Coalition

            
             "Mexican Americans have inherited their naturally violent tendencies from the blood thirsty Aztecs of Mexico."* In early August 1942, the statement above was filed by Ed. Duran Ayres, head of the Los Angeles County Department's Foreign Relations Bureau during the People v. Zammora case, most commonly known as the Sleepy Lagoon case. Mr. Ayres claimed the boys" instinct to kill was biological, inherited from their Aztec ancestors. Racist and prejudice ideologies such as this were the basis of the Sleepy Lagoon case. This case represents not only prejudice and racism, but also the power of unity and coalition in the struggle against injustice.
             In the early 1940's, young Mexican-Americans in the city of Los Angeles began dressing in their own style with wide pants, long coats and long clock chains. It was the "pachuco" era, but Los Angeles press preferred to portray these teenagers as "zoot suit gangsters" who were criminals and should be feared. The media's campaign to dirty Mexican-Americans" reputation was very successful and in August of 1942, the murder of Jose Diaz was the perfect opportunity to "prove" what they were printing.
             On the night of August 2, 1942, a normal teenage party near a reservoir named the Sleepy Lagoon ended in a fight between kids from the 38th street and Downy neighborhoods. The next day, after the body of Jose Diaz was found, the story was on the front page of every newspaper. Twenty-four young men were arrested and charged with the murder of Jose Diaz, Henry Leyvas was the main suspect. Two of them had access to a lawyer, while the other twenty-two boys were unable to talk or sit next to the lawyer during the trial. In the process of and during the trial, the boys were not allowed to change outfits, so that the jury could see the "blood-thirsty hoodlums" in their zoot suit outfits. Also, none of the boys were allowed to get haircuts. After five months in trial, three were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, nine guilty of second-degree murder, and five guilty of assault.