In the 1940s, many Mexican-Americans suffered a widespread of discrimination causing them to question their identity. In order to fight the discrimination many young Mexicans in Los Angeles wore a zoot suit and styled themselves to be “pachucos” as a form of social and political rebellion. Once they put on those baggy, high-waisted pants and the long jacket they took on the identity of being punks and troublemakers. Luis Valdez’s play Zoot Suits, is based on the events that happened in the Sleepy Lagoon Trial, where the court unfairly charged a group of Pachucos with the murder of another Mexican because of their ethnicity, behavior, and style of dressing.
Many Zoot Suiters, such as Henry Reyna, felt powerless with their position in society so they wore Zoot Suits in order to send a message and regain their masculinity. He wanted to take on the identity of a troublemaker rather than just a Mexican. He believed that being seen as a punk would make people fear him rather than discriminate against him and put him down. El Pachuco, Henry’s alter ego, describes Henry as a “The snarling juvenile delinquent. The zootsuiter. The bitter young pachuco gang leader of 38th Street” (Valdez 29). This is what most Americans thought of Mexicans
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Living in a heavily populated town of Hispanics and slightly racists parents, I would never hear the end of how I have to stay careful when being outside or who to stay away from. My parents, as some other Americans, continue to discriminate against Hispanics by claiming they still hold a pachuco identity. Although now, instead of just attacking the Mexican community they go after anyone who’s from Latin America. Instead of being a melting pot of cultures, people turn on immigrants and claim that they’re taking all the jobs from America. People who are born in this country, yet embrace their culture and look their ethnicity still face discrimination
Americans have pursued negative stereotypes specifically with Hispanics as a way to give Latinos a racial value that separates them from Americans. This results in Latino Americans feeling like they aren’t “American enough” and they aren’t welcomed in their own country. A lot of the stereotypes that are given to Hispanics are mainly negative and meant to give a name for a whole ethnicity. A very common
Throughout the play there are underlying theme that suggest different ideas. The themes I will discuss is how Mexican American men are portrayed in relation to women and the general public in the United States, the role the press played for the soul purpose of making money, and the struggle of young Mexican Americans to find a place, a style, or a chance to belong and be accepted without a negative stereotype. Pachuco seems to be the nagging conscience of Henry who is on trial for the Sleepy Lagoon Murder. The Pachuco character in his Zoot Suit has a fierce presence, which is seen by the Americans of this time as rebellious and gangster like. When describing the Zoot Suit Pachuco states, "PUT ON A ZOOT SUIT, MAKES YOU FEEL REAL ROOT LOOK LIKE A DIAMOND, SPARKLING, SHINING READY FOR DANCING READY FOR THE BOOGIE TONIGHT THE HEPCATS UP IN HARLEM WEAR THAT DRAPE SHAPE COMO LOS PACHUCONES DOWN IN L.A. WHERE HUISAS IN THEIR PRMPADOURS LOOK REAL KEEN ON THE DANCE FLOOR OF THE BALLROOMS DONDE BAILAN SWING. YOU BETTER GET HEP TONIGHT AND PUT ON THAT ZOOT SUIT!" (p. 26)
Throughout the years I have been asked many questions about my status in the United States just because I’m Hispanic. Most of the people who ask questions over the status of someone in the United States are trying to make jokes about them (Hispanics) “jumping the border” or “swimming across the border.” To Americans we are all grouped in the same category and don’t realize that we’re not all from Mexico and we’re not all uneducated. There are two different sides to the Hispanic race just like there are two different sides to African Americans as shown in “Who Shot Johnny?” by Debra Dickerson.
Luis Valdez and August Wilson transformed the reflecting of multicultural in two plays through characters. Fences is the picture of the conflict culture for African-American in USA in 1957 and Zoot Suit is the picture of Mexican-American in USA in 1942. Different culture, Different people in the time period. That is affected by the racism and discrimination. The picture of the poor life and poor colors from characters on the stage in Fences. The poor languages, and the biggest fear come from by Troy Maxson. That is the lowest stream in American society. The Zoot Suit is the conflict reflecting between Mexican and American. They do not accept in the America society in 1942. El Pachuco is standing for the justice revolution and the equally rights
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.”
Zoot Suit, a play written by Luis Valdez, depicts the racially charged trial of the Sleepy Lagoon Case of 1942 in which the courts charged a group of Pachucos with the murder of another Mexican-American. During the 1940s, many Mexican-Americans suffered widespread discrimination as dramatized in Zoot Suit. To combat such discrimination many Chicano youth wore stylized zoot suits, adorned with oversized jackets during fabric shortages as a form of social and political rebellion. Zoot Suiters felt disempowered by their position within society and used their fashion to send out a message and as a means to regain their masculinity. The Pachucos were accused with the murder of a fellow Mexican-American not because of clear evidence or proof, but because of their ethnic identity, renegade style of dressing, and behavior. The fundamental conflict that led to their arrest and unfair trial was a clash between Mexican-Americans and the dominant White American culture. Acting as a host, El Pachuco is the spirit of the ideal, defiant Pachuco and serves as Henry’s Reyna’s alter ego throughout the play, intermingling past Mexican culture with the current Zoot Suit culture. El Pachuco serves as a corrective to illustrate the heavy biases that the court and media displayed throughout the 1940s against Chicano people. Through his constant interjections during the courtroom scene, and his final confrontation with the reporter at the conclusion of the play he points out the injustices that Mexican-Americans had to endure.
Latino/a immigrants share similar experiences of anti-immigrant rhetoric just like other immigrant groups. Many Latino/as in America have faced negative comments based on their identity. For example, Rush Limbaugh, a radio host, expounds negative comments toward Latino/as, particularly Mexicans. He claimed that Mexicans are “a renegade, potential[ly] criminal element” that is “unwilling to work” (Media Matters for America, 2/28/06). These malice comments were similar to that of other immigrants. As other immigrant groups of non-English descent started arriving in America, there was an immigrant phobia towards the newcomers. During the mid-1700s, Benjamin Franklin said ...
In comparison to other migrating groups, Latinos have had different experiences that have prevented them from completely assimilating into American society. Throughout our history and presently, Latinos continue to face acts of cruelty and...
During WWII, Americans planned to “unite the races” for the benefit of the war and to uphold rigid American social standards. Rather than acknowledge the racial and cultural differences that are essential to personal meaning and ethnic identity/heritage, Anglos wanted to dispose of the so-called “castes” in favor of Americanizing inferior nationalities. Anglos assumed their cultural and social values superior, and perceived the extinguishing of diverse cultures as a gift to members. During this time young Chicana workers furiously and blatantly stepped into “superior” clothing while challenging gender roles by wearing mens' jackets and pompadours. They shed Mexican and American cultures and pissed off both worlds, forming their own empowering social movement. Anglos demonized so-called Pachucas as “racial antagonists” instead of exposing the true, Anglo-dominated, system. So, Anglo conquest for racial/social dominance was disguised as “can’t we all just get along?” (by maintaining the racially unequal social norms that comprise the American default that is comfortable for Anglos). The repercussions for mixing-up socioracial roles are always devastating and strongly evidenced in the Zoot Suit Riots.
Internalized racism has hit the individual level where half of all Hispanics consider themselves as white. One Mexican American asserted that he felt “shame and sexual inferiority…because of my dark complexion.” He also described himself with “disgust” loathing his appearance when he sees himself in the mirror. Stereotypes play a huge role in the Latino culture in the U.S where often the usual stereotype is that Latinos are job-stealers, uneducated, poor and illegal. “Envidia” or jealousy sabotages the Latino community because Latinos begin to question the qualifications of other successful Latinos. No one has the positive thought that Latinos can achieve and triumph in any field; they just can’t believe that. Latinos just stamp other Latinos with those stereotypes Americans say. Because of internalized racism, Latinos and Hispanics distance themselves from the Spanish language to support the English only movement. They are embarrassed of their inherited language and rather choose English to complete assimilation. “Almost 40% of Latino/a respondents prefer English as their dominant language…” (Padilla 20). Where I currently live, I always see on the day to day basis Hispanics and Latinos that immigrated to the United States from other countries sounding “white.” I speak to Hispanics; even Latinos in Spanish and they respond
As long as civilizations have been around, there has always been a group of oppressed people; today the crucial problem facing America happens to be the discrimination and oppression of Mexican immigrants. “Mexican Americans constitute the oldest Hispanic-origin population in the United States.”(57 Falcon) Today the population of Mexican’s in the United States is said to be about 10.9%, that’s about 34 million people according to the US Census Bureau in 2012. With this many people in the United States being of Mexican descent or origin, one would think that discrimination wouldn’t be a problem, however though the issue of Mexican immigrant oppression and discrimination has never been a more prevalent problem in the United States before now. As the need for resolve grows stronger with each movement and march, the examination of why these people are being discriminated against and oppressed becomes more crucial and important. Oppression and Anti-discrimination organizations such as the Freedom Socialist Organization believe that the problem of discrimination began when America conquered Mexican l...
During this course, this author has been taught about various social issues in today’s society as a whole. Some of these issues include perception of race and culture, poverty, social inequality, urbanization, and more. After exploring all these issues and more, this author has chosen to finish his last assignment on racial discrimination and Hispanic Americans. This author decided upon this specific issue because he has observed this in almost every town or city he has visited as a truck driver. This author thinks it is unfortunate that minorities are still treated unfairly. As citizens of the United States of America, it is useful to become educated on what racial discrimination is and see how it is applied in everyday life. This author decided to investigate this issue and determined the genuineness and voluminous of it.
Latinos face a lot of discrimination when they come to the united stated or they try to assimilate to the American culture. Most immigrants have to deal with the police investigating them because they think they are all drug dealers or are in some type of illegal organization. They also have to deal with people calling them names because of their skin color. Americans also accuse Hispanics of stealing their jobs (Ramos, 53). They also face seeing racist graffiti on homes or wall of a building and they have to face hate crimes (Plunkett, 15). They sometimes get excluded from white communities (Plunkett, 39). Latinos are also blamed for serious problems the country faces (Ramos, 195). There are reasons for Americans to discriminate Latinos and reasons why they shouldn’t discriminate them.
Being of a different race, different culture has always created challenges while living in America. I remember hearing about the incidents of racism my parents and grandparents experienced in this country throughout the majority of my childhood as well as witnessing and undergoing such events firsthand. An incident that has deeply scarred me dates back to when I was only ten years old. I remember walking along the sandy shore of Silver Beach with my dad, when a drunk white man approached us out of the blue screaming racial slurs and other discriminatory insults. I stood still as phrases like “You don’t belong here”, “This is America”, “F*** you, Bin Laden”, “Go back to your country, motherf*****!” stabbed me in the chest. My heart sank
The Postwar Period in New York City was an intriguing time to read fiction in. The literature we read in this unit was the play “The Oxcart” by Rene Marques and novel “Manhattan Tropics” by Guillermo Cotto-Thorner. Each piece was set in New York City of Puerto Rican families trying to strive for the American Dream. In “The Oxcart” by Marques was a piece we lightly touched on. Although we only read Act III of the play it set a lot of focus on the dynamics of how America set in the characters. Juanita is considered a modern girl and not following the standards of a Puerto Rican woman. She gets “gifts” for a “job” that is frowned upon her brother Luis. She isn’t like the women back home who would not act the way she does. Luis is