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Historical Significance Of The Zoot Suit Riots In Chicano Culture

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What is the historical significance of the Zoot Suit Riots in Chicano Culture?

It was June 1943 in Los Angeles six-months after the Sleepy Lagoon Murder; and racial tensions were high as well as were war time anxieties. At the time, Los Angeles had the highest population of Mexican Americans in the country. Just 100 years earlier the area was owned by Mexico and everything from streets to business was in Spanish. Many of the people living in the area were descendants of the Mexicans who had founded the city, but they were now second class citizens forbidden from eating in the restaurants, going to clubs, and other racial discrimination. There was much resentment, especially among the youth who wanted to go where they wanted to go, do what …show more content…

This was a foreshadowing of future civil rights unrest and a demand for equal treatment. Many of the youth at the time were looking for a way to show their independence from their conservative parents. They adopted the zoot suit fashion from African Americans in the 1930’s who chose to dress flashy to demonstrate that they were going to enjoy life no matter how many challenges they faced. The youth were also becoming captivated by jazz music and dancing, which many, including their parents, believed to be unsavory. These factors helped the Mexican American youth identify as a group of people who were “cool”, independent, and affluent, as the suits were quite expensive to buy. They wanted to be seen and heard, not marginalized. Many Anglo Americans also saw them as unpatriotic because the suits took a large amount of fabric, which went over the legal limit allowed during wartime. However, many Mexican American youth did participate in the wartime efforts both at home and overseas. This was the beginnings of Chicano …show more content…

Many citizens put up with the bad behavior because of their support for the war, but since Mexican Americans were the largest minority in Los Angeles they ended up being involved in most of the skirmishes. The sailors would insult the Chicanos as they drunkenly walked through the barrios on the way back to their ships and bases. The animosity grew as did the size of the fights until they broke into a full riot. As stories grew and traveled, soldiers and sailors from as far away as San Diego came to fight the pachucos. They were armed with homemade weapons and clubs and went into the Mexican neighborhoods looking for people wearing zoot suits. The police were unwilling to stop the fighting and they arrested the minority victims instead. Finally, the city council banned the wearing of zoot suits for 30 days and the fighting settled down. The governor created a committee to look into what caused the riots and so did the mayor of Los Angeles. The governor’s committee reported that racism was the cause, but the mayor’s group blamed the riots on juvenile delinquents and white Southerners with race not being a

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The PBS documentary called Zoot Suit Riots was produced by Joseph Tovores in 2001. The documentary provided information on the tension between zoot suiters and sailors in Los Angeles, California in 1943. In the summer of 1942, there was a growing concern of Mexican crime. In the forties, Mexican American on Mexican American crime rarely ever grabbed media attention.

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The “Zoot Suit Riots” were a series of events linked to the Sleepy Lagoon murder case, that took place in Los Angeles California in June 1943. Despite the fact that zoot suits were not only worn by mexican americans during this time, and they were referred to the zoot gangsters. Often throughout this period of time as the city of LA began to grow, Mexican Americans were looked as outsiders in a city that was once built by their ancestors. Although zoot suits were not limited to only a single race I think the name of the event give it a false single sided outlook on the story. Ultimately singling out Mexican Americans during this time, even though the sailors had just as much or even more involvement during the riots.

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The Zoot Suit Riots reveal that the American society in Los Angeles during the WWII Era was racially discriminated against Mexicans/Mexican Descents because Mexicans/Mexican Descents were known to wear Zoot Suits while zoot suitors were perceived as criminals. During this time, the Zoot Suit Riots occurred causing the “Spanish-speaking community” to be in a hard situation of being excluded from society and their surroundings. Mexicans/Mexican Descents wore Zoot Suits as a trend with the thought that this would help them “fit in” with the American style. Instead, Zoot Suitors end up being viewed as a “bad” image. The sailors would go into the Mexican neighborhoods and harm any Mexican (and Zoot Suit wearers) in sight.

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Zoot Suit Riots were a series of conflicts that occurred between the police workers and Mexican immigrants youths who wore garments called zoot suits. The zoot suits consisted of a drape jackets, a hat and trousers that were loose but, tight around the ankles. During this period there was a lot of discrimination towards the Mexican immigrants in the United States. The Zoot Suit Riots had first started when a zoot suiter was involved in a party fight and one of the party goers was brutally murdered, José Díaz. This only fueled the public 's outcrys against the zoot suits.

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For this book review, I am going to be talking about David Montejano’s book entitled Quixote’s Soldiers, A local history of the Chicano Movement, 1966-1981. The author’s purpose is very well explained and it is not hard to understand. The author clearly tries to explain different ideologies, individuals and organizations located in one of the Southwest’s major cities, San Antonio, Texas, during the late 1960s and early 190s. All these varieties mentioned above made possible that a movement was created called Chicano Movement, a group that David Montejano provides a deeply understanding and description of the movement during the reading of the book. Since, the city was governed by a tough Anglosocial elite that was firmly convinced in the way

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In these protests, students would stand outside of their school with picket signs protesting the racist actions within their schools, as well as calling for freedom of speech and the hiring of Mexican American teachers. These protests by students were one of the first major protests by Mexican Americans against racism and helped greatly to ignite the Chicano Movement. (Muñoz) Rodolfo Gonzales addresses the importance of these youthful students and their actions in his speech with the words “…we need actions such as the ‘blowouts,’ because the youth are not afraid of anything. Because the youth are ready to move. The whole party will be based on the actions of the youth, and the support of the old.”

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The zoot suit was unlike other suits because it carried a sense of racial determination. It was oversized, wide shouldered and was baggy–contrary to more recent types of suits which were dull and minimalistic. The fabric and colors of the suit were also overstated making those who wore the suits easy to identify. Similarly, PBS describes the zoot suit to be an underground operation because the fabric that was needed for uniforms for the war was being sold by some tailors for zoot suits. In terms of social location, Mexican-Americans and black male individuals were the main consumers and wearers of the suits.

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Name Professor Course Date The zoot-suit and style warfare The zoot-suit riots started in Los Angeles when pachuco's who wore zoot suits clashed with service men. The zoot-suit wearers were largely black or Mexican youth while the servicemen were predominantly white.

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The Zoot Suit Riots presents it viewers with a deeper perception of teenage rebellion, immigration, the history of Mexicans in America and so much more. The railroads arrived in Los Angeles in 1880’s, launching an era of expansion and growth. By 1910, the majority of immigrants come from Canada, Germany, and England. According to PBS, “The Mexican immigrant population is around 800” (PBS.org). During Mexico’s revolution, the refugee count was over 21,000 by 1920.

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The Chicano movement derives from early oppression of Mexicans. Robert Rodrigo, author of “The Origins and History of the Chicano Movement” acknowledges that, “At the end of the Mexican American war in 1848, Mexico lost half of its territory to the United States and its Mexican residents became ‘strangers in their own lands.’” In stating this fact, Rodrigo exemplifies the United States’ relations with Mexico, that, ultimately, led to their oppression. Moreover, these early relations led to social injustice for the Mexican community. Carlos Muñoz, author of The Chicano Movement: Mexican American History and the Struggle for Equality reports, “As a conquered people, beginning with the Texas-Mexico War of 1836 and the U.S. Mexico War of 1846-48, they have

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This environment can cause a Civil War in America and America couldn't afford that at the time. Soon LAPD came in clear the area but that didn't stop the riot spread all over the place where there are Mexican Americans. They even beat on Africans Americans who wore the Zoot suits. The whites couldn't stand minority groups in high-class Neighborhoods they saw that it was a competition this proves that whites were the problem at the time instead making peace with the other cultures instead fighting with them.

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