In 1954, the people of Downtown LA didn't want a project next to their houses, since it would cause their real estate go down, more traffic, and higher crime. So they called the head of housing a communist and he lost his job along with the project. However, there is still an empty space on the top of the hill.
Up on a hill overlooking Downtown LA lived a Chicano community called Chavez Ravine that was unknown to most of the people of Los Angeles. One day a photographer was taking a picture of downtown LA and got a glimpse of this community. The word got around and people saw how great of a land space it was. A famous architect named Richard Nuetra was hired to build a project called Elysian Park Heights in the Chavez Ravine. The people in this community were kicked out and given compensation for the amount of their house, which was basically nothing.
In 1945, we had lots of troops from World War 2 on leave. They would get drunk and would yell at the Chicanos saying they were ungrateful to this country, since they weren't fighting in the war. The taunting turned into a fight and one of the servicemen was stabbed by a Zoot Suiter. The servicemen got mad and started coming in the thousands beating up on any Zoot Suiter they saw. The LA times started to write one-sided stories, saying that the servicemen are doing everyone a favor and that the Zoot Suiters are out to kill everyone. The First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was well informed and told the LA times to stop writing one-sided stories about the Zoot Suiters. The next day the LA times criticized her along with Zoot Suiters in the paper.
The trial of Sleepy Lagoon ended in 1943, thus the the Zoot Suits Riots began because it was racist towards the Chicano people. The Zoot Suit people were Chicanos fighting against predjudice on their race by wearing baggy suits. At this time World War 2 was going on and the Army was segregated. The baggy suits used up a lot of materials that could be used for the Army and this was a way for the zoot suiters to rebel against the segregated Army.
Sleepy Lagoon was a place that Chicano teens would hang out. In 1942 there was a murder of a Chicano boy. 21 Chicano boys were arrested and 12 were convicted with first degree murder. This got Chicano people mad because it showed they were being oppressed. The law was trying to sentence these Chicano boys unfairly since only one of them should be charged with first degree murder.
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