I found the story stelling in “Zoot Suit” by Luiz Valdez beautiful and captivating but also hard to stomach because of how much still echoes today. It examines racial profiling, discrimination and the unfair justice system. While reading this play, I enjoyed the role the press played into defining a narrative for the pachucos, which is a term used to describe Mexican men and women. The main character of the story, Henry, was part of the 38th Gang which was being investigated for a recent murder and the press was already portraying them to be guilty without concrete evidence. This shows how much racial profiling came into play because the members of this gang were being judged not based off facts, but off their ethnicity and the clothes they wore i.e. the zoot suits.
During the zoot suit riots, El Pachuco says this, “All it is for you guys is another way to say Mexican.” (Valdez 24) .El Pachuco is emphasising that when the press uses the term “zoot suit”, they are not referring to style but using it to diminish an entire ethnic group. This way, newspapers can deny associations of racism while still writing about the social unrest at the time.
I think it was very unfair and inconsiderate for the press to paint such a picture of the members of the gang, because they influenced so many readers and did not allow for a fair trial, which would have been based on the evidence at and not bias.
Works Cited:
Valdez, Luis. Zoot Suit. Arte Público Press, 1992
