Chicano Moratorium Past Present and Future

On August 29, 1970 more than twenty thousand Chicanos marched in East LA to protest the war in Vietnam and the high casualty rate of Chicano troops. Among American soldiers from the Southwest, nearly twenty percent of the casualties were among Chicanos, almost twice their proportion of the population. Demonstrators also protested against the denial of equal rights at home. At rally at Laguna Park now Salazar Park was disrupted when 1,500 police officers shot tear-gas canisters into the crowd. Three Chicanos were killed; more than four hundred were arrested. Among the dead was a Los Angeles Times columnist, Rúben Salazar, who was killed by a tear-gas projectile amd 2 brown berets Lyn Ward and Angel Diaz.