The Sleepy Lagoon Murder and The Zoot Suit Riots
On the morning of August 2, 1942, José Gallardo Díaz was discovered unconcious and dying near a swimming hole, known as the Sleepy Lagoon. Due to the setting of the crime, newspapers used this to create the moniker of, “the Sleepy Lagoon Murder”. Díaz was taken to Los Angeles County General Hospital where he died shortly afterwards. Now you’re probably asking, “Goodness! How could this have possibly happened?!”. His autopsy revealed that he had a fracture at the base of his skull, however the cause of his death still remains unknown to this day. The LAPD soon arrested 17 Mexican-American youths as suspects, and even with insufficient evidence, they were all held in prison without bail for murder (remember, this IS 1942, that happened A LOT). The trial ended on January 13, 1943, nine of the defendants were convicted of second-degree murder and were sentenced to San Quentin Prison, the rest were charged with lesser offences. The convictions were reversed on appeal in 1944, but it was too late, The Sleepy Lagoon Murder was already a precursor to the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots.
But wait?! What was the Sleepy Lagoon? What lead up to the events of the death?!
Sleepy Lagoon was a reservoir near the Los Angeles river, which was often frequented by Mexican-Americans. Side note, racial tensions weren’t that great in 1940′s LA, due to the Bracero Program, there was a rapid influx of laborers from Mexico and the population of Mexicans in LA rose at this time. The LA city council actually called this a “Mexican crime wave” oh, wow this pendejada is still going on! This murder was basically an excuse for the LAPD to racially profile Mexican-Americans (especially if they were wearing zoot suits). The police and press characterized all Mexican-American youths as, “pachuco hoodlums and baby gangsters”.
Remember, the zoot suit was very baggy and used a lot of fabric, contrast to the tight suits that were encouraged to ration fabric. The act of wearing the zoot suit at this time was seen as “Un-American”. June 3, 1943, 11 sailors got off a bus and started toward Downtown LA. Upon encountering Mexican youth in zoot suits, they got into a verbal argument. Later, the sailors told the LAPD that they were jumped and beaten by the gang. Officers went to the scene, “seeking to clean up Main Street from what they viewed as the loathsome influence of pachuco gangs”. Then an actual convoy of 200 sailors headed to East LA (basically the Mexican part of LA) and started to beat zoot suiters with clubs, stripped them, and burned the tattered clothes in a pile (And guess who got arrested? Hint: they weren’t the sailors). Media coverage of the incidents spread, and soon chaos and mayhem spread until the 8th.
Due to these events, many civil rights activists (Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright, Cesar Chavez, Malcolm X, and most importantly to me seeing as I’m reading his play, Luis Valdez) were inspired by the events in their works and activism.