The importance of the Zoot Suit Riots is evident in their history. A style popularized by black jazz musicians and adopted by the youth, became the new fashion trend. Though it quickly became associated with immigrant communities and crime. The wearing of this style during wartime was also seen as being unpatriotic. As if wearing the same clothes as famous black musicians, or relating oneself to immigrant communities was un-American. Synonymous with not accepting societal norms in white America. These tensions eventually led to a bloody brawl between several hundred Navy men and the local youth. This melee forced this Zoot Suit into the public eye and raised the question of why this incident occurred.
On June 3, 1943 in Los Angeles, CA, a group of servicemen got into a fight with a group of Mexican-Americans wearing zoot suits. Word spread throughout the military barracks and eventually men were roaming the streets and beating anyone with a Zoot Suit. They began dragging any negroes, Mexicans, or filipinos from the streetcars and brutally attacking them with makeshift weapons. This type of action was allowed to continue for four whole days until it was put to an end. Although it was the victims that were arrested for their own protection. The newspapers published articles naming the servicemen as heroes and stating that these criminal zoot suiters were guilty of multiple crimes and that they deserved what came to them. The Zoot Soot Riots were a sign. They were a frightening and brutal image of the status quo in America. How this action by the U.S military, no less, was found acceptable by the police, government, media, and the society as a whole. Historians call these events riots but really they were a massacre and violation of human rights and freedom. They became a foundation of social unrest between all groups of immigrants and the so-called lower-class of America who were labeled this because of their accents and skin color. The country that is supposed to stand by all, as all men are created equal, turned its back on them. The media did not voice any anger over this flagrant and irreparable harm done to these citizens of L.A. But rather it kept up the charade that these men were right in their actions because they were white. This culturalization of racism was saddening and led to physical discrimination and violence on both sides.
This social unrest was a building block to the L.A riots of 1992. It was something that was so large and so unprecedentedly evil that it made people all over the country open their eyes. Granted it wasn't enough to make a drastic change and that unsolved tension eventually led to the riots over the verdict in the Rodney King case, but the Zoot Suit Riots were key none the less. They made this heinous anti-colored ideology visible and symbols of this injustice like Dr. King and Malcom X came forward to give a voice to the voiceless. They spoke on the institutional basis of racism and bias. They were able to voice what people felt and the anger they had toward this sanctioned racism. I do think that although these Zoot Suit Riots were a tragedy, but that they were a necessary evil for all to see the type of apartheid that existed in America during this time.
- Thomas Jacobs
No comments:
Post a Comment