ed States.

CHAPTER 12

The Black Revolt

Civil Disorders

The smoldering tensions and frustrations which lay just below the surface
in the Afro-American community exploded into a racial holocaust on August
11, 1965, in Watts--a black ghetto just outside of Los Angeles. When the
smoke finally subsided several days later, more than thirty people were
dead, hundreds had been injured, and almost four thousand had been
arrested. Property damage ran into the millions.

The nation was shocked. The mass communications media tended to
exaggerate the amount of damage done and also conjured up visions, in the
mind of white America, of organized black gangs deliberately and
systematically attacking white people. Many felt that it had been the
worst racial outbreak in American history. In fact, it was not. The 1943
riot in Detroit and the 1919 riot in Chicago had both been more violent.
The 1917 race riots in East St. Louis, Illinois, had outdone the Watts
outburst in terms of the amount of personal injury. The violence in most
previous riots had been inflicted by whites against blacks, and perhaps
this was why white America did not remember them very clearly. The
violence in Watts, though not directed against white persons as many
believed, was still accomplished by blacks and aimed against white-owned
property. White Americans were confused because they felt they had given
"them" so much. Whites could not understand why blacks were not thankful
instead of being angry.

In spite of the rumors that the riot was the result of conspiratorial
planning, the activities of the rioters and of the law enforcement units
displayed a crazy, unreal quality as the riot unfolded. It began with a
rather routine arrest for drunken driving. Marquette Frye, a young black,
was stopped by a white motorcycle officer and asked to take a standard
sobriety test. In the course of arresting Frye, along with his brother
and mother who were both objecting to the police action, the officers
resorted to more force than many of the bystanders thought was necessary.
The spectators became transformed into a hostile mob. As the police cars
departed, youths began to pelt the vehicles with rocks and bottles. They
continued to harass other traffic passing through the area. For a time,
the police stayed outside the area, hoping that it would cool down. Then,
believing that it was time to restore order, a line of police charged
down the street clearing th