I read a blog post today where someone was talking about how happy they were that there were no “real” Latino leaders, so that no one has to deal with the political baggage that goes with them duking it out in the press. Maybe there are no leaders anymore, and if there were, one of them left us on Monday:

Edward R. Roybal, who spent his political career, including three decades in Congress, fighting for minorities, the poor and the elderly, has died. He was 89.

When elected to the House of Representatives in 1962, Roybal was the first Hispanic from California to serve in Congress since 1879. Roybal, who also served more than a decade on the Los Angeles City Council, died Monday night of respiratory failure complicated by pneumonia at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, according to a spokeswoman for his daughter, Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif.

Leaving behind a legacy is not an easy thing. A lot of people leave this world having left a legacy of success or ambition, yet devoid of meaning. In the case of Roybal, his legacy was of a struggle and a triumph in civil rights for Latinos. Roybal was someone who lived discrimination and out of his hatred for it was born a fight against it.

“A champion for civil rights and social justice like him does not come around every day,” Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a statement. “He wanted nothing less than what all Americans strive for — a good job, safe neighborhoods, quality schools and a place to call home.”

A simple legacy, yet a heroic one.

Via / The LA Times