Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles Essay

Though sparked by the Rodney King verdict, there were many other causes of the riots that erupted on the streets of Los Angeles on April 29, 1992. The Los Angeles riots in 1992 were devastating. The obvious issue portrayed through the media was black versus white. If you did not live in Los Angeles or California chances are you did not hear full coverage of the story, you heard a simple cut and dry portrayal of the events in South Central. If you heard one thing about the riots, it was that there was a man named Rodney King and he was a black male beaten with excessive force by four white Los Angeles police officers on Los Angeles concrete. The media portrayed the riots as black rage on the streets due to the

Once the police arrested Marquette Frye, angry Watts's residents began stoning passing cars and setting them on fire (Bradley 895).Two days later, on the morning of August 13th, massive amounts of people marched into the business district and started a free-for-all on the local stores. Firebombs and attacks against white owned businesses followed. Then they started dragging people from their cars and beating them. Watts had a storehouse of combustible materials located on the southeast side of Los Angeles. A minor clash between police and black residents resulted in an explosion that ripped through Watts (Magill 1924).

It was a time in the city’s history to get the perpetrators of the crime committed and to be recognized as solving the greatest crime of time. Media and public presence played a huge role in pressuring law enforcement to figure out this awful incident. The demand from the public was pushing from all sides of this story to get answers.

The Thesis of this book is about the actual mob violence that took so many lives of people of Mexican decent in the United States and the reactions of these lynchings from all sides, Mexicans, whites and blacks at the time and for the past one hundred fifty years to the violence. And it is also about the question that is implied on the title of the book, why were

El Pachuco realizes that the 38th Street gang does not look up to standards, “look at your gang, they do look like mobsters” (Valdez). El Pachuco is clearly indignant towards the way in which the court mistreats the Zoot Suiters as seen by the way he stands angrily behind the gang and recognizes the intolerance of the court and judge. Restricting the Zoot Suitors from adjusting their appearances puts them at a disadvantage; instead of looking upright individuals, they are dirty urbanites. Similarly, El Pachuco intervenes again when the court asks that the suspects rise when their names were called in court. Both El Pachuco and the people’s lawyer are infuriated by this proposal. Subjecting them to this treatment is not only self-incriminating, but also groups the Zoot Suiters together and stereotypes them, rather than allowing each of them their own unique identity. When this is proposed El Pachuco says, “ready for the verdict now ese?” and begins to play the piano as the suspects stand and seat themselves. El Pachuco is sarcastic and attempts to make a mockery of the courtroom, having the Zoot Suiters discriminated against and degraded (Valdez). El Pachuco's actions during this moment creates a farce out of the courtroom and highlights yet another way in which the Zoot Suiters were poorly treated. Although the Sleepy Lagoon Case was

Around 600 Mexican Americans who fit the term “zoot-suiters” ( a person who wears ballooned pants and long coats) were rounded up in efforts to catch the criminal. The court argued that their look alone was enough to prove they were deliquents in one way or another and should be held responsible for their actions. Altough appearances do distinguish gang members from regular civilians the mass gathering of around 600 Mexicans for one individuals murder shows the lack of professional expirence. It also serves as a pedestal to say that these police offers weren’t looking for an individual based on factual evidence but based their prejudice beliefs tried to round up and get place a large group of Mexicans in the court of law under biased pretences. It is an injustice to hold so many people accountable for a crime based on their looks let alone get so many people of one ethnic group involved just because they look like they are from a gang. On January 12, 1943 in the case of People v. Zamora, presided by Judge Charles Fricke, the court found this to be enough evidence to sentence seventeen of the accused to life in prison to a year in the county jail. Five were found innocent. Henry Leyvas along with two other males were found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to life in

Following the events of Pearl Harbor, the integration of minority groups into the workforce proved to cause tensions between the groups. Throughout the country, racial riots sparked and caused many conflicts. Two of the most influential riots occurred in Detroit and Los Angeles. The causes of these riots were due to the effects of wartime on the homefront and the racial discrimination that many possessed.

An important factor, which contributed to the Zoot Suit Riots, was the influence of the media. Newspapers and propaganda began to detriment the appearance of Pachucos and zoot suits. This dynamic added to the strong anti-Mexican sentiment, and led to the spread of hysteria during the war. In addition, the encouragement from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), as well as the presence of the servicemen in Los Angeles immediately led to the riots. Although all these factors contributed to the riots, they all fail to address the important underlying psychological stressors, which caused tension against the Pachucos’ style. Therefore, I claim that that the Girardian persecution dynamic, based on lack of difference between the Pachucos and the patriotic Americans, contributed mainly to the riots.

Zoot suits, associated with the Mexican race, consisted of a long jacket that reached almost to the knees, pants with a “tight stuff cuff”, a “wide, flat hat, and Dutch-toe shoes” (Berger 193). These zoot suits were worn by the Mexican youth who were accused of murder on August 2, 1942. People claimed that Jose Diaz was murdered by a gang that had broken up a party at Sleepy Lagoon ranch located close to Los Angeles. However, even though the lower court did convict them of murder, two years later the district court of appeals took that decision back by stating that there was not enough good evidence and that most of that decision was made based on prejudice issues. This incident became known as the “Sleepy Lagoon Affair” and was made

Since the time of slavery, racial tension has existed between whites and blacks. This tension has only increased with the passing of time. This conflict culminated in the 1940s in the form of mob violence. While there have been previous riots because of race relations, none of them were of the magnitude of the 1943 Detroit riot. Much like any other event involving racism in the 1940s, the Detroit riot has little coverage, most of which is skewed, in articles in the nation?s leading news sources such as ?Deep Trouble? in Time, ?Riotous Race Hate? in Newsweek, and ?The Truth About the Detroit Riot? in Harper?s. Thus, one must compare articles from these sources to ascertain accurate information. Even when

Despite the war efforts by many Mexican Americans in both fronts of the war, brutal discrimination was still rampant even in the very neighborhoods (barrios) that they called home. The Sleepy Lagoon Case, dubbed as such by the LA press, was an example of racial tension brought to light. In the heat of August 1942 gang member Jose Diaz was found unconscious near a swimming hole named the Sleepy Lagoon where many young Latinos and gang members would go to swim as they were not permitted to frequent Anglo only natatoriums. Diaz who never regained consciousness had apparently suffered a skull fracture, but no murder weapon or proof of murder was ever found. In the face of these facts, authorities blamed twenty-four youths, only one of which was Anglo. Citing Mexican American 'lawlessness and mischievousness ' as proof enough that they were to be at fault. The notoriously corrupt Los Angeles Police Department charged the twenty-four who were involved in a gang clash earlier in the day with murder. It was no secret that Judge Charles Fricke was blatantly racist and he repeatedly allowed prosecutors to stereotype the defendants. He also refused to allow the defendants change of clothes or haircuts so as to have them resemble in the courtroom how he viewed Mexican Americans: as criminals and hooligans, because of the belief 'only hoodlums wore zoot suits '. In January 1943, the jury without any solid evidence found

Racial tensions began heightening in the city of Los Angeles on June of 1943. It’s what came to be known as the Zoot Suit Riots. Racial tension between Mexican Americans who were called both pachucos and zoot suiters. They were known for their fashion which had a symbolic meaning towards them, it was a way in expressing themselves which white sailors and servicemen disliked. They saw Mexican Americans as thugs, gang members, and delinquents. White servicemen and sailors were unfamiliar with hispanics, but it was so easy for them to discriminate by appearance. Several Mexican Americans served in white units. Tension was rising between them, especially when marines and sailors assaulted both Mexican and African Americans in their own neighborhood. Also, for a false rumor towards Mexican Americans which stated that they had attacked and stabbed a sailor. Both races were being discriminated and were treated unjustly. The day came on June 3, 1943 where these conflicts led to the Zoot Suit Riots. This incident of violence lasted a whole week. Zoot suiters were beaten and arrested for no reason at all. The issues that led to the Zoot Suits in 1943 was Jose Diaz, the Sleepy Lagoon Case, and racial attacks between whites and people of color. This filled the atmosphere with a lot of hatred and discrimination that had erupted in the summer of 1943. The riot led to a compromise of all military personnel being banned from the city limits with in Los Angeles

As defense enterprises developed and numerous specialists went off to war, businesses experienced intense work deficiencies. Women and African Americans entered the work industry in expansive numbers to address these deficiencies, and interim specialists from Mexico, or braceros, through the Bracero Program, a 1942 work assertion between the United States and Mexico. A standout amongst the most genuine occurrences of segregation happened amid World War II in the Zoot-Suit Riots of Los Angeles. The incident got its name from the kind of attire, known as a "zoot suit," worn by numerous youthful Mexican Americans of the mid 1940s. In the mid year of 1943, a question between a Mexican American and an Anglo emitted into across the board revolting. Serving or working abroad, or moving to an extensive city extended the skylines of an era of Mexican Americans. In the same way as other African Americans, they had yielded for their embraced nation, they started to need a greater amount of the American Dream: better training, better occupations, and a conclusion to bigotry and separation. They viewed themselves as Americans and needed their full social liberties. Numerous chose to change the framework in which they were raised. The end of the war additionally brought into being the "G.I. Charge." This demonstration gave veterans with chances to work, secondary school and school instruction, occupation preparing, and assets for obtaining homes and disaster protection. Numerous Mexican

Based on the infamous 1942 "Sleepy Lagoon" murder mystery and the resulting "Zoot Suit Riots" in Los Angeles , playwright Luis Valdez weaves fact and fiction to depict the fate of 22 young Mexican Americans brought to trial for a murder they did not commit.

People tend to overlook the geographical location of Figueroa Boulevard and plainly assume residents of the area were working-class Mexican American without realizing that there are three distinct neighborhoods on this very street. In his work, “Los Angeles Geopolitics and the Zoot Suit Riots, 1943,” Eduardo Obregon Pagan notes the three neighborhoods along Figueroa Boulevard “the farther south in traveled in downtown area, the affluence of the neighborhoods grew in proportion to the whiteness of the residents.”5 This appears to be true since the neighborhood appeared to become more modern as one move down from Figueroa Boulevard. The residents of Chavez Ravine were native to the United States with Mexican origin with some immigrants from Central Europe and Italy. The neighborhood is considered to be old-fashioned since it was