Los Angeles Times
Monday, October 31, 2005

In Memoriam
Edward R. Roybal
1916-2005

A light has been dimmed in the history of Southern California’s—and the nation’s—civic life. Edward R. Roybal, the first Latino elected to the Los Angeles City Council (1949-1962) in the twentieth century and the first Latino in California elected to congress (1962-1992) passed away this week.

In a way, Edward Roybal would have preferred to avoid any public notice about his life’s ultimate passage. He was an intensely private man, a family man whose marriage spanned six decades and who avoided the limelight and the trappings of public life. But when the chroniclers examine the nation’s civil rights struggles of the past decades they will note that this quiet yet forceful man was ever present.

His passion for equal opportunity and justice began at an early age. Born in New Mexico and raised in Los Angeles, as a teenager he protested the segregated pools closed to Mexican Americans in the eastside of Los Angeles. As a young adult he publicly spoke out against the internment of Japanese Americans at a time when Japanese xenophobia was at its height. After serving in the Army in WWII, he renewed commitment to the American democratic ideal that was being so contradicted in everyday like in the Southwest in the late 1904s and 1950s. In this environment it took particular moral courage to speak out. Yet Roybal had that courage and much more.

Whether it was housing developments that were open to returning veterans, but where ‘Mexicans need not apply’ or restrictive housing covenants defended by powerful, Roybal would fight public battles for equal opportunities that are hard to imagine today. Insults and threats to his life were not uncommon and his three children, Edward, Lillian and Lucille, would later recall the family anxiety that these threats generated. Despite these circumstances, Roybal pressed on. He was an active leader in developing community, state, and national social and civic organizations. Those familiar with the eastside of Los Angeles will recognize names like the Community Services Organization and the Mexican American Political Association.

When he was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 1949 he continued his commitment to civil rights and was a vociferous critic of the excesses of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Jewish leaders in Los Angeles can well remember that he was one of the few Los Angeles City Council members in the early 1950s to publicly welcome the prime minister of Israel to the City of Angels.

Continuing his commitment to public life Roybal ran, and was elected to congress in n1962. In this arena he flourished and won the respect of his congressional colleagues who appointed him to the powerful Committee on Appropriations. This Committee became the ideal instrument for Roybal to engage in some of his life’s most significant work. Specifically, he served on the subcommittee of Labor, Health/ Human Services and Education and for many years he was the only Democratic sub-committee member we if the Mississippi. While the Committee does not receive much public attention, its work was, and is critical since it is the congressional body that determines the actual dollars that public programs receive.

In Congress, Roybal became the recognized champion for such diverse issues and programs as supporting the Center for Disease Control, which named its Atlanta campus after him; public health issues such as tuberculosis, national health insurance, research on Alzheimer’s disease and support for the National Institute on Aging. His experience as a public health worker early in his career made him acutely aware of the hidden biases that some health conditions may generate in the public health awareness at the onset of this disease. In education, he was an unrelenting supporter for Latino children learning English and he was one of the original authors of bilingual education.

Roybal, however, did not limit his work to the Appropriations Committee. He was also one of the founding members of the House Select Committee on Aging and served as chairman for many years. There he emerged as a national advocate for the elderly and in particular on such issues as consumer protection and congregate housing.

During his congressional tenure his commitment to civil rights continued. In the 1970s his leadership helped establish and lead the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO) and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to become organizations they are today. Few realize that his work on civil rights transcended the Southwestern region. For example, when Cuban exiles flooded in from Mariel in the early 1980s he flew directly to Cuban refugee camps in Arkansas and Florida to ascertain living conditions of this then controversial group.

When he announced his plans to retire from Congress in the 1990s there were many who urged him not to do so. Yet after forty years of public service, Roybal was firm in his decision to retire and he lived the balance of his life in Southern California with his wife Lucille. In retirement, his life-long leadership was acknowledged in 2000 when he received the highest civilian award in the nation, the Presidential Citizens Medal.

Today, over a decade after leaving public office, when reporters ask Hispanic civic leaders who was on of the top three major Latino civil rights leaders in the twentieth century, they will simply answer: Roybal.

Senator Robert F. Kennedy is reputed to have said that “it is easy to join the rich and powerful against the poor and weak.” Edward R. Roybal never succumbed to that temptation. When you pass by the Edward R. Roybal federal building, the Roybal Institute for Applied Gerontology or the Roybal Comprehensive Health Center in East Los Angeles, remember this quiet man and his many accomplishments.

Ed, we will miss you.

From a grateful city, state and country.