Lessons from Watts

According to my research, the Watts Riots were caused by a build-up of underlying racial tension between African Americans and the white Anglos. High unemployment, poor public maintenance, lack of convenient public transportation, and other significant social factors all led to the riots.

These aspects of the Watts Riots are well-known and are usually the subjects addressed when discussing the event. However, what's perhaps more interesting and much less known is that the neighborhood actually deteriorated even further after the riots occurred. Despite the various efforts to rejuvenate the district, the citizens of Watts have reported that the area has seen minimal improvement (note that you need to log in to ProQuest to view the webpage).

How could the neighborhood continue to decline in spite of the success of the programs aimed at improving the area? The answer is two-tiered: many of the programs were only short-term solutions, and the citizens who benefited tended to leave Watts as soon as was financially possible. A major problem with many of the projects focusing on contributing to the area's regrowth is that the solutions were only temporary. Improving the streets and public transportation are meaningless if these improvements are not maintained.

Additionally, considering the poor state of the Watts neighborhood, many of the citizens who found employment and financial aid through the new community-based programs left the area once it became financially viable to do so. From their perspective, it would be better to live in a slightly more expensive area if that meant escaping the poor conditions of Watts.

What can be learned? The answer is long-lasting solutions to underlying social problems. Had the programs and projects aimed at helping the Watts district simply maintained their efforts, the neighborhood would have avoided further decline. Although continuing these programs may cost more, the payoff would be worth the money considering the consequences are widespread unrest and eventual rioting.

The Watts Riots 1965

The Watts Riots of 1965 was a reaction against racism and segregation that lasted for 5 days from August 11 - August 15. The Riots started when police officers pulled over a car driven by an African-American man under the pretenses of drunk driving. A crowd began to grow around the officers, and in response they called for backup. This led to a series of events which ended with five days of rioting, looting, and vandalism.

Obviously the tensions that started the rioting and looting stem deeper than someone being arrested for drunk driving. Considering Watts had been suffering long before as a result of high unemployment, high rates of crime, poor maintenance and public transportation, etc., its no surprise that so much violence eventually occurred (especially considering the major reason for Watts' condition was racism). If anything, the initial premise of the riots is inconsequential: the tensions building up to the riots could have easily occurred before or after the starting incident.

The amount of damage caused by the Watts Riots stands as one of many testaments to the consequences of racism. However, how do we progress from such violence? Considering the Rodney King riots of 1994 and even the current Occupy movement, what lessons were not learned from the Watts example?

As such, I will be focusing much of my research on what happened before and after the Watts Riots rather than during. What lead to the Watts Riots, and how did the area rebuild? What was efficient at diffusing the tension, and what caused it? In the next post, I will be answering these questions and more, so keep checking for an update!