The police department was out of its league in manpower to do anything about the riots. It resorted to the practice of following behind the servicemen, picking up the Chicano victims, hauling them to jail, and then charging them with rioting. Some ran to the police for protective custody and got it without question. The L.A. Police Department adopted the unofficial policy of letting the Military Police and Shore Patrol deal with unruly servicemen while they concentrated on the pachucos.# One policeman stated, “You could say 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.”#

sacrifice, that all Indians of the Americas have proven blatant disregard for human life, and that this was common knowledge. He went on to testify the Mexican Revolution failed because they were lazy, that those who migrated to the U.S. were just looking for an easier life, where only half of a day’s work is required. Ayers brought it to a head by stating that the race must be punished, or at least the biologically depraved part. “The hoodlum element in a whole must be indicted as a whole.”

The L.A. Police Department had felt the repercussions of the war effort also. Their most experienced officers had joined the armed forces. Additionally, they now had this latest style of delinquent to deal with, the zoot-suiter. The L.A. Police Department and County Sheriff’s Office took the Diaz murder as an opportunity to conduct mass arrests of male Chicano youth. Approximately 600 boys from 12 to 25 years-old were arrested without legal cause.# Their ducktail style haircuts, the clothes they wore, and the color of their skin, had been cause enough.

Many of the young men in L.A. had enlisted in the service. This opened up jobs previously unavailable to the Mexican-American population who had been confined mostly to their self-contained, conservative barrios on the outskirts of town.# It had become normal to see a group of young Hispanic youth in town shopping and buying luxuries they could not have afforded themselves just months before. One of those luxuries was a new style of dress

During the trial, the Grand Jury appointed a special committee to investigate the problems of the Chicano youth in L.A. County. The Special Mexican Relations Committee heard from federal, state, and local agencies. One of those to testify was Lieutenant Edward Duran Ayres of the Foreign Relations Bureau of the L.A. County Sheriff’s office.# He gave some socio-economic reasons for their crimes that included: segregation, lack of recreational facilities and low-wage employment. Although these reasons made perfect sense, the thesis of Ayers testimony was that their crimes had a more biological basis, that it was more a matter of race. He then explained that the Mexican-American is predisposed to violence because of his Aztec ancestors practicing human

Some topics in this essay:
Los Angeles, Chavez Ravine, English Spanish, Angeles Times, Jose Diaz, Sleepy Lagoon, Grand Jury, Harlem Detroit, June Chicanos, Downey Boys, 38th st, los angeles, 38th st gang, st gang, la county, grand jury, east la, police department, hank leyvas, chicano youth, downtown la, la police department, 38th st boys, county grand jury, la county sheriff’s,