“Zoot Suit” Riots: Latinos, Sailors, Police Clash
The so-called “Zoot Suit” riots, a series of violent clashes between Latino Americans, U.S. sailors on leave, and local police in Los Angeles during World War II, erupted on this day in Los Angeles.
An initial incident occurred on May 30th, but this day is generally regarded as the beginning of the riots.
The name came from the Zoot Suits, which were a hip style of men’s suits among jazz musicians, young Latinos and African-Americans. The riot was the culmination of rising ethnic and racial tensions in the years before it erupted. The major conflict occurred in Los Angeles, although conflicts also occurred in San, Jose, Oakland, San Diego, and Delano, California. The initial violence began with a confrontation between a group of young Latinos and U.S. sailors. It soon escalated with Los Angeles police officers, some calling themselves members of the Vengeance Squad, joining in.
Eventually, more than 150 people were injured and over 500 Latinos arrested. Military authorities declared Los Angeles off limits to Navy and Marine Corps personnel, and the disorders eventually ended. Los Angeles City Council debated, but did not pass, an ordinance making it a crime to wear a zoot suit.
The Zoot Suit riots were paralleled by racial riots in New York City (August 1, 1943) and Detroit (June 20, 1943) during the summer of 1943.
Read: Luis Alvarez, The Power of Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance During World War II (2008)
Lear more about the 1943 Zoot Suit riots here
Watch the PBS documentary, Zoot Suit Riots: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/zoot/ making
Learn more: Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States (2014)