by Emily C. Ruíz
Rubén Salazar
University of Southern California professor Fé1ix Gutiérrez, with backing Chávez llama por un fondo de pobreza de $1 billón Chávez urges $1bn poverty fundfrom other longtime Chicano scholars and journalists, is calling upon Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and County Sheriff Lee Baca to release all documents surrounding the Aug. 29, 1970, death of journalist Rubén Salazar.
“Whatever it takes to get the story out should be done. If that’s a reinvestigation, fine,” Gutiérrez told Weekly Report.
A coroner’s jury conclude only that Salazar who was shot in the head with a tear-gas missile fired by a deputy sheriff, “died at the hands of another.” No criminal charges were filed.
Salazar was killed while he and his KMEXTV news crew were covering the Chicano Moratorium March Against the Vietnam War. Gutiérrez raised the issue as a panelist during an April 22 event at the Los Angeles Times where the U.S. Postal Service unveiled a stamp recognizing Salazar’s pioneering work.
Gutidurez told Weekly Report that Mayor Villaraigosa was in the audience when he made his request but saw no reaction from him. Inquiries by Weekly Report to Villaraigosa’s office as to whether the mayor plans to act on the recommendation were not answered.
Prior to his death, Salazar had expressed to many colleagues that the police were “out to get him.” He contacted the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in mid-August to go on the record about his fears.
Salazar wrote in a Times column a month before he was killed that law enforcement representatives had visited him personally to advise him to tone down his coverage of police activities in the Mexican-American community.
“They warned me about the ‘impact’ the interviews would have on the department’s image,” Salazar wrote in July 24, 1970. “Besides, they said, this kind of information could be dangerous in the minds of barrio people.”
Felix Gutiérrez
Others recounted that his employers at the Times and KMEX-TV were visited by police officials complaining of Salazar’s coverage and suggesting that he be fired.
Danny Villanueva, KMEX general manager at the time, told Weekly Report last September, “When I refused, they said they had a pretty big file on me, too.”
It has been 38 year since the prominent Mexican-American newsman was killed and many who knew him professionally and personally agreed with Gutiérrez’s request.
California Chicano News Media Association executive director Julio Morán, told Weekly Report, “Questions should be answered once and for all. Was he assassinated or not?’
Retired Western regional director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Phil Móntez, a long-time friend of Salazar, said, “It would calm the waters to know.” But who’s still around and willing to talk?” He continued, “It’s been 38 yeans and it doesn’t make sense that they would even consider it.”
Long-time activist Raúl Ruiz told Weekly Report that his book Silver Dollar Death: The Murder of Rubén Salazar, planned for publication this fall, will cover in-depth the circumstances surrounding Salazar’s death. “The best way to honor this man is find out how he died,” Ruíz said.
Ex-broadcast journalist Bob Navarro, one of the last persons to conduct an in-depth interview with Rubén, said, “I don’t think it’s going to heal very much, “adding, “There’s no question he was being followed.
Gutiérrez concluded, “You need more than a stamp and a day to honor him. How much longer do we have to wait before we can find out the whole story?” Hispanic Link.
