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Perhaps the combined title, "Spanish/Latino History" is a bit of a misnomer,
for there is no question that I give short shrift to a very rich and glorious history. However, I give short shrift
to all of the topics on this web site. This site is not, and was never intended, to provide extensive information/research
material for any of the subjects covered. This page, as all others on the Mighty MitchMan
site is intended to provide interesting tidbits of information and a bit of trivia, and perhaps, provide a few
interesting facts of which readers may not be aware. It is intended to be interesting and fun, but not an indepth research
vehicle.
PAGE CONTENTS:
Rise and Fall of the Inca Sun
The Mexican War
Dona Marina
Pancho Villa
More Pancho Villa
The Spanish Civil War
Media, Prejudice and Zoot Suits
Rise and Fall of the Inca Sun
by Steve Sampson
Today, Cusco is a Peruvian city of 300,000. But five centuries
ago, it was the capital of the Inca Empire, and the Incas worshipped the sun. How did the sun-worshipping Inca Empire rise
and fall?
Think "Inca" and you likely think "ancient."
But the "ancient Inca" weren't all that far back. The first Inca rulers emerged in Cusco during Europe's Middle Ages. And
their empire didn't really get rolling until the early 15th century--just 100 years before the Spanish arrived in South America.
In the course of those 100 years, the Incas
built an empire that stretched all the way Ecuador to central Chile--about as long as the stretch between New York and Panama.
Yet their empire collapsed as quickly as it was built.
The origins of the Inca--who had no writing
system--are shrouded in myth. According to one, the first Inca emperor, Manco Capac, arose from a hole in the ground, married
his sister, and established himself and his clan around Cusco. According to another, the sun god Inti ordered Manco Capac
and his sister/wife to rise up from the depths of Lake Titicaca, on the Peru-Bolivia border.
In any case, Inca kings traced their lineage
back to Manco Capac--and through him to the sun god--and sought to extend their influence beyond Cusco. At first, they simply
raided and plundered neighboring kingdoms. Later, they began garrisoning troops in strategic spots and appointing Inca officials
to administer "foreign" lands. But none of these were more than a few dozen miles from home.
Around 1438, a new Inca king--Pachacuti Inca
Yupanqui--began a rapid imperial expansion. Using military might and diplomatic skill, Pachacuti (meaning "world-shaker")
brought much of the Andes mountain range under Inca control. He conquered some rivals, bought fealty from others, and convinced
many that resistance was futile. Recalcitrants faced forced resettlement.
Pachacuti's son, Topa Inca Yupanqui, followed
in his father's footsteps, conquering new lands in Bolivia and Chile. He also developed a classification system for administering
the Inca Empire. Basically, the adult male population was divided into various groups, ranging in size from 100 to 10,000.
The groups were then used to divvy up labor and military service.
The Inca didn't demand tribute payments, but
they did exact a labor tax known as "mit'a." Under the system, a portion of the peasantry's energies went to public works--from
farming, to soldiering, to building and maintaining the system of roads, bridges, and storehouses that connected the empire.
Topa's successor, Huayna Capac, took over around
1493 and kept the empire rolling after the Spanish arrived in South America. Huayna never met the Spanish, but he likely died
from one of their diseases. Around 1525, an epidemic struck Cusco--probably either smallpox or measles, relayed from the Spanish
by raiders attacking Inca settlements. Huayana and his heir both succumbed.
That led to a succession struggle between two
of the emperor's remaining sons: Atahuallpa and Huascar. Atahuallpa's forces captured Huascar, but not before civil war and
disease had weakened the empire. Fresh from his victory, Atahuallpa accepted an invite from Francisco Pizarro--newly arrived
in Peru with about 180 Spaniards--to attend a feast in his honor. It was an ambush. They kidnapped the Inca emperor and refused
to release him even after he raised a massive ransom--24 tons of gold and silver.
When Atahuallpa's supporters killed Huascar,
the Spanish used it as an excuse to kill Atahuallpa. The Inca, who at first saw Pizarro as a possible incarnation of one of
their gods, soon recognized the Spanish as a threat to the empire. In 1535, a new emperor, Manco Inca, attacked. But the Spanish
prevailed, and Manco retreated to a mountainous region outside Cusco. There he established a small Inca state that survived
until 1572. Today, 10 million South Americans still speak the Inca language and follow Inca customs.
Steve Sampson
KnowledgeNews is brought to you by Every Learner, Inc., an independent small business dedicated
to supporting lifelong learners. Copyright Š 2002-2005 Every Learner, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Mexican War
By Denis Mueller
Lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant categorized the Mexican War as
"one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation." This was the first war fought entirely on foreign
soil. Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821. Its government was often chaotic and run by a select minority. Mexico
soon opened its borders up to many American immigrants. In 1836, they gained their independence and began the Republic of
Texas.
Washington recognized the new republic immediately and sought to annex it as part of the United States. While
many supported the move, others were not as sure. The abolitionist rightly saw the whole affair as a way to expand slavery.
Others, especially the Whigs in Congress, felt that it would be better if we tried to make a deal with Mexico. This was no
concern to the newly elected American President James Polk. Polk sought an incident to provoke Mexico and annex Texas as well
as California.
On January 13, 1846, Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to march to the Rio Grande River. The Mexican
government claimed that the border between Mexico and the United States was the Nueces River. Polk also began to prepare for
a blockade of Mexico. On April 25th, the Mexican cavalry crossed into the disputed area and surrounded an American scouting
party. Sixteen Americans were killed in the fight. Taylor wrote Polk about the incident and the United States was soon
at war with Mexico.
The debate lasted only two days and Congress passed the measure
by a 40-2 vote. Rallies and the newspapers tried to whip up public support for the war. The New York Herald said: "The universal
Yankee nation can regenerate and disenthrall the people of Mexico in a few years, and we believe it is part of our destiny
to civilize that beautiful country." Senator H.V. Johnson claimed that the war reflected "the high purposes of a wise providence."
Not
all were so supportive however. Henry David Thoreau refused to pay his taxes in opposition and was thrown in jail. The Anti-Slavery
Society maintained that the war was "waged solely for the detestable and horrible purpose of extending and perpetuating American
slavery." William Lloyd Garrison described the war as one "of aggression, of invasion, of conquest."
Who fought the
war? Did the expansionist's send their sons of the fight? No, it was Irish and German workers who were incited by money to
fight. They enlisted in Taylor's army with the hope of financial gain. Posters appeared offering the new immigrants land and
money. There were extravagant claims and outright lies. Many enlisted for the sake of their families and others were coerced
by liquor.
The fighting itself was fierce and many died of disease. The
causality rates for many units were 50%. American officers were especially brutal towards the men and many deserted. Men were
executed with little provocation. One Irish brigade went over to the other side while others only waited to go home. All in
all over 10,000 troops were guilty of desertion. Out of a Pennsylvania regiment of 1,800 men only 600 returned. The generals
and expansionists had their war but at a terrible cost to the volunteers.
As the veterans returned home land speculators
bought the land given to them by the government. The soldiers were forced to sell their deeds to feed their families. The
politicians, as politicians always do, turned their backs on the men who had fought the war. Business people, as business
people do, used the soldier's misery to enhance their fortunes. The New York Commercial Advertiser wrote:
"It is a
well known fact that immense fortunes were made out of the poor soldiers who had shed their blood in the revolutionary war
by speculators who prayed upon their mistress. A similar system of depredation was practiced upon the soldiers of the last
war."
Mexico surrendered and ceded half of their country to the United States. We had our war but history should never
forget that it was an unjust war, fought for slavery and land speculators. The working men were in the end screwed by the
people who sent them off to fight. That is the Mexican War.
Sources: A People's History of the United States, Howard
Zinn
Copyright 2004 by PENN LLC. All rights reserved.
Dona Marina
Her nickname is perhaps derived from her status as "the captain's
woman," referring to her loyalty to Hernando Cortes, the Spanish conquistador. Other sources equate the term with the English
word "traitor." Dona Marina can be seen as both the mother of modern Mexico and the destroyer of the Aztec nation.
As a child, Dona Marina was born to a noble family. Her father's
death and mother's remarriage resulted in the young woman's status as "persona non grata," and she was given away as a slave.
When Cortes conquered the Indians in Tabasco, she was one of 20 women presented to him as a gift. Cortes quickly realized
her value, since she could speak both Mayan and Aztec, and made her his chief interpreter.
Some historians blame her for persuading the Indians to support
Cortes in his conquests of Mexico. Others consider her noble for defending her people against the onslaught of Spanish forces,
pleading successfully for their lives and persuading Montezuma to surrender to Cortes at Tenochtitlan, preventing more bloodshed.
Regardless of the debate, many historians agree that Dona Marina was the mother of the first modern Mexicans -- her two children
by Cortes are believed to be the first representatives of the mestizo populations that today dominate Mexico.
Many Mexicans continue to revile the woman called Doņa Marina
by the Spaniards and La Malinche by the aztecs, labeling her a traitor and harlot for her role as the alter-ego of Cortes
as he conquered Mexico.They ignore that she saved thousands of Indian lives by enabling Cortes to negotiate rather than slaughter.
Her ability to communicate also enabled the Spaniards to introduce Christianity and attempt to end human sacrifice and cannibalism.
Herself a convert, baptized Marina, she was an eloquent advocate for her new faith. As for the charges against her, they are
in my opinion baseless. So let us visit this remarkable woman and examine the facts.
All historians agree that she was the daughter of a noble Aztec
family. Upon the death of her father, a chief, her mother remarried and gave birth to a son. Deciding that he rather than
Marina, should rule, she turned her young daughter over to some passing traders and thereafter pro- claimed her dead. Eventually,
the girl wound up as a slave of the Cacique (the military chief) of Tabasco. By the time Cortes arrived, she had learned the
Mayan dialects used in the Yucatan while still understanding Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs and most Non-Mayan Indians.
"La Malinche" did not choose to join Cortes. She was offered
to him as a slave by the Cacique of Tabasco, along with 19 other young women. She had no voice in the matter.
Up till then, Cortes had relied on a Spanish priest, Jeronimo
de Aguilar, as his interpreter. Shipwrecked off Cozumel, Aguilar spoke the Mayan language as well as Spanish. But when the
expedition left the Mayan-speaking area, Cortes discovered that he could not communicate with the Indians. That night he was
advised that one of the women given to him in Tabasco spoke "Mexican."
Doņa Marina now enters Mexican history. It was she who served
as the interpreter at the first meetings between Cortes and the representatives of Moctezuma. At that time Marina spoke no
Spanish. She translated what the Aztecs said into the Mayan dialect understood by de Aguilar and he relayed it to Cortes in
Spanish. The process was then reversed, Spanish to Mayan and Mayan to Nahuatl.
Bernal Diaz, author of "The Conquest of New Spain" authenticated
her pedigree. An eyewitness to the events, he did not describe her physically, but related that after the Conquest he attended
a reunion of Doņa Marina, her mother and the half- brother who had usurped her rightful place. Diaz marveled at her kindness
in forgiving them for the injustice she had suffered. The author referred to her only as Marina or Doņa Marina. So whence
came the name "La Malinche?" Diaz said that because Marina was always with Cortes, he was called "Malinche"--which the author
translated to mean "Marina's Captain." Prescott, in the "Conquest of Mexico," (perhaps the best known book on the subject)
confirms that Cortes was always addressed as "Malinche" which he translated as Captain and defined "La Malinche" as "the captain's
woman."
Both definitions confirm that the Indians saw Cortes and his
spokesperson as a single unit. They recognized that what they heard were the words of "Malinche," not "La Malinche. " So much
for the charge that she was a traitor, instigating the destruction of the Aztec Empire.
As for the charge of "harlotry," it is equally flawed. She was
totally loyal to Cortes, a one-man woman, who loved her master. Cortes reciprocated her feelings. Time after time he was offered
other women but always refused them. Bernal Diaz frequently commented on the nobility of her character and her concern for
her fellow "Mexicans."
It is very possible that without her, Cortes would have failed.
He himself, in a letter preserved in the Spanish archives, said that "After God we owe this conquest of New Spain to Doņa
Marina. "
Doņa Marina's progress from interpreter to secretary to mistress,
as well as her quick mastery of Spanish, are remarkable--and all this amidst the turmoil of constant warfare, times when a
woman less courageous and committed might well have fled.
The ability of Marina to help Cortes to communicate with the
Indians shaped the entire campaign. From the very first meeting between Cortes and the emissaries of Moctezuma, an effort
was made to establish friendly relations with the Aztec Emperor.
Later, during Cortes's encounter with the Caciques of Cempola,
that same talent opened the door to the Conquest. Here, Cortes met the "Fat Cacique" and by arresting five tax collectors
sent by the Aztecs, made his first Indian allies: Cempoalans were the first of the Indian warriors to join him.
Yet even then, he tried to persuade Moctezuma to invite him to
Tenochtitlan, freeing the captives to carry a message to the Emperor that he had come in peace.
Without Marina, attempts to negotiate with the Aztecs would have
been impossible. These efforts did much to keep Moctezuma undecided about how to deal with the invaders. This hesitancy played
a large part in the outcome of the Conquest.
Perhaps the most important negotiations Marina made possible
were those with the Tlascalans. After an initial armed clash, an alliance was forged that brought thousands of warriors to
fight alongside the Spaniards.
As Cortes moved toward the Aztec capital, a pattern evolved.First
conflict, then meetings in which Doņa Marina played a key role in avoiding more bloodshed. Hence, the picture of Marina that
emerges is that of an intelligent, religious, loyal woman.
Her contribution to the success of the Conquest is immense, but
she cannot be held responsible for it happening. To a very large degree, the Conquest came because of the brutality of the
Aztecs: a rebellion by their oppressed neighbors, who would have rallied to anyone who promised them relief from the Aztecs'
constant demands for tribute and sacrificial victims.
But from another standpoint, the fate of the Aztec Empire was
sealed in the very first meetings of the emissaries of Moctezuma with Cortes, when they gave him gifts of gold and silver
that Sernal Diaz valued at over 20,000 pesos de oro. Prescott, writing in 1947, valued each peso de oro at $11.67 U.S. Dollars.
The Spanish appetite for gold was whetted, making the Conquest inevitable. But had Cortes failed, the next expedition, perhaps
without an interpreter, would certainly have shed more Mexican blood.
Then too, had Cortes met with no success, the Smallpox epidemic
that raged in the Aztec Capital might well have spread throughout the entire empire. By destroying the city, he perhaps saved
the country. Bernal Diaz wrote: "When we entered the city every house was full of corpses. The dry land and stockades were
piled high with the dead. We also found Mexicans lying in their own excrement, too sick to move."
After the Conquest, Cortes, with a wife in Spain, arranged to
have Marina married to a Castilian knight, Don Juan Xamarillo.
Soon thereafter she disappeared from history.
But she had borne Cortes a son, Don Mahin Cortes. While many
other Indian women were impregnated by Spaniards, we have no record of their fate. Hence, if modern-day Mexicans are a blend
of Spanish and Indian blood, Doņa Marina's son was the first "Mexican" whose career we can follow. He rose to high government
position and was a "Comendador" of the Order of St. Jago. In 1548, accused of conspiring against the Viceroy, he was tortured
and executed.
In more recent times, the term "Malinchista" has been used by
some to describe those who dislike Mexicans. But Doņa Marina deserves better. A fearless, loyal and determined woman, she
was a heroine who helped save Mexico from its brutal, blood-thirsty rulers--and in doing so she played a major role in fashioning
what is today one of the most dynamic societies in all of Latin America.
Unknown author and/or copyright.
Used without permission, but with the best of intentions.
Pancho Villa
By Denis Mueller
Doroteo Arango was born in Durango, Mexico in 1877.
He lived there until the age of 16, when he killed a man who had raped his sister. He then changed his name to Francisco "Pancho"
Villa so he could evade the law. Villa was now on the run. By the time he was twenty, Villa had moved North and become a miner
and a cattle rustler. Villa soon added bank robbery to his long list of crimes.
It was during that time that he became something
of a folk hero. The repressive government of Mexico was not popular with the many desperately poor peasants of Mexico and
Villa was soon joining the revolution. The charismatic Villa was able to recruit thousands for the cause, including an Amer-
ican squadron. Among this group were legendary writer John Reed, Oscar Creighton, who happened to be a famous San Fran- cisco
bank robber, and other renegades.
His fight made him a folk hero in Mexico and camera
crews and the press went South to speak to him. Many of his exploits were staged for the camera as Villa was more than willing
to enhance his growing legend. Villa lived like a medieval war- lord. To finance his campaign, he stole cattle from the rich
ranchers of Northwestern Mexico. Villa even printed his own money and those who refused to take it risked being shot. While
Villa did not drink, he certainly enjoyed his life. He was an excellent swimmer who liked to run to stay in shape. According
to one of his many widows, he had been officially married 26 times.
The Mexican revolution was filled with different
factions, and Villa soon found himself on the other side. The United States government supported the Carranza government but
Villa did not. He began raids across the border and his image in the U.S. went on the decline. But in Mexico, despite his
defeats against the Carranza forces, his popularity grew.
The United States government, tired of Villa raids,
sent an expeditionary force led by General John Pershing after Villa, but they never found him. Pershing wrote back, "Villa
is everywhere, but Villa is no where." After two expeditions and three years of chasing him, the Americans tired and went
home. Not all Americans agreed with their government. General Hugh Scott, who knew Villa, wrote that, "The recognition of
Carranza had the effect of solidifying the power of a man who had rewarded us with kicks and making an outlaw of a man who
had helped us."
Villa finally surrendered to the Mexican Government,
who then gave him the title of "retired general." He was assassinated in 1926. Today Villa is remembered with pride for having
led the rebel forces. His successful raids and elusive tactics have made him a folk hero as well. Pancho Villa would be de-
scribed as a terrorist today. But to many, he is a revolution- ary hero.
Source: John Reed: Insurgent Mexico
More Pancho Villa
June 5, 1878 -- July 20 1923
by Jennifer Rosenberg
Pancho Villa was a Mexican revolutionary leader who advocated for the
poor and wanted agrarian reform. Though he was a killer, a bandit, and a revolutionary leader, many remember him as a folk
hero. Pancho Villa was also responsible for a raid on Columbus, New Mexico in 1916, which was the first attack on U.S. soil
since 1812.
Pancho Villa was born Doroteo Arango, the son of a sharecropper at the
hacienda in San Juan del Rio, Durango. While growing up, Pancho Villa witnessed and experienced the harshness of peasant life.
In Mexico during the late 19th century, the rich were becoming richer by taking advantage of the lower classes, often treating
them like slaves. When Villa was 15, his father died, so Villa began to work as a sharecropper to help support his mother
and four siblings.One day in 1894, Villa came home from the fields to find that the owner of the hacienda intended to have
sex with Villa's 12-year old sister. Villa, only 16-years old, grabbed a pistol, shot the owner of the hacienda, and then
took off to the mountains.
From 1894 to 1910, Villa spent most of his time in the mountains running
from the law. At first he did what he could to survive by himself, but by 1896, he had joined some other bandits and soon
became their leader. Villa and his group of bandits would steal cattle, rob shipments of money, and commit additional crimes
against the wealthy. By stealing from the rich and often giving to the poor, some saw Pancho Villa as a modern-day Robin Hood.
It was during this time that Doroteo Arango began using the name Francisco
"Pancho" Villa. ("Pancho" is a common nickname for "Francisco.") There are many theories as to why he chose that name. Some
say it was the name of a bandit leader he met; others say it was Villa's fraternal grandfather's last name.
Pancho Villa's notoriety as a bandit and his prowess at escaping capture
caught the attention of men who were planning a revolution. These men understood that Villa's skills could be used as a guerilla
fighter during the revolution.
Since Porfirio Diaz, the sitting president of Mexico, had created much
of the current problems for the poor and Francisco Madero promised change for the lower classes, Pancho Villa joined Madero's
cause and agreed to be a leader in the revolutionary army.From October 1910 to May 1911, Pancho Villa was a very effective
revolutionary leader. However, in May 1911, Villa resigned from command because of differences he had with another commander,
Pascual Orozco, Jr.
On May 29, 1911, Villa married Maria Luz Corral and tried to settle down
to a quiet life. Unfortunately, though Madero had become president, political unrest again appeared in Mexico.Orozco, angered
by being left out of what he considered his rightful place in the new government, challenged Madero by starting a new rebellion
in the spring of 1912. Villa gathered troops and worked with General Victoriano Huerta to support Madero. In June 1912, Huerta
accused Villa of stealing a horse and ordered him to be executed. A reprieve from Madero came for Villa at the very last minute
but Villa was still remitted to prison. Villa remained in prison from June 1912 to December 27, 1912, when he escaped.
By the time Villa escaped from prison, Huerta had switched from a Madero
supporter to a Madero adversary. On February 22, 1913, Huerta killed Madero and claimed the presidency for himself. Villa
then allied himself with Venustiano Carranza to fight against Huerta.
Pancho Villa was extremely successful, winning battle after battle during
the next several years. Since Pancho Villa conquered Chihuahua and other northern areas, he spent much of his time reallocating
land and stabilizing the economy.
In the summer of 1914, Villa and Carranza split and became enemies. For
the next several years, Mexico continues to be embroiled in a civil war between the factions of Pancho Villa and Venustiano
Carranza.
The United States took sides in the battle and supported Carranza. On
March 9, 1916, Villa attacked the town of Columbus, New Mexico. His attack was the first on American soil since 1812. The
U.S. sent several thousand soldiers across the border to hunt for Pancho Villa. Though they spent over a year searching, they
never caught him.
On May 20, 1920, Carranza was assassinated and Adolfo De la Huerta became
the interim president of Mexico. De la Huerta wanted peace in Mexico so negotiated with Villa for his retirement. Part of
the peace agreement was that Villa would receive a hacienda in Chihuahua.
Villa retired from revolutionary life in 1920 but had only a short retirement
for he was gunned down in his car on July 20, 1923.
Š2008 About, Inc., A part of The New York Times Company. All
rights reserved.
The Spanish Civil War
What Spain meant to the world has been largely forgotten. The
Spanish Civil War was the signature event of the 1930's and for many, the most important experience of their lives. The war
now seems lost in time, but in retrospect, it helped forge an alliance that would stop the forces of Fascism and thus save
the world. For two-and-a-half years the civil war raged on, people from all over the world joined the fight on their own,
and sometimes in defiance of their respective governments. Spain, long considered a peripheral country in Europe, was thrown
into world politics in 1931 when a loose coalition of liberals took control of the government from the monarchy.
In 1933, the conservatives regained control of the Spanish government.
Social forces on the left fought to regain control and elected a small majority to the new Spanish parliament. The right was
furious and the army revolted. Soon Spain was in flames and in the abyss of a modern war.
The Catholic Church in Spain had been aligned with the most reactionary
segments within Spanish society and citizens took their vengeance out on their perceived enemy. In some cases clerics were
removed from their churches and had their land confiscated. The Spanish Civil war saw the first anarchist society in Barcelona.
Here, the working class formed Co- operatives and currency was abolished. Life in Barcelona saw endless discussions regarding
tactics, and citizens existing and being governed in communities without interference from above.
Led by Spanish General Francisco Franco, and aided by Mussolini
and Hitler, the army bombed civilians in Madrid and Barcelona. To aid the beleaguered government, citizens of the world went
to Spain to fight the Fascists. They included 10,000 French, 5,000 Germans and Austrians, 3,350 Italians, 2,800 from the United
States and over 5,000 others from the continent. They went to fight for a cause and many would never come back. They would
be the first causalities second world war. The British poet, W.H. Auden wrote:
On that table-land scored by rivers, our thoughts have bodies;
The menacing shapes of our fever, are precise and alive.
Finally, Spain was lost. The western democracies tried to stay
out of the war but in doing so aided the Fascists. The defeat was total. Several hundred thousand lay dead with an equal number
of refugees seeking asylum from war-torn Spain. Almost all of the artists and intellectuals were supporters of the republic
so they left Spain in droves. But the alliances between, liberals, socialists and the communists who would defeat Nazi Germany
were born. They would forget their differences and join forces against Hitler. The Second World War was a struggle for a better
society. This is why a popular front, that included communists and nationalists, could be forged. After the war nobody dreamed
of going back to 1939 or even to 1928.
The Spanish Civil war was lost but the common thread that held,
Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin together along with socialists, French Communists, would have been impossible without the
struggle in Spain. In the United States, the members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, which fought in Spain would be labeled
as premature Fascists during the cold war. They would later lose their jobs and be black listed as friends of the communists
even though many had become disenchanted with communism during the Spanish Civil War. The irony of this is that some who hounded
these men of conscience had no conscience at all, some had even been pro-Hitler before the war, but that's the way it often
is.
Sources: The Age of Extremes, Eric Hobsbawm
The Spanish Civil War, Hugh Thomas
Unknown author and/or copyright.
Used without permission, but with the best of intentions.
Media, Prejudice and Zoot Suits
Every wave of immigration the US has experienced was accompanied
by racial prejudice and poverty for the immigrating ethnic group. Far from being a land of open arms to free oppressed people
from all over the world, too often economic imperatives have made it necessary for the US to let the "people in."
Such was (and still is) the case for the Mexican-American immigration scene.
But US need for immigration is for another day. Today we look at the media, which has always contributed to a one dimensional
view of these new immigrants. These images have contributed to creating a climate of hate.
The Mexican-American image today owes much of that image to fashion. In
the 1940's, a particular style of fashion, known as the Zoot Suit, became popular among young people in the Mexican community.
Because of their unified taste in clothing, the media began to call this group of Mexicans gang members. This was, at best,
incorrect. Although some of the "Zoot Suiters" were gang members, most were just out to have a good time and look good. The
Mexican-Americans in 1941 were for the most part were poor and left out of the American dream. Their average income was $792
dollars a year. Poverty and its hand maiden, discrimination, were the root causes for the way they were treated and viewed
as a group.
The Office of War Information described the living conditions of the Mexican-Americans
in a classified report in 1942: "These people do not live, they exist. Malnutrition, sickness and disease are prevalent among
them. Their housing, both in and out of cities, is the worst in the nation. The schools they attend are frequently segregated
and generally inferior."
The problems described in the report had already begun to take its toll
in Los Angles. The police in Los Angles were corrupt, brutal and racist. Police Captain Edward Duran Ayres stated, "Mexicans
generally preferred to kill, or at least let a person bleed. Their propensity for violence could be traced to the predominance
of Indian blood in their racial composition." The media generally went along with these racist descriptions and denounced
the "Zoot Suiters" as unpatriotic threats to society.
On June 3, 1943, after fights between soldiers and Zoot Suiters developed,
hundreds of servicemen began to go on a rampage. They invaded movie theaters and often removed the clothing off those who
looked like Zoot Suiters. The marines wielded clubs, belts and iron pipes. A twelve year old, who had received a broken jaw,
described the scene, "Who the hell are they fighting, the Japs or us?" Another young man said, "Hell man, this is a street
in Germany tonight."
The police stood by and watched, often praising the attackers, as did the
media. A Los Angles Times headline story stated: ZOOT SUITERS LEARN LESSON IN FIGHTS WITH SERVICEMEN.
The city council of Los Angles blamed the victims of the attacks and passed
a resolution saying: "Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the City Council finds that the wearing of Zoot Suits constitutes
a public nuisance and does hereby instruct the City Attorney to prepare an ordinance to prohibit the wearing of Zoot Suits."
The Zoot Suit riots remain an important lesson for all Americans about
how racial and ethnic differences, strengthened by bias in the press, can lead to violence and misunderstandings.
Unknown author and/or copyright. Used without permission,
but with the best of intentions.
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