During the 1940s-1980s, and even stretching into the current day, Latino Americans grew up with the same struggles as any other “colored” ethnic group. Much like African Americans, Latino Americans had to go through segregation and racism that would lead to injuries and deaths; even though some of America’s greatest war heroes were in fact Latino American. Fortunately, people such as John J. Valadez are trying to unveil the true meaning behind what it means to be a Latino American. John J. Valadez is an award winning filmmaker and director for a television series known as “Latino Americans”. He has been making documentaries to accurately show the history of Latino Americans, whether it be from their courageous acts during World War II to walk outs that were held during school hours in multiple states. The two episodes that will be discussed, episode three War and Peace and episode five Prejudice and Pride, talk about both of these topics
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One story that stuck out was Guy Gabaldon, a soldier who killed 33 enemy soldiers and captured over 1,500 during the battles of Saipan and Tinian. Not only is this an unbelievable amount of captures, but it was such a vigorous event that a movie was made out of it. Unfortunately, Gabaldon was played by an Anglo, so no one who viewed the film knew that this accomplishment belonged to a Latino American. This was a metaphor for how the rest of America would forget about Latino involvement during the rest of World War II, as the episode describes it. In the fifth episode Prejudice and Pride, a story that sticks out was the walk out of March 6, 1968. During this event, in order to have their demands met, students walked out and boycotted four East Los Angeles high schools. At one school, Roosevelt high school, the walk outs were met with violence by the police force; however, the walk outs still continued for the next couple of
One story that stuck out was Guy Gabaldon, a soldier who killed 33 enemy soldiers and captured over 1,500 during the battles of Saipan and Tinian. Not only is this an unbelievable amount of captures, but it was such a vigorous event that a movie was made out of it. Unfortunately, Gabaldon was played by an Anglo, so no one who viewed the film knew that this accomplishment belonged to a Latino American. This was a metaphor for how the rest of America would forget about Latino involvement during the rest of World War II, as the episode describes it. In the fifth episode Prejudice and Pride, a story that sticks out was the walk out of March 6, 1968. During this event, in order to have their demands met, students walked out and boycotted four East Los Angeles high schools. At one school, Roosevelt high school, the walk outs were met with violence by the police force; however, the walk outs still continued for the next couple of