Latinos upset at being MIA from ‘The War’

Suzanne Gamboa

WASHINGTON — Several Hispanic groups said last Thursday they are unhappy with Ken Burns’ plan to tell the stories of Latino veterans during breaks and at the end of each hour of his upcoming World War II documentary, “The War.”

PBS and Burns have faced heated protests from an array of Hispanic groups because Burns’ 14-hour documentary does not include any Hispanics who served in the war or information about their contributions.

“The War” is scheduled to premiere in September, during Hispanic Heritage Month. PBS hopes it becomes as popular as Burns’ “The Civil War” and plans to sell a companion book and DVDs.

The film, made over six years, tells the story of the war through people from four communities — Waterbury, Conn.; Mobile, Ala.; Sacramento, Calif.; and Luverne, Minn. None of the people interviewed are Hispanic. Native Americans also are left out.

Even though the film hasn’t been seen publicly, its lack of Latino representation was sniffed out by Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, a former newspaper reporter who runs an oral history project about Latino World War II veterans at the University of Texas.

Rivas-Rodriguez and her staff police projects about World War II all over the country — books, films, conferences and the like — to make sure Latinos are represented. Last November, when Burns previewed his film at a museum, her project manager asked whether Latino veterans were interviewed in the documentary. She was told no, and immediately set about trying to raise awareness.

Anger over “The War” has deep roots.

Rivas-Rodriguez has stories from Latino Medal of Honor winners who came home to Texas only to be denied service at restaurants. She thinks few Americans are aware of the experiences, and the lack of attention it received in Tom Brokaw’s bestselling book “The Greatest Generation” didn’t help.

“It’s a real sore spot to say to someone that your experience wasn’t unique in this country,” she said. “Our people weren’t valued. Not only were they not valued then, they are not being valued today.”

Since he’s spent his career trying to tell overlooked stories in American history, Burns said he can appreciate the Latino community’s concerns.

“We did not set out to exclude Latinos, or any other group for that matter,” he told The Associated Press. “In fact, thousands of stories have not been included. We set out to explore the human experience of war and combat based on a handful of stories told by individuals in only four American towns.”

Last Wednesday, PBS issued a list of steps it planned to take in response to the complaints that came from a broad coalition of Hispanic groups and veterans.

Part of the plan is for Burns to seek out Latino veterans and interview them. Stories about American Indians will also be included.

Those interviews would run during breaks or at the end of each hour of the series, but the film would not change, said Joe DePlasco, Burns’ publicist.
“We’re not changing the film,” Burns said. “Think of it as an amendment to the Constitution.”

But Antonio Gil Morales, national commander of the American GI Forum, said Burns is treating Hispanic veterans as a footnote in the war.

“We want inclusion on this thing … We owe it to the tens of thousands of Hispanics who died in the battlefields of the European theater, the Pacific theater and the African campaign, plus the hundreds of thousands that returned to this country that still faced hate and the same segregation and discrimination,” Morales said.

The groups want Burns’ documentary redone with new footage on Hispanic military service during WWII.

“We were not an add-on to the war. Our veterans were not add-ons to the war,” said Ronald Blackburn-Moreno, chairman of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of 40 Hispanic community groups.

Manuel Mirabal, chairman of the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility, said it is not unreasonable to ask that a documentary that took six years to make be redone.

“We’re not at fault for the fact that during the entire six-year period that Mr. Burns and PBS were researching this documentary that they found nothing of merit having to do with Hispanic military contributions,” Mirabal said.

PBS President Paula Kerger has said Burns decided how to respond to the complaints and that she respected his right as an artist to tell his story.

The network has also said it will soon air two other World War II-related programs: the film “Justice for My People: The Dr. Hector P. Garcia Story” and a “Bill Moyers Journal” that features an interview with Medal of Honor winner Jose Lopez.

There is a feeling among some of the groups that PBS has listened to the complaints, said Rivas-Rodriguez.

PBS’ proposal to include the Latino veterans’ experiences in educational materials and hire a Latino producer are steps forward, said Gus Chavez, a World War II veteran involved in the campaign. But Chavez said plans to sprinkle Latinos’ stories in breaks and at the end of each hour are not acceptable.

PBS still must contend with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which also weighed in on the issue on behalf of the American GI Forum. PBS receives some federal funding and some members of the caucus serve on appropriations committees.

Sen. Bob Menendez, one of three Hispanic U.S. senators, said he’s unhappy with Burns’ proposal so far.

“I don’t think Hispanic participation in WWII is an amendment,” said Menendez, D-N.J. “We are an integral part of the nation’s history, and this is a constant battle to have that history recognized — and it’s not just recent history, either.”

Associated Press writer David Bauder in New York contributed to this report .

(Associated Press)