History Repeating Itself? How Racial Tensions Sparked the 1942 Zoot Suit Riots

“If you can’t dance with your neighbors, you live in the wrong place.” That is one of the powerful lines from one of Margarita Engle’s poems, featured in her new book Jazz Owls: A Novel of the Zoot Suit Riots.  The novel tells the story of the Zoot Suit Riots, or, as Engle calls them, the Sailor Riots. Engle’s poetry weaves the story of a Mexican-American family in Los Angeles, California, living under the shadow of the Second World War. The riots were targeted attacks on young Mexican-American men and teens, who wore Zoot Suits and danced to popular jazz music. They were carried out by soldiers receiving their basic training in California, on their way to fight in World War II.' --The Takeaway 
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Published on June 29, 2018 14:55
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