Salazar Presente...

Awesome week... and it's not even over... wanted to end the night with some thoughts on Aug 29, 1970. Truly, that day shaped me as a young kid.. The moratorium and the death of Ruben Salazar made a dramatic impact on my life. Where he was killed was a just a few blocks down the street from where I grew up on Whittier Blvd. in East LA. In fact, I remember my brothers and I drove to the Silver Cafe where everyone knew Salazar had been shot, but the Sheriff's deputies would not permit anyone near there... we were turned away... they kept him inside the Silver Dollar for at least three hours after he had been shot by a 9-inch tear gas projectile. Today, I teach at the U of Arizona... and today, I taught about that fateful day....about something that happened 43 years ago. To this day, I am one of those who is convinced he was felled as a result of a well-orchestrated political assassination.In a sense, how or with what he was killed doesn't matter. What is important is that his death impacted a lot of youngsters like myself from that generation. That's what moved me to become a journalist... more than wanting to become a writer, his death instilled a powerful incentive to fight for human rights. It's a fire that still burns. I always remember that it was not just he that was killed that day, but also, Lyn Ward and Angel Diaz. Presente. Presente. Does his death matter today? Yes. In a sense, journalism is no longer the exclusive domain of those who work with media. Now we have the peoples' media... todos somos salazar... i always remember him, not as ana activist, but I do believe he had that quality we call Panche be -- to seek the root of the truth... I believe that was part of his ethic, even if he was not familiar with that maiz-based concept we are so proud of in Arizona. My last thoughts are for his family. To this day, they seek justice. A documentary on his death will be released this fall. the filmmaker obtained the long-held boxes of the LA Sheriff's department on Salazar... wonder if they received boxes from the fbi, cia and army intelligence... ojala que al fin pueda descansar en paz...