Zoot+Suit+Riot-1

Name: Manuel Ramierez Age: 19 Hometown: Mexico City, Mexico High School Attended: El Salvador High Birthday: March 25, 1924 (Zodiac sign: Aires) Relationship Status: Single Income: $5,000 a year Ocupation: Waste Management

I find myself facing rough times in this year of 1943. Having recently moved here from my home town back in Mexico I am having a hard time adapting to this new life. Luckily, I live in Los Angeles with my fellow country men. I work in the waste management field and feel that I am doing pretty good with my economic status. Like my fellow youth, we all par take in this new fashion known as the zoot suit.

The zoot suit is a stlye of dress where we wear a long jacket, pleated pants and broad brim hats. We wear these colorful suits to stand out from the crowd and go againts tradition (Danzer et. al. 593). The style of the Zoot Suit has been around for a while now but us Mexican-Americans have only recently adopted this trend. Like as the youth in the 1920's, we to try to seperate ourselves from the adults any way that we can ("World" 1). We either wear crazy, distinctive hairdos or outlandish style of dress. To many, us who wear zoot suits are reffered to as zoot suiters, but we liked to call our selves pachucos, spanish for fancy-dresser ("Los" 1). I finally felt like i belonged for the first time since i moved to this country. Also, being with my fellow pachucos makes me feel wanted, and I felt that I could be my self and not be dicriminated againts for wearing my zoot suit. Boy did my opinoin change....

On June 3 of this year a group of sailors accused serveral zoot suiters of attacking and robbing them (Danzer et. al. 593). We pachucos would never engage ourselves in violent activites like this. We changed the way we looked, not the way we act. I feel the only reason those sailors accused those men of what they did was because of all the racial conflicts going on around the country at this time ("World" 1). Because of all this hatered towards other races us Latinos, especially the ones who wore zoot suits, were deamed "un-American" because we tried to stray from the norm ("World" 2). The peolpe who felt most strongly to this veiw on us were the military personnel, and after the start of the war, more and more were coming to Los Angeles in the local bases ("Los" 1). Also, many of these military personnel in these bases were southern cacasians, who belived strongly in Americanism ("World" 2). This "attack" on the sailors sparked an outrage among these bases. The following day a mob sent out to find us zoot suiters, and what was later known as the Zoot Suit Riots began.

Around 200 sailors, most likely bored and fueled with hatred towards us led the attack. These men drove around Los Angeles trying to find us zoot suiters ("Los" 1). If one of us pachucos were found we would be beaten and stripped of our clothing (Danzer et. al. 593). What detered me most of all was that the police seemed to approve of this mess because they did nothing to help us or stop the sailors from attacking us. The media portrayed this as a "Mexican Crime Way" depicting us as gangsters. I can't remember how many of my friends I found badly wounded and countless others being arrested for "Rioting". The police would drive around with these caravans of sailors and soliders, watch the beatings, then arrest the victims. The only crime we pachucos committed was being Latino living in the citl of L.A. ("Los" 1). Luckily, the military soon broght control over its men and brought the riot to an end by ordering the city of Los Angeles being off limits to military personnel ("Los" 2). In all, the riots lasted for about a week (Danzer et. al. 593).

As for me, I was beaten pretty badly. I didn't get arrested though but my pride was killed. This problem was beyond just us zoot suiters, it was a racial asualt against all Latinos and it was all because of this war ("Los" 2). Well, all me and my fellow pachucos can do now is hope, hope that this problem will soon be solved and we can go on with living our lives.

Danzer, Gerald A. et. al. __The Americans__. Evanston, Illinois: McDougal Littel, 2003.
 * //__Works Cited__//**

"Los Angeles Zoot Suit Riots". __Los Angeles Almanac__. 1998. 23 Oct 2007 .

"World War Two and The Zoot Suit Riots". 1997. 23 Oct 2007 .

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