Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Presenting the California Eagle (as seen through the eyes of the Robey Theatre Company).

Race Battles and Confrontations Plague Los Angeles.

Article written by Almena Lomax 
June 7, 1943

Racial battles between a group of Navy service men and Mexican youth have been occurring in Downtown and East Los Angeles since June 3rd.  Although the details remain sketchy, what is clear, on the night of June 3, 1943, Navy service men began harassing and beating Mexican men because of how they were dressed, which turned into a race war with both sides pleading self Defense.

Gloria Harrison, a housekeeper at the Dunbar Hotel, was an innocent bystander and eyewitness to the June 3rd racially motivated incident.  She was hit in the head by a flying bottle during the race riot.
Gloria Harrison was injured in the race riot.
Photo courtesy of Michael Blaze
"When we got close to 12th street it seem like all hell broke loose...people was running everywhere and those Navy Seamen was grabbing and hitting everybody that wasn't white."
Lucius Lomax, proprietor of the Dunbar Hotel had this to say, "They acting a fool out there but nobody is coming into the Dunbar with none of that mess, because I'm not having it.  Every hustler on Central Avenue is out and ready.  So, long as you stay above 28th Street, you'll be just fine.  I don't go looking for trouble but I know how to handle it when it comes."

It is not just the Black Newspapers who have been reporting dissatisfaction and anger at the actions by the military service men.  Even First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt has been quoted with saying, "The question goes deeper than just(zoot)suits.  It is a racial protest.  I have been worried for a long time about the Mexican racial situation.  It is a problem with roots going a long way back, and we do not always face these problems as we should."

Along with the merciless assaults by the United States Navy of anyone who wasn't white, the lack of support by the Los Angeles Police Department to protect and serve their citizens have many people across the nation outraged.  Innocent men and women, girls and boys, have been harmed, if not critically injured, from the brutality of service men who supposedly have pledge their lives to protect all Americans.   
One of only a few LAPD officers who are not white, Tom Bradley, stated, "It (is) a rather unsettling experience because of the racial hostility that (exists)...primarily directed at the Mexicans, but not limited to them, because Blacks also (suffered) some rather vicious treatment.  In fact, some of the police officers
Tom Bradley and a few other members of the LAPD.
were involved in what I thought was improper conduct. Their treatment of anyone who happened to be Black or Mexican, who happen to be wearing the clothes, the (zoot suits), that was all that was necessary for that person to be the subject of rather vicious police handling."





It shows this reporter, as more things change, the more things still remain the same.  Perhaps we can hold the hope for the future, that race riots like this will cease to exist in America, and certainly not beginning over something as juvenile and trivial as taking offense to the way someone is dressed.  Perhaps we need more Blacks and Mexicans to become police officers, like Tom Bradley.  Better yet, maybe one day a Mexican or Black could even become mayor of Los Angeles or President of the United States and really make a change.


The Magnificent Dunbar Hotel has reopened from November 22- December 21 
at the 
New LATC 514 S. Spring St. Los Angeles, CA 9001
 
General Admission – $30 LAUSD Teacher – $20* | Veteran – $20* | Student – $20* | Senior (60+) – $20* Thursdays – $10 (Limited Number Available, Not Available Online) To Purchase by Phone Please Call – 866-811-4111
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Content contributor Kellie Dantzler.

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