#Dora Díaz

[bitacoradeunaestrella]

Preguntas válidas para cosas, personas y lugares...

[fannicroy]

Nicanor Parra, from “I Take Back Everything I’ve Said”; tr. by Miller Williams

Hilma af Klint “The Swan No. 8″

Natalie Díaz, from “American Arithmetic”, Postcolonial Love Poem (2020)

Daniel Arsham “Rose Quartz Eroded Venus of Arles”

Hélène Cixous, from “The Selected Plays of Hélène Cixous; “Portrait of Dora””

Iris Murdoch, from “The Sea, the Sea.”

Olivia Laing, from “The Lonely City”

Maggie Nelson, from “Bluets”

Reynier Llanes, “Stay”

Mary Oliver, from “Little Crazy Love Song”

[ulkaralakbarova]

In Colombia just after the Great War, an old man falls from a ladder; dying, he professes great love for his wife. After the funeral, a man calls on the widow – she dismisses him angrily. Flash back more than 50 years to the day Florentino Ariza, a telegraph boy, falls in love with Fermina Daza, the daughter of a mule trader. Credits: TheMovieDb. Film Cast: Florentino Ariza: Javier Bardem junger Florentino: Unax Ugalde Juvenal Urbino: Benjamin Bratt Hildebranda Sanchez: Catalina Sandino Moreno Don Leo: Hector Elizondo Lotario Thurgot: Liev Schreiber Transito Ariza: Fernanda Montenegro Sara Noriega: Laura Harring Lorenzo Daza: John Leguizamo Olympia Zuleta: Ana Claudia Talancón Escolastica: Alicia Borrachero America Vicuna: Marcela Mar Junge Witwe: Angie Cepeda Fermina Daza: Giovanna Mezzogiorno Rosalba: Rubria Negrao capitán samaritano: Andrés Parra Diego: Horacio Tavera Alcalde de la ciudad: Salvatore Basile Institutriz: Margalida Castro Gran dama hija: Carolina Cuervo gran dama: Patricia Castañeda Doña Blanca: Alejandra Borrero Mujer Atractiva: Paola Turbay Mujer Atractiva: Noëlle Schonwald Ricardo Faro: Jhon Álex Toro dulce vendedor: Julián Díaz Doliente: Carlos Duplat Sanjuan Ofelia Urbino – 40’s: catalina botero puta lotario: Denis Mercado Moreno Madre superior: Dora Cadavid …: Indhira Serrano Film Crew: Director of Photography: Affonso Beato Screenplay: Ronald Harwood Editor: Mick Audsley Executive Producer: Michael Nozik Executive Producer: Robin Greenspun Costume Design: Marit Allen Executive Producer: Chris Law Director: Mike Newell Executive Producer: Scott LaStaiti Original Music Composer: Antonio Pinto Novel: Gabriel García Márquez Executive Producer: Andrew Molasky Executive Producer: Danny Greenspun Executive Producer: Dylan Russell Producer: Scott Steindorff Executive Producer: Michael Roban Production Design: Wolf Kroeger Art Direction: Roberto Bonelli Art Direction: John King Art Direction: Paul Kirby Art Direction: Jonathan McKinstry Set Decoration: Elli Griff Supervising Sound Editor: Mark Auguste Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Simon H. Jones Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Mark Paterson Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Mike Prestwood Smith Sound Effects Editor: Jack Whittaker Dialogue Editor: Paul Apted Foley Artist: Peter Burgis Foley Artist: Andie Derrick Foley Mixer: Ed Colyer ADR Mixer: Mark DeSimone ADR Editor: Howard Halsall Foley Editor: Derek Trigg Dialogue Editor: Sam Auguste Casting: Susie Figgis Hairstylist: Diana Isabel Agudelo Hairstylist: Edith I. Amezcua Hairstylist: Isabel Amezcua Makeup Artist: Ann Buchanan Hairstylist: Aurora Gambelli Makeup Department Head: John E. Jackson Hairstylist: Maribel Romo Makeup Artist: Henry Vargas Wigmaker: Victoria Wood Wigmaker: Lynne Watson Co-Producer: Brantley Dunaway Movie Reviews:

[diario-vespertino]

A más de tres meses de la prohibición de la TAS, un equino terminó tendido en la vía pública del centro

El pasado 27 de abril, el Honorable Concejo Deliberante de Florencio Varela aprobó en forma unánime prohibirla circulación de cualquier medio de transporte cuya tracción se produzca con fuerza de un animal. Sin embargo, la medida de implementación paulatina no alcanza para evitar el ultraje de los caballos en todo el territorio municipal. El viernes en pleno centro local, dos autos impactaron contra un equino, concluyendo con el animal tirado en contramano sobre Avenida San Martín y Moreno. Sin embargo, el maltrato no fue la razón del accidente en esta oportunidad. A principios de marzo, el intendente electo y actual candidato actual de la coalición Unión por la Patria -Andrés Watson-, en la apertura de sesiones legislativas, manifestó que “hemos elaborado y enviado al Honorable Concejo Deliberante el proyecto que elimina la tracción a sangre en Florencio Varela. Es mi decisión política que, de forma progresiva, avancemos en su reemplazo de manera segura y adecuada. Confío en que este cuerpo le dé pronto tratamiento”. En abril, el Órgano legislativo, convertía el discurso en normativa que “tendrá un proceso gradual, continuo y sustentable de implementación mediante un programa de aplicación que elaborará el Departamento Ejecutivo, teniendo en cuenta en primer lugar la situación laboral de las y los trabajadores que realizan la recolección informal de residuos sólidos urbanos, la erradicación del trabajo infantil y garantizar las condiciones de seguridad e higiene laboral de los hombres y mujeres que realizan actividades, el estado de los vehículos carentes de indicadores lumínicos y/o refractarios generando una situación de riesgo”. Sin embargo, la urgencia corre a la norma en los pagos varelenes. Es parte del paisaje diario cruzarse con caballos que tiran de carros repletos de kilos de chatarra que vencen a sus cuerpos, cuando no cargan con el peso de familias enteras que en sus lomos los esfuerzan hasta dejarlos sin vida. Sin embargo, esta no fue la razón del accidente en esta oportunidad. “Quiero también aclarar, independiente del sentimiento de algunas personas con respecto al tema tracción a sangre, el carro era conducido por un señor mayor acompañado de un nieto pre adolescente, quienes son asaltados por un auto aproximadamente en Aniceto Díaz y Brasil, los mismos son reducidos al suelo a punta de arma y le tapan las cara con las boinas. Aparentemente, el caballo se asusta y sale desbocado corriendo por Aniceto Diaz (tengo filmación) y va a Cabello, cruza la avenida y baja por el bajo a nivel de la mano derecha; pero abajo se cruza a contramano. Saliendo de esta manera del bajo a nivel contramano, dobla hacia Moreno chocando a dos autos y volcando. El dueño del carro y el nieto vinieron caminando rápido del lugar del robo para ir a comisaría y se encontraron con lo sucedido” confirmó la rescatista Dora Coló en las redes para tranquilidad de todos los vecinos que aman y respetan a los animales. Tras la revisión médica, se comprobó una fisura de costilla, varios hematomas por la vara que quedó abajo y la cervical muy contracturada con bultos uno al lado del otro, mal herrado, pero en estado general bueno. Si bien este no es el “típico” caso de maltrato equino a causa de la TAS, si es un llamado de atención para quienes tienen en su poder hacer praxis lo puesto en papel y firmado. Cuando se trata de un choque entre vehículos a motor, se suele decir que “si se puede evitar, no es accidente”… acá hubo una cuestión de sangre, pero también aplica. Aquellos vecinos que este a su alcance colaborar con la recuperación de este caballo y, de todos los que a diario Dora Coló rescata de condiciones inapropiadas, puede realizar su aporte al alias: mayo.noche.prima (Dora Teresita,colo) quien estará más que agradecida. Read the full article

[majestativa]

A progressively-edited post about my muses, because why not?

Literature:

Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Al-Khansae, Andrée Chedid, Anna Akhmatova, Anne Carson, Antonia Pozzi

Blaga Dimitrova, Brenda Venus

Carmen M. Pursifull, Claribel Alegría, Clarice Lispector, Constance Merritt

Dacia Maraini, Daniela Crăsnaru, Diane di Parma, Dora Maar

Edith Södergran, Eira Stenberg, Excilia Saldaña

Florbela Espanca, Frida Kahlo, Forough Farrokhzad

Georgina Herrera, Gertrud Kolmar, Gioconda Belli, Guadalupe Amor, Gwendolyn MacEwen

Halina Poświatowska, Hélène Cixous, Hilda Hilst

Ingeborg Bachmann

Jorie Graham, Joyce Mansour, Juana de Ibarbourou, June Jordan

Kerstin Söderholm

Lia Sturua, Liliana Ursu, Lillian Olson, Linda Pastan, Lou Andreas-Salomé, Lourdes Vázquez

Marina Tsvetaeva, May Ziadeh, Maya Angelou, Mina Loy

Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Nazik Al-Malaika, Nina Berberova, Nina Cassian

Olga Orozco, Olga Sedakova

Remedios Varo, Renate Druks, Rita Dove, Rosario Castellanos

Sandra Cisneros, Shadab Zeest Hashmi, Sheri-D Wilson, Sheryl St. Germain, Siham Bouhlal, Simin Behbahani, Simone Weil, Stella Díaz Varín, Stephanie M. Wytovich, Sylvia Plath

Unica Zürn

Valentina Saraçini, Valzhyna Mort, Virginia Woolf, Vivian Hansen

Warsan Shire

Zakiyya Malallah

Movies’ Actors/Directors/Performers:

Agnès Varda, Anjelica Huston, Anna Magnani, Audrey Hepburn

Bettie Paige

Dalia Mostafa, Dita Von Teese

Elizabeth Taylor

Faten Hamama

Gemma Chan, Ghada Adel

Haifa Wehbe, Hanan Tork, Hande Erçel, Hema Malini

Jaime Pressly, Joanne Woodward

Kareena Kapoor, Katie Holmes, Keira Knightley, Kim Basinger

Lekaa Elkhamissi, Lucy Lawless, Lucy Liu

Madhuri Dixit, Magda al Sabbahi, Mariam Fakhr-Eddine, Marilyn Manroe, Marlene Dietrich, Megan Fox, Melike İpek Yalova, Menna Shalabi, Meryl Streep, Mia Goth, Michelle Pfeiffer

Nelly Karim, Nicole Kidman

Ola Ghanem

Penelope Cruz

Rachel Weisz, Rita Hayworth, Rooney Mara

Shadia, Sherihan

Thalia, Theda Bara, Tuba Büyüküstün

Vanessa Hudgens

Musicians:

Aaliyah, Asmahan

Chelsea Wolf, Colleen Duffy (Devil Doll)

Elsieanne Caplette (Elsiane)

FKA Twigs, Floor Jansen

Lana Del Rey (Post-Sylvia-Plath Era)

Maria Callas

Sevdaliza, Shana Halligan (Bitter:Sweet), Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation), Simone Simons (Epica)

Tarja Turunen, Taylor Swift (Since Reputation Era)

Warda Al-Jazairia

Characters:

Antigone, Artemis

Chandramukhi

Desdemona, Durga

Electra, Ereshkigal, Eve

Kahina, Kali

Lilith

Magdalene, Medea, Medusa, Messalina, Morticia Addams

Ophelia

Persephone

Shahmaran, Scheherazade

Xena

[daycamp20]

Temo ver tu chat y leer un "escribiendo..."; no quisiera tener la misma charla cordial y monótona de siempre. Un vínculo roto, no retoña. 🍁

Dora Díaz

[app-ara-tus]

The accidental canon: women artists in Argentina (1890-1950)

Graham Allardice de Witt, Carolina Álvarez Prado, Hermi Baglietto, Eugenia Belin Sarmiento, Hortensia Berdier, Emilia Bertolé, Paulina Blinder, Gertrudis Chale, Lía Correa Morales, Josefa Díaz y Clucellas, Ludmila Feodorovna, Raquel Forner, Consuelo Remedios González, Annemarie Heinrich, María de las Mercedes Lacoste, Mariette Lydis, Cecilia Marcovich, Léonie Matthis, Andrée Moch, Ana María Moncalvo, Eloísa Graciana Morás, Laura Mulhall Girondo, María Obligado, María Catalina, Otero Lamas, Anita Payró, Hildara Pérez, Clelia Pissarro, María Carmen Portela, Sofía Posadas, Kettie Ross-Broglia, Hemilce Saforcada, Clorinda Sanna, Rosalía Soneira, Carlota Stein, Leonor Terry, Dora de la Torre, Aída Vaisman, Antonia Ventura y Verazzi, Ángela Adela Vezzetti, Elba Villafañe, María Washington, Ana Weiss, Julia Wernicke y Bibí Zogbé

[intimatum]

intertextuality

desire / eating disorder / hunger: «to be the girl who lunges at people−wants to eat them» (letissier) / «a way to take all hungers and boil them down to their essence–one appetite to manage–just one» (knapp)

trauma / trauma theory / visceralities of trauma

writers

ada limón, adrienne rich, agnès varda, alana massey, alejandra pizarnik, alice notley, ana božičević, anaïs nin, andrea dworkin, andrew solomon, angela carter, angélica freitas, angélica liddell, ann cvetkovich, anna akhmatova, anna gien, anne boyer, anne carson, anne sexton, anne waldman, antonella anedda, aracelis girmay, ariana reines, audre lorde, aurora linnea

barbara ehrenreich, bell hooks, bessel van der kolk

carmen maria machado, caroline knapp, carrie lorig, cat marnell, catharine mackinnon, catherynne m. valente, cathy caruth, césar vallejo, chris kraus, christa wolf, clarice lispector, claudia rankine, czesław miłosz

daniel borzutzky, daphne du maurier, daphne gottlieb, david foster wallace, david wojnarowicz, dawn lundy martin, deirdre english, denise levertov, detlev claussen, dodie bellamy, don paterson, donna tartt, dora gabe, dorothea lasky, durs grünbein

édouard levé, eike geisel, eileen myles, elaine kahn, elena ferrante, elisabeth rank, elyn r. saks, emily dickinson, erica jong, esther perel, etty hillesum, eve kosofsky sedgwick

fanny howe, félix guattari, fernando pessoa, fiona duncan, frank bidart, franz kafka

gabriele schwab, gail dines, georg büchner, georges bataille, gertrude stein, gilles deleuze, gillian flynn, gretchen felker-martin

hannah arendt, hannah black, heather christle, heather o'neill, heiner müller, hélène cixous, héloïse letissier, henryk m. broder, herbert hindringer, herbert marcuse

ingeborg bachmann, iris murdoch

jacques derrida, jacques lacan, jade sharma, jamaica kincaid, jean améry, jean baudrillard, jean rhys, jeanann verlee, jeanette winterson, jenny slatman, jenny zhang, jerold j. kreisman, jess zimmerman, jia tolentino, joachim bruhn, joan didion, joanna russ, joanna walsh, johanna hedva, john berger, jörg fauser, joy harjo, joyce carol oates, judith butler, judith herman, julia kristeva, june jordan, junot díaz

karen barad, kate zambreno, katherine mansfield, kathrin weßling, kathy acker, katy waldman, kay redfield jamison, kim addonizio

lacy m. johnson, larissa pham, lauren berlant, le comité invisible, leslie jamison, lidia yuknavitch, linda gregg, lisa diedrich, louise glück, luce irigaray, lynn melnick

maggie nelson, margaret atwood, marguerite duras, marie howe, marina tsvetaeva, mark fisher, martha gellhorn, mary karr, mary oliver, mary ruefle, marya hornbacher, max horkheimer, melissa broder, michael ondaatje, michel foucault, miranda july, miya tokumitsu, monique wittig, muriel rukeyser

naomi wolf, natalie eilbert, natasha lennard, nelly arcan

ocean vuong, olivia laing, ottessa moshfegh

paisley rekdal, patricia lockwood, paul b. preciado, paul celan, peggy phelan

rachel aviv, rainald goetz, rainer maria rilke, rebecca solnit, richard moskovitz, richard siken, robert jensen, roland barthes, ronald d. laing

sady doyle, sally rooney, salma deera, samuel beckett, samuel salzborn, sandra cisneros, sara ahmed, sara sutterlin, sarah kane, sarah manguso, scherezade siobhan, sean bonney, sheila jeffreys, shoshana felman, shulamith firestone, sibylle berg, silvia federici, simone de beauvoir, simone weil, siri hustvedt, solmaz sharif, sophinette becker, soraya chemaly, stephan grigat, susan bordo, susan sontag, suzanne scanlon, sylvia plath

theodor w. adorno, thomas brasch, tiqqun, toni morrison

ursula k. le guin

valerie solanas, virginia l. blum, virginia woolf, virginie despentes

walter benjamin, wisława szymborska, wolfgang herrndorf, wolfgang pohrt

zadie smith, zan romanoff, zoë lianne, zora neale hurston

[doraaliciaunadm-blog]

Hola compañeros!

Mi nombre es Dora Alicia Díaz Hernandéz, elegí UNADM porque es una alternativa viable para continuar con mis estudios sin dejar de lado mi empleo.

[zoevaldes]

Picasso en el Reina Sofía - ZoePost

Picasso en el Reina Sofía – ZoePost

Por Manuel C. Díaz. Leo en ZoePost que acaba de ser inaugurado en el Museo Reina Sofía, en Madrid, el Año Picasso, con el que se conmemora el 50�� aniversario del fallecimiento del artista malagueño. En el acto estuvo presente Zoé Valdés quien, como se sabe, escribió La mujer que llora (Planeta, 2013), una novela basada en la tormentosa y abusiva relación que sostuvo Picasso con la fotógrafa Dora…

[enmnoticias]

ÁLVARO OBREGÓN, CAMPEÓN

Ixhuatlán del Café, Ver.- Como campeón del torneo de la Liga Municipal de Fútbol se coronó Deportivo Álvaro, que venció 2-1 a su similar del Deportivo Juventus de Ixcatla. La premiación de los ganadores corrió a cargo de la alcaldesa, Dora Angélica Galicia Contreras, quien estuvo acompañada de la regidora primera, María Magdalena Romero Díaz. Fue en el campo Antonio M. Quirasco, donde se disputó…

[mujeresliterarias]

— Dora Martínez Díaz de Vivar, Fragmentario Ser

[xtruss]

The Rise of Riots

The Sleepy Lagoon Murder and Zoot Suit Riots of 1943.

— Dr. Eduardo Obregón Pagán | PBS | March 19. 2022

Service men on the streets in search of zoot suiters, Los Angeles, California ,1943. Corbis

The Sleepy Lagoon Murder

The “Sleepy Lagoon” was simply the name given to a water reservoir on the Williams ranch in a rural area of Los Angeles County. The reservoir was used primarily to irrigate crops, but for many young people in what is now Bell, California, it was also used as a swimming hole by day and a lover's lane by night. On August 1, 1942 the Sleepy Lagoon became part of Los Angeles history when the murder of a young man on the Williams ranch resulted in a violent clampdown by the police against Mexican American youth.

That summer night began with romance but ended in a violent death. In the early evening several young couples from Los Angeles' 38th Street neighborhood arrived at the Sleepy Lagoon. Among the couples were Hank Leyvas and Dora Barrios. Hank was one of the older boys that hung around the 38th Street neighborhood where his girlfriend Dora lived. As they sat in their car that night, under the light of a waning full moon, they were suddenly and viciously attacked by a group of Russian immigrant boys that Henry knew from Downey. Hank and Dora were beaten mercilessly.

After the attack, Hank and Dora drove back to 38th Street to gather reinforcements. Finding people to accompany them was not difficult. Hank was immensely popular and the boys they were going after had violated an unwritten rule by beating Hank's girlfriend Dora. Close to 30 young people — boys and girls — piled into cars and headed back to the Sleepy Lagoon.

That same night José Díaz, who lived on the Williams ranch, decided to attend a birthday party on the ranch held in honor of one of his neighbors. In just a few short days, José was scheduled to report for induction into the Army and head for boot camp. The birthday party was a lively fiesta with food, music, dance and plenty to drink.

When Hank Leyvas and the others returned to the reservoir where they had been beaten, the Downey boys were nowhere to be found. But they could hear the sounds of a party underway at a cluster of homes on the Williams ranch. Convinced that the Downey boys could be there, Hank and the others converged on the partygoers. The fighting was brutal. Men and women, boys and girls struggled for about ten minutes. The fight had all the markings of a teenage rumble, except for what neighbors discovered shortly after the fighting. Lying in the shadows a short distance away from the party was José Díaz. He was mortally wounded, having been beaten and stabbed. He died later that night at Los Angeles General Hospital.

The governor, Democrat Cuthbert L. Olson, was becoming increasingly concerned about wartime juvenile delinquency. He used the murder of José Díaz as a call to action. The Los Angeles Police Department (L.A.P.D.) and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department rounded up more than 600 youth — mostly Mexican Americans — and indicted Hank Leyvas and twenty-one others for José Díaz's murder. The subsequent trial dominated headlines in the City of Angels for months, and tabloid journals called for their conviction. The jury agreed. Even though nor murder weapon, witness, or a confession could be produced, the jury nonetheless found the young men guilty of murder. Hank Leyvas, among the others, was sentenced to life in San Quentin.

Within months of the convictions, Los Angeles erupted in the Zoot Suit Riot. For the better part of a week, servicemen from different armed forces dragged kids off streetcars, from restaurants, and out of movie theaters. Those who were found wearing zoot suits were beaten and often stripped of their clothing. Thousands of white civilians cheered them on and helped the sailors. As the riot progressed, Mexican American boys moved to defend their neighborhoods, setting traps for military men and assaulting them in their cars. The L.A.P.D. let the riot continue for the better part of a week. After the riot ended, the Los Angeles City Council banned the wearing of zoot suits on Los Angeles streets.

Within a year of the riots Hank Leyvas and the boys were released from prison. Their convictions in the Sleepy Lagoon case were overturned on appeal. The court ruled that there had been serious errors in the trial: a biased judge, the denial of counsel, and a lack of evidence. Authorities declined to retry the case. Whoever killed José Díaz got away with murder.

When Hank and the boys returned, the City of Angels, and their place in it, was changed forever. In little time the zoot suit style faded from view. And eventually the small reservoir known as the Sleepy Lagoon fell victim to urban sprawl and was filled in.

The Zoot Suit Riots of 1943

Census information tells part of the story. In the decades leading up to the rioting, Los Angeles experienced an unprecedented population explosion. Along with Midwesterners who flocked to Los Angeles, thousands of Mexican refugees fleeing the Mexican Revolution made their way there. So too did landless white laborers escaping the Dust Bowl of the drought-plagued Southern Plains, and African Americans seeking more opportunity than they'd found in the South.

The coming of war in 1941 further complicated the city's social dynamics. White men went off to fight in a segregated military, and women and people of color filled the jobs in the defense industry previously reserved for white males. Rather than embrace such events as social advances, many whites accepted the changing social realities only as the lesser of two evils — the greater being German and Japanese militarism. While wartime conditions reconfigured gender and racial boundaries, segregation was emphatically reinforced in other areas. Civilian and military leaders in Los Angeles all too easily saw cultural and racial difference among Japanese Americans as subversion and betrayal, and actively supported the forced relocation of Japanese Americans into camps set up in the rural West.

Many Angelenos saw themselves on the frontline of the battle with Japan and felt vulnerable to a West Coast attack. Civilian patrols were established throughout the city and Los Angeles beaches were fortified with anti-aircraft guns. Southern California also served as a key military location with bases located in and between San Diego and Los Angeles. Consequently, up to 50,000 servicemen could be found in L.A. on any given weekend.

Independent of these social tensions, young people were growing fascinated with jazz. It was a musical, cultural, and even ideological expression that was far removed from the Hit Parade music commonly played on mainstream radio. Jazz music and dance were sensual, expressive, joyous, and raucous. Jazz musicians openly defied segregation by mixing on and off the stage, and jazz enthusiasts also mixed on and off the dance floor.

The zoot suit was one part of the jazz world that visually defied the norms of segregation. Unwritten rules demanded that people of color remain unseen and unheard in public spaces, but the zoot suit, with broad shoulders, narrow waist, and ballooned pants, was loud and bold. Zoot-suited young men (and some young women) held themselves upright and walked with a confident swagger that seemed to flow from the very fashion itself. As the Sleepy Lagoon murder trial of 1942, involving mostly Mexican American young men, proved, this particular demographic, zoot-suited or not, came to be singled out and associated with criminality and gangsterism by Los Angeles authorities. In a time of war, when social boundaries were rapidly changing, questions of allegiance and conformity became invested with particular significance. Many Angelenos objected to the zoot suiters — including, incidentally, older generations of Mexican Americans, whose communities were traditional, conservative, and self-contained. Critics saw Mexican American youths as cultural rebels and delinquents who openly defied cherished American values and customs.

Tensions between servicemen and civilians were on the rise as thousands of military men on leave poured into Los Angeles, seeing the city as a playground for booze, women, and fights. While many civilians tolerated them because of the war effort, others did not. Particularly in the segregated, ethnic enclaves of Los Angeles, unruly servicemen met stiff opposition from young men and women who refused to defer to the presumed prerogatives of white privilege. While white military men and civilian youth of all colors clashed in the streets, confrontations occurred most frequently between white servicemen and Mexican Americans, because they were the largest minority group in Los Angeles.

Drunken military men on their way back to base after a night of carousing were often "rolled" by civilian minority youth hoping to teach them proper respect. With equal animosity the sailors would often insult Mexican Americans as they traveled through their neighborhood. In the barrios, rumors spread about sailors searching out Mexican American girls. On the military bases, stories circulated about the violent reprisals suffered by sailors who dared to date Mexican American females. Sailors complained bitterly about their wives or girlfriends being subjected to the sexual taunts of young Mexican Americans. The tension continued to escalate until a street fight between sailors and Mexican American boys sparked more than a week of fighting in June of 1943 known as the Zoot Suit Riots.

On the evening of Monday, May 30, 1943 about a dozen sailors and soldiers were walking on a downtown street. After spotting a group of young Mexican American women on the opposite side of the street, the sailors and soldiers changed direction and headed their way. Between the military men and the young women stood a group of young men in zoot suits. As the two groups passed each other, Sailor Joe Dacy Coleman, fearing he was about to be attacked, grabbed the arm of one of the zoot-suited young men. Coleman's move proved to be a big mistake. Coleman was almost immediately struck on the head from behind and fell to the ground, unconscious. Other young civilians pounced on the sailors with rocks, bottles and fists. After the ferocious attack, the sailors managed to escape and carry Coleman to the safety of the Naval Armory. This initial fight lasted little more than a few minutes, but the shock reverberated for days. The details of the fight grew larger and more distorted in each re-telling of the story. It wasn't long before sailors organized a retaliatory strike against zoot-suiters.

About 50 sailors left the Armory on the night of Thursday, June 3, armed with makeshift weapons. The attack on Seaman Coleman was still fresh in their minds and rumors of new attacks were swirling through the base. Their first stop was the nearby neighborhood of Alpine Street — scene of many previous confrontations. Unable to find any zoot-suiters at Alpine, they proceeded toward downtown and stopped at the Carmen Theater. After turning on the house lights, the sailors roamed the aisles looking for zoot-suiters. The first victims of the zoot suit riots — 12 and 13-year-old boys — were guilty of little more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ignoring the protests of the patrons, the sailors tore the suits off their bodies and beat and clubbed the boys. The remains of their suits were then set ablaze.

As the mob of sailors moved on, reports began to reach the Armory's watch commander. Executive Officer Lieutenant Charles Bacon was sent to investigate. After failing to find any evidence of wrongdoing at numerous spots, Bacon came upon the Shore Patrol marching a group of 60 men to the Central Police Station, where they were to be placed in jail. Bacon assumed control of the situation and saw to it that no charges were recorded by the Shore Patrol.

As the second night of rioting began, Mexican American young men drove back and forth in front of the Armory, hurling epithets at the guards. Later that night sailors once again headed out in search of trouble. When the sailors could not find enough zoot-suiters, they decided to take the fight into the Mexican American neighborhoods of East Los Angeles and Boyle Heights. It was a new twist on the violence: instead of focusing their attacks in areas where sailors and civilian youth had clashed, the sailors moved into the Mexican American neighborhoods. Thus their retaliatory strike became an assault on the Mexican American community itself. The sailors cruised the barrio, storming into bars, cafes and theaters.

Los Angeles police were unwilling to step in and protect civilians. One policeman was quoted after the riots as saying: "You can say that the cops had a 'hands-off' policy during the riots. Well, we represented public opinion. Many of us were in the First World War, and we're not going to pick on kids in the service."

The violence continued during subsequent nights, enveloping even those who had no connection to jazz or the zoot suit. When a group of Mexican musicians exited the Aztec Recording Company after a recording session, they too were attacked. The musicians were all adults, and none of them wore a zoot suit. Military commander Clarence Flogg reported that there were "hundreds of servicemen prowling downtown Los Angeles mostly on foot—disorderly—apparently on the prowl for Mexicans." The Navy reported that "Groups vary in size from 10 - 150 men and scatter immediately when Shore Patrol approaches. Men found carrying hammock cues [clubs], belts, knives and tire irons..."

Although groups of armed servicemen roamed the streets attacking civilians, the military seemed more concerned with regaining control over their men than with the violence they were committing. Leery of the negative press that would result from mass arrests, Admiral Bagley, the commanding officer, appealed to his sailors' "common sense."

Mexican American kids organized and fought back. Rudy Leyvas and his friends set traps for the sailors and civilians who were pursuing them, using decoys to lure their attackers in to a trap. "And they let out a cry: There they are! There they are! And they came in. As they came in, once they got all the way in, we all came out … I, myself, had a bat. And I used it."

The worst violence occurred on Monday, June 7. One Los Angeles paper printed a guide on how to "de-zoot" a zoot suiter: "Grab a zooter. Take off his pants and frock coat and tear them up or burn them." That night a crowd of 5,000 civilians gathered downtown. By this time the mob was no longer made up of only sailors from the Armory. Soldiers, Marines, and sailors from other installations as far away as Las Vegas eagerly joined in the assaults. Part of the mob headed south for the predominately African American section of Watts and another group headed east for Mexican American East Los Angeles.

Al Waxman, editor of the Eastside Journal, a small Jewish newspaper, witnessed the chaos. He describes a "mass of humanity locked in violent struggle, arms swinging, legs kicking, shrieking with anger." The police were arresting dozens of young Mexican Americans. "Why am I being arrested?" one of them asked. The response was a savage clubbing with a nightstick. Although the boy fell to the sidewalk unconscious, he was kicked in the face by police.

By Tuesday morning the rioting was finally under a measure of control. Senior military officials declared Los Angeles off limits to all sailors, soldiers and Marines. The Shore Patrol gave orders to arrest disorderly personnel. The following day the city council adopted a resolution that banned the wearing of zoot suits on Los Angeles streets, punishable by a thirty-day jail term.

As the riots subsided, the governor ordered the creation of a citizens' committee. Its charge was to investigate and determine the cause of the riots. In 1943 the committee issued its report; it determined racism to be a central cause of the riots. At the same time, Mayor Fletcher Bowron came to his own conclusion. The riots, he said, were caused by juvenile delinquents and by white Southerners. Racial prejudice was not a factor.

— Dr. Eduardo Obregón Pagán is the Bob Stump Endowed Professor of History at Arizona State University, and Associate Dean of Barrett, The Honors College. He is the author of Murder at the Sleepy Lagoon: Zoot Suits, Race, and Riot in Wartime L.A. (University of North Carolina Press, 2004), and Valley of the Guns: The Pleasant Valley War and the Trauma of Violence (University of Oklahoma Press, 2018). He was a co-host on the popular PBS series History Detectives, and is an adjunct curator of history at the Desert Caballeros Western Museum.