A fabled series on L.A.'s Mexican Americans

Ruben Salazar is mostly remembered today as a pioneering L.A. Times columnist. But 60 years ago this week, he wrote a groundbreaking series on L.A.'s Mexican American community. We revisit it. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [Los Angeles Times] [Essential California Newsletter] February 24, 2023 [View in browser]( [Click to view images]( reporter Robert Lopez views a painting of former Times reporter Ruben Salazar and a copy of Salazar's last story before his death. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) By Gustavo Arellano Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California [newsletter](. It’s Friday, Feb. 24. I’m Gustavo Arellano, and I’m writing from Orange County, where it’s cold and rainy. I’m also a Metro columnist, which means I’m allowed to have opinions. Like: History is cool. That’s why the past is not even past, to paraphrase William Faulkner — it’s always on my radar. But even a SoCal history nerd like me doesn’t know it all, which is why I was happy to hear recently from Félix Gutiérrez. He’s a professor emeritus of journalism at USC Annenberg and perhaps the ultimate authority on Latino journalism in the United States, of the English-, Spanish- and Spanglish-language variety. The profe reminded me that today is the 60th anniversary of a pioneering — but largely forgotten series — on L.A.'s Mexican American community by Ruben Salazar. He’s nowadays remembered as a crusading columnist killed by an L.A. County Sheriff’s Department tear gas canister [shot at his head]( during the 1970 Chicano Moratorium in East Los Angeles. But in 1963, Salazar was a reporter three years into his latest gig, with one of the few Latino bylines in The Times. He was already drawing attention for covering Mexican American issues in a thorough, sensitive way for a paper long acknowledged as [one of the most anti-Mexican in the United States](. At the beginning of 1962, Salazar covered the 1,800-mile frontera from Tijuana to Matamoros in a well-received six-part series. A year later, he topped himself. On Feb. 24, 1963, the Sunday front-page headline read, “Spanish-Speaking Angelenos: A Culture in Search of a Name.” Over the next week, Salazar examined the Mexican American community around East Los Angeles and Boyle Heights (which he called the “Serape Belt”) at what seemed like a turning point for their place in Southern California. “This is an attempt to trace where they came from, what they are and where they are going,” the series intro read. The Times had attempted similar overviews in the past, to patronizing effect. But the genius of Salazar and this series is that his headlines and topics seem ripped from today’s headlines. “Leader Calls Effort to Aid Mexican-Americans Failure.” “Mexican-Americans Lack Political Power.” “Mexican-Americans Succeeding.” Salazar hailed what needed to be hailed, and was unsparing in what needed to be criticized. Of a failed effort to elect a Mexican American to replace outgoing Councilmember Edward Roybal, Salazar wrote, “The Mexican-American political ‘piñata’ often crumbles because they can often agree on the worth of Anglo politicians, but rarely on the worth of their own.” Are your ears burning, [Eastside politicos]( The Times revealed in a March 4, 1963, editorial that it hadn’t received so many letters about a series in months. “Our Mexican-American citizens emerge as human beings, stripped of myth and clothed in new dignity after Salazar’s honest examination,” it stated. Most readers praised Salazar for expressing uncomfortable truths, like Carlos B. Gil of San Fernando, who wrote: “It is easy to crucify the political parties for our plight, the blame lies wholly on us individually and as a community.” Others, like Manuel Lopez of Los Angeles, accused Salazar of needlessly trashing Mexican Americans. He described Salazar’s stories as “outrageous,” “of poor journalistic vintage” and a “Cape Canaveral flop.” Wow, reads just like my inbox every day! You can read Salazar’s series in “[Border Correspondent: Selected Writings, 1955-1970]( a 1995 collection of his greatest hits edited by UC Santa Barbara professor Mario T. Garcia. And you can read Salazar’s far-too-short run as a columnist [in our online archives](. Know your Southern California history! And now, here’s what’s happening across California: Note: Some of the sites we link to may limit the number of stories you can access without subscribing. ADVERTISEMENT L.A. 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