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How did the Zoot Suit Riots exemplify racism toward people of Mexican descent in the United States?

In the years following World War II, black Americans began a long push for the right to vote, equal protection of the law, and other privileges that white citizens enjoyed. Today, we call that push for equality the civil rights movement, and it peaked in the 1960s and 1970s. However, black Americans weren't the only racial group being denied their civil rights. Mexican-Americans faced similar hardships;  they weren't black, but many white Americans didn't consider them "white" either, so they also experienced segregation, abuse, conflicts with police, and economic exploitation in the early 20th century.

Men in zoot suits
This 1942 picture shows a soldier checking out some zoot suits at a dance in Washington, D.C.
The Zoot Suit Riots are a good example. In the summer of 1943 at the height of American involvement in World War II, Los Angeles was full of tens of thousands of American soldiers who were mostly young, white, and eager to prowl the city for a good time. At the same time, Mexican-Americans and black Americans were moving there for wartime jobs and the promise of a better life. Mexicans were already the most populous racial minority in Los Angeles, but they were segregated from the rest of the community, and their children were seen as criminals. This is because many Mexican teens were walking around in "zoot suits," flashy over-sized suits with bold stripes and broad angles. Because many white residents (and soldiers) believed that racial minorities shouldn't be so conspicuous, racial tensions increased. On May 30, 1943, a group of soldiers decided to follow and harass a group of young Mexican women. Young men in zoot suits opposed them, and a fight broke out.

The fight was a quick scuffle that lasted just a few minutes, but events quickly spiraled out of control over the next week. Gangs of soldiers began roaming the city looking for any young Latinos in zoot suits so they could beat them and burn their suits. When they couldn't find any, they began attacking Mexican-American neighborhoods in general, and at first the police refused to stop them, citing their respect for the American military.

When soldiers from other parts of the country started driving to Los Angeles to participate in the riots (and attack the city's black neighborhoods, too), leaders finally stepped in and banned all military personnel from the city--and they banned zoot suits, too. The riots remain a defining example of American attitudes toward Mexican-Americans in the early 20th century.

Question

Why was the Los Angeles Police Department's reaction to the Zoot Suit Riots so significant?

At first, Los Angeles police officers refused to protect Mexican residents from violent gangs of soldiers stationed in the city, so those residents had to protect themselves. As a result, people not only formed a deeper sense of community, but they also started to feel separate from the city itself. Many wondered if the city really valued them, and some even wondered why they were paying taxes to a government that refused to protect them.