"Working for justice means never forgetting where we came from."

This is a key component of Kathy Luz Herrera's credo. Born in Texas in the 1950s into a family deeply immersed in the Hispanic civil rights movement, Herrera became an activist, union electrician at Cornell. She also is a second-term Tompkins County legislator (D-5th Ward) with a history of working for social change.

She shared stories of her youth, her sources of inspiration and her involvement with politics and activism over a midday bowl of soup to a large audience, Jan. 31, in Sage Chapel as the featured guest of "Soup for Hope," a new four-week winter series hosting speakers on social change.

Herrera said that her father was one of Texas' first Mexican-American lawyers and that he fought for desegregation of Hispanics in schools. At an early age, he instilled in her the belief that strength comes from being perched "on the shoulders of giants." From him, Herrera learned that battles can be perilous but ultimately they are necessary because "there is great joy in striving to make things better."

She also spoke of her mother's grassroots activism; she would stand in the produce section of the supermarket as a young girl, Herrera said, reminding shoppers they couldn't buy grapes because the Union Farm Workers were striking.

Herrera said that as long as there is injustice, there will be a need for civic engagement. To find the inspiration for change, we must not only draw from our past, but seek hope in our immediate surroundings. Education, family, community and the simple joy of laughing are springs of hope, she said, and with these, we can find sustenance to face any inequality.

Herrera, a 2003 Harvard fellowship recipient for the Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program, won an Alice H. Cook and Constance E. Cook Recognition Award in 2005 for her efforts in women's advocacy at Cornell, and last year The Ithaca Times honored her as "Ithaca's best hero."

The remaining speakers in the noontime "Soup for Hope" series at Sage Chapel are Marty Luster, former New York state legislator, Feb. 7, and Carol Kalafatic, associate director of Cornell's American Indian Program, Feb. 14. The series is a community effort and is co-sponsored by various Cornell organizations including Cornell Dining and Cornell United Religious Work.

Jill McCoy '09 is a writer intern at the Cornell Chronicle.