Roybal finally rests
The trouble with actually being studious, not having a TV, and limiting online time to email and other non-news related sites, is that I miss out on important news like the passing of former Congressman and city Councilman Edward P. Roybal. My main news source right now is blogs and NPR.
From today’s obituary in the LA Times:
In 1993, Roybal told The Times that at his first City Council meeting [in 1949], he was introduced as “our new Mexican councilman who also speaks Mexican.”
“My mission was immediately obvious,” he said later. “I’m not Mexican. I am a Mexican American. And I don’t speak a word of Mexican. I speak Spanish.”
It became his role, he said, to educate his fellow public officials about Latinos and to pay special attention to what he felt were the long-neglected needs of his largely Latino constituencies.
The whole obituary is worth reading and getting a sense of all the work Roybal has did in his many years as a public official and as a public health advocate. It’s amazing to think that many of the issues he worked on as a Councilman in the 1950s and then as a Congressman, such as police brutality and immigration, are still problematic. For anyone from LA who has studied the history of Chicana/o politicians, there is no way to avoid the impact of Ed Roybal on the growing political power of Latinos.
Que descanse en paz.
whoa. Nuts. My sister worked for Lucille Roybal-Allard on the Hill up until recently.. I wonder how the congresswoman is taking it….Crazy.
Hola cindylu! i just came by to say hi, and see como estas…espero que todo este bien, cuidate,
*diana*
I really like how he took time to serve as a mentor to other up and coming latino politicians…It’s sad that we don’t hear more about these important figures until after they pass away.
si, que descanse en paz.
I think that quoute about speaking Mexican says it all. Thanks to people like him, this country has come a long way.
I just happened to come across this obituary the other day when I found a copy of the LA Times at the coffee shop I was at. But normally, the only way I woulda discovered it is by reading it on here. It’s tough to get a good balance between how much to read on blogs and how much to read in newspapers and books. I feel like if you depend on one or the other too much, you’re really missing out. I notice lots of Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah on the Just Listened list.
I just signed up for a lastfm account myself. I have a feeling our music profiles are gonna look pretty similar.