California Zoot Suit Riots During World War II

Throughout the history of California, there have been numerous amounts of crime and violence related events. During World War II, the outbreak of the Zoot Suit riots began and ended off with a cultural history of the Mexican Americans in Southern California. The Zoot Suit riots in Los Angeles in June of 1943 made Mexican Americans be aware of and experience the negative racial attitudes that the United States had towards Mexican Americans. During the early 1930s, many Mexicans began to move to California due to work opportunities. A lot of immigrants were recruited by farm owners to work for them on their farms and lands. Many of these Mexicans also worked in non-agricultural jobs, such as factories and other shops. When the Great Depression

This was announced to be the largest mass murder trial in California history (Webb). Jose Diaz was found lying on the ground beaten and stabbed, believed to be done by Pachucos, after a fight broke out at a party near the Sleepy Lagoon reservoir in the city of Los Angeles. Diaz was rushed to the hospital but did not survive the sever injuries he suffered from nor regained consciousness. He died shortly after he arrived at the hospital. Within ten days, Los Angeles police arrested more than more six hundred people, most of them Mexican Americans, on charges related to the murder and for other crimes (Robert). There was seventeen Mexican youths who were then accused of the murder of Diaz. After several court trials, there was not enough evidence to accuse any of the seventeen men that were taken in for investigation of the incident. Till this day, the cause of his death and murderer remain unknown, however the case did lead to the beginnings of the Zoot Suit Riots after the media continued to characterize the soot-suiters as dangerous gang

Thousands of servicemen joined the riots. Servicemen entered bars, theaters, dance halls, restaurants, and even private homes in search of victims. Toward the end of the rioting, the servicemen expanded their attacks to include all Mexican Americans, whether they wore zoot suits or not, and African Americans too (Escobar). More and more of these zoot-suiters were getting injured and arrested for being victims of the riots, though they were not the start of them. Several reports were being published stating that many Mexican Americans youths were requesting to be arrested and locked up in order to protect themselves from the servicemen in the streets. (Coroian). The violent and dangerous acts of the sailors were getting of control. These Mexicans, and all other races that were a part of the attacks, were getting exhausted and tired of the racial mistreatment, abuse, and misconduct. The riots came to an end shortly after the night of June 8, 1943. This ws when the U.S. military personnel were finally barred from leaving their stations (Andrews). The Los Angeles City Council issued a ban on zoot suits the following day. The military personnel were no longer able to abuse the Mexicans and the Pachucos were prohibited from wearing their zoot-suits. Though the violence ended, the white servicemen racial discrimination