High school English teacher Gretel Rodriguez is a longtime social justice and women’s advocate at the local, state and national level. She was the NEA Women’s Caucus Treasurer and is the current CTA Women’s Caucus chair. In both caucuses she has liberated the space for BIPOC women to lead, expanded the idea of feminism and created a more inclusive atmosphere.

Recently, she coordinated a women’s consortium for her service center. She also created an ethnic studies consortium working with a women-led equity team and with other women from Southern California.

Rodriguez’s activism expands to broader racial and social justice issues, from leading a Black Lives Matter hunger strike to refugee marches, from collecting donated supplies for Bridge of Love to creating workshops and support for LGBTQ+ parents and community, and to participation in the Association of Raza Educators and Union del Barrio. In an all-women-led event this past summer, she traveled to Mexico to build a coalition with teachers.

She has participated in ICE patrols, leafletting neighborhoods about peoples’ rights and where to seek help if ICE agents separate parents from children. She collaborated on a women-led march for families to stay together during a mass deportation and detention and co-chaired a hunger strike for mothers separated from their children. She has held accountable politicians who accept detention center money.

“It was important that I do whatever I can to support other mothers who don’t have a voice, don’t have documentation to speak out,” Rodriguez said. “I have to do this work. I cannot look into my children’s eyes, my students’ eyes, and not do anything.”

Watch Gretel Rodriguez’s short video here. Read about the other Human Rights Award winners here.