Zoot Suit Riots
 | The neutrality of this article is disputed. |
- For the swing album by Cherry Poppin' Daddies, see Zoot Suit Riot (album)
The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of riots that erupted in Los Angeles, California during World War II, between sailors and soldiers stationed in the city and Mexican American youths, who were recognizable by the zoot suits they favored.
The riots began in the racially charged atmosphere of Los Angeles, where the sailors, soldiers and marines returning from the war had already come into conflict with the local Mexican zoot suiters. On June 3, 1943, a group of servicemen on leave complained that they had been assaulted by a gang of pachucos. In response, they gathered and headed out to downtown and East Los Angeles, which was the center of the Mexican community. Once there, they attacked all the men they found wearing zoot suits, often ripping off the suits and burning them in the streets. In many instances, the police intervened by arresting beaten-up Mexican-American youths for disturbing the peace. African Americans and Filipino Americans suffered the same fate as Mexican Americans [1]. Several hundred pachucos and nine sailors were arrested as a result of the fighting that occurred over the next few days.
Of the nine sailors that were arrested, eight were released with no charges, and one had to pay a small fine. Military authorities intervened on June 7, by declaring that Los Angeles would henceforth be off-limits to all military personnel.
The riots in popular culture
- The riots are referenced in Steven Spielberg's 1979 film 1941.
- The riots were the inspiration for a play written by Luis Valdez — Zoot Suit, which itself inspired the 1981 filmed version.
- A murder mystery novel, The Zoot Suit Murders by Thomas Sanchez, employs the riots as a backdrop to the main mystery.
- A swing album called Zoot Suit Riot, featuring a song of the same name, was released by the American band Cherry Poppin' Daddies in 1997. Subsequently, the song was covered by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.
- Mention of the riots appear in the song People of the Sun, 1996, by Rage Against the Machine.
- The 1992 film, American Me, alludes to the fact that the lead character, Santana (played by Edward James Olmos), was conceived when his mother was raped by sailors during the Zoot Suit Riots.
- In The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy, the main characters are cops involved in the riot. The movie version of the novel opens with a depiction of the riot.
- The song "Riding The Crimson Wave" by Justin And The Jets mentions the riots in the chorus.
- The riots are referenced in Thomas Pynchon's landmark postmodern novel Gravity's Rainbow.
- Fireworks, an underground film by Kenneth Anger, depicts a dream inspired by the zoot suit riots, as reported by the author as an audio commentary to the 2007 DVD release.
See also
References
- Del Castillo, Richard Griswold “The Los Angeles “Zoot Suit Riots” revisited: Mexican and Latin American Perspectives”. Mexican Studies / Estudios Mexicanos, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Summer, 2000), pp. 367-391
- Mazon, Maurizio. The Zoot-Suit Riots: The Psychology of Symbolic Annihilation. University of Texas Press, Austin, TX. 2002
- Pagan, Eduardo O. “Los Angeles Geopolitics and the Zoot Suit Riot, 1943” Social Science History, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Spring, 2000), 223-256
- Pagán, Eduardo Obregón. Murder at the Sleepy Lagoon: Zoot Suits, Race & Riots in Wartime L.A. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 2003. ISBN 0-8078-5494-8
- Zoot Suit Riots. Produced by Joseph Tovares. WGBH Boston, 2001. 60 mins. (PBS Video, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314-1698; 1-800-344-3337
External links
- Zoot Suit Riots. American Experience.
- A list of newspaper articles written about the Zoot Suit Riots.