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By Gary Strauss, USA TODAY
Ken Burns says The War is the best thing he has ever done.
Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez disagrees. The University of Texas journalism professor led Hispanic activists who blasted Burns for initially excluding a Latino perspective. Now they say the two veterans Burns added aren't enough to represent the USA's largest ethnic minority group.
Rivas-Rodriguez's Defend the Honor group plans to protest at five PBS stations in California and Texas on Sunday, when The War premieres. Because The War is a Burns film, "you expect a definitive look," says Rivas-Rodriguez, who has led the U.S. Latino and Latina World War II Oral History Project, which has collected more than 615 Latino war veterans' stories. "Somebody was asleep at the wheel." Unlike African-Americans and Japanese-Americans who were segregated and figure prominently in The War, most Hispanics were assimilated into white units. Many had Anglo names. Burns says that when his team reached out for veterans in the four towns featured in The War, no Hispanics came forward. FIND MORE STORIES IN: World War II | Hispanic | War | Latino | Ken Burns | Japanese-Americans | Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez
Burns has championed minorities in past projects and had a Hispanic perspective in 1995's The West. He has faced criticism before, but not this intense. "We weren't looking for particular ethnic groups," he says. "We left out tons of stuff. There are no German-Americans. No (military) women. No one from the Navy or Merchant Marines." After meeting with the Hispanic veterans group American GI Forum of the United States and the Hispanic Association for Corporate Responsibility, he added Hispanic veterans Bill Lansford and Pete Arias. "We realized this was a fight we weren't going to win," Burns says. Lorena Chambers, a spokeswoman for both groups, says they now support The War. Lansford heads the Eugene Obregon/Congressional Medal of Honor Memorial Foundation, which is raising money to honor 40 Hispanics who have won the military's top honor. He says Burns should have included more Hispanics such as Marine Guy Gabalon, whose knowledge of Japanese helped persuade hundreds on Saipan to surrender. Director Hector Galan filmed the Lansford and Arias interviews. As the son of a Hispanic war veteran, he understands Burns' critics. As a filmmaker, he relates to Burns' reluctance to alter the film. "It smacks of censorship," Galan says. "On the other hand, World War II goes to the core of the Latino experience." Galan says the flap over TheWar "sends a message to those who do historical documentaries. …It's a wake-up call."
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Comments: (10) Showing: 
primus wrote:
5h 9m ago
Goes
to show you cannot please diversity. It will always kick you in the
butt no matter how hard you try to please. Someone will not be
satisfied.
101warhorse wrote:
5h 41m ago
If
World War II was such a HUGE event in the scope of Hispanic events as
Ms Rivas contends then how come Americans arent picking lettuce in YOUR
fields?
Jammer97 wrote:
9h 21m ago
Wonder
why the whiners don't make their own documentary? Oh wait....if they
did that there'd be no need to complain about Ken Burns..............
drodriguez wrote:
10h 16m ago
I
want to go on record in saying that not all Hispanics share Ms.
Rodriguez' opinion or approve of her aggressive style of behavior. Mr.
Burn's latest project is a very noble undertaking about a most
important and fascinating subject in our history. I'm looking forward
to watching it. Ms. Rivas-Rodriguez, stop your whining and stop being
foolish. Find a more worthy cause to satisfy your need to agitate. You
don't speak for all Hispanics and you're not a satisfactory
representative of our community in my opinion.
cyclechick63 wrote:
10h 57m ago
I
haven't seen anyone who supports this behavior from the Hispanic
community. If you know anything about Ken Burns past work, you know
he's no racist. And then he DID change his film to be more inclusive,
and yet it's STILL not good enough for you. Let's just be clear on the
fact that every single minority and non-minority walking the face of
the earth is just as important as you are, and yet they cannot all be
accommodated on every frame of film ever shot in the history of the
world. If you don't feel like you're getting enough airtime, why
doesn't one of your pre-eminent film makers just get up off their a**
and make their own exclusive film? Bet you don't see a single white
protestor. Some day, on your current course of procreation I am sure
you will dominate the population of the US - but you aren't there yet,
so back off.
beerfart wrote:
11h 11m ago
Thank
you Hector Galen for pointing out that future documentaries should
never be made for fear of not including anyone who drew breath while
the event occurred. WW2 goes to the core of the" American experience"
of which Latinos are already a part of the whole. This pathetic attempt
to co-opt anothers work for attention to another agenda. speaks volumes
about the people involved. Get off your pampered academic fanny Mizz
Maggie and do your own film. Definative enough for you?
normalman wrote:
12h 25m ago
Mr Burns - take yourself to Discovery Channel or the History Channel and tell these loud mouths to go make their own movie.
basketballchick wrote:
13h 40m ago
In
San Antono I saw the ad in my paper today and the column by Carlos
Guerra yesterday. "If it's not about me I'm not going to watch." Give
us all a break. It seems to me that Ms. Rivas-Rodriguez is just pissed
that HER research didn't get a big highlight. Puh-leese. It's very
frustrating that finally someone of Burns talent and vision is taking
on the human side of this subject and a bunch of selfish, self-serving
whiners make such an effort to tarnish it.
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