The Zoot Suit Riots:Writing assignment
The Zoot Suit Riots was caused by one of the largest and most sensationalized trials in California’s history ,which was “The Sleepy Lagoon Case”. The Zoot Suit Riot was a period in the 1940's in the southern part of California when Latino population was targeted by the military personnel and civilians. After several fights that broke lose with the zoot suiters and military personnel. The military began On August 2, 1942, the body of Jose Diaz was found at Sleepy Lagoon reservoir in southeast Los Angeles. The discovery set off a series of arrests by Los Angeles police who rounded up hundreds of suspects which mostly were Latino youths in connection with the Diaz murder. The trial, was featured in every major newspapers across the nation, violated a number of the defendants’ civil rights including lack of due process. In the end, an all white jury convicted twelve of the defendants in association with the murder. An East Los Angeles grassroots organization called the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee was immediately created to appeal the verdicts, and in October 1944, the case was reversed. Following the 1942 convictions, however, tension between Anglos and Latino youth grew, and on May 31, 1943, a full blown riot occurred between U.S. service men on shore-leave in Los Angeles and young Latinos, calling themselves “pachucos” and donning zoot suits. Several days of confrontation between service men and zoot suiters continued, which eventually led to Latino neighborhoods being invaded and men and women being attacked in street cars, movie theaters, and bars. Newspapers and the Los Angeles City Council praised the service men for “cleaning up” this subculture, while the police did very little to stop the attacks which were now flaring up in many U.S. cities including Chicago, Detroit, and Philadelphia. Eventually, the commanders of the U.S. Navy and Marines ordered service men back to ships and bases on June 7, 1943 when the...