The Power of the Zoot

Luis Alvarez’s socio-historical analysis on the influence Zoot culture and the hierarchy of race during WWII provides a framework in which to trace how the Zoot culture became a multiracial, gendered, and national phenomenon (pg.7). Alvarez further addressed the inequities that faced nonwhite youth which ranged from gaining employment in the burgeoning military industry, racial profiling by law enforcement, to their social standing as an “Other” during the war years.


The discussion on the widely held view by many white Americans that used juvenile delinquency as a means to racialize all nonwhite youth prompting middle class reformers to advocate on behalf of nonwhite youth made me think of the controversy surrounding Bill Cosby and his statements regarding African American youth and Hip Hop culture. In 2004, Bill Cosby publicly made generalized statements stating that African American communities could no longer blame whites for the excessive high school drop-out rates, illiteracy, etc., and blamed Hip Hop culture for the state of African American youth at large. Minority leaders responded to Mr. Cosby’s statements stating that although they agreed there was a problem with African American youth lacking a personal responsibility for their underachievement to a certain degree, the overarching issues such as chronic poverty and lack of resources could not be ignored. Furthermore, the broad generalization of the African American youth was deemed unacceptable (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24594-2004Jul2.html).


Similarly, Alvarez critiqued the efforts of middle class nonwhite reformers and their quest to combat the discrimination and the general categorization of nonwhite youth as violent criminals. He states that although nonwhite reformers achieved some success on behalf of nonwhite youth, “Mexican American, African American, and white social reformers viewed the politics of youth as a vehicle to push a broader agenda that prioritized wartime assimilation” (pg. 65). Alvarez further states that reformers were unsuccessful in their efforts to ease the assimilation of nonwhite Zoot suiters into American culture, largely because of their oversight in addressing the fundamental issues of poverty, or “structural inequalities” (p.68). Alvarez draws comparison between Zoot suiters and Hip Hopers and asserts that despite the generational gap both marginalized youth groups have struggled to live with dignity even when faced with constant dehumanization and racialization (pg. 244).