Portrait of Ruben Salazar carried in the Mexican Independence Day Parade, Los Angeles (1970)
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Ruben Salazar: Journalist and Chicano Activist
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Ruben Salazar was a prominent Mexican-American journalist who played a significant role during the Chicano Moratorium, a mass protest movement against the Vietnam War and the mistreatment of Mexican Americans in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Salazar became an icon of the Chicano Movement, and his controversial death at the hands of the police inspired a new sense of urgency within the Movement. Salazar remained a contemporary symbol of activism and the fight for social justice.
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Ruben Salazar was a prominent Mexican American journalist during the 20th century. Born in 1928 in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Salazar moved with his family to El Paso, Texas in 1929, where he grew up and attended school. After graduating from Texas Western College with a degree in journalism and English in 1959, he began his career as a reporter in El Paso. He worked for the El Paso Herald-Post, the San Fransisco News, and later for the Los Angeles Times starting in 1959. Salazar quickly succeeded at the Times, serving as the paper’s bureau chief in Vietnam during the height of the war. Notably, Salazar’s domestic coverage of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement largely contributed to his long-lasting legacy as a leader and activist.
Through his writing, Salazar illuminated the discriminatory struggles of Mexican Americans and other minority groups. He wrote about many oppressive topics, such as police brutality, poverty, discrimination, and lack of political representation. Embracing his role as a leader of activism for these marginalized communities, Salazar also urged his readers to take action and demand change.
In 1969, Salazar spoke at a rally in East Los Angeles for the first Chicano Moratorium march, a demonstration that protested the disproportionately high number of Mexican American casualties in the Vietnam War. An opportunity for Mexican Americans to emphasize their cultural identity to challenge systematic racism, Salazar utilized this event to promote unity and support for the growing Chicano Movement. He documented the event through interviews with other activists, by taking photographs, and writing about the questionable tactics used by the sizable police force to control the crowd. Through his continued coverage of the Moratorium, Salazar quickly became a national icon and household name.
On August 29, 1970, Salazar covered the National Chicano Moratorium March, a protest of more than 20,000 Mexican Americans in East Los Angeles. Soon after his participation, Salazar entered the Silver Dollar Café, where his chronicle of the Chicano Moratorium was tragically cut short. Responding to false reports of an armed disturbance, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy shot Salazar in the head and killed him instantly. Salazar’s death sparked outrage and widespread protests within the Chicano community. Tension increased between Chicanos and the police as the circumstances of his death were publicly questioned; many considered his death a direct act of violence against Mexican Americans and an attempt to silence their voices. Salazar’s legacy continued through his colleagues, who investigated the circumstances of the shooting and reported on the trial of the police deputy responsible. Salazar’s death also inspired a renewed sense of urgency and determination within the Chicano Moratorium.
Salazar’s impact on the Chicano Movement was renowned. His writing became a voice for Mexican Americans, exposing injustices they endured and advocating for social justice and equality. He inspired his community to fight for change. A symbol of perseverance and resilience, Salazar was remembered as a hero of the Chicano Movement. His legacy continued to influence the activist work of journalists, community leaders, and artists advocating for and celebrating the Chicano experience. A courageous journalist, activist and leader, Ruben Salazar’s coverage of the Chicano Moratorium and his death inspired his community and altered the course of the Chicano Movement. Salazar became a symbol of the importance of speaking truth and fighting for social justice and equality.