Raging Riots & Recurring Racism - From Watts to Present Day

The larger issues of police brutality and violence that the 1992 riots were based on not only stems from a long history of racism that minority groups in Los Angeles have faced; such problems can actually be traced back to major events from LA’s past that serve as a predecessor to those riots of 1992, but also the apparent injustices that still continue to this day.

During the Civil Rights Era, the Watts Riots that occurred in Watts, LA on August 11, 1965, proves to be the largest and costliest urban uprisings of that time. The event that finally pushed the racial tension, in this predominantly black community, to the edge was the violent arrest of Marquette Frye by Lee Minikus, a white California Highway Patrolman, for suspicion of drunk motorcycle driving. A crowd of nearby onlookers soon erupted. What seemed to be yet another racially motivated abuse by the police spurred angry mobs and protests that flood the streets for the next six days. Concentrated in South Central Los Angeles, rioters burned automobiles, torched buildings, looted and heavily damaged grocery, liquor and department stores, as well as fired snipers at the police and firefighters. Throughout the course of these six days, over 14,000 California National Guards were mobilized in South Central LA to restore order, which was finally obtained on August 17. Similar to how the 1992 riots weren’t just simply a result of people’s raging anger in the moment, the Watts riots were a result of something much larger. All it took was one more arrest by a white cop to finally spark the frustration of the community’s long standing grievances and discontentment of high unemployment rates, substandard housing, inadequate schools and much more.

What’s interesting and important to consider now with these Watts riots in mind, is that the violence, unrest and blatant racism continues to plague the city of LA. Even with the display of people’s outrage at the police and idea of whiteness/white privilege, outbreaks such as Watts and the 1992 riots still occur to this day. People question how much progress this city has actually made since the King riots. In 1993, the Los Angeles Times conducted a poll where 69% of the respondents said they were confident that city officials and the LAPD could suppress another violent outbreak were it to happen again and a surprising 58% responded that they approved of the way the LAPD handled its jump. In 2002, ten years after the King riots, there still remains this lingering optimism and doubt about race relations in the city. It is documented that only 46% described race relations as good, while 51% said they weren’t good. Only 30% of blacks and 45% of Latinos agreed with the assessment of race relations being good, in contrast to the 51% of whites who believed race relations to be good. It is evident that many of the dominant race remain ignorant to such race issues when they aren’t the ones truly suffering. While our efforts in working towards a more just society continue, it is only right to keep such issues in perspective and educate ourselves on the long history that these problems are rooted in.

Danielle Del Rosario