Rubén Salazar (March 3, 1928 - August 29, 1970) was a Mexican-American journalist killed by a sheriff's deputy during the National Chicano Moratorium March against the Vietnam War on August 29, 1970 in East Los Angeles, California. During the 1970s, his killing was often cited as a symbol of unjust treatment of Chicanos by law enforcement.
Salazar was a news reporter and columnist for the Los Angeles Times from 1959 to 1970.[1] He was also news director for the Spanish language television station KMEX in Los Angeles. On August 29, 1970, he was covering the National Chicano Moratorium March, organized to protest the disproportionate number of Chicanos killed in the Vietnam War. The peaceful march ended with a rally that was broken up by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department using tear gas. Panic and rioting ensued, during which Salazar was shot in the head at short range with a tear gas projectile while seated in The Silver Dollar Cafe.[2] A coroner's inquest ruled the shooting a homicide, but the sheriff's deputy involved, Tom Wilson, was never prosecuted. At the time many believed the homicide was a premeditated assassination of a prominent, vocal member of the Los Angeles Chicano community.
The story of Salazar's killing gained nationwide notoriety with the release of "Strange Rumblings in Aztlan," an article written for Rolling Stone magazine by noted gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson and released on April 29, 1971 in Rolling Stone #81. He was featured in the front page of that magazine in a cover that featured an 11 year old Michael Jackson in the cover as a different story.
In 1971, Salazar was posthumously awarded a special Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and, after the controversy of his death had subsided, Laguna Park, site of the 1970 rally and subsequent police action, was renamed Salazar Park in his honor. His death was commemorated in a corrido by Lalo Guerrero entitled "El 29 de Agosto". At Sonoma State University, the former library, now an administration and classroom building, is named for Rubén Salazar, in memory of his work in Sonoma County as a reporter for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. As well, a classroom building at California State University, Los Angeles is named for him. On October 12, 2006, the hall was rededicated with the unveiling of his portrait by John Martin.
On October 5, 2007, the United States Postal Service announced that it would honor five journalists of the 20th century times with first-class rate postage stamps, to be issued on Tuesday, April 22, 2008: Martha Gellhorn, John Hersey, George Polk, Ruben Salazar, and Eric Sevareid. Postmaster General Jack Potter announced the stamp series at the Associated Press Managing Editors Meeting in Washington.image
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