Zoot Suit Riots (Blog #3)

The zoot suit riots are a well known event, but not a lot of people actually know what they were about. They just know the phrase Zoot Suit riot. For many people, they know the song Zoot Suit Riot by Cherry Poppin Daddies and think they understand the event. The song is a reaction to the event, but it doesn't necessarily tell the whole story. The zoot suit riots was a discrepancy between white American sailors and marines and the Latino population in Southern California. The Latino youth of Southern California had taken a liking to the the flashy suits, similar to those of the Harlem populations.
These suits were made illegal because it was a time of war and there was a shortage of fabrics, and these suits took a lot of fabric to make, deeming them a waste of resources. The Latinos still wore them as a sign of rebellion, thinking it unfair to demand such a law. In response to that, the sailors and Marines took it upon themselves to go and beat up the Latinos deciding to wear them. Over the following days after the first attack, thousands of servicemen got involved. After the smoke had cleared, the government decreed that the acts were a response to racism and decided to investigate the beatings thoroughly.
The Latino used these events to their advantage by defending themselves from the attacks, rather than starting them. This made them the victim and resulted in the attacks be hate crimes. The Latinos got arrested when defending themselves, and the sailors did not. The newspapers reported that the Latinos were at fault and the truth didn't get out until much, much later. Media exposure became a large component to making the problem visible. A play called Zoot Suit was written which then inspired a movie by the same name. The play The Black Dhalia had  main character that was a policeman involved in the riots as well. These methods were used to get the real story out there about what happened.

These riots were an act of racism against the Latinos. In 1943, there was still a large digression between whites and minorities. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt was quoted as saying

"The question goes deeper than just suits. It is a racial protest. I have been worried for a long time about the Mexican racial situation. It is a problem with roots going a long way back, and we do not always face these problems as we should."

An event like this reaching the President and his family meant that the issue had become a real problem. The attacks were an attack on Mexican people, not the zoot suits.