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March 04, 2007

Ken Burns' snub on Native Americans and Mexican Americans

PBS plans to air Burns doc this coming September

By Tram

My former Professor Connie So, along with a handful of other academics from across the country, are trying to stop a certain form of reality from being immortalized on film. They're trying to stop Ken Burns' latest documentary on WWII from airing on PBS in September, on the grounds that the film intentionally did not acknowledge the contributions by Native Americans and Mexican Americans.

It always frustrates me whenever I hear stories like this - the ethnic minority experience in America being reduced to the sidelines, especially when it comes to paramount events such as WWII. But the sad fact is that Burns is just the latest in the long list of notable historians who have concocted these white-centric narratives.

It doesn't help that the name "Ken Burns", the documentary genre, and the branding of PBS often exudes this authoritarian sense of objective! historical! record! (sorry for the sarcasm, but ya know, it's true).

Below is a series of forwarded e-mails sent to me by Prof So. I hope, in turn, to forward this e-mail to my Native American professor, as well as any ethnic studies organizations that I know. To any interested readers: Feel free to copy-and-paste it where ever you might think is appropriate, be it a messageboard, blog, or e-mail list server.

To be quite frank, the cancellation of a Ken Burns doc on PBS is an impossibility (the dude's an institution now). But at the very least, prospective viewers may be more well-aware of what all the controversy is about.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 10:48:57 -0800
From: GRACE SHIMIZU
To: Recipient list suppressed: ;
Subject: Oppose Burns WWII documentary--excludes Latin and Native Americans in
military

Dear folks:
Thought you might be interested in this info that I received.....Ken Burns'
documentary on WWII doesn't include experience of Latino and Native Americans
experience.
Take care.
Grace

> Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 05:39:10 -0800
> From: Ron Takaki
> Subject: Fwd: Re: Fwd: The Burns Film
> Mime-Version: 1.0
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
> Dear Friends: See Maggie's email. I don't know what Burns includes about
> African Americans and Japanese Americans. I think it is important for us to
> stand in solidarity with Mexican Americans and Native Americans.
> Ron

> Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 19:02:10 -0600
> To: Ron Takaki
> From: Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez
>
> Hello, Professor Takaki,
> I am very well aware of your work and indeed was very moved by Double Victory.
> Thank you so much for contacting me.
> A couple of things, in case you haven't sent out the letter. Apparently the
> Burns documentary does include the African American and Japanese American
> experience, but leaves out Native Americans and Latinos, as well, it seems,
> women in the military.
> I'm totally in agreement with you: they mustn't air this in September. I'll be
> meeting with Ms. Kerger and one other PBS executive next Tuesday, March 6. Gus
> Chavez of San Diego will also be with me.
> I'll add you to our listserve and let's see if we can stop this train wreck
> before it happens.
> All my best,
> Maggie

At 05:56 PM 2/25/2007, you wrote:

> Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 15:52:13 -0800
> From: Ron Takaki
>
> Dear Professor Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez:
>
> We not not yet met, but thanks for exposing the omissions in the Burns
> documentary.
>
> I think we must do everything we can to block PBS from airing it in
> September. Its negative consequences would be long lasting.
>
> Feel free to forward my letter to friends and allies.
>
>
> In common struggle, Professor Ron Takaki

> Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 09:36:45 -0800
> From: Ron Takaki
>
> `The PBS Ken Burns documentary on WWII excludes minorities [Latinos and Native
> Americans]. This 14 hour, 7 episode film is scheduled to be broadcast on
> September 23, and will be distributed with accompanying materials to schools
> across the country. There is still time to stop PBS from airing it. Please
> forward the attachments.
>
> > Here is the weekly update on the Burns WWII documentary, scheduled to air on
> > PBS this fall, which excludes the Latino WWII experience.
> >
> > 1. MEDIA ATTENTION
> > Carlos Guerra has written a column that appeared in today's San Antonio
> > Express-News. His previous column, published on 2-9-07, has been picked up
> > throughout the country. If you google Burns and Latinos, you'll find
> > websites where it has been posted.
> >
> > 2. RELEASE DATE MOVED AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH EMPHASIZED PBS issued a news
> > release on Thursday, Feb. 22, emphasizing the outreach effort by local PBS
> > affiliates and also saying it would air the documentary on Sept. 23. The
> > original press release, which can still be found at
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Latinos_In_WWII/, had the release date as
> > Sept. 16, Mexic an Independence Day. The news release does not provide a
> > reason for the change. It is known, however, that many letters to PBS (and
> > relayed to Gus Chavez in San Diego and me) noted that airing this
> > documentary, which excludes any mention of Latinos and, most importantly of
> > the Latino WWII experience, on the 16 of September was a particular slap in
> > the face of the Latino community. The press release also emphasizes that
> > local PBS affiliates will be conducting their own community outreach. To
> > which we respond: not enough; the national, Burns documentary is the one
> > that will be available for sale and will be re-broadcast for several years
> > and that will be viewed by the entire country. While it is also important to
> > have the Latino perspective in the local programs, it is essential that the
> > national documentary also include the Latino experience.
> >
> > 3. ORGANIZATIONS VOICING CONCERNS TO PBS--
> > The National Association of Hispanic Journalists sent a letter to Pau la
> > Kerger, President and CEO of PBS, with ccs to all the sponsors, CPB. I'm
> > attaching that letter, and it's also posted at the yahoo group site:
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Latinos_In_WWII/
> >
> > Tejanos in Action, out of Austin, has sent a letter to Congressman Lloyd
> > Doggett, asking for
> > ask Congress to pass in a joint resolution a call for a full and complete
> > accounting of Hispanic-Americans in the annals of American History. (letter
> > attached)
> >
> > 4. MEETING WITH PBS -- Gus Chavez, the San Diego organizer of this effort,
> > me, and Marta Garcia, the chairwoman of the National Hispanic Media
> > Coalition, have a meeting scheduled with Paula Kerger, president and CEO of
> > PBS, and John Boland, chief content officer, on March 6, at their
> > Washington, DC, office. We think it's important to meet with them
> > face-to-face and give them the opportunity to address the problem. Many of
> > you are already contacting us, with various suggestions to make things
> > happen. It is very apparent to both Gus and I that there is a great pent-up
> > frustration not only with PBS, but also, in general, with several other
> > omissions concerning WWII and Latinos over several years.
> >
> > 5. BOOK-SIGNING IN WASHINGTON, DC, SUNDAY NIGHT, MARCH 4 -- To help defray
> > the costs of our DC trip, as well as to meet with our supporters and
> > well-wishers in the DC area, we'll be holding a book-signing event in
> > Washington on Sunday night, March 4. We have one sponsor so far: HISPANIC
> > LINK NEWS SERVICE. We're looking for other sponsors for our book-signing.
> > Sponsorship entails lending your organization's name, and getting the word
> > out, via email. The time is short, so it will entail phone calling, etc. For
> > sale will be the book, A Legacy Greater than Words: Stories of U.S. Latinos
> > & Latinas of the WWII Generation ($30 in cash or check made out to the
> > University of Texas at Austin). All proceeds go to the U.S. Latino & Latina
> > WWII Oral History Project. Gus and I will also be on hand to discuss the
> > Burns Documentary and possible strategies for the future. Please contact me
> > with commitments (and make sure you have the OK of the group) to add your
> > organizaton to our list of sponsors. Our location is still to be determined --
> > we have a few people scouting for a good place. It will likely be a little
> > late in the evening, 7:30-8:30, as Gus, coming completely across the
> > continent, will be coming in later...
> >
> > 5. INDIVIDUAL LETTERS
> > Gus and I have received several emails from folks around the country,
> > throwing their support behind this effort. It is very heartening to hear
> > from everyone. More importantly, we know that organizations and individuals
> > are contemplating sending letters to people at PBS and Mr. Bu rns, and the
> > documentary's sponsors. Addresses and contact information are available at
> > the yahoo groups site set up at
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Latinos_In_WWII/
> >
> > Some of you very busy folks are asking us to write letters so that you can
> > print them out and send them. Neither Gus nor I feel that is appropriate
> > (nor do we have the time to do that). Our job is to create an awareness of
> > the problem. If you wish to communicate with people who should hear your
> > concerns, the above website provides contact information, of people at PBS,
> > at Florentine Films (Burns' production company), and the documentary
> > sponsors.
> >
> > Now Carlos Guerra's column and we'll send you a note when we get a location
> > for the Washington, DC booksigning nailed down. Hasta entonces.
> >
> > Carlos Guerra: PBS' WW II film no longer on Diez y Seis, but still no
> > Latinos
> >
> > Web Posted: 02/23/2007 10:49 PM CST
> >
> > San Antonio Express-News
> > When Maggie Rivas-Rodríguez joined the faculty of the University of Texas to
> > teach journalism, it was after earning a doctorate and serving as the Dallas
> > Morning News' border bureau chief in El Paso.
> >
> > In the process, she was alerted to the substantial contributions of Mexican
> > Americans and other Latinos in the defeat of the Axis powers during World
> > War II, and how their service in that struggle changed how they viewed their
> > country and how their country viewed them.
> > Unlike World War I ­ in which few Mexican Americans served, in large part
> > because a now-debunked plot cast doubts on their patriotic loyalty ­ the
> > attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent declaration of war on the Axis powers
> > prompted many Mexican Americans and other Latinos to sign up for military
> > service, between 250,00 0 and 750,000 (nobody was counting) of them before
> > it was over.
> >
> > Many ­ among them, 11 Mexican Americans and two Puerto Ricans were awarded
> > Medals of Honor ­ distinguished themselves in combat, earning record numbers
> > of citations for valor.
> >
> > And when they returned to the home front, it was to an American society they
> > would change profoundly for themselves and for their progeny.
> >
> > After harrowing parachute drops into the pitch-black abyss of night over
> > enemy territory, or deadly frontal assaults on heavily fortified bunkers in
> > Europe and thick jungles on South Seas islands, the returning Latino vets
> > were in no mood to accept refusals or second-class service from the wait
> > staffs of Southwestern restaurants or other public accommodations, much less
> > from government-run agencies.
> >
> > It was these returning veterans who rejuvenated the ranks of the League of
> > United Latin American Citizens, and who created the American GI Forum, and
> > later, the Mexican Ameri can Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and what
> > would become the National Council of La Raza.
> >
> > But World War II ushered in other changes too, Rivas-Rodríguez says.
> >
> > The huge void left in America's labor market was filled with Mexican
> > braceros, she says, the guest workers who toiled on farms to put food on
> > American tables during the fight against totalitarianism.
> >
> > Over the past five years, Rivas-Rodríguez, staff members and volunteers of
> > the U.S. Latino and Latina World War II Oral History Project have been
> > gathering these stories, dutifully archiving them and detailing them into
> > one book already out and others that will come soon.
> >
> > So when she heard the Public Broadcasting Service would air a seven-hour
> > documentary about World War II ­ originally slated to air on Diez y Seis de
> > Septiembre ­she assumed producer Ken Burns would include tales of Latinos in
> > the epic struggle.
> >
> > She was wrong.
> >
> > Of the 60-plus interviews Bur ns and company conducted, not a single Latino
> > or Latina was questioned.
> >
> > Not surprisingly, Latino groups from coast to coast have expressed their
> > outrage to federally funded PBS.
> >
> > "Their response has been: '(The documentary and accompanying book) is in the
> > can and nothing can be done,'" Rivas-Rodriguez said. "But just yesterday,
> > PBS sent out a press release saying they have moved the premiere to Sept.
> > 22nd without mentioning reasons (for not premiering it on Diez y Seis).
> >
> > "They say they are really emphasizing the local programming that local
> > stations will be doing," she says, "but that's crumbs. The documentary that
> > is going to sit in people's bookshelves, that's going to be available on
> > DVD, is Ken Burns' documentary."
> >
> > And at this point, it won't include a single Latino or Latina.
> >
> > ----------
> > To contact Carlos Guerra, call (210) 250-3545 or e-mail
> > cguerra@express-news.net. His column appears on Tuesdays, Thursdays and
> > Saturdays.
> >
> > ********************************************************
> > Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, Ph.D.
> > Associate Professor, School of Journalism
> > University of Texas at Austin
> > 1 University Station A1000
> > Austin, Texas, 78712
> >
> > email: mrivas@mail.utexas.edu
> >
> > Also: Director, U.S. Latino & Latina WWII Oral History Project
> > http://utopia.utexas.edu/explore/latino/

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