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50 years after Watts riots, residents say neighborhood is improving

Even after 50 years, witnesses to the Watts riots can vividly recall the violence and chaos.

“It was a war zone,” said Lee Brown, a reporter who covered the riots. “The first night we were there was a pitched battle.”

Brown is a retired journalism professor at California State University, Long Beach, and in 1965, he reported on the riots for the Long Beach Independent.

The uprising began on August 11 that year and grew out of a violent confrontation between police and the neighborhood’s predominantly African American residents.

Donna Wilson was 18 years old at the time and living with her parents on 107th St. in Watts, just four blocks from the epicenter of the riots at 103th St.

“My parents wouldn’t let me out of the house,” Wilson said.

A California National Guardsman patrols 103rd Street near Compton Avenue in the Watts business district on Aug. 14, 1965.
Ray Graham | Los Angeles Times | TNS
A California National Guardsman patrols 103rd Street near Compton Avenue in the Watts business district on Aug. 14, 1965.

Lee and Wilson recalled the magnitude of the violence. Looting and arson broke out across South Central Los Angeles, with rioters targeting commercial buildings. Lee said that often it was too dangerous for firefighters to battle the blazes.

It took thousands of troops from the National Guard to quell the violence, and on August 17, the rioting came to an end. More than 30 people died, over 3,000 were arrested and millions of dollars in property damage was lost.

The community then began the long process of recovering from the devastation and the endemic social problems.

“When the uprising happened, these businesses were burnt out, and they didn’t come back,” Watts resident Chris Jordan said.

Watts and the surrounding communities suffered from severe unemployment, as businesses and city investment pulled out of the neighborhood.

To commemorate the uprising, the Grant African Methodist Church hosted a block party on Sunday to celebrate a possible prosperous future.

Jordan’s organization helped to fund new apartment complexes that were completed in 2009. Other community organizations helped advocate for funding from the city to provide a museum for Watts tower and a renovation of Tim Wilkinson Park.

Watts residents have also worked harder to heal relations with police, Jordan said. Tensions in 1965 between the LAPD and Watts residents led to the original uprising.

Los Angeles Police Chief William Parker, left, faces Councilman Thomas Bradley as he testifies in front of a City Council committee on the sequence of events leading up to the Watts Riots on Sept. 13, 1965. On the table is a Molotov cocktail that Parker said was found during riot.
John Malmin | Los Angeles Times | TNS
Los Angeles Police Chief William Parker, left, faces Councilman Thomas Bradley as he testifies in front of a City Council committee on the sequence of events leading up to the Watts Riots on Sept. 13, 1965. On the table is a Molotov cocktail that Parker said was found during riot.

“It was not blacks against whites,” Brown said. “It was blacks against the authorities… who were oppressing them in many ways.”

Wilson said that police were more concerned with enforcing LA’s unofficial segregation rules than protecting the citizens of Watts.

“We were allowed to go shopping [in certain white neighborhoods], but we had to leave by sundown,” Wilson said. “I hate to say it, but we knew our place.”

Jordan said that one of the most significant improvements Watts has made has been an improvement in relations with the police. One community driven organization is the Watts Gang Task Force, which meets with police weekly on reducing the neighborhood’s high crime rate.

“They look for solutions on how to work together [with police],” Jordan said.

Yet despite the many improvements over the years, Watts still suffers from crime, gang activity and also a lack of strong strong city leadership, said Dominic Cisneros, a security guard at Watts Towers.

“The political leadership abandoned the area,” Cisneros said. “They come for cultural events, they take pictures, and then they leave.”

While the people of Watts say they need more support from the city, they do say that the times are changing for the better.

“This is a community,” Wilson said. “We want everyone to feel that way.”

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