Because it hightened the American sense of xenophobia towards Hispanics
They had nothing to do with World War 2. They lived during the 1920s.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Zootsuiters-and-President-Roosevelta-common-thread take a look at the above link......this may answer your question
The American Experience - 1988 Zoot Suit Riots 14-10 was released on: USA: 1 March 2002
A zoot is either slang for a zoot suit, or for a marijuana cigarette or PCP.
zoot-zoot
Zoot. "Zoot sax is your axe! Uh-oh, Zoot skipped a groove again!"
I'm pretty sure it was the 'Zoot Suits'
The Zoot Cat was created on 1944-02-26.
Zoot Suit - film - was created in 1981.
Zoot Allures was created on 1976-10-20.
Zoot Watson died on May 2, 1950.
The duration of Zoot Suit - film - is 1.72 hours.