Looking Back on an East L.A. Tragedy
A quarter of a century later, “Bob Navarro’s Journal” looks back at the largest anti-war march in Southern California, an initially nonviolent protest that erupted into tragedy.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina and Frank del Olmo, assistant to the editor of The Times, are on hand for “The Chicano Moratorium: A 25th Anniversary Retrospective.” It airs at 9:30 a.m. Sunday on KCBS-TV Channel 2.
On Aug. 29, 1970, 20,000 people marched from Whittier Boulevard to what is now Ruben Salazar Park. Salazar, a Times columnist, was one of three people killed in what escalated into a riot, after police moved in to clear the park after a disturbance at a nearby liquor store. East L.A. burned and more than 200 people were arrested.
The crowd had marched and gathered to protest the disproportionate number of Latinos called to serve in the Vietnam War, and at the lack of jobs and opportunities facing those who remained at home.
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