JORGE RIVAS: 30,000 Chicanos marched through the streets of East LA that day. It was meant to be a peaceful, anti-war demonstration. But within a couple of hours, it looked like a war zone. 200 people were arrested, 60 were wounded, and four killed. Wait, hold on a second. Let's rewind for a moment. It was 1970. It was the Vietnam War. And President Nixon had just intensified the war, even after he said he would end it. Thousands of American soldiers were returning home in caskets. And one community started to notice a pattern.

Mexican-Americans, who were just 10% of the population in southwestern states, were 20% of those killed in combat. This sparked a movement in defense of Latinx lives. It wasn't exactly a Black Lives Matter moment, no two movements in history are the same. But it was the beginning of a Latinx-led push for civil rights and part of US history that many in the community are making sure is not forgotten, four decades later.

- Latinos were being sent to the front lines deliberately. We're lower achievers in the eyes of the government. But when it came to war and the need for cannon fodder, we're prime meat.

JORGE RIVAS: This is Rosalio Muñoz. He was an outspoken student leader back then and co-founder of the Chicano Moratorium, an organized effort to mobilize Mexican-Americans and Chicanos to oppose the Vietnam War.

- The disproportionate death rate of Chicanos in Vietnam, which was the primary motivation, was part of a whole web of oppression-- higher dropout rates, more people going to prisons.

JORGE RIVAS: So on August 29, 1970, they decided to march. It became the largest anti-war action by any ethnic group in the United States.

- It was a wonderful thing. And subliminally, it got covered over by the brutal violence that followed an hour or two hours earlier. I remember Ruben Salazar came up to me in the middle of the march, had given me a huge [SPANISH] and saying, congratulations. You did it.

JORGE RIVAS: Salazar was a columnist for the LA Times, reporting on issues that mattered to the Chicano community. He was also a leading voice in the community's anti-war movement. He went to the Moratorium March that day. And when the protests turned violent, Salazar ducked into a local bar. A police officer had fired a tear gas canister at the bar's entrance. The police claim the canister struck Salazar in the head and killed them instantly. But a lot of people questioned the circumstances that ended his life.

- And whether it was a tear gas projectile, whether it was another shot-- there's many contradictions. If he were hit by a tear gas projectile, why was his hit head still intact. It was a tremendous loss to us. Although he died unjustly, he left his vision for better education and justice for Mexican-Americans as a legacy for the community.

JORGE RIVAS: The Chicano Moratorium is a significant event in LA's history. But I didn't hear about it until an ethnic studies class in college. All of that was more than a decade ago. So I began to wonder, maybe things had changed. I went back to where it all went down, East LA, to see if other people had heard about the Chicano Moratorium. Have you ever heard something that took place around here called the Chicano Moratorium?

- No, I haven't.

- Have you ever heard of something called the Chicano Moratorium?

- No, I have not. Actually, that's new news for me.

- What do you think it is just by putting the two words together?

- Chicano Moratorium, you said? I don't know, an event that has to do with Chicanos?

- So you've been here 57 years and never heard of Chicano Moratorium?

- No, I haven't.

JORGE RIVAS: But for Rosalio Muñoz, that doesn't mean it didn't have an impact.

ROSALIO MUÑOZ: Our primary goal was to raise opposition to the war, and support for more education, and more participation for civil rights and social justice. And we accomplished that.

[MUSIC PLAYING]