Take action on representation of Latino experience in national documentary

From: Robert Vazquez
Reply-To: Foro de comunicación para Latinos del suroeste de los EEUU
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 19:34:44 -0500
To:
Subject: No Latinos in Ken Burns PBS WWII 14 hour Documentary

From: "gus chavez"
To: LARED-L@LISTSERV.CYBERLATINA.NET
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2007 19:46:36 -0800 (PST)
Subject: No Latinos in Ken Burns PBS WWII 14 hour Documentary

Friends

Our sincere thanks go out to all of you who have responded to the
information sent out by Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez:

http://www.utexas.edu/features/archive/2004/history.html

http://journalism.utexas.edu/faculty/rivasrodriguezbio.html

Regarding "No Latinos in Ken Burns WWII 14 hour Documentary. The personal
statements, articles, Opinion Editorials and letters to PBS have been
excellent and very timely. We now have to raise the level of concern to a
new level, one that is aimed at the Executive Officer and Board of
Directors within the PBS organization.

Please know that Alex Nogales, President & CEO of the National Hispanic
Media Coalition is in the process of meeting with the Ms. Paula Kerger,
head of PBS. He will be making a request for a followup meeting with her
and representatives of the Latino community who have expressed deep
concern over this matter.

Therefore, until such a meeting is agreed to, we are requesting all
concerned individuals and organizations to submit letters calling for the
inclusion of the Latino experience in Ken Burns WWII documentary that is
scheduled for release and showing in over 168 PBS stations across the
country. The release date is September 16, 2007.

Submit all correspondence, including attachments of articles and
Op-Editorials, directly to: Paula Kerger, PBS President & Chief Executive
Officer

PBS Office of the Corporate Secretary
2100 Crystal Drive, VA 22202-3785 or email your correspondence to:
corporatesecretary@ pbs.org

Please send copies of your correspondence to members of the Congressional
Hispanic Caucus (CHC) from your district as well as other elected
officials who know of the Mexican American/Latino World War II experience.
We need everyone to participate and assist with this national effort.

As I stated to Dr. Jorge Mariscal Gracias from UCSD "The last thing we can
collectively do to honor our elders is to make sure their sacrifices are
not forgotten in documentaries, books and war memorials." Gracias a todos.
(Please share this message widely)

Gus Chavez
Former Director of EOP & Ethnic Affairs
San Diego State University - Retired
U.S. Navy Veteran

Fact: President Bush's new budget calls for a $145 million cut of the PBS
budget for next year. I don't think PBS can afford to have a Latino WWII
veterano problem on top of the proposed budget cut.