A week-long mass attack on young Mexican Americans took place across Los Angeles in June 1943. Several thousand white sailors, soldiers, off-duty cops, and civilians brutally attacked anyone wearing a zoot suit. Identified by their baggy trousers, long jackets, and porkpie hats, zoot suiters were dragged out of theaters and beaten in the streets. This June 7, 1943, photograph shows a crowd gathering around two young men, one beaten and one stripped of some of his clothes.
