Set in the environment of ethnic and racial paranoia that
defined the early 1940s in Los Angeles, California, the "Zoot
Suit Riots" were a defining moment for Zoot Suiters and the
Mexican American community. The ethnic populations of California
as a whole, and Los Angeles in particular, were under siege. In
March and April of 1942, the entire Japanese and Japanese
American population on the West Coast of the United States were
deported to "relocation centers" (mild euphemisms for
concentration camps) located in the interior of the U.S..
Without the Japanese Americans around to focus the locals'
racial paranoia, Los Angeleans began to look toward the Zoot
Suiters. A "Mexican Crime Wave" was announced by local
newspapers (precursors to today's tabloids and pioneers in
"yellow journalism"), and a special grand jury was appointed by
the city of Los Angeles to investigate. Around the same time,
the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department also decided to
investigate and appointed E. Duran Ayres to head their Foreig