Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Ken Burns Decides to Add Latinos to WWII Documentary
Today, PBS informed the Defend the Honor Campaign of their decision to reverse their position and include the Latino experience in Ken Burns’ forthcoming World War II documentary, The War. In a letter released today, PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger reported that, “PBS, Ken Burns and his co-director/producer Lynn Novick have decided to create additional content that focuses on stories of Latino and Native American veterans of the Second World War.”
The PBS plan also included the following elements:
* The additional narratives about experiences of the Latino and Native American veterans of World War II will be integrated into the documentary, the DVD, the Website and PBS’ educational outreach materials.
* A Latino producer will be hired by Burns production company, Florentine Films, in consultation with PBS, to be part of the production teams that will create the additional content.
* The War will premiere on September 23, 2007 (during Hispanic Heritage Month) as scheduled with the inclusion of the new content.
* Additional national programming will be aired on WWII that will include and focus on the Latino contributions to the war.
The Defend the Honor Campaign was organized in early February to coordinate a national volunteer campaign to pressure PBS and Ken Burns to include Latinos in the documentary, The War. Based at the University of Texas at Austin’s U.S. Latino & Latina WWII Oral History Project headed by Dr. Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, the leadership of the Campaign first met with PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger on March 6, 2007 in PBS headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. At that point, Kerger informed the group that PBS would not be making any changes to the Ken Burns film because it was already completed and they did not want to interfere with his artistic independence.
Click here for the full press release.
KJ
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2007/04/ken_burns_decid.html
Comments
Hispanic is actually an ethnic categorization, not a race. The Hispanic ethnic group is comprised of Asian (Phillipino), caucasian and african races. The only qualification for being Hispanic is having Spanish as one's first language. Does the movie identify the white guys as being of Irish, Italian, or German extraction? These Europeans are from different ethnic groups, but I doubt that they are singled out by their ethnicity. This is another case of people with low self-esteem who need to be singled out for special treatment, or as Horace said, ego stroking.
Posted by: George | Apr 15, 2007 6:20:53 PM
No, it's not a case of people with low self-esteem being asked to be singled out. It's acase of WWII veterans demanding that their tax dollars not be used to fund a project that creates the false impression that they didn't fight in the war at all.
And it's amazing to read these posts and see how many excuses people come up with to exclude Mexican-Americans from American history.
Well it won't work anymore. We have a voice in America now. Burns has agreed to include Latinos in his documentary.
Posted by: Karen | Apr 18, 2007 12:00:49 PM
Hey Ken Burns..Si Se Puede!
1.4% of the population, people! That was the hispanic population of the US in 1940 according to the US census. It was only 6% in CALIFORNIA! So if other groups served in larger numbers and weren't specifically singled out in the documentary, then why single out latinos? I demand that Ken Burns revise "The Civil War" to also include latino contributions! While we are at it, all text books and documentaries must make extensive inclusion of the Latino experience with respect to the Revolutionary War! OK, everyone's contribution to preserving liberty should be honored but who is doing the white-washing now? Might over-representing one group's historical contributions be in order to promote today's political agenda of that group? As that group is by far the fastest growing major ethnic/racial group, it looks like we will see more of this flexing of the muscle in the future. Si Se Puede!
www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056.html
Posted by: ray perez | Oct 1, 2007 2:18:27 AM
Hey Ken Burns..Si Se Puede!
1.4% of the population, people! That was the hispanic population of the US in 1940 according to the US census. It was only 6% in CALIFORNIA! So if other groups served in larger numbers and weren't specifically singled out in the documentary, then why single out latinos? I demand that Ken Burns revise "The Civil War" to also include latino contributions! While we are at it, all text books and documentaries must make extensive inclusion of the Latino experience with respect to the Revolutionary War! OK, everyone's contribution to preserving liberty should be honored but who is doing the white-washing now? Might over-representing one group's historical contributions be in order to promote today's political agenda of that group? As that group is by far the fastest growing major ethnic/racial group, it looks like we will see more of this flexing of the muscle in the future. Si Se Puede!
www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056.html
Posted by: ray perez | Oct 1, 2007 2:20:05 AM
Since no one has seen this movie, I can only wonder if ethnic groups such as the Irish, Italians, French and English were also singled out separately for their contributions. Hispanics call all of European extraction Anglos anyway, so such an argument would be lost on them. I doubt that they singled out European ethnic groups, as the movie isn't about what separates us, but that which ties us together. Hispanics can have their special treatment if they feel so insecure as to need their egos massaged.
I visit the Blue Latinos blog once in awhile to see their point of view. Sometimes I feel pity for them, as they seem so desperate to prove their point that Hispanics have contributed to this country. It it so pitiable to note their desperate efforts to rewrite history. For example, one blogger said that the famous American Civil War general George Mead was Hispanic, when in fact, George Mead was of Anglo-Saxon origin, born in Spain of American parents, when his father was assigned to work there as part of the U.S. legation. Apparently that was enough to make him Hispanic. Another blogger alluded to the Zimmerman Telegram of WWI fame as an example of Mexico's friendship towards the U.S. The Zimmerman Telegram was an attempt by Germany to enlist Mexico to its side against the U.S. Mexico rejected Germany's offer by stating that they doubted that a stable supply line could be maintained and that they wouldn't be able to control the U.S. populace after the invasion. Apparently that rejection of Germany's offer was enough to qualify as an act of friendship by the blogger.
Posted by: Horace | Apr 12, 2007 6:11:15 PM