Washington State Senate passing a resolution to recognize Larry Itliong

Thank you to State Senator Rebecca Saldaña for a resolution honoring and recognizing the contributions of #LarryItliong on Dolores Huerta Day. Executive Director Agnes Navarro and board members attended the reading of the resolution in Olympia.

Happy International Worker’s Day! Today is not only a day to come together, but also to listen, to hear the words of the many many hard working hands that build so much of our everyday lives. Though a loud voice can move mountains, it can also be silenced over time if we allow it to be forgotten—to be left out of the pages of our history books. We want to take a moment to celebrate the acknowledgment of one of our country’s greatest—and sadly forgotten by the greater population—civil rights and labor activists, Larry Itliong.

Last month State Senator Rebecca Saldana presented a resolution honoring and recognizing the contributions of Larry Itliong on Dolores Huerta Day.

Photo: Larry Itliong and the 1965 Delano Grape Strike

Modesto Dulay Itliong, who was famously known as Larry Itliong, was the organizer of the 1965 Delano Grape Strike and a pillar in our community. He began organizing West Coast agricultural workers in the 1930s and became one of the fathers of the West Coast labor movement and one of the key figures in the greater Asian American movement. The 1965 strike was a step towards equal wages and fair labor practices for our community, and we continue Itliong's work and legacy today.

Itliong said it best: "...I feel we are just as good as any of them. I feel that we have the same rights as any of them. Because in that Constitution, it said that everybody has equal rights and justice. You've got to make that come about. They are not going to give it to you."

Let us open our ears and hear the amplified voices of those organizing today. Together, we are stronger!

#mayday #larryitliong