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Zoot suit riots
Los Angeles, 1943. America was deeply engaged with World War II. Young Latinos were not pleased to stay within their barrios, and were pouring into downtown dance halls, movie theaters, pool halls and clubs. Many young Latino males distinguished themselves with wearing of the zoot Suits. They called themselves pachucos. They came into contact with groups of other young men, military men. The war had caused Los Angeles to be packed with military personnel at local bases, many of them from other parts of the country with no prior experience with Latinos and Latino culture.
A Mexican crime wave was announced by local newspapers and zoot suiters and gangsters were labeled one and the same. On June 3, 1943, a number of sailors claimed to have been beaten and robbed by Mexican pachucos. The following evening, hundreds of sailors chartered cabs and went to East Los Angeles looking for any Mexican American pachuco they could find. Many zoot suiters were beaten and stripped of their clothes by the gang of sailors. Some sailors were arrested and not one of them was charged with any crime. On the following nights, other military soldiers had joined the sailors. They went to East Los Angeles breaking into bars and theaters assaulting any zoot suiters, and not one was arrested. In fact they were portrayed as heroes in the media. The local press praised the military rioters for confronting the threat of the Mexican crime wave.
This went on for several more nights. It was reported that all the police did was to accompany the soldiers and sailors in police cars, and were ordered to let the shore patrol and military police deal with military men. Instead, police had arrested and charged more than 500 Latino youths for rioting. Many of them were victims themselves. Finally on June 7, the military Authorities did what the city of Los Angeles would not, they moved to stop the rioting of their personnel. Los Angeles was declared off limits for all military personnel.
I believe there are three causes for these riots. First America was frustrated and wanted to blame someone for the war. Second, the press had too much influence and tried to portray the zoot suiters as bad guys when in reality, they were just trying to give themselves an image. Third, race. The zoot suiters were the perfect targets since Mexican americans were the majority of people who were non-white.