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Fifty years ago, tens of thousands of people marched through East Los Angeles in a series of demonstrations as part of the Chicano Moratorium movement to protest the Vietnam War and its toll on Mexican Americans. Hundreds were arrested, and several were killed, including L.A. Times
journalist Ruben Salazar.
Those marches are an indelible part of Angelenos’ struggle for racial equality, but their national significance was not formally recognized until last month, when several key sites along the march routes were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Credit is due to the Los Angeles Conservancy and countless Chicano studies scholars for advocating for their listing. But it is important to put this victory in perspective.