Maria Hinojosa barely nudges the five foot mark. But she stands tall as an award winning journalist with a powerful voice, great wit, intelligence, and tenacity. All of which she shared with me when we recorded a conversation prior to her speaking at the University of Washington on November 1st. The YouTube link is attached below.

Her lecture was titled: Testing the Limits of Due Process Denial: Latinos and Immigrants as the Canaries in the Mine. Immigration and America’s changing demographics have been a major of focus of Hinojosa’s reporting in recent years. She is an immigrant from Mexico who became an American citizen.

When I asked Dolores Huerta how to deal with overt racism like we saw in Charlottesville, Virginia, she replied quickly with one word: “organize”.

“People have taken their hoods off and you can identify them,” says Huerta. “I think people are now really concerned and paying attention and it’s time now for all of us to get together and to be active and involved to change some of the policies that are hurting our society.”

At 87, Dolores Huerta is a legend. She co-founded the United Farm Workers union with Cesar Chavez. She coined the slogan “Si, se puede” or “Yes, we can” that President Obama used in his run for the presidency. Obama honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.