Zoot Suit Riots - Research Paper Example

? Zoot Suit Riots Introduction The Zoot Suit Riots refers to the series of riots instigated during the Second World War in LosAngeles, California. The riots triggered between the Latino Youth and the sailors and Marine stationed throughout the California city. The main targets of the military servicemen were the Mexican African but as the riots spread the African Americans and Filipino Americans were also widely targeted (Ryan: 250:2006). The Latino living in other cities of United States like San Diego, New York and Chicago were also badly affected from these riots because gradually the riots were swept in these cities as well (Eduardo: 223: 2000). The essay aims to discuss the historical background of the Zoot suit riots and intends to analyse its causes and effects upon the socio-political situation of the time. The essay presents concise chronology of the events and incidents occurred during the riots to illustrate their importance and impact upon the political history of the United States. Zoot Suit Riots – Historical Background The Zoot Suit Riots were basically outcome of the racial discrimination and tension prevailing between the Mexicans and the White Americans. Mexicans migrated and settled in different cities of United States during the twentieth century. The white Americans widely disfavoured the presence of Mexicans in different walks of life because they believe that Mexican Americans were badly affecting their social and economic conditions by occupying the resources and job positions (Eduardo: 43: 2003). During the Great Depression the demand of the Whites Americans to remove the Mexicans from the American land became very strong because they were not willing to see the Mexicans availing the employment opportunities and other resources in their country. This thinking resulted in intense racial hatred between the Mexican and White Americans (Castillo and Griswold: 367: 2000). As a result of the demands and racial threats of the White, thousands of the Mexican descents were deported from America in the early 1930s. Despite this major extraction there were still 3 million Mexicans left in United States and the highest concentration of the Mexicans was found in Los Angeles (Mazon: 132: 2002). The Mexicans in Los Angeles were limited to the oldest and most run down housing area of the city and they were also forced to work only at low level and low wages jobs. Consequently, the lifestyles and living standard of the Mexican Americans dropped to the lowest level and most of them started living below the poverty line (Rule: 102: 1989). The print media also started spreading racial hatred against the Mexicans through inflammatory propaganda and worked for instigating social and economic discrimination against the Mexicans on racial grounds. The media also used to derogate the Mexican Americans by calling them with the name Chicanos. All of these incidents created a highly tensed social and political environment and the Mexican Americans realized the need of conducting organized efforts for the recognition of their rights in the American society. They decided to stand against the racial discrimination and created youth culture for their own and came up with the ideas of maintaining their identity through their culture and selected particular dress code as a symbol of their community (Kevin: 93: 2005). Latino Culture and Zoot Suit The Mexican Americans adopted their own music, language and dress that became famous with the name of Zoot suit. They designed a flamboyant long coat with a baggy pegged pant for the male Mexicans. In addition, they also started taking a pork pie hat along with a key chain and shoes with thick soles. They attempted to create distinct identity for their community to let people know about their unity and strength. The Latino widely started dressing up in the Zoot Suit and they selected the name Pachucos for their selves. Through this particular dressing style they attempted to make their distinguished identity in front of the masses and bring unity within their community providing a platform to their people belonging to their race (Solomon: 22: 1998). The demand and supply of the Zoot suits was affected from the entry of United Stated in the World War II. In 1942, the War production board enacted some restrictions upon the tailoring companies to stop the manufacturing and advertisement of zoot suits and also instituted cut back in fabric used for the clothes manufacturing. However, several bootleg tailors in Los Angeles and New York continued manufacturing the zoot suits. Despite the restrictions of the board, the demand of the zoot suits was increased and the tailors continue manufacturing the suits to meet these demands. The Zoot suit became the uniform of the Mexican Americans fighting against the white servicemen and wearing this uniform became the symbol of fight against the rationing regulations and attitudes (McWilliams: 98: 2001). Emergence of Zoot Suit Riots During the 1940s, the activities of the Latino Americans got momentum resulted in the arrests. Furthermore, the Los Angeles time also published numerous negative stories against the Mexican Americans that worked to destroy their image and propagated negative perception about the Pachuco Gangs. In 1942, the incident of infamous sleepy lagoon murder occurred resulting in the death of a young Latino near Los Angeles. The teenager members of 38th Street Latino Gang were accused of killing a man Jose Diaz. The news of this murdered increased the anti-Mexican sentiments among the people and the law enforcement agencies arrested nine man on the charge of this murder. These suspects were sentenced for long imprisonment. The police and the press continued propagating hatred and negative perceptions about the Mexican Americans and animosity towards the Mexican Americans reached its height after this case (Alvarez: 204 :2001). The case initiated the Zoot suit riots between two youth groups including the Black and Mexican American youth and the White American servicemen that were stationed along the Pacific coast at that time. During the riots the tension between the American servicemen and Mexican Americans reached its peak. The riots basically evolved from the racial and social discrimination against the Mexican Americans in United States. At the same time, the riots also reflect the attitude and inclination of the youth groups towards the war. In 1941, the involvement of United States in the Second World War brought some major changes in the situation because the policies and strategies of the state were altered according to the requirement of the emerged situation (Richard: 361: 2000). There were several conflicts occurred between the Mexican youth and the military personnel and several servicemen joined the attacks against the Mexicans. They marched on the streets, entered the bare, movie houses and other public places and cruelly assaulted the young Latino males that they found at these places. The police remained present at most of such incidents but they were ordered not to arrest the servicemen. During the riots over 500 Latinos were arrested by the police on the charges of rioting and violence (Alvarez: 204:2001). The racial discrimination reached the heights because the white servicemen were given protection by the police to beat and assault the Latin Americans especially those dressed up in the zoot suit whereas the Latin Americans found at the incidents were widely arrested by the police on the charge of committing violent crimes and unlawful activities(McWilliams: 98: 2001).. The media also supported the activities of the while servicemen and regarded their activities having cleaning effects upon the society because they believe that the white servicemen were working to remove the unwanted people from their land. The Los Angeles city council demanded the ban on wearing of the zoot suit. The government reacted towards the riots and McGucken Committee was established to investigate and find out the causes of the riots. The committee revealed that racism was main cause behind the riots and the attitude of media and police further instigated the riots. After the riots the police officers were also given the training and instruction to equally treat all the citizens of the country (Mark: 97: 1976). Conclusion The Zoot suit riots were widely regarded as moral and social scandal by the authorities because they were mainly characterized with violence and criminal activities however, from the opponent perspective the riots were widely viewed as symbol of love and liberty that give courage for fight against discrimination and social disorders and inequity. It has been widely agreed that the zoot suit riots were reaction to the racial discrimination highly prevailing in the American society during that time. During the riots the white servicemen made the Los Angeles city as playground for fighting and assaulting the Mexican Americans and they were tolerated by the several civilians because of their war efforts but in many areas the activities of the servicemen were widely opposed and defied by the civilians especially in the areas of Mexican majority population. The riots played important role for the recognition of African Americans in United States and drew very strong and positive impact upon the ethnic consciousness among the Americans. The riots also affirmed the importance of social equality for all the citizens regardless of ethnic and racial identities. The riots possess great importance in the political history of United States because these riots exemplify the racial discrimination widely practiced in United States during the first half of the twentieth century against Mexicans and show that the discrimination and exploitation could cause destructive impacts upon a society. 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