Remembering a Martyr

By A. Govea

From Our Archives

While most don’t remember or even know who Ruben was, I say you should, that is if you care about Chicano History. Part of the mission of Hola Texas is to keep the history of our community alive and we would be gravely remiss in not sharing the story of Ruben Salazar. And while we cannot do this Giant of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement true justice with one article. We would at least honor him by remembering him on this the 56th anniversary of his murder. 

Ruben’s story is that of a journalist that got swept away by the movement.  While the mainstream media’s attention was on the Black civil rights movement, he chose to cover the Mexican American community. And while we (Hola Texas) have written about the four horsemen of the movement (Reyes, Gutierrez, Tijerina and Chavez) somehow, we are just now getting to Salazar. For that we must apologize to both Ruben and our readers. We have been guilty of somehow letting Ruben get lost in the annals of history.

Ruben’s professional career is one that can be admired by any that has put pen to paper. He was a news reporter and columnist for the Los Angeles Times and other news agencies. He was a foreign correspondent covering the 1965 U.S. occupation of the Dominican Republic and the Vietnam War. He also served as a bureau chief in Mexico City. When he came home from that assignment his focus turned to the LA Raza. He was the first Chicano journalist of a major newspaper to do so and many would say the only one.  He covered the East LA School Walkouts that soon spread throughout the nation. And in doing so he became critical of the treatment of La Raza, by not only the police department, but other government agencies also. Among his many articles were “Who is a Chicano? And what is it the Chicanos want”. His focus was that of disparity in city government and the outright discrimination and mistreatment of La Raza. He wrote “This in a city that had the largest Spanish speaking population in the Country had no Latinos in City council” “They were however politically sophisticated enough to have three African Americans serving on council though.”

All this was also clearly obvious in the number of Latinos that were losing their lives in the Vietnam War at a number that did not equate to its population. This led to the National Chicano Moratorium March to protest the Vietnam War to be held at Laguna Park. Reportedly, over 30,000 people came out to the mostly peaceful march until the end. A rally was held after the march where the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department decided that it was time to end the rally. They went in and attacked unarmed civilians with batons, tear gas and physical brutality. Panic and rioting ensued. By days’ end over 600 would be arrested and three would lie dead, among the dead Ruben Salazar. 

According to historical reports of the infamous day, Ruben and a follow journalist had decided to escape the violence and have a beer at the Silver Dollar Bar on Whittier Boulevard. Around the corner from the bar was the Green Mill Liquor Store and according to police reports they called in for help. According to the police report they reported people coming in to steal, (the owners later denied ever calling the police.) The police responded and a fight broke out, according to the police some in the crowd went into the bar and one of them reportedly had a gun (Never proved).  Deputy Thomas Wilson fired a 10-inch tear gas projectile (the type normally used in barricade situations, not to be shot at people) into the bar which tore of half the head off Ruben Salazar and killed him instantly.

The coroner’s inquest ruled the death a homicide but, Tom Wilson was never prosecuted, a coroner’s jury was split in its findings. Therefore, no charges were ever filed with the District Attorney’s Office, however Salazar’s family did reach a settlement with Los Angeles County for $700,000. They were found to have not used proper and lawful guidelines for the use of deadly force. Many articles and some books have been written about this time in Chicano history and Rubens’ place in it. Perhaps one of the most famous was an article written by Hunter S. Thompson in 1971 for Rolling Stone Magazine titled “Strange rumblings in Aztlan” In doing the research for his article he had a series of interviews with Oscar Acosta a lawyer and civil rights activist. Part of the interviews and writing of this story was done in Las Vegas which then led to the book and later movie “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.  This 1998 movie starred Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro and was for its time one of the wildest movies out there. (I personally liked the movie but many at the time were like “What the hell is this”) 

The park where the march took place is now Ruben Salazar Park, in 2008 the US Post Office issued a stamp with his image. There have been many more awards and honors issued posthumously and even a corrido by Lalo Guerrero entitled “El 29 de Augusto.” 

References; Demoocracy.org Retrieved September 3, 2010, El Paso Times September 3, 2010

Los Angeles Times February 6, 1970, Perry Paul 2004, Fear and Loathing; The strange and terrible saga of Hunter S. Thompson, Thunder’s Mouth Press