Zoots Suits became quite popular during the 1940’s. Mostly Mexican, African Americans, Italian, and Filipino Americans wore them. The Zoot Suit consisted of a high waist, wide-legged and ballooned pants, long coats, and big, padded shoulders. Most were bright colored and full of life. Zoot Suits originated with African American youth in jazz clubs. Mexican Americans began wearing Zoot Suits soon after and made them their own. The usage of these outfits became more and more common within these groups of people. The more Mexican Americans wore them, the more problems arose. Older Mexicans didn’t like that the younger generations were wearing these suits. Whites did not like the fact that minorities were able to express themselves freely and wear what they wanted to wear. Older Mexican Americans said Zoot Suits were not based upon their own culture and off their own ideas, rather from African Americans.
Discrimination of Mexican Americans became very prominent. The Sleepy Lagoon Murder Trial of 1942 showed no evidence that Mexican Americans were involved in the death of Jose Gallardo Diaz. Although wrongly accused of the crime, nine youths were arrested and put in jail without bail. This made people believe Mexican Americans to be dangerous people. Therefore this led to worse and more intense treatment. They were thoughts to have joined gangs and turned into criminals. Hostilities rose between Mexican Americans and American Sailors. Both groups were said to be mistreating each other’s women. This marked the start of the Zoot Suit Riots. On May 30th, 1943 an American sailor hit a man wearing a Zoot Suit. June 3rd, 1943 was the worst night of the riots. Sailors ripped the suits off teenage boys, used violence against them, and set the suits to fire. These actions banned Zoot Suits from being worn. Four days later on June 7th, a group of 5,000 people, American sailors and Mexican Americans formed mobs and fought each other. Los Angeles was then considered off-limits to Mexican Americans and sailors. The Zoot Suit epidemic started as an innocent thing. People of specific racial groups wore them to proudly proclaim their heritage and express themselves. Over time though, people began discriminating against the types of people that wore them, therefore resulting in the banning of the suits all together. This caused mass chaos and fighting among the different groups of people and the American sailors. Zoot Suits disappeared completely soon after.
It's sad that these people were judge, and picked out to be criminals, simply based off the outfit they wore. What got me the most was when the sailors formed mobs and beat the young boys wearing zoot suits. There was so much discrimination going on. I see what they were trying to accomplish with banning the zoot suit, but I do that agree. We have the right to express who we want to be, and the law should protect us against those who wish to harm us for what we believe or how we look. The zoot suit sounds like a fun way for people to express who they are. Sadly, it had consequences. I remember learning about The Sleepy Lagoon murder trial in class. It seems like (for the most part) we can wear what we want, without violence being conflicted upon us, in today's society. Although, there is discrimination against what we wear, it's not in the form of violence. Most of the time.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this i just dont get how people can be so judgemental. They get judged just because of thier outfit. Thats like saying im poor becuase I wear surf shorts and slippers in Arizona. I dont get it. I dotn agree with the banning of a zoot suit because i feel that people should be able to wear what they want where they want. I still think till this day that people judge one another from that they wear espicially in a work enviroment. If i walk into a job interview with a tank top compared to somebody with a suit, I most likelty wont get the job even though i might be more qulaifed.
ReplyDeleteThe zoot suits seem a little weird to me. I still don’t understand fully why the Mexican Americans were put in jail just for wearing these suits. I do not see anything wrong with wearing what you want and expressing your style. It was also interesting to me that the older people strongly disliked everything about these zoot suits. It is somewhat amazing to think that these people were sent to jail without bail when they did not do anything. These Mexican Americans were not criminals and were still accused for this. Something like that would never happen in the United States today.
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