The Zoot Suit Riots and the Magnuson Act

The Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles begin. For ten nights, members of the American Navy terrorize Mexican-American neighborhoods looking for young Mexican teens. Hundreds of young Latino men are beaten with little police intervention. Similar acts of violence against Mexican-Americans spring up in other American cities.

In the same year, China becomes an official allied nation and Congress passes the Magnuson Act, repealing the previous Chinese Exclusion Acts. Chinese-Americans finally have a path to citizenship. Although Chinese immigrants are now able to naturalize, there is a ban against ownership of property, and strict quotas continue.