Zoot Suit Riots

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The United States did not live up to its rhetoric about equality and freedom during World War II. There were actions taken by President Roosevelt, the government, and other U.S. authorities that would contradict this rhetoric. Roosevelt agreed to sign Executive Order 9066, U.S. servicemen's involvement in Zoot Suit riots, and the implementation of the Tuskegee Airmen; these are all examples of how equality and freedom was not taken into account for Americans of Japanese, Mexican, and African American descent. Notably, the Executive Order 9066 was issued by Roosevelt which enforced that Japanese Americans be relocated from their homes to internment camps in California. Without sufficient information, Roosevelt believed that the Japanese Americans would become disloyal and if not confined, would result in a Japanese invasion in America; thus his harsh implementation of the internment camps. He probably thought that it was the best execution of action for America to the time, but at what cost. The unfortunate occurrences that took place, although not as atrocious as the holocaust concentration camps, were still unethical, unnecessary and could have been prevented. Implementations along the lines of restricting…show more content…
servicemen; the servicemen would beat and burn Mexican Americans after stripping them from their clothes. It displeased the U.S. servicemen to see those wearing zoot suits because they saw it as them being selfish for the reason that the zoot suits violated wartime fabric conservation guidelines. It was not the Mexican Americans intention to bother anyone with their choice of clothing; they wore is as a fashion trend that reflected the culture of swing music. Now was it really necessary to go to as far as beating and burning them? This goes beyond not complying with equality; it was taken to a whole new and unethical level of mistreating the Americans of Mexican
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