What a Creep: "The Zoot Suit Riots" & "The Sleepy Lagoon Murder"

What a Creep: The Sleepy Lagoon Murder<br />Season 14, Episode 8<br />The Murder of Jose Gallardo Diaz & the Zoot Suit Riots<br /><br />On August 2, 1942, Jose Gallardo Diaz (22) was found unconscious in an area known as The Sleepy Lagoon. He had multiple head injuries, was stabbed at least twice, and had a broken finger. He died at Los Angeles Hospital, and a complete sweep of Mexican Americans by the LA cops captured the media's imagination. Though mostly from future Creep William Randolph Hearst) kids that were Zoot-suiters were seen as a dangerous element and causing a crime wave. The phrase De-Zoot the suit was often sed. <br />Diaz's murder remains unsolved, but it was the catalyst for the "Zoot Suit Riots" that happened the following summer. If you have heard of the Cherry Poppin' Daddies song—you will get no idea how horrible this incident indeed was for the Chicano and African American community.<br />This episode will talk about the Sleepy Lagoon Murders, the sham of a trial that happened afterward, and the Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles of 1943.<br />Trigger Warnings: Racism and my terrible attempts at Spanish.<br />Sources:<br />Sleepy Lagoon Murders Wiki<br />PBS American Experience "The Sleepy Lagoon Defendants"<br />The Sleepy Lagoon website<br />LA Law Library<br />Sleepy Lagoon Mystery by Guy Endore<br />The Zoot Suit Riots by Mauricio Mazon<br />The Zoot Suit Riots by Charles Rivers Editors<br />Zoot Suit (1981) Starring Edward James Olmos<br />Zoot Suit Riot by the Cherry Poppin Daddies<br /> Be sure to follow us on social media. But don’t follow us too closely … don’t be a creep about it!<br />How to help the people of Ukraine<br />UNICEF <br />Doctors Without Borders<br />Sunflower of Peace<br />International Committee of the Red Cross<br />Save the Children<br />CARE <br />UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)<br />The Red Cross<br />Voices of Children<br />How to help the trans people of Texas<br />Transgender Education Network of Texas<br />TxTransKids.org <br />Equality Texas <br />Lambda Legal <br /