Patterned Discrimination in the LAPD

The Los Angeles Police Department has been a perpetrator of violence within the Los Angeles area for decades, clearly displayed through the various riots that erupted throughout the 20th Century. An outcry against patterns of police brutality towards minority communities can been seen through instances like the Watts Riots of 1965; yet many smaller, unknown riots set a precedent to what would become a pattern of an ignorant LA police force and white civilian unrest with immigrants.

The Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 were rooted in a deep animosity between a densely-populated Mexican-American population in LA and the white sailors of a naval base put in the same area. Mexican immigration to areas of production on the West Coast during the first half of the 20th century increased with the appeal of farm-work opportunities. Discriminated against ruthlessly, immigrant populations were condemned to the oldest, most run-down areas of Los Angeles. In these areas, new cultures of Mexican youth emerged, one being the Zoot Suitors who sought expression through unique clothing. During war times an expansion of the Los Angeles area led to the relocation of a naval base into the Chavez Ravine, directly within a primarily Mexican community. Tensions built between the young Zoot Suitors and the Sailors who believed the Latinos's disregard for the rationing of material (given that their outfits were more material than what was allowed in war-time) was disrespectful. Many altercations happened between the two sides; one verbal altercation resulted in white sailors reporting to the LAPD that the Zoot Suitors were attacking them. This prompted the LAPD to "clean the streets up" of groups perceived as gangs, a perception fueled by media outlets' skewed portrayal of Mexican immigrants. Riots eventually broke out when a group of 200 sailors, joined by police men, rushed into the Mexican population, stripped the Zoot Suitors of their clothes, and burnt their outfits. Thousands of sailors and many policemen took to the streets to terrorize any young Latino they could find.

The power of the white sailors to destroy and terrorize was backed up and fueled by the blatant racism of the LAPD which not only denied equal treatment of the Zoot Suitors under law but also directly acted to perpetuate the destruction. This pattern of LAPD complacency and direct, violent action repeated in 1965 with the Watts Riots, again in 1992 with the Rodney King Riots, and every single day within the perpetual discrimination that goes unheard by a larger population. The Los Angeles Police Department used and still uses its power to endlessly destroy and humiliate.

-Linnea Natale

Side Note: it disturbs me that this quarter is the first time I've learned about the Zoot Suit Riots.....