For decades the U.S. Postal Service has been relying on a citizen advisory board to decide who or what goes on a commemorative stamp. Part of the criteria used to select an honoree is that he or she should be a deceased American of “widespread national appeal and significance.” After all, if a face is going to be on a stamp that will travel the world representing our country, it should be that of someone who has left a legacy that makes us proud.
Well, the citizen advisory board finally gave Ruben Salazar this much-deserved honor. The Mexican-American newsman is one of five journalists whose name and likeness were just put on a new series of stamps launched by the Postal Service.
His name is well-known among many Latino journalists and activists. There’s a school, a park and a library named after him. Scholarships and journalism awards are given in his honor. Folk songs have been written about him. And now he has a stamp and his own day in Los Angeles. To some, he was a great journalist who documented the trials and tribulations of Latinos for almost two decades, but to others he was more than that: He was a true American hero.
Salazar began his career as a journalist in El Paso, Texas, then moved to Southern California, where he worked as a reporter, foreign correspondent and columnist for the Los Angeles Times and later as news director for Spanish-language television station KMEX. His life was cut short at the age of 42 when he was hit in the head by a tear-gas canister while covering an anti-war protest in East Los Angeles. It was Aug. 29, 1970. Authorities have maintained that it was an accident. Others are sure he was targeted for his critical brand of journalism.
A lot has been said about Ruben Salazar, about his courageous and incisive reporting style, his dedication to informing and covering the Latino community and, of course, the ultimate sacrifice he made for his work. But to really capture the essence of the mark he left on the field of journalism -- in particular among Latinos -- I took an in-depth look at his writings, and what I found was truly an eye-opener.
The very first article by Salazar that I found was written exactly 53 years ago for the El Paso Herald Post. On May 9, 1955, Salazar documented his experience in what he called a “Chamber of Horrors.” He spent 25 hours in jail (undercover) and exposed the overcrowded, inhumane, drug-infested conditions the inmates lived in -- not very different from some of our jails today.
As I reviewed more of his work, I realized that many of the issues he wrote about and expressed outrage about are very similar to the issues that concern the Latino community today. In fact, if you ignore many of the dates and names on the stories and columns written by Salazar throughout the years, you realize that very little has changed.
In the early 1960s he wrote about the political awakening by Mexican-Americans and their lack of political representation. He wrote about border issues, immigration, the dispute over the alleged “invasion” of farm workers and the Bracero program, now referred to as “the guest-worker program.” In the mid-’60s Salazar wrote extensively about the tensions between Latinos and African-Americans (referred to as “Negros” before political correctness was the norm), and the poor state of our education system.
Some of his more poignant articles were written during the so-called Chicano movement in 1969 and 1970. Latinos were no longer just complaining about not having their due place in society, but were actually doing something about it. There were protests, marches, walkouts and sit-ins. And Ruben Salazar was right there on the front lines documenting it all -- not just with pen and paper anymore, but with cameras and microphones.
Salazar paved the way for many Latino journalists who have inadvertently followed in his footsteps and today are writing about the very same issues that troubled him almost 40 years ago. He once was asked in an interview if he was an advocacy journalist, and he responded: “Do you mean do I advocate for my people, a people who have been silenced in the rest of the media? If that is advocacy journalism, then I am guilty of that.” For his courage, for his relentless search for the truth and for paying the ultimate price in the process, Ruben Salazar deserves to have a stamp -- and much more -- in his honor.

***
(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER’S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www
.mariaesalinas.com)
© 2008 by Maria Elena Salinas
Distributed by King Features Syndicate