The Watts And LA Riots

Chanel Evans

History 301

Professor Namala

Final paper

May 5, 2014

The Watts and LA riots

On the night of August 11, 1965 the Watts community of Los Angeles County went up in flames. A riot broke out and lasted until the seventeenth of August. After residents witnessed a Los Angeles police officer using excessive force while arresting an African American male. Along with this male, the police officers also arrested his brother and mother. Twenty-seven years later in 1992 a riot known as both the Rodney King riots and the LA riots broke out. Both share the similar circumstances as to why the riots started. Before each riot there was some kind of tension between police officers and the African American people of Los Angeles. In both cases African Americans were still dealing with high unemployment rates, substandard housing, and inadequate schools. Add these three problems with policemen having a heavy hand and a riot will happen. Many of the primary sources I will you in this analysis for the Watts and the LA riots can be found in newspaper articles written at the time of these events. First-hand accounts from people living during the riots are also used.

Tension between the LAPD and African American residents boiled over and had its hand in starting the Watts riots. The traffic stop of Marquette Frye made the community believe excessive force was used. Once the residents of the Watts suburb witnessed Marquette, his brother and mother get arrested they went into battle mode. The riot got so bad that the California National Guard was called to active duty to assist in controlling the rioting. The five

Evans 2 days of violence left 34 dead, 1,032 injured, nearly 4,000 arrested, and $40 million worth of property destroyed.

In th...

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...s. In both cases people in poverty didn’t have many opportunities coming their way. Although the riots were twenty seven years apart they both shared the same problems. People living in both communities did not have many resources available to them. In those twenty seven years, buildings in those areas were still rundown and many jobs weren’t available. Schools were still not on the same level as those in advantaged areas. What if African Americans were given better jobs and education? If they had received both the riots would not have started. They would have not felt oppressed and let anger just grow inside. Once the resentment started growing, it was only a matter of time before a riot broke out. In both riots you can see how the LAPD’s heavy hand was involved. African Americans were not receiving the same justice as the Caucasian residents of Los Angeles.