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Adrian Hernandez
Anne Walker
Writ010
03/5/12
L.A Watts Riots
The 1960’s Watts riots were the most deadly and biggest riots that occurred within the
city of Los Angeles. The riot lasted for five days, started on August 11, 1965 through August 15,
1965. The five day riot had a terrible result. The riot ended with 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, 3,438
arrest and about $40 million dollars in property damage within the city of Los Angeles. The
1960’s were a time change and equality. This was the era of Marther Luther King, Malcolm X
and other civil rights leaders making a significant impact towards intergrading the communities,
education, and society in general. Some of the integration problems were linked to the
residential discrimination, also known as Red Lining, the challenges of school integration in the
south, the historical traditional segregation of southern cities, and the resurrection of the Klu
Klux Klan (KKK).Because of these problems the country was a veritable tinderbox that
eventually led to the riots in Watts motivated by discrimination, anger, and both group felt they
needed to do something dramatic in order for their voices to be heard.
The bBig question is what causes the spark that end up leading to the biggest riots in the
first place? According to the Los Angeles times, a person named Lee Minikus who iswas ajust
the California Highway patrol officer madewas just another arrest. Lee just pulled over a 21year-old man name Frye and his Brother Ronald for whom the officer suspected of drinking and
driving, and took himended up taking him into custody but, a few blocks from his homedoing so
Comment [A1]: Re-word this, it sounds strange.
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few blocks away from the convicted prosecutor homes. While the arrest was being processed,
the mother saw her son being aggresivelyfuriously arrested. The mother was so shocked at what
she saw that she began to fight with the officer for treating her son so poorly.What the mother
end up doing was fighting with the officer who was arresting her son. During the struggle, the
mother tore the officer’s shirt and in an effort to defend himself the officer struck the mother
with his nightstick.Tearing one of the officer’s shirt, and officer attempted to defined back by
struck Marquette’s head with the nightsticks, and all three of the Frye’s were arrested. At this
time a small group was forming by the community that live around there. When Lee Minikus
was finished with his arrest with all three of the Frye’s, hundreds of onlookers had been drawn to
the scene. Being look with anger and rumors were being spread like wildfire around the black
communities. The residents that live around that area started to beat white people who dare to
Comment [A2]: Re-word this sounds awkward
entered the area and stoned cars as well. Quickly as a little more than overnight, the resident was
fueled with anger and hatred with the Los Angeles police department and the white community
for being look down upon. The rebellion was something the City of Los Angeles has never seen
before.
The Cockroach People on the other hand, was fighting for a different cause.
The Watts riot places a big role of Black community gaining power. The city of Los
Angeles is one of the most populated cities in state of California. The city alone has the most
Black and Latino population within the entire United States. With this in mind, we can imaginee
how many people felt being unsafe, wondering about their freedom and getting step on by the
Los Angeles local authorities and our government. This was not just any typical riot. This was
Comment [A3]: PROOF!!!
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the first step towards the freedom that we have today. There was about two phases to the civil
rights movement, one phase between 1945 through1965 and the other half 1965 in that year.
Overall, Inat the end, what the Black community gained was pPower. This was not the way they
intended to gain their power, but through many struggle, the African American community did
achieve what they were seeking.
Los Angeles “Watts Riot” creates a historical fFramework for the freedom right
movement in the 1960’s. The fact that this event even took place is unbelievable. With all the
freedom right movement going on and mixing with local that have been cage for so long has a
terrible result. With so much influence by the media, government, freedom leader, it is difficult
to indicate what the ending result would be. The outburst made a huge impact on how the people
felt they were treated. The riot shocked the White American communities. This was different
from most riots because unlike earlier race riots, these riots were not started by white mobs. Los
Angeles was one of the first big cities that got their voices heard to the people in congress and
through the world.
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Work Sited
19, August. "To CHP Officer Who Sparked Riots, It Was Just Another Arrest." Los Angeles Times. Los
Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 1990. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://articles.latimes.com/1990-08-19/local/me2790_1_chp-officer>.