Pinks and Kinks 2012-11-29 18:19:00

The riots of the Zoot Suits started in 1943 when young Latino men wanted to distinguished themselves by wearing the same “duck tail” haircut and “zoot suits”. These were the pachucos. The military men did not like these men, and after years of being bored and restless, the military decided to do something about it. They had claimed that the pachucos had robbed them, and they got a bunch of taxis to drive them into Los Angeles so they could beat and take the clothes off every Latino man. The police didn’t seem to mind, for they only arrested a few sailors but they were immediately released. After a few days, the sailors started beating Latinos who weren’t in zoot suits, Black and Phillipino men. The police had arrested over 500 Latinos for rioting. Military police were in charge of getting control of the military men. And they claimed that they were only acting in self-defense. The only real people to suffer were the injured Latinos. The un-American Activities investigation was told to see if the zoot suits were sponsered by Nazi agencies, and they claimed that they were, but the evidence was never brought forward. I think it is a little unfair that the military men got away with all of this. It would be understandable if yes the zoot suits had robbed them, but there was no evidence of that and the sailors were hurting more than just the zoot suits. They were hurting innocent bystanders because of their race. This was a race riot it seemed, and I think the military men should have been charged and punished.