Author: Guy Endore
Publisher:
Published: 2020-08-02
Total Pages: 48
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →When seventeen boys are in jail for a murder that was never even established as a murder, and may possibly have been due to an automobile accident--when seventeen boys are tried in a court of justice by a judge notoriously prejudiced against anyone of Mexican descent--when officials of the county let it be known that they believe the whole Latin-American population of this hemisphere bears the lust for murder in its blood-stream, an inherited taint that can never be overcome--when during the trial one of the police investigators, who never denied that he brutally beat up certain of the boys, writes a lurid article for a pulp magazine describing the boys as vicious young terrorists guilty of murder, long before the jury has brought in a verdict--when the press drums up wild inventions about zoot-suit gangsters--Well, I ask you: is this American fair play? Is this our American system of considering people innocent until they are proved guilty? Beatings, forced confessions, news-paper terrorism, official racist policies openly enunciated: is this America? Is this California? I say the Sleepy Lagoon case is no sleeping matter.
Author:
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
Published:
Total Pages: 430
ISBN-13: 1442995327
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Author: Eduardo Obregón Pagán
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
Published: 2009-06
Total Pages: 602
ISBN-13: 1442995041
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The notorious 1942 Sleepy Lagoon murder trial in Los Angeles concluded with the conviction of seventeen young Mexican American men for the alleged gang slaying of fellow youth Jose Diaz. Just five months later, the so-called Zoot Suit Riot erupted, as white soldiers in the city attacked minority youths and burned their distinctive zoot suits...
Author:
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
Published:
Total Pages: 418
ISBN-13: 1442995971
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Author: Eduardo Obregón Pagán
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
Published: 2004-07-21
Total Pages: 328
ISBN-13: 0807862096
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The notorious 1942 "Sleepy Lagoon" murder trial in Los Angeles concluded with the conviction of seventeen young Mexican American men for the alleged gang slaying of fellow youth Jose Diaz. Just five months later, the so-called Zoot Suit Riot erupted, as white soldiers in the city attacked minority youths and burned their distinctive zoot suits. Eduardo Obregon Pagan here provides the first comprehensive social history of both the trial and the riot and argues that they resulted from a volatile mix of racial and social tensions that had long been simmering. In reconstructing the lives of the murder victim and those accused of the crime, Pagan contends that neither the convictions (which were based on little hard evidence) nor the ensuing riot arose simply from anti-Mexican sentiment. He demonstrates instead that a variety of pre-existing stresses, including demographic pressures, anxiety about nascent youth culture, and the war effort all contributed to the social tension and the eruption of violence. Moreover, he recovers a multidimensional picture of Los Angeles during World War II that incorporates the complex intersections of music, fashion, violence, race relations, and neighborhood activism. Drawing upon overlooked evidence, Pagan concludes by reconstructing the murder scene and proposes a compelling theory about what really happened the night of the murder.
Author:
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
Published:
Total Pages: 294
ISBN-13: 1442995025
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Author: Mark A. Weitz
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Published: 2010-10-29
Total Pages: 216
ISBN-13: 0700617477
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →What began as a neighborhood party during the summer of 1942 led to the largest mass murder trial in California's history. After young Jose Diaz was found murdered near Los Angeles' Sleepy Lagoon reservoir, 600 Mexican Americans were rounded up by the police, 24 were indicted, and 17 were convicted. But thanks to the efforts of crusading lawyers, Hollywood celebrities, and Mexican Americans throughout the nation, all 17 convictions were thrown out in an appellate decision that cited lack of evidence, coerced testimony, deprivation of the right to counsel, and judicial misconduct. Mark Weitz chronicles the Sleepy Lagoon case (People v. Zammora) from the streets of the L.A.'s Mexican-American neighborhoods to the criminal courts, through the appeals process, and to the ultimate release of the convicted. In the process, Weitz opens a window on the uneasy world of Hispanic-Anglo relations, which, exacerbated by an influx of Mexican immigrants, had simmered beneath the surface in California for a century and reached the boiling point by 1942. By demonstrating how an environment of hostility and fear had fostered a breakdown in the legal protections that should have been afforded to the Sleepy Lagoon defendants, Weitz also illuminates a vital episode in the evolution of defendants' rights-including the right to counsel and a fair and impartial trial. As the case unfolded, the prosecution and local media drew ominous comparisons between the supposed dangers posed by the Mexican-American defendants and the threat allegedly posed by thousands of Japanese Americans, whose sympathies had been called into question after Pearl Harbor. Weitz shows how Zammora demonstrates what it is like to literally be tried in the court of public opinion where the "opinion" has been shaped before the trial even begins. Now, as Americans once again feel threatened by outsiders-whether Islamic jihadists or illegal immigrants—Zammora provides a mirror showing us how we acted then compared to how we respond now. While much of what occurred in 1942 L.A. was unique to its time and place, Weitz's compelling narrative shows that many of the social, political, and culture issues that dominated America then are still with us today.