The Day in History:

Zoot Suit Riots Come to an End (1943)

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 Hispanic youths, who were recognizable by the zoot suits they favored. While Mexican Americans were mostly beaten, African American and Filipino/Filipino American youth were also targeted.

History

The riots began in Los Angeles, amidst a period of rising tensions between American servicemen stationed in southern California and Los Angeles' Chicano community. Many of the tensions between the Chicano community and the sailors existed because the servicemen walked through a Chicano neighborhood on the way back to their barracks after nights of drinking. The discrimination against the Chicano minority community was compounded by robberies and fights during these drunken interactions. In July 1942, a group of Hispanic youth fought back against police who attempted to break up a street corner gambling game. In October 1942, over 600 Chicano youth were arrested, and dozens charged, in the killing of Jose Diaz in a gang brawl between kids from the 38th Street gang and Downey Neighborhoods gang near a reservoir on the Williams Ranch called the Sleepy Lagoon. This led to one of the largest court mass trials in California's history whose convictions were later overturned.

The following year, clashes between white servicemen and Hispanic youth increased. In May 1943, sailors claimed that "zoot suiters" stabbed a sailor, and they retaliated by beating young Hispanics leaving a local dance. On May 31, 1943, a group of white sailors on leave clashed with a group of young Hispanics in the downtown area. One sailor, Joe Dacy Coleman, was badly injured. In response, 50 white sailors gathered and headed out to downtown and East Los Angeles, which was the center of the Hispanic community. They attacked young people, especially targeting males in "zoot suits." In many instances, the police intervened by arresting Hispanic youths for disturbing the peace. They left the sailors to the military justice system. The violence escalated over the ensuing days. Thousands of servicemen joined the attack. Many African Americans assisted the Chicano community by providing vehicles and weapons to fight back against the Caucasian sailors. Several hundred pachucos (as the young Hispanic men were known) and nine sailors were arrested as a result of the fighting that occurred over the next few days.

An eyewitness to the attacks, journalist Carey McWilliams, described the scene as follows:

Marching through the streets of downtown Los Angeles, a mob of several thousand soldiers, sailors, and civilians, proceeded to beat up every zoot suiter they could find. Pushing its way into the important motion picture theaters, the mob ordered the management to turn on the house lights and then ran up and down the aisles dragging Mexicans out of their seats. Streetcars were halted while Mexicans, and some Filipinos and Negroes, were jerked off their seats, pushed into the streets and beaten with a sadistic frenzy.

The local press lauded the attacks by the servicemen, describing the assaults as having a "cleansing effect" that were ridding Los Angeles of "miscreants" and "hoodlums." The violence only subsided when military authorities intervened on June 7. They declared that Los Angeles would be off-limits to all military personnel. Of the nine sailors that were arrested, eight were released with no charges and one had to pay a small fine.

A week later, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt characterized the riots, which the local press had largely attributed to criminal actions by the Mexican American community, as in fact being "race riots" rooted in long-term discrimination against Mexican-Americans. This led to an outraged response by the Los Angeles Times, which in an editorial the following day accused Mrs. Roosevelt of stirring "race discord."

encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com

Other Links:

World No Tobacco Day

The Day in History: Waxhaw Massacre

The Day in History: Dred Scott Emancipated by His Original Owners (1857)