Luis Valdez mixed art and politics in his writing "Zoot Suit," which focuses on the Zoot Suit riots that took place in Los Angeles in the 1940s. The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of violent clashes between American servicemen who attacked young Latinos and other minorities. Luis Valdez's "Zoot Suit" is proof that racial prejudice is a part of American history and continues to exist. Prejudiced people defend positional privilege and thus stand to gain emotionally, culturally, socially, and economically from a prejudiced attitude toward others. This privilege that prejudices rationally defend is a product of racism. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get Original Essay “Zoot Suit” focuses on a group of pachucos who were in the middle of a dance when the cops arrive and the interrupt, “Hold on, children!” …Stop or I’ll shoot! The authorities interrupted a dance, which they were not concerned about either, and threatened to shoot the teenagers only because they do not fit their own perception and dress in a certain way that represents for them menacing street thugs, gang members and juvenile delinquents. Given the way American society is currently structured, most white people have no idea or direct experience of the lives of minority communities, such as African Americans or Latinos. Continued norms of separation and segregation that prevent people from different racial/ethnic groups from interacting with each other in meaningful and positive ways perpetuate this ignorance of groups, which in turn gives rise to prejudiced attitudes. We cut to Pachuco and Henry now in prison, where Henry talks about going into the Navy and "fighting for his country." However, Pachuco disagrees with his decision: “Because it's not your country. Look what's happening around you...the mayor of Los Angeles has declared total war on the Chicanos. Yours! The cures? The problem is that for too long in American society we have attached meaning to physical characteristics such as skin color, hair texture, gender, age, sexual orientation; or on social differences such as religion, ethnicity, language and social class. Henry's mother doesn't approve of the clothes her son wears: “Yes, curtains are very funny, really? And what do the police call them, huh? They put you in prison many times. Do you know what? I'll send them all your clothes! » Dolores, Henry's mother, is so afraid of these baggy, flashy costumes because of what others think they represent. Wearing these clothes made young people understand that this society did not allow them to express themselves, because it amounted to putting a target on their back to be attacked/violently beaten. The United States is a multicultural nation, but it is also a nation. in conflict with its values ​​of freedom, equality, liberty and justice for all. The meaning is in the culture and in the values ​​transmitted from one generation to the next. The result is an ideology of supremacy that justifies positional power by giving negative meaning to perceived or real biological/cultural differences. This forms the basis of prejudiced attitudes and discriminatory actions, which result in racism..