The Ruben Salazar stamp

The U.S. Postal Service honors a Times journalist slain during the East L.A. riots.

April 22, 2008

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It is not every day that we have the opportunity to celebrate a colleague whose work for this newspaper stands the scrutiny of history. Journalism, by its nature, tends to focus on the immediate. Only a few of any generation leave a bold enough mark to be visible over generations. One such journalist was Ruben Salazar, whom we honor today as the United States Postal Service issues a stamp to commemorate his life and work.

To many, Salazar is recalled largely for his death. He was killed at the age of 42 by a tear-gas canister fired by a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy during a Chicano antiwar protest-turned-riot in East Los Angeles in 1970. It is right and important that we remember Salazar's death. His clear-eyed, unflinching journalism impelled him to places of danger and made him enemies, some in law enforcement. But his contribution exceeds his sacrifice. In the 11 years that his work appeared in these pages, Salazar was a voice of the people -- la voz de la Raza, some called him.

Salazar was an early and eloquent explorer of the Mexican American experience. He chronicled that experience around the world, reporting from Mexico, of course, but also the Dominican Republic and Vietnam. His greatest work was done in Los Angeles, where Salazar refused to accept the pathologies of immigrant life. He covered schools and police-community relations. He rightly complained about a system of political representation that denied Latinos any place on the City Council or county Board of Supervisors. He refused to accept that Mexican immigrants, whose contributions were forming the city we now inhabit, were to be treated as somehow outside it. He wrote from the ground up, which is why he found himself in the Silver Dollar Cafe on Aug. 29, 1970, as the rioting churned through the neighborhood and as that deputy fired the canister that killed him.

Much has changed in the years since Salazar died. He would surely be pleased to see a Mexican American mayor and other elected leaders; he would welcome the signs of political cohesion among Latinos. But he would find Los Angeles schools painfully familiar, and he would have no trouble recognizing the often shrill debate over illegal immigration. As Los Angeles enjoys "Ruben Salazar Day," we, his proud former colleagues, rededicate ourselves to the city that he imagined, one where we recognize and celebrate our varied heritages and set aside those differences in order to build a society together.

For a sampling of Salazar's work and stories about his life, death and the Chicano movement, go to latimes.com/rubensalazar.

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1. How very well I remember that fatefull day. A Chicano USMC Vet. I was there. I recall being about 150 feet South to the Photographer who took the famous photo of the officer who fired the tear gas missle, seen it travel into the bar and I ducking behind a telephone pole expecting returning fire. I then exited the area and made my way to a buddys barber shop on 3rd. St., washed out my eyes an told him and the patrons what I had seen. I exclaimed... "Smoke is Brown". Hearing, later that Salazar was hit in the bar, I felt a real sense of loss. Our champion was dead and as I judged correctly, we would never have a voice like him again.
Submitted by: Vic Muniz
12:53 PM PDT, Apr 28, 2008

2. To Mile L: Hey, stupid. You were smart enough to search The Wall using 100 common Anglo names. How about searching common Hispanic names such as Lopez, Martinez or Ramirez. You'd be surprised. And by the way, we Mexican-Americans were classified as "Caucasion" by most government agencies until 1975 when a separate category of "Hispanic" (Chicano in California) was added. And yes, stupid, officially there are only three general categories of humans - Caucasion, Black (Negro) and Mongolian (Asian).
Submitted by: JR
9:03 AM PDT, May 5, 2008

3. Was Ruben Salazar covering the demonstration that became the East L.A. Riot? He was INSIDE the Silver Dollar bar. The action was OUTSIDE. Deputy's via Loud Speaker ordered everyone out of the bar. The door was OPEN, but there was a curtain covering the door way. A Tear gas projectile was fired through the door, maybe not the best choice, but it was during RIOT conditions. If those in the bar, including reporter Salazar had come out when ordered, there would have been no one injured or killed. Salazar would have lived to cover more story's and to have more drinnks.
Submitted by: JB
5:42 AM PDT, May 2, 2008

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