#Repost @reporter.arce ・・・ Today marks the 49th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium and the killing of Ruben Salazar. He was the news director at KMEX Univision in Los Angeles in the late 60s. He was also a columnist for the LA Times. More importantly, many in the Mexican-American community considered him their only voice in a society that looked down upon Mexicans. Racism was rampant, police misconduct was routine, dropout rates were high, many young Chicanos were dying in Vietnam (some 20 percent of all war-time casualties) and the media seemed to ignore our plight. On August 29, 1970, more than 40,000 Chicanos took to the streets of East LA to denounce these injustices. The LA County Sheriff's were ordered to forcibly disperse the crowd. Hundreds were injured, dozens were arrested and five people - including Salazar - were killed. The journalist was inside the Silver Dollar Bar about a mile up the road taking a break from covering the march & rally when a Sheriff Deputy fired a tear gas missile into the bar. The missile entered and exited Salazar's head, killing him instantly. Sheriff Deputies contend it was an accident yet most in the Chicano community were suspicious because Salazar reported heavily on police misconduct. 40 years later, I was given access to the Sheriff Department's private files on Salazar. The pictures are gruesome. The collection is telling: Deputies collected surveillance on nearly all the militant/radical groups of the day. They even kept tabs on mainstream Mexican-American politicians and celebrities. The Department - and even an independent investigator - say it was all an accident. But many people who took part in the march and who remember those times refuse to accept that answer. Ruben Salazar presente! #RubenSalazar #journalism #journalist #DangerousProfession #Mexican #Chicano #ChicanoMoratorium #LosAngeles #EastLA #WhittierBoulevard #AllPowerToThePeople #1970 ➡️ #mextasy for the memory of his work and legacy #nomextasy for his murder https://www.instagram.com/p/B11HaK6gmXE/?igshid=yydmjpoenq7g
