1992 L.A. Uprisings and the Zoot Suit Riots

PAST: Earlier moments of urban unrest such as the Zoot Suit Riots; seem to very much so resonate and have a comparable story of what was to come with the 1992 L.A Uprisings. The Zoot Suit Riots also took place in Los Angeles, just some time earlier in 1943. In addition, it basically was white people in a position of power, murdering and beating Mexican American youth who wore zoot suits for their own racist agenda. I think there is strong parallelism with this and the L.A riots because it is also white people in a position of power punishing a member of a minority group for their own racist agenda. Both white parties faced little to no repercussions; and in the long run I could see how it just created this history of unrest and violence in L.A. where minorities could not trust whites in positions of power because they had constant historical evidence that when given the opportunity they would take advantage of their power. In contrast, for the zoot suit riots, the media was on the side  of the violators; the local press applauded the racial attacks, describing them as having a "cleansing effect" to rid Los Angeles of "miscreants" and "hoodlums." Which I feel could have a lasting effect on minorities in L.A; even after the riots and ended and life continued. For the L.A uprisings, although the courts decided on no punishment for the officers, at least the media and the black community in Los Angeles fought for justice for Rodney King; something that was not done for the zoot suit riots. 

PRESENT: Alternatively, police brutality similar to that of the L.A. and Zoot Suit Riots is still a huge topic of discussion today with the shooting of Michael Brown in 2014, and the Black Lives Matter protests that followed, with little to no media attention. The media attention that they did get was negative and often times activists at the forefront of the movement were criminalized, as well as arrested, tear gassed and beaten. Since, then the amount of black children and adults that have been lost to police brutality is overwhelming and in reality we will never know all of their names and all of their stories because the media doesn't value them enough to tell them. It is interesting to look at the differences between the way police and the media handle white movements such as the recent Parkland School shooting gained so much attention and the students essentially rose to fame. And I am not saying that is a bad thing, and I definitely agree we need better gun control laws and think this is an important movement; but where were these white "allies" when Trayvon Martin was killed, or Philando Castile? or Sandra Bland? Where was the support then? It is very telling how really nothing has changed since Rodney King. 


-Esmeralda Reyes