Zoot Suit Riots

Began between rising racial tension between Mexicans and Whites

Americans wanted all people of Mexicans decent deported because they felt they were taking their jobs away during the Great Depression

In the 1930s 12,000+ Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were deported from Los Angeles

Los Angeles newspapers fueled a lot of the tension between the two groups.

Media used the term “Chicano” as a derogatory term

Youth Latinos in California began to create their own culture

Young Latinos created their own music, language and clothing

Zoot Suit was the name of the outfit that young Latinos wore.(like picture)

They called themselves Pachucos

In the 1940s there were many arrests of these people

1942 a member was accused of murder, this created anti-Mexican feelings

9 Pachucos were convicted and sentenced to life in prison

Ruling was overturned, but the damage was already done

War production set measures on rationing of fabrics, zoot suits were banned

But they were still created in the underground market

"a symbol of love and joy or of horror and loathing, an embodiment of liberty, of disorder, of the forbidden."[

Octavio Paz said