From Faculty and Students

Published on Tuesday, 10th November, 2009 at 3:35PM
Image of Lupe Burgara and Joanne Waddell

Valley instructor Joanne Waddell and students Lupe Burgara from Valley and Bryan Lopez from Pierce share their thoughts about the Dolores Huerta Labor Institute in these brief videos.

 

Cesar Chavez Day and the Forgotten Asian Americans

Published on Wednesday, 1st April, 2009 at 1:56PM
Image of Philip Vera Cruz
 
This past Cesar Chavez Day (March 31) reminds us how forgotten stories can perpetuate stereotypes. Charlotte, an Asian American student leader at Pomona College, asked me how do we ignite people into political action and sweep away the tired public perception of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) as passive and docile. I asked her if she knew the story of Pilipino or Japanese American farm workers in the fields and she admitted she knew very little. Considering the last of the Pilipino farm workers from an earlier period died in 1997 and very little has been written in any depth, most of the students across all races shared this common amnesia.
 
The story of Latino labor leader Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) has been widely circulated to the point of Cesar’s birthday being designated as a California state holiday and President Obama declaring public support of it becoming a national one.
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