Memorial for Ruben

Daniel Gonzalez

This linocut was done as a memorial for Ruben Salazar, who remains the most successful and renowned Mexican-American reporter in America and died on 29 August 1970 at the Silver Dollar Bar and Café in East Los Angeles. Salazar was killed by an LA Sheriff’s deputy who, without warning, fired an eight-inch tear-gas projectile that struck Salazar in the head. Ruben Salazar became synonymous with the Chicano community he had been reporting on for the Los Angeles Times.

This image is from a collaborative portfolio of ten linocuts titled A Donde Iran los Muertos? (Where Will the Dead Go?): A Conversation in Prints Between Aztlan and Anahuac. Five images were printed by Gonzalez, five were printed by artist Sergio Sanchez Santamaria.

The portfolio of 10 prints pertained to various subjects and themes shared in common between the artists: history and politics of Mexico; Aztec cosmology; Emiliano Zapata; Fernando Valenzuela; Day of the Dead (Día de los muertos); history of Mexico-U.S. relations; Mexican Americans in Los Angeles.