Ruben Salazar commemorative postal stamp to be unveiled at La Pluma
A special tribute to Ruben Salazar, a Mexican-American pioneer journalist who paved the way for today's Latino journalists, will be made with the unveiling of a U.S. stamp dedicated in his honor at this year's La Pluma Scholarship and Journalism Awards on September 26.
Salazar, a dedicated leader whose memory was the impetus for the creation of CCNMA, risked his life while covering a Vietnam War protest in Los Angeles in 1970. He was shot in the head and killed by a tear gas projectile fired by a sheriff's deputy.
Before his untimely death, Salazar had chronicled the Chicano movement of the 1960s in print for the Los Angeles Times and in broadcast with segments on KMEX-TV.
He is the only Latino of the five distinguished journalists being honored with individual stamps this year by the U.S. Postal Service. The stamps were dedicated at the National Press Club in recognition of the club’s Centennial Celebration. CCNMA-San Diego's tribute is a local event. Another tribute was held in Los Angeles in April.
"Wetake great pride in hosting this local tribute to Ruben Salazar, a journalists whose dedication to Latino issues and causes in the 1960s remains inspirational 38 years after his death," said Janine Zuniga, president of CCNMA-San Diego and a reporter with The San Diego Union-Tribune. "It was only a few short years after his death that a group of Los Angeles-area Latino journalists formed to create the California Chicano News Media Association, the first organization dedicated to journalists of color in the nation. He was their inspiration."
Salazar is recognized by CCNMA’s state office in Los Angeles yearly with its annual journalism awards named in his honor. Every year, journalists from throughout the state are recognized for excellence in journalism in print, television, radio, photography and commentary with the Ruben Salazar Journalism Awards.
This year's La Pluma awards and stamp unveiling will be made in San Diego at The San Diego Union-Tribune headquarters in Mission Valley. The event will be 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 26. There will be a no-host bar and complimentary parking. For tickets, call 619-823-5729 or email e.melendez@att.net.
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