Rubén Salazar (r) with friends
Forty years ago, Rubén Salazar – already a prominent Latino journalist in his own right — entered an East Los Angeles bar following his coverage of a Chicano anti-Vietnam War demonstration.
He never came out.
Salazar, an El Paso-native who at the time of his death was a reporter for The Los Angeles Times and the news director for KMEX-TV, was hit directly in the head by a tear-gas projectile shot by a deputy in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The shooter was identified but never tried, and the Latino community mourned the loss of a pioneer who with his writing attempted to showcase the injustices people of color in California faced in the early second half of the 20th century.
Through his stories, Salazar told the history of Latinos in California – a history that had been largely ignored by newspapers, radio and television.
Because he fought off efforts to give voice to the marginalized, he often faced threats.
And although his family refuses to label Salazar a martyr, the man who entered that East Los Angeles bar on Aug. 29, 1970 emerged from it an icon for the thousands of journalists of color that today work in U.S. newsrooms.
Rubén Salazar with his wife and kids
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists joins the many story tellers throughout the country in commemorating the 40th anniversary of the death of Rubén Salazar, a man whose legacy serves as fuel for our organization.
A founding inductee into the NAHJ Hall of Fame, Salazar also lends his name to one of the organization’s most important tasks: the Rubén Salazar Scholarship Fund.
Please take some time to browse through our commemoratory package that features videos and stories from NAHJ members – professional, academic and student – who have been touched by the life and death of Rubén Salazar.
Compilation of Rubén Salazar-related videos:
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Former NAHJ Rubén Salazar Scholarship Recipients:
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A special thanks to Gustavo Reveles Acosta, education reporter for the El Paso Times and Maria Burns Ortiz, freelance journalist and Page 2 contributor and soccer writer for ESPN.com for their work on this tribute.