Martha Medrano

2nd period
Mrs. Furtado
English 11
April 11, 2011

1965 Watts Riots

Los Angeles suffered great devastation in 1965 when African Amer
icans attacked white people in an effort to be heard sometime during the Civil R
ights Movement. Thousands were injured, and 34 were left to rest in peace (Ward
46). Due to the hate and violence against blacks in 1965, the Watts Riots are kn
own as the worst race war of its time, and it foreshadows to future events repea
ting itself in the history of Los Angeles (Watts 1).
There were various causes for this uprising, but a major cause m
ade it all happen. People of the Watts community were angry at high unemployment
, bad education, and lack of health services nearby. Proposition 14 was against
the fair housing section, which made many blacks upset (Newton 1). Yvonne, a wit
ness at the time, said, There had been a lot of dissatisfaction with the way poli
ce were treating people in the community (Joiner 1). Tensions were running high a
gainst police officers (Newton 1). African Americans accused officers of beating
them up at times. All of this made the black people angry, and the triggering p
oint of the Frye arrests was the major cause of rioting (Newton 1). 21 year old
Marquette Frye was pulled over on August 11, 1965 for drunk driving on 122nd str
eet Avalon, by officer Lee Minikus, who was on his motorcycle when he saw him(Jo
iner 1). Officer Minikus said that Frye failed the sobriety test, and therefore
he was being arrested (USC 1). Frye refused to be arrested, and started yelling
at the officer. Minikus remembers Frye saying, You white mother, you ain t gonna ta
ke me to jail. You re gonna have to kill me first (Inskeep 1). Minikus called for b
ackup, and Frye s brother, Ronald, begged the officers to let them go. The brother
s called their mother, and then more people began coming after that (Newton 1).
Rena, their mother, jumped on the officer s back, and she began hitting him (USC 1
). All three of the family members were arrested by 7:23 p.m. (Newton 1). There
was a large crowd by the time the officers began to beat on Marquette Frye. He s
aid he didn t want to go to jail. The officers just kept beating on him with baton
s. A crowd of spectators, mostly African Americans, were already pretty rowdy, a
nd one of the angry persons spit on an officer (USC 1). The Los Angeles Watts Ri
ots had now officially begun.
The Frye Arrests angered thousands, and that made a large number
of African Americans go out to the streets without any hesitation towards the c
onsequences (Ward 46). Black people started attacking any white people they saw
along 116th street in the Watts area of Los Angeles (Joiner 1). The riots offici
ally began on August 12, 1965(Ward 46).By 1 a.m., the rioters had increased in s
ize to 1,500. People of all ages could be found at that time. Molotov Cocktails
were thrown at officers (USC 2). Gasoline bombs were thrown at cars. Stores were
being looted (Rucker 347). Alice Harris remembers stealing a fan from a departm
ent store (Inskeep 1). Many people were stealing items (Inskeep 1). Fires were b
eing started anywhere. When Firefighters arrived to put out various fires, they
were attacked by several rioters. More than 1,000 cars had been overturned. The
riots had been taking over 50 miles of land. Conditions were so bad that the Eme
rgency Control Center had to be opened at 7:30 p.m (Rucker 347). By the dawn of
August 12, there had been 34 arrests, and there were 35 injuries. Many of the in
jured people were mostly officers. They had simply lost control from so many rio
ters. We simply were not in control, so it took us about 3 nights and a vast chan
ge in tactics , said an officer named Mr. Gates (Inskeep 1). In an effort to stop
the riots, the Los Angeles county Human Relations Commission held meeting on Aug
ust 13 to let residents express themselves freely in an effort to prevent violen
ce from spreading even more (Rucker 347). The meeting was held in Athens park. D
uring the meeting, the people asked to have only black officers circulate the ar
ea of Watts, but the request was denied since it went against policies (Rucker 3
47). This made the rioters erupt once again. They began to form at headquarters
and Athens Park (Rucker 346). Over 2,000 rioters were there, and they began atta
cking people again (Rucker 347). They were confronted by at least 500 officers,
which calmed the riots for a bit (Rucker 348). By Friday, there had been over 38
,000 people in the streets. People used famous chants like Get whitey and Burn Baby
burn (Ward 46). An African American bystander was killed when he was trapped bet
ween the two sides, and he was shot (Rucker 347). A fireman was crushed under a
fallen wall to death (Rucker 347). Another officer was killed on accident by fri
endly fire. The Governor had to call for reinforcements. He made a request for t
he National Guard to come (Rucker 348). At first, it was about 3,356 guardsmen o
n the move, and then that number grew to 13,900 by Saturday (Rucker 348). One of
ficer named Del Barco said, Fourteen thousand National Guard troops rolled in wit
h tanks to back up the police, and the eyes of the nation were on Watts . It was n
ow rioters fighting against the National Guard (USC 6). The riots did not calm d
own very much, so the governor put into effect a curfew for all residents. He ma
de it illegal for anyone to be outside on the streets past 8 p.m. (USC 6). After
the curfew was set, the riots began to calm down with the exception of a few sn
ipers looting stores. One unidentified man said, A curfew was put into effect and
the entire section declared off limits to all but residents. The people who liv
e here are suffering (Inskeep 1). The curfew was lifted the next Sunday and only
252 guardsmen were now left guarding (USC 6). Everything calmed down by then, an
d the Watts riots officially ended on August 16, 1965 (Rucker 349).
The Watts Riots left great damage, and a legacy that will remain
with the African American community for many years to come. In total, there wer
e over 100,000 African Americans participated in looting stores, setting fires,
and beating up white people (Rucker 349). The riots lasted a total of 6 days, 14
4 hours (Ward 46). Businesses and stores were completely ruined. Over 40 million
dollars of property damage was made (Joiner 1). More than 600 buildings were bu
rned and 200 were completely destroyed (USC 3). There was a 46.5 miles overall a
ffected by the rioting (Ward 46). According to the McCone Commission Report, 34
people died during the Watts Riots (Inskeep 1). 1,032 people were injured (Inske
ep 1). 733 of those injured were civilians, 136 were firemen, 90 police officers
, 10 National Guardsmen, and 23 others. 3,438 adults were arrested (Rucker 349).
71% of those arrests were for theft. 514 juveniles were arrested. 81% of those
arrests were for theft. Of the 1133 cases filed, 733 were found guilty, 184 were
dismissed, 81 were acquitted, and 135 were awaiting trial (USC 5). These riots
spread in a matter of days to other places, such as Pasadena and San Diego (USC
2). It took 20 years to rebuild a grocery store again (Inskeep 1). One good thin
g that came out of the riots is that it was made possible for a medical center.
It is called the King Drew medical center (Inskeep 1). Tommy Jaket, who was part
of the 1965 riots, is now the director of Watts summer festival , which celebra
tes and remembers those who have died. It leaves a legacy behind for being the w
orst urban riot in Los Angeles history (Inskeep 1). It foreshadowed a future reb
ellion that takes place in the same area. It took place in 1992. They are called
the Los Angeles Riots.
The Watts riots have not been forgotten, and they will remain in
history for a long time. Much has changed since those riots. Watts, now a mostl
y Latino community, is trying to get rid of its bad name (Joiner 2). It still re
mains high in unemployment, but it has not seen a riot in more than 10 years. I
would know that, because I lived in Watts for quite sometime. The 1965 Watts rio
ts are marked in history as the worst urban riot of its time (Watts 1).
 Works cited

Joiner, Lottie L. "Looking Back: 40 Years After the 1965 Watts Riots." Crisis
(15591573) 112.4 (2005): 9. Professional Development Collection. EBS
CO.
Web. 27 Mar. 2011.
Rucker, Walter c, and Upton James. Encyclopedia of American Race Riots. Westport
:
Greenwood publishing group, 2007. Print

STEVE, INSKEEP. "Profile: Decades after LA riots, Watts still suffers." Morning

Edition (NPR) (n.d.): Newspaper Source. EBSCO. Web. 27 Mar. 2011.

"144 Hours in August 1965." University of Southern California. Web. 6 Apr.

2011.
Watts Riots Huey Newton. PBS.org. Web. 6 Apr. 2011.