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"Strange Rumblings in Aztlan" is an article published in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J....
 #81, dated April 29, 1971 and written by Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter Stockton Thompson was an United States journalist and author, most famous for his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas . He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of journalism where reporters involve themselves in the action to such a degree that they become central figures of their stories....
.

The article takes its title from the name Aztlán
Aztlán

Aztl?n is the legendary ancestral home of the Nahua peoples, one of the main cultural groups in Mesoamerica. "Aztec" is the Nahuatl word for "people from Aztlan."...
, referring to the "conquered territories" of Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
 that came under United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 control after the Mexican-American War. The territory covered parts of modern-day Texas
Texas

Texas is a U.S. state located in the South Central United States, nicknamed the Lone Star State. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, spanning , and with a growing population of 24.3 million residents....
, Arizona
Arizona

The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
, New Mexico
New Mexico

New Mexico is a U. S. State located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. Inhabited by Native Americans in the United States populations for many centuries, it has also has been part of the Spanish Empire viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S....
, and California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
.

The subject of the article is primarily the events and atmosphere surrounding the reaction of the Chicano
Chicano

Chicano is a word for a Mexican American . The terms Chicano and Chicana were originally used by and regarding U.S. citizens of Mexican descent....
 community in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles

Los ?ngeles is the Capital of the Biob?o Province, in the municipality of the same name, in Regions of Chile VIII , in the center-south of Chile....
 to the killing of Ruben Salazar
Ruben Salazar

Rub?n Salazar was a Mexican-American journalist killed by a sheriff's deputy during the Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War on August 29, 1970 in East Los Angeles, California....
 on August 29, 1970, the day of the historic National Chicano Moratorium march and rally against the Vietnam War.






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"Strange Rumblings in Aztlan" is an article published in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J....
 #81, dated April 29, 1971 and written by Hunter S. Thompson
Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter Stockton Thompson was an United States journalist and author, most famous for his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas . He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of journalism where reporters involve themselves in the action to such a degree that they become central figures of their stories....
.

The article takes its title from the name Aztlán
Aztlán

Aztl?n is the legendary ancestral home of the Nahua peoples, one of the main cultural groups in Mesoamerica. "Aztec" is the Nahuatl word for "people from Aztlan."...
, referring to the "conquered territories" of Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
 that came under United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 control after the Mexican-American War. The territory covered parts of modern-day Texas
Texas

Texas is a U.S. state located in the South Central United States, nicknamed the Lone Star State. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, spanning , and with a growing population of 24.3 million residents....
, Arizona
Arizona

The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
, New Mexico
New Mexico

New Mexico is a U. S. State located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. Inhabited by Native Americans in the United States populations for many centuries, it has also has been part of the Spanish Empire viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S....
, and California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
.

The subject of the article is primarily the events and atmosphere surrounding the reaction of the Chicano
Chicano

Chicano is a word for a Mexican American . The terms Chicano and Chicana were originally used by and regarding U.S. citizens of Mexican descent....
 community in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles

Los ?ngeles is the Capital of the Biob?o Province, in the municipality of the same name, in Regions of Chile VIII , in the center-south of Chile....
 to the killing of Ruben Salazar
Ruben Salazar

Rub?n Salazar was a Mexican-American journalist killed by a sheriff's deputy during the Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War on August 29, 1970 in East Los Angeles, California....
 on August 29, 1970, the day of the historic National Chicano Moratorium march and rally against the Vietnam War. Salazar was covering the day's events as a columnist for the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California and distributed throughout the Western United States. It is the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States and the fourth-most widely distributed newspaper in the United States....
 and news director of Los Angeles Spanish-language station KMEX-TV. After the conclusion of the march, while sipping a beer at the counter of the Silver Dollar Cafe, Salazar was hit in the head by a tear gas shell fired by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy Tom Wilson. The day's almost entirely nonviolent nature had turned suddenly violent due to the decision of police to clear Laguna Park (now renamed Ruben Salazar Park) of the 20,000 to 30,000 people attending a post-march rally.

Though marginally involved in the nascent Chicano civil rights movement of the time, Salazar became a martyr to the community when the details surrounding his death became public. Thompson's report on the situation focuses largely on this history of the violence and repression that haunted the barrio
Barrio

Barrio is a Spanish language word meaning district or neighborhood. The word has come into use in English language mostly through the large Hispanic populations on both coasts of the United States....
 neighborhoods of LA during this period. Following this lead the article lays out the timeline of events surrounding Salazar's death and afterwards. Of primary concern is the reaction of the Sheriff's department and what many saw as a cover up for a deliberate murder. Over the course of the reporting it becomes increasingly clear that the official stories offered to explain the shooting are in contradiction to eyewitness and eventually to previous 'official' versions of the event.

The article is also of note for the appearance of Oscar Zeta Acosta
Oscar Zeta Acosta

Oscar Zeta Acosta was an United States Lawyer, politician and Chicano Movement activist, perhaps best known for his friendship with the American author Hunter S....
, an acquaintance and "sometimes antagonist" of Thompson's at the time. It was during his reporting for the Salazar story that Thompson and Acosta took a road trip to Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, Nevada, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and entertainment....
 in order to escape the pressure of LA and to find a place where Acosta could discuss the case openly, without fear of retaliation from either the police or Chicanos who might see him as cooperating with the establishment. The road trip to Vegas became the basis for Thompson's book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (novel)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream is a novel by Hunter S. Thompson, illustrated by Ralph Steadman....
 with Acosta serving as the inspiration for the novel's Dr. Gonzo
Dr. Gonzo

Dr. Gonzo refers to:*A pseudonym for Oscar Zeta Acosta, not Hunter S. Thompson, in Thompson's most famous written work, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas....
.