...Jaime Aparicio Dr. G. Nunez CHIC 305-01 September 22, 2011 The book Zoot Suit has symbolic significance for Mexican Americans and tells about the riots during the World War II. The Sleepy Lagoon Murder was one-step in the fight for the rights and respect of Mexicans American's. In the play El Pachuco wearing an elegant long zoot suit, and is the centerpiece of the play where he is able to pause time and take Henry to the past. El Pachuco symbolizes Mexican American youths who fought for nationalism, family, and equality. Throughout the play, it is clear to say that the Pachuco represents all Chicanos both male and female. This statement true in the way that all Chicanos have the same problems and are fighting for the same rights. El Pachuco also shows a fine connection to the Chicano Nationalist Paradigm and the model of obligatory heterosexuality. For instance, his personality is very masculine and proceeds himself to be a tough person because traditionally been defined as a queer or gay would be considered outside of la familia. In addition, El Pachuco shows Henry his devotion, and loyalty when he express his patriotism of being a pachuco. In addition, El Pachuco describes the relationship between a father and son in a ideal Mexican family. Lastly, El Pachuco symbolizes how equality played a significant part for many Chicanos that were set aside and treated differently by their race, language, culture, and eventually where not assimilated as equal citizens. The main...
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...many young Latino men were staring to get out and go to clubs, bars, and movies because they were not content to stay within their “barrios”, and started wearing big suites (zoot suits) and cutting their hair differently, to stand out. Around this time young army men were stationing in Los Angeles due to the war, and many times got into little fights with the zoot suitors because of racial differences. The local press had been saying that "zoot suitors" and "gangsters" were one and the same. On June 3, 1943, a few sailors claimed to have been beaten and robbed by some Mexican pachucos (zoot suitors). That night, a mob of about 200 sailors, drove into East Los Angeles to beat up and take the clothing off any young Latino male they could find. The authorities seemed to be ok with this chaos. “Gangs of American sailors and marines, armed with sticks, walked the streets during the zoot suit riots attacking any man wearing a zoot suit.” first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote that the riots went “deeper than just suits. It is a racial protest. i have been worried for a long time about the Mexican racial situation.” a citizen committee formed to investigate the causes of the riots say, they were caused by racism in the city of Los Angeles. Mayor Fletcher brown disagreed and said, that the juvenile delinquents (zoot suitors) and the white southerners (army men) had been causing the riots. (Word Count: 299...
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...Zoot Suit Riots weren’t just worn to look nice. The Mexican-Americans used them as a weapon for protest to show that they wanted equality in the United States of America. However, did it affect them in a delightful or unpleasant way? They could have helped them in both ways. For example, according to an article on mtholyoke.edu, they got beat up by the sailors for protesting. As you can tell, that was the unpleasant part. On the other hand, they got their rights. If it wasn’t for them, who knows if we would have gotten our equal rights. Do you think it helped more in a pleasant or poor way? Wearing Zoot Suits had many consequences. Zoot Suits were used to protest for rights, but the sailors weren’t too pleased towards this. The teenagers in the suits disturbed the peace of the sailors by beating them. This got the sailors furious, so they gathered into groups and started to seek revenge by beating the Zoot Suitors instead of the Zoot Suitors beating them. Not only did the protestors get beat, they got arrested for beating the sailors in the first place. That was...
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...To begin with, life in prison as exhibited by Zoot Suit Riots by Luis Valdez and What you can do after shutdown by Peter Malae are similar because they both talk about prison in their stories. In Zoot Suit Riots, it states “Henry Reyna is falsely accused and convicted of the murder and is imprisoned until an appeal can demonstrate that he was not inv There are many similarities as well as differences in Zoot Suit Riots by Luis Valdez and Peter Malae’s stories. The authors address similar topics such as discrimination, prison life, and perseverance in an oppressive system. Zoot Suit Riots by Luis Valdez and Peter Malae’s stories both include different topics such as the effects of the length of time in prison which is displayed in one of...
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...Before the Zoot Suit Era emerged, in 1941, there were many Mexican’s that immigrated to California, Texas and Arizona but Los Angeles had the highest concentration of Mexican Americans. Whites and Mexican Americans soon enough separated into their own areas and with unfair employment between them, the tension between the two began to rise. The Los Angeles Times also helped in the tension, as they portrayed a negative messages about Mexican Americans and often times referred to them as “Pachucos” according to Wikipedia Article “Zoot Suit Riots”. Since the start of World War II, the nation decided to cut back on certain manufacturing products to help fund and support the war efforts, such as the 26% cut-back in fabrics, which in result, forbade the manufacturing of the Zoot Suit, since they required excessive fabrics. Servicemen, Military Personnel and White American’s saw the fashion of the Zoot Suiters as “unpatriotic” and “extravagant” and traditional Mexican families feared their children would...
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...These Maries, soldiers, and sailors strip down any Chicano who was wearing a zoot suit and would publicly humiliate them by having them take their clothes off or beat them. The police department seemed to support and approve of the violence since they did not provide protection to the Chicano youth. In fact, the attacks quickly turned into a riot that lasted for nine days now known as the “ Zoot Suit Riots” (Chiodo 4). The riots were a scapegoat of the subjectivity of power in Mexican American communities. Before the riots, tensions of Mexican-American had a long history in the Los Angeles area. During this time period, Chicana/os had very limited rights and struggled to fit into the status quo provided by the United States. The song “ Pachuco...
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...The Mexican- American History May 22, 2014 History 1. The first picture caught my eye was Pedro Infante was a famous Mexican actor during the golden age of Mexican cinema. I consider Pedro an important contributor to society because he brought a whole new meaning to the movie making of Mexico Pedro mostly played the role of a Mexican Rancher but worked out for him very well because he soon became one of the best actors of his time along with Jorge Negrete and Maria Felix. 2. María Félix was a Mexican film star whose extraordinary beauty and force of personality made her a living myth to Mexicans and a symbol of glamour and sophistication to fans throughout the world. Her entire period, she reigned as the supreme goddess of Spanish language in cinema. She became so powerful that she exerted great influence over fashion and as actor in Mexico and other few countries. 3. Mexican American joins the military during World War II for a better opportunity for their life. One was to improve their low socioeconomic status as lack of jobs opportunities. Other to improve their education and manhood. The Mexican American saw to enjoy the military was the only alternative opportunity to enjoy the military to be the only way to succeed in life. 4. Guy L. Gaba ldon was important during the World War II he was a Mexican- American soldier served in the Pacific, his main mark was in the battle of Saipan he fought with the Japanese soldier. The knowledge he used...
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...United States and targeted Mexicans. Government agents flooded Mexican neighborhoods and would stop and ask "Mexican looking" people for identification. If none was presented, they were deported back to Mexico. Even children of those deported although being United States Citizens were also deported. The number projected to have ended with over one million illegal immigrants deported back to Mexico. Fred L. Koestler, "OPERATION WETBACK," Handbook of Texas Online Another act of discrimination in United States History with Mexican Americans was the Zoot Suite Riots of 1952. United States Sailors, Marines, and other service were storming the streets assaulting Mexican American, some of whom were not wearing Zoot Suits. It evolved over a period of ten days. Many service members were the ones who began the riots inciting the Zoot Suitors were harassing their women and being assaulted by them. The police refused to step in and help the Zoot Suitor's because they did not want to arrest any servicemen due to the war. Only Mexicans Americans were arrested in the riots. Police Officer would often hold back crowds and prevent citizens from helping the Mexican's as they were beaten by servicemen. Elliot Gorn, et al, Constructing the American Past: A Sourcebook of a People's History (1970) When growing up, I...
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...Pacos’ Intergalactic Adventures He had always been proud of the work he did in the Intergalactic Potato Confederation (IPC). He was the highest ranking official in the Security Council subdivision, which served to maintain intergalactic peace and security for all potato-kind. Paco the potato couldn’t be happier with the work he had done over the course of a decade. On the other hand, one of his superiors, Pedro the potato, was angry at the IPC for not considering the repercussions of deploying military forces to unstable galaxies. Pedro was unsuccessful with his mission to destroy IPC. He was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit treason against IPC, and sentenced to life at Fort Centaurus. During his trial, Pedros’ testimony convinced Paco that the reasons for what he intended to do were valid. Pedros’ reasoning suddenly became not so crazy in the mind of Paco. There was something wrong with how IPC controlled galaxies and Paco intended to do something about it. He was done hiding what deep down he knew was wrong with IPC. Over the course of the next few days, Pedros’ trial gave him an insight on what Pedro intended to do, including bombing IPC headquarters. Paco became entirely convinced that what he was planning on doing would save potato-kind. Paco begins to gain followers who share the same ideas as him. With all these potatoes by his side, as well as his security clearance at IPC, Paco would be unstoppable. Paco had always been the nice guy, but recent events had...
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...Zoot Suit, a movie directed by Luis Valdez, is a movie set in the 1940’s in Los Angeles. The film is basically a play that is reenacting the unfair trial of a group of Chicanos. Zoot suit represents the outfits and style that Chicano’s were wearing back in that era. These “Zoot suits” were negatively portrayed and the police related those who wore them as gang members and violent criminals. This was simply not true, but due this form of stereotyping it led to a very wrongful arrest, which is what this film is recreating. The zoot suit film educates the audience, specifically Mexican Americans, about the discrimination and unfair treatment that their people had to go through. The Zoot Suit film helps the Mexican American communities become aware of the past discrimination that many Chicano’s had to deal with in the 1940’s. First of all the film is created around a true story that happened in that time known as the Sleepy Lagoons Murder Trials. Which involved a man by the name of Hank Leyvas. In the film the play recreates the scenario leading up to the trial, it follows of group of young...
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...not only portray the history of the time but also go inside the minds of these young men and understand the reasoning. The author puts forth the argument that the Zoot-Suit riots are not only historically relevant but the relevant to the racial tensions and more towards a psychological path. According the author, we have only looked at this event in the eyes of its historical significance and what the riots meant in that time period. However, there has never truly been a psychological analysis to the thoughts of these young men at the time and their thoughts...
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...The problem in this model that the farmworker speaks no English, which it means that the Farmworker can't be purchased. The second model is Johnny the Pachuco, a Mexican that is confident, speaks English, but the pachuco can be aggressive when its mas, also would start using curse words. The third model is the Revolucionario, who more of a traditional, romantic model. the stereotype of this model relates to the Pancho Villa figure, that describes a rougher version of a Mexican on a romantic side. Fourth and last model is the Mexican American that hopes to be very convincing to Miss Jimenez since she rejected to purchase the last three models. The Mexican American model is bilingual and well-educated but too horrified to...
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...fad in the 60’s known as the zoot suit. Fads are often influenced by positive media which in turn influences the public; however, with zoot suits it was the exact opposite. These suits were popular in particular with minorities, who wore the suits as a form of indirect protesting against racism. Due to their association with minorities the suits became less popular and had their image tarnished by the media, who condemned the suits branding any minority who wore them as “thugs” or “gangsters”. Many white comedians at the time wore them as a way to mock and belittle minorities. The suits were often associated with fictional villians in an...
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...that atomic bomb if one was created. Such a weapon would inevitably kill hundreds of thousands of people. Many disagreed the use of this weapon on a city, and suggested that they use this bomb just as a demonstration of power. Ethnic pride in the form of Zoot Suits was also a problem for U.S. Children of the immigrated Mexicans started to form gangs in the city called pachucos. These people wore large padded jackets, baggy pants, long chains, brimmed hats and greased...
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...Board of Education (Jones, 93) and the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 (Jones,89) would be to misunderstand the breadth of the Civil Rights Movement. Beginning in the 1920’s, civil rights activists such as Marcus Garvey and A Philip Randolph made civil rights gains with their ability to organize fellow civil rights activists into meaningful groups. A Philip Randolph went on to structurally change the United States with legislation to help secure the rights of black workers. The political gains that were made by Black Americans in reaction to World War II would further lay the groundwork for legislative power for Black Americans. The zoot suiters used their culture of rebellion and resistance to challenge white power and defend ethnic pride, a similar type of defiance that would be a crying call of the Black Power movement of the mid 1960’s and 1970’s (Joseph). In her article “The Long Civil Rights Movement and the Political Uses of the Past”, Jasquelyn Dowd Hall aptly argues why the Civil Rights Movement actually began decades before national awareness of it in in the mid 1950’s, and in doing so recognizing the slow burn that was necessary to lead to the explosion in the mid 1950’s and 1960’s. An explosion that would make many Americans face the brutal realities of racism against Black...
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