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crime, also Mexican American, were the victims of an unfair trial and were
convicted and sentenced to San Quentin prison. Los Angeles was suffering a
deep racial polarization, with whites suspicious of and hateful toward Mexican
Americans, who were vital to the California economy, especially in agricul-
ture.
Against that backdrop, a year later, in June 1943, a group of White sailors
on leave claimed they were attacked by Zoot Suiters, so over 200 other sailors
went on a rampage in the Mexican American communities of East Los
Angeles. The attacks, dubbed the “Zoot Suit Riots,” continued for a few more
days and unknown numbers of Mexican Americans were beaten and often
stripped of their Zoot Suits; one Los Angeles paper even offered advice on
how to “de-Zoot” someone wearing such clothing. Soon, Army soldiers
joined the sailors and again poured into East Los Angeles, breaking into busi-
nesses and beating people randomly. One’s choice of wardrobe had become
an excuse for political repression. The local authorities did nothing to slow
the assaults, and in fact Time Magazine reported, “the police practice was toFIGuRE 6-9 Zoot Suiters outside a Los Angeles jail, en route to court after
feud with sailors, June 1943