Zoot Suit Film Writing Assignment
It was 1940s, the world was on chaos due to war braking out. I was nineteen when World War II was happening. The Americans were fighting against Germany and Japan, which caused some tensions and fears among the Americans. Many young people turned their eyes toward music to get away from such tensions and fears. During 1940s, musics were “ mainly built around the jazz and big band styles” that aroused some joys and positive moods (“1940’s Music” 1). I was also one of people who enjoyed these musics and wore a type of clothing called “Zoot Suit”. During that time people considered wearing zoot suit as rebellion against the “ norms of segregation”, with exaggerated clothing worn by social minorities (“People &
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Events” 1). My parents were worried about how I was becoming too American. Being free and exposed to such cultures of dance that were more touching and wearing visible clothing. However, some folks were also worried that I was not too American enough. That I wore the zoot suit and were rebelling by wearing such clothing. However, I did not care much and lived my time with full of happiness, musics, and dance. Wearing of Zoot suit at that time, caused some a lot of troubles to minorities, especially Mexicans. In the film “Zoot Suit” by Luis Valdez, shows the glimpse of what happened during 1940s to those who wore zoot suit. I personally believe that the film represents quiet accurately what happened during the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial of 1942 as well as the Zoot suit riot in Los Angles during that time. The film however, does not tell much of details parts of the events, which I will tell you about the details now. During Sleepy Lagoon murder trial of 1942, those boys who were arrested were zoot suiters and were arrested with no clear evidence that they were the killers (Zoot Suit).
When this event was occurring, the newspaper companies “were eager to distract attention from the war” and gave false representation of these race as “internal enemies” of this country (“Zoot Suit Riots” 1). Due to such acts of these newspaper companies, Zoot suiters and mostly Mexican Americans were considered as gangs, dangerous, and trouble makers. Also, during this time, servicemen were on duty at the Los Angeles, who had some “racist attitudes about zoot suiters based on stories published by the press” (“Zoot Suit Riots” 1). Also, during this time, Navy military men were stationed at Los Angeles and were having some conflicts with particularly Mexican Americans. Those navy men would often “insult Mexican Americans as they traveled through their neighborhood”, which has led to rose of tension between military men and the Mexican Americans (“People & Events” 2). Then the incident that sparked the occurring of Zoot Suit Riot has occurred. On 1943, May 30th, twelve navy men has caught up in a big fight with Mexican Americans, which led one of the sailor named Joe Dacy Coleman to be seriously injured (“People & Events” 2). This caused other navy men to “organized a retaliatory strike against zoot-suiters”, which is the start of the Zoot Suit Riot in Los Angeles (“People & Events” 2). After this incident …show more content…
with sailor Joe Dacy Coleman, there were series of fights between the navy men and the zoot suiter. However, as navy men were searching for more zoot suiters to beat up, they found so little amount of zoot suiters. Which led to navy men to “instead of focusing their attacks in areas where sailors and civilian youth had clashed, the sailors moved into the Mexican American neighborhoods” (“People & Events” 2). This had led to great racial fights between the whites and the Mexican Americans. During time such riot was happening, policemen were “unwilling to step in and protect civilians”, who were minorities and mostly Mexican Americans ( ”People & Events” 2). Due to no interference of policemen, the citizens were beat up by military men as well as the servicemen for no great reasons. The worst part of this incident of Zoot Suit Riot occurred on June 7th of 1943. During this time, newspapers were printed with head lines like “how to ‘de-zoot’ a zoot suiter”, which contained information about violently stripping and beating up the zoot suiters (“People & Events” 3). On that day, around 5,000 civilians were beat up and stripped violently by not just navy men, but also “Soldiers, Marines, and [other] sailors from other installations as far away as Las Vegas eagerly joined in the assaults” (“People & Events” 3). After such violent event has ended, the military men were restricted to enter the Los Angels, wearing Zoot suit was banned, and newspaper companies were banned to put false and negative reports on the newspaper (“Zoot Suit Riots” 4; “People & Events” 3). During the Zoot suit riot, Los Angels policemen were not helping the people perhaps due to the either the fear of getting involved in the fierce fight between the military men and the so called “dangerous Zoot suiters”. Other reason that the police men might have just sat back and watched could be that they also had some racist mind and agreed to the military men that those Zoot suiters need to be perished. Furthermore, the Mexican Americans were not viewed respectfully due to the negative and wrongful newspaper information that were sent out, which led to negative and hatred toward the Mexican Americans. I believe such lack of the police involvement could happen today as well.
Human are bias creatures and have their own thoughts of what is right or wrong. Although racism and discrimination have been reduced, there are still discrimination and racism in our lives. In today lives, there seem to be more of news about over action of the policemen on other minorities, but I believe that such stand back action like the 1943 can happen and perhaps are happening today somewhere just not known to us. Furthermore, the act of discrimination like the ones that were done to Mexican American youth in 1940s are similar to the events that are happening in America today. Such has cracking down on the terrorism and finding terrorists. There are rumors that our phones are tapped and that the government can see our private internet use as well as other private things are violated. Also, searching for the terrorists and a lot of Americans thinking that those races like Muslims, Israels, and other races around that area are mostly terrorist. These discriminatory views on these races are parallel to the events of Zoot suit riots in 1943. Not only the terrorism, but also the views on African American and Mexican Americans are represented as the violent groups. There are many Americans who believe that African Americans and Mexican Americans are dangerous just like how people saw the Zoot suiters as dangerous and rebellious. There are some reports about the over action of the policemen on the
African Americans, which has caused some huge issues. In today’s lives, discrimination on minority and specific groups still continues and might continue on as we can not change all people’s views and opinions. So, as I was the young zoot suiter at that time, I was involved in such violent riots and was vitimized. I still can feel those fear and anger toward those white military men and the reluctant policemen. I also do not feel great about those negative newspaper headlines and the others who did not help people like us. Moreover, I fear such events might happen again or are happening somewhere that I do not know of. To conclude my story, Sleepy Lagoon murder event and the negative newspaper information had cause the fire on the fight between the basically whites and the Mexican Americans. Which led to fierce fighting and almost like massacre or elimination of the Mexican Americans. And during that time no one helped us and we were basically bullied. I thought I was American enough, but perhaps, I was not or that it did not matter to those who had fight against us. Such events seem to continue on in our lives, big or small. It could be small and personal like being bullied cause of not a great reasons, or big issues like that happens to the certain communities. As I said we really can not seem to crack down on such issues fully, since what one individual or group believes on can not be simply changed by anyone or an authority. And you can not be sure that such authorities have such discriminatory views on certain races or groups. However, the incident of the Zoot suit riot has taught many people about what happens with mass discrimination of the people and the poor involvement of the authorities. Perhaps we will all learn from history.
This quote shows that the Zoot Suit was intended to be seen as a hip classy style to ...
Mexican-Americans were highly offended when American citizens, mostly the marines and soldiers, attacked any Mexican they saw on the street wearing a zoot suit. Some of the time these Mexicans were not part of a gang, but were attacked as revenge from that August night in 1942. Police officials were watching servicemen beat the Mexicans on the street then arresting the victims, saying that they provoked the riot (La Op...
The zoot suit symbolized several different things for the Mexican American population in the Los Angeles community. Not only was it a symbol of pride in their Mexican heritage, but also a form of rebellion from the norms emplaced upon the Mexican teenagers by their parents. These suits were also a symbol of unity, these young men wanted to look different and feel as if they’re culture could be something they could display and be proud of. This whole image was seen by the modern culture of Los Angeles to be “gang” related or distasteful. These “Pachuco” or punks often spoke a hybrid of English and Spanish, this was known as “calo.” However, many of the Mexican American teenagers at the time, spoke only English. The outfit often included pants wide at the knee often 40 inches or more, a broad shouldered jacket, hat, chain wallet and shined shoes called “calcos.”
Terrorism and racial profiling is nothing new in our society. Although some people would like to believe that it is nonexistent, it is still a major issue in today’s world. With that being said, my view on the subject is that racial profiling is going to continue to happen whether we like it or not. I believe profiling isn 't necessarily meant to intentionally harm anyone, but is used as a tool to prevent terrorism. Past terroristic attacks have lead to the many stereotypes and prejudice that our country has today.
As they have for decades, American people have insisted on their and social power. Under this guise of protecting those rights and the current of Americans, some agencies of the government- police forces, licensing agencies and business agencies- refused color people freedom rights. For example, as C-SPAN reported, that many color American are denied voting right in the Florida States, even though they had their voting registration cards with them just being color. Another example, as the New York times reported, that color people clashed with police for being refused their rights to be bury in a Chicago cemetery for being color. Whether this illegal discriminatory treatment of color people derives from racism or natives, these abuses will grow dramatically if laws are not enforced. American even endanger lives when laws are not enforced by government agencies insisted persecutions color people even more.
New fashions were surfacing in both men’s and women’s fashions. Men were wearing Bermuda pants, baggy pants that were cut off at the knee, while women were wearing capris, tight pants that cut off just below the knee. Men were wearing tailored jackets and making a slight move towards the casual dress of today’s workplace. Women were wearing natural shoulders as opposed to the heavily padded ones of the war years. Flat, neck-hugging collars replaced the mannish collars of the late 1940’s. Waists were tightly fitted and skirts were long (Melinkoff 46). The jeans of the time were often lined with plaid flanel and dungarees were worn to the most casual occasions. The sandals of the fifties were not much different than the sandals of today.
...types of the Zoot Suit trend. Without El Pachuco’s presence in these scenes, the clarity of the issues would not have been put in the forefront of the play. Zoot Suit is a political play designed to display the Chicano struggle against oppression and injustice. Although Zoot Suit reaches back to a historical event for Mexican-Americans, the play concerns all ethnic minorities in America. The Zoot Suit is a historical image that embodies a form of agency imbued with political power and rebellion for Chicanos and Chicanas alike. This play is counteractive to the prejudice and misrepresentation of Zoot Suiters of the time and is a tool for historical education. Not only does this play educate those who were unable to bear witness to such discrimination, but it also displays the ways in which counterculture can be powerful and makes changes in society.
Throughout history, music have defined or depicted the culture and social events in America. Music has constantly played an important role in constituting American culture, where people have expressed themselves through music during flourishing and turbulent times. In the 1930’s, Swing music created a platform for audiences to vent their emotions in the midst of Great Depression and political unrest. Such strong relationship between music and culture can be seen throughout history, especially in the sixties.
Towards the end of the decade the Hippie movement had a huge impact on the way people started to view clothing. This group rebelled against war, encouraged peace and love. Their presence had a major influence on fashion. They opted for clothing that was natural and comfortable. Accessories w...
The way these teens dressed during this time was very conservative. Due to the restrictions of World War II, "clothes were much [more] simple and less fabric was used because few materials were available” (Mathieson). Many teens during this time period were much more respectful and would not go out of their way to cause a corruption. Te...
There has always been racial profiling in our history. The problem here is that at some point the ones who are oppressed and discriminated sooner o later will claim why they are treated unequally. There are many examples around the world, but one only has to take a look at how the American society has been designed to realize the great difference between individuals. It was even normal and acceptable to see these differences during the creation of this nation because the ones who supposedly had the power and knowledge of conquering made sure to create a huge division between leaders and subordinates.
People are beginning to be stopped for the way they are dressed or even worse by the color of their skin or the culture they were born in which is something that they cannot change. Some races being stopped and frisked more than others. As said in the article Jim Crow Policing “an over whelming 84 percent of the stops in the first three-quarters of 2009 were of black or Hispanic New Yorkers” (Herbert 37). How would you feel about being harassed because of your heritage and color of your skin? Most people will get angry and upset and I believe we have the right to because it is unfair to be singled out for something like that. Families are discouraged to go on trips, because they don’t want to be inconvenienced by law enforcement for their image. As said in the article, Hollywood couple stopped by police, say they were racially profiled, “I’ve been stopped by police before, but I never been fearful for my life” (Duke Hawkins-Gaar 1). This was said by Johnson a young woman who was trying to go on a romantic getaway with her boyfriend until they were stopped to be frisked by police, because of being African American.
Racial profiling is not a new activity but is now more widely seen on the streets and in social media which in turn has caused a negative impact on law enforcement and social unrest among minorities. In fact, "Carter indicates that the debate involving racial and ethnic profiling following the terroristic attacks opened the doors for the federal government to conduct more extensive routine enforcement and investigations which will probably get out of hand" [1].
Racism is happening before the suspect even gets a chance to explain themselves or be accused of any crime, and the rules of being able to do such a thing are becoming even more lenient so that police are able to perform such actions. “The rule requiring police to have ‘specific information’ was loosened. This piece of writing explains that for no other reason than race, these people get convicted far more significantly than others who have the same charge but are white, which continues as far as giving a person of color the max sentence that they can have on a certain charge just for the color of their skin. The justice system has turned into the opposite of what it claims to be and continues to grow as a racist overseer, bashing down on those that they believe should be punished as harshly as possible simply for the color of their skin.
Generally, in the 60s people’s dressing was stilted, unattractive and confined (Tracy Tolkien., 2002). However, young people experienced the highest incomes period after the Second World War; therefore, they began to put more attention outside the basic human supply. Hence, the young boys and girls were start desired some fresh elements to add i...