Discrimination Against Mexican-Americans During The Zoot Suit Riots

Los Angeles media argued that the Zoot Suit Riots were not about race at all, but the city was segregated and only one group of people were being targeted, it was about race. Mexican-Americans were being targeted and discriminated against before the Zoot Suit Riots happened, and in a 1943 Los Angeles Times article the mainstream media distributed that sentiment. It was First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt who first traced the riots to discrimination against Mexican-Americans in California. The article stated, “The President’s wife told her press conference that race problems are growing in the United States and all over the world and ‘we must begin to face it’. ‘For a long time I’ve worried about the attitude toward Mexicans in California and the States

As the war called for the help of Mexican-Americans in the workforce, especially women who were able to keep their culture and still accomplished the work asked of them. In a propaganda piece we see two arms, one holding a sombrero and the other one holding a red, white, and blue hat. The slogan stated, “Americans All: Let’s Fight for Victory” . The piece was meant to depict how people of Mexican descent and Americans could stand together to fight for a common cause. Despite what happened during the Zoot Suit Riots, it was time to come together and fight against the “real” enemy. Therefore, Mexican-Americans negated the gangster stereotype and took the opportunity to stand out and fight for their country. They were fighting for the recognition they deserved, they were going to be seen as “good” members of society and still keep their cultural ties. A movement sparked within the Mexican-American community, as they joined the defense workforce in order to liberate themselves from the limiting experience of the Zoot Suit Riots. In a billboard we saw that the language barrier was not going to get in the way of their experience. The billboard translated in English stated, “This war is YOUR war! You too are needed. Jobs for men and women of all ages” . They were able to join the workforce and

After the success Mexican-Americans encountered in the workforce during the war they felt an elevated sense in community. When men came home from the war, soldiers of Mexican descent were honored for their hard work and contributions to the war. Even those who did not make it back safely. An article in the Los Angeles Times stated, “Twenty-five Los Angeles men of Mexican descent last night conferred a new honor on a Mexican youth. With colorful ceremonies, they launched an American legion post named after Pvt. Jose P. Martinez, a Mexican youth, previously honored posthumously by the nation with the bestowal of the Congressional Medal of Honor” . This new sense of recognition was a modification from the gangster and hoodlum stereotypes experienced after the riots. Post-WWII Mexican-American culture spread their celebration of life to the streets of Los Angeles. In a picture published in the Los Angeles Times, we see a band of Mexican-American troubadours giving a music week performance at Los Angeles City Hall in 1947 . A culture once accustomed to being cast away in their barrios was now giving performances in the city hall, the Zoot Suit Riots were not ostracizing these people. They were showing the community they were not gangsters and hoodlums, but people with a colorful history