I e-mailed Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez some time ago about the Defend the Honor campaign, and she recently replied. The campaign is not satisfied with the solution to Burns’ exclusion of Latino veterans in his documentary on World War II, nor with the eventual 28 MINUTES of footage of two Latino and one Native American veteran inserted as an afterthought in the 15-hour project.
We spoke briefly about the fact that another huge group of veterans, Filipinos and Filipino-Americans, were also excluded from Burns’ film and are also in the midst of a fight for recognition (and veterans benefits).
The short version of this story is, the Defend the Honor campaign is having a town hall meeting in Washington, D.C. on October 8. The meeting will be at the Gala Theater (2437 15th St NW). Ms. Rivas-Rodriguez is interested in hearing from Filipino-American veterans and/or their supporters at the meeting and perhaps seeing if the two campaigns might work together in any way. Unfortunately, as I’m on the West Coast, I am unable to go.
There is more information (and a copy of the campaign’s events calendar, which shares many other national events) at their website.
