The Watts Riot: Enough is Enough

Paper Summary:

This paper studies the Watts riot that occurred in Los Angeles during the summer of 1968. The riots effectively signaled an end to peaceful dissent, which had previously characterized the civil rights movement. The paper asks and answers the question: why did this violence take place, especially so soon after a series of successes by the civil rights movement? The paper also addresses the root of the dissatisfaction by the African-American community. The paper concludes with a discussion of prevention -- both of the dissatisfaction and of the subsequent violence.

From the Paper:

"On August 11, 1965, just five days after President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law (and only a year after the ratification of the 23rd Amendment), as a result of a drunk driving arrest and a mother's protests, racial tension in Los Angeles' largest black ghetto, Watts, finally burst. Six days of looting, rioting, burning, and various forms of brutality took place, resulting in 34 killed, 900 injured, 4,000 arrested, and $30 million in property destroyed. As Eldridge Cleaver details, Watts had always been "a place of shame," but now blacks everywhere were declaring that they were from there: 'I too, have participated in this game, saying, I'm from Watts. In fact, I did live there for a time, and I'm proud of it.'"

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