Erasure, Indifference, Willful Ignorance: Ken Burns and PBS
Note: For a succinct, compelling and historically accurate documentation of the role of Latinas and Latinos during and in World War II, see U.S. Latinos & Latinas in WWII, from the University of Texas at Austin. For a scholarly and lucid text on this subject matter, see Mexican Americans and World War II.
(Image taken from PBS website on Friday, May 11, 2007)
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Kramer King:
October 9th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
I question your estimate of 750,000, since the military didn’t keep records of cultural heritage. They didn’t record Irish, German, French, Spanish, Russian, etc, heritage. They did, however, record race: White, Asian, Negro…. Latinos were considered, “white”. Most of the esitmates I’ve heard of Latino soldiers are somewhere between 250,000 and 500,000, but perhaps you’re right; Of the 16 million soldiers, I’m sure the 750,000 Latinos served well alongside their non-Latino, fellow soldiers, in the same battles, going through the same trenches, trauma, shock, and pain as the stories told in the documentary.
Regardless of that, go ahead and disregard their story and disparage the validity of the documentary because Mr. Burns’ doesn’t say “Hispanic” or “Latino”. Sheesh! Talk about borrowing trouble or seeking out abuse to claim as one’s own!