Rising Racial Tension Unsurprisingly, racial tensions in San Diego escalated as the war intensified and the population grew. After Pearl Harbor was bombed, San Diegans feared they might be next in line for a surprise attack because of the city’s heavy military presence and exposure to the Pacific Ocean. The public mood was laced with uncertainty, fear, and increasing xenophobia. Despite their military service, Latinos were often viewed as un-American and were targets of racial violence. City authorities, for example, were increasingly concerned about skirmishes between white servicemen and “pachucos,” Mexican American youth gangs known for their flamboyant zoot suit style. Like their African American counterparts, pachucos were marked as unpatriotic and subversive to the war effort for their public demonstration of leisure, challenge to authority, and racial mixing.
“San Diego police responded by arresting the Mexican American youth under attack.”
As it did in Los Angeles and other big cities, conflict over zoot suits boiled over in June of 1943. For several days, groups of white ser- vicemen—some with as many as several hundred soldiers and sail- ors—roamed San Diego’s downtown streets looking to violently beat pachucos and strip them of their clothes. It was, to borrow a military metaphor, a “search and destroy” mission. San Diego police responded by arresting the Mexican American youth under attack. The San Diego Union captured the moment with a June 10 article headlined “Zoot Suiters Hunted in San Diego.” It ran alongside other front-page news detailing allied attacks against a Japanese munitions depot in the South Pacific and Nazi planes over the Eastern Front in Europe, a sign that San Diegans were concerned with enemies both foreign and domestic. 6
U.S. armed forces personnel with wooden clubs on street during “zoot suit” riot, Los Angeles, California, 1943. (Photo courtesy Library of Congress • LC-USZ62-75515)
“Zoot Suiters Hunted in San Diego” The San Diego Union • June 10, 1943 (Courtesy The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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San Diego Latino Legacy – Timeline • Milestones • Stories
Chapter 3 – Service To America, Struggles With America
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