Racist views led to murder trial of 22, laid foundation for Zoot Suit riots

Racial Justice

By Judge Ramon Ocasio III

Judge Ramon Ocasio III has served as a judge for 15 years and is acting presiding judge for the 4th Municipal District for the Cook County Circuit Court. He was named Catholic Lawyer of the Year by the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago.

Posted May 26, 2022 1:48 PM

(This is the second article of a two-part series. Part 1 ran May 19.)On Aug. 1, 1942, after one of them had been beaten up, members of the 38th Street Club returned to Sleepy Lagoon, a reservoir along the Los Angeles River popular with Mexican Americans, to find the perpetrators for payback. The next day, Jose Diaz, was found dead.This is the setting for Eduardo Obregón Pagán’s book, “Murder at the Sleepy Lagoon — Zoot Suits, Race, and Riot in Wartime L.A.,” the retelling of the notorious Sleepy …

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