by Emily C. Ruíz
The 42-cent postage stamp honoring Mexican-American journalist Rubén Salazar, who was killed by a Los Angeles County deputy sheriff while covering a Chicano anti-Vietnam War protest on Aug. 29, 1970, is now on sale.
The stamp is part of an American Journalists commemorative set where four other distinguished reporters are saluted as well. The unveiling took place in dual ceremonies April 22 – in Washington D.C at the National Press Club for all five and in California at the Los Angeles Times building in a special tribute to Salazar.
The Los Angeles City Council proclaimed April 22 as Rubén Salazar Day.
Olga Briseño, director of the Media Policy Initiative at the University of Arizona, ignited the Salazar stamp campaign three years ago, gathering 1,300 signatures and submitting a ten-pound package of compelling evidence to the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee as to why Salazar deserved the national recognition and why the public should care. She made it happen.
The committee reviews 50,000 submissions each year. Thirty are approved. The last Latino to be so honored was the late farm labor leader César Chávez in 2002.
Salazar’s career began at the El Paso Times across from his Mexican birthplace in the border city of Juárez. In 1959 he joined the Los Angeles Times, where he covered the Vietnam War, civil disobedience in the Dominican Republic and, based in Mexico City, served as the Times’ Latin American correspondent.
Later he found himself in the midst of turbulent times in Los Angeles, where the Mexican-American population had begun to speak out against the neglect and injustice it had to confront at home.
As a reporter and then a columnist, Salazar documented every aspect of the charges and the changes. His coverage and commentaries put him in on police radar as he uncovered the repressive tactics employed by law enforcement. He expanded his aggressive reporting after becoming news director at Spanish-language KMEX-TV.
More than 50,000 residents of East Los Angeles paraded in the National Chicano Moratorium March Against the Vietnam War, where Salazar became the first of three fatalities when police charged the protesters.
He and his news crew were taking a lunch break at the Silver Dollar Café several blocks away from the demonstrations when the deputy fired an armor-piercing tear gas missile into the café. It struck Salazar in the head, instantly killing him. The official explanation failed to satisfy many of those familiar with the circumstances.
Approval of the stamp was announced in 2007. It was originally a 41-cent denomination, but was raised with the first-class postage rate to 42 cents.
Salazar’s daughter, Lisa Salazar Johnson, said the 42 on the postage stamp will remind her forever of her father’s love and his accomplishments during his 42 years of life.
Former Times reporter Frank Sotomayor spoke about Salazar’s legacy at the Washington ceremony. “I see his work in a broader context as advocating for the best in journalism and the best values of American democracy, fairness, justice and equality.”
Iván Román, executive director of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, praised Salazar for his “trailblazing,” stressing that he shifted from mainstream to Spanish-language media to include the Hispanic community more fully in this nation’s information loop.
(Emily C. Ruíz is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service, based in Washington, D.C. Email: e.cruiz@hotmail.com). © 2008
