Ruben Salazar was killed in an East Los Angeles bar when an L.A. County sheriff's deputy fired a tear gas canister that tore through his head during the 1970 Chicano Moratorium, a rally against the Vietnam War. He was one of three people who died that day as police turned the protest into a melee. Salazar had been a respected Los Angeles Times veteran reporter and columnist who chronicled the Chicano experience. Murals, a high school, parks, a university hall, postage stamps, scholarships, and journalism awards now honor his legacy, keeping his presence alive in Los Angeles.
Exactly 55 years ago, Salazar was killed in an East Los Angeles bar by a tear gas canister launched by an L.A. County sheriff's deputy that tore through his head. He was one of three people who died that day during the Chicano Moratorium, a rally against the Vietnam War that out-of-control cops turned into a melee. Salazar was only eight months into his columnist gig.
In death, Salazar became immortal. Murals of him sprang up around the Southwest. Wearing a suit jacket and tie, with a full head of hair and a confident look on his face, he symbolized the potential and peril of being a Mexican American in the United States. Even as the decades passed, and his clips were relegated to archives and the memories of those who had read him in real time, Salazar has thankfully yet to fade from L.A.'s physical and spiritual landscape.
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