Los Angeles city leaders join hundreds downtown to honor Dolores Huerta's legacy at candlelight vigil
Los Angeles city leaders joined hundreds of people downtown to honor the life and legacy of labor activist and civil rights icon Dolores Huerta after she died at 96 on Wednesday.
The crowd gathered under her larger-than-life mural, painted by Robert Vargas, with city and county officials like Mayor Karen Bass and Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna also in attendance.
"She could be at the White House one day and then in a small, informal meeting helping teachers the next, and be just as humble," said Chris Zepeda-Millan, an educator who was at the vigil. "I think that was an inspiration."
He was one of many there who agreed that Huerta wasn't just a brilliant grassroots organizer, but an iconic labor leader and American hero. While her death was a loss for the world, they believe her life's work would continue to inspire future generations.
"Young people, I think, need to see that her strength, her fight, her resilience and what one woman determined can do to create a huge movement," Luna said.
Huerta is renowned for co-founding the United Farm Workers Association, a labor union fighting for California farm workers' rights. She also led the 1965 Delano Grape Strike and boycotts lobbying for laws to secure farm workers' collective bargaining rights.
"She couldn't just sit by and watch injustice happen and that workers deserve better wages, better working conditions, that immigrants deserve a better path to citizenship," said Angelica Salas, the executive director of CHIRLA, or the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.
Huerta further made headlines in early 2026, when she revealed that her longtime organizing partner and colleague Cesar Chavez allegedly sexually assaulted her decades ago, but that she hid the trauma for years to protect the farm worker rights movement.
"Women's rights, LGBTQ rights, environmental justice, youth," said California Senator Maria Elena Durazo. "She was a beacon of inspiration, and certainly one of the most transformative leaders in United States history."
Mayor Bass and others spoke at the gathering, telling the community that it's now their obligation to continue her fight.
"I saw her getting older, I said to her a number of times, 'Dolores, you have given so much. Can you rest?' And she said, 'Karen! There is so much work to do; I absolutely cannot stop," Bass said while speaking to the crowd.
