Sixty years ago this week, a young Black man from South Los Angeles was pulled over by a white California Highway Patrol officer after another motorist reported the man driving recklessly.
What started as a routine traffic stop quickly escalated into violence and six days of civil unrest known as the Watts Riots – or, as many in the Black community prefer to call it, the Watts Rebellion or Watts Revolt.
FILE – In this Aug. 14, 1965 file photo, firefighters battle a blaze set in a shoe store that collapses in flames during rioting in the Watts district of Los Angeles. It began with a routine traffic stop 50 years ago this month, blossomed into a protest with the help of a rumor and escalated into the deadliest and most destructive riot Los Angeles had seen. The Watts riot broke out Aug. 11, 1965 and raged for most of a week. When the smoke cleared, 34 people were dead, more than a 1,000 were injured and some 600 buildings were damaged.(AP Photo, File) Armed National Guardsmen force a line of Black men to stand against the wall of a building during the Watts race riots, Los Angeles, California, Aug. 1965. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) In this Aug. 13, 1965 file photo, men carry items from a looted store during the rioting that enveloped the Watts district of Los Angeles. It began with a routine traffic stop 50 years ago this month, blossomed into a protest with the help of a rumor and escalated into the deadliest and most destructive riot Los Angeles had seen. The Watts riot broke out Aug. 11, 1965 and raged for most of a week. When the smoke cleared, 34 people were dead, more than a 1,000 were injured and some 600 buildings were damaged.(AP Photo) This Aug. 14, 1965 file photo shows several burned-out structures after fires started by fires started rioters destroyed a business block in the Watts district of Los Angeles. It began with a routine traffic stop 50 years ago this month, blossomed into a protest with the help of a rumor and escalated into the deadliest and most destructive riot Los Angeles had seen. The Watts riot broke out Aug. 11, 1965 and raged for most of a week. When the smoke cleared, 34 people were dead, more than a 1,000 were injured and some 600 buildings were damaged.(AP Photo) An armed National Guard patrolman leans against a street sign, smoking a cigarette and standing in rubble following the Watts riots, Los Angeles, California, Aug. 1965. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Armed National Guardsmen march toward smoke on the horizon during the street fires of the Watts riots, Los Angeles, California, Aug. 1965. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) A makeshift sign urging drivers to ‘Turn Left Or Get Shot’ during the race riots in the Watts area of Los Angeles. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) In this Aug. 13, 1965 file photo, the burned-out hulk of an overturned automobile, foreground, and other burned cars at rear block the street at Imperial Highway and Avalon Boulevard during rioting in the Watts district of Los Angeles. It began with a routine traffic stop 50 years ago this month, blossomed into a protest with the help of a rumor and escalated into the deadliest and most destructive riot Los Angeles had seen. The Watts riot broke out Aug. 11, 1965 and raged for most of a week. When the smoke cleared, 34 people were dead, more than a 1,000 were injured and some 600 buildings were damaged. (AP Photo/Harold Filan) Workers clean the 103th street in front of a destroyed store, on Aug. 24, 1965 a week after the violent riots of Watts district in Los Angeles. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images) Show Caption1 of 9FILE – In this Aug. 14, 1965 file photo, firefighters battle a blaze set in a shoe store that collapses in flames during rioting in the Watts district of Los Angeles. It began with a routine traffic stop 50 years ago this month, blossomed into a protest with the help of a rumor and escalated into the deadliest and most destructive riot Los Angeles had seen. The Watts riot broke out Aug. 11, 1965 and raged for most of a week. When the smoke cleared, 34 people were dead, more than a 1,000 were injured and some 600 buildings were damaged.(AP Photo, File) ExpandThe events that unfolded over the course of one week in August 1965 laid bare decades of pent-up frustration among members of the Black community who, for far too long, felt they had been neglected, overlooked, mistreated, discriminated against and, to put it simply, not afforded the same opportunities as other Angelenos.
Monday, Aug. 11, marks the 60th anniversary of that traffic stop that will forever be an intricate part of Los Angeles history.
In the six decades since, local governments, civic leaders and community members have made efforts to address systemic racism and inequities and to improve conditions in Watts – from improving job opportunities and access to health care to strengthening relations between residents and law enforcement. Some say there has been progress – but that the progress has been hard fought and not enough.
We spoke with politicians, community members, nonprofit leaders and residents to take stock of what progress, if any, they’ve seen in Watts, and what more should be done.
Leadup to the riots
Even before that fateful traffic stop in the summer of 1965, Black Angelenos were seething over a ballot measure that Californians had passed the previous November to repeal the Rumford Fair Housing Act, an anti-discrimination housing law.
Other challenges, like few job opportunities and lack of access to quality health care in Watts, further added to the community’s discontent.
That frustration boiled over on the evening of Aug. 11, 1965, when Marquette Frye, a Black 21-year-old, was pulled over by Lee Minikus, a white CHP officer, just outside of Watts.
At first, Frye, who failed a sobriety test, was cooperative, but after his mother arrived at the scene and scolded her son, Frye started cursing at officers and resisting arrest, according to a report issued by the Governor’s Commission on the Los Angeles Riots, a panel that then-Gov. Edmund “Pat” Brown established after the riots to examine what happened.
The scene swiftly turned into a physical confrontation between Frye, his mother and brother and CHP officers. Officers struggled with Frye and his brother, and Frye’s mother jumped on one officer’s back, according to the the McCone Commission, an unofficial name for the commission whose chairman was Central Intelligence Director John McCone. Another officer swung at Frye’s shoulder with a night stick, missed and struck him one the forehead, leaving a minor cut, according to the commission’s report.
The scene grew more chaotic as additional officers were called in and a crowd of onlookers quickly grew.
After the Fryes were taken away in a patrol car and as officers were leaving, someone in the crowd spat at an officer, prompting two officers to arrest a man and a woman, according to the McCone Commission report.
The commission disputed reports that the woman who was arrested was pregnant and had been abused by police, calling those claims a “false rumor.”
Nevertheless, the confrontations ignited anger in the community and prompted more residents to spill out onto the streets.
That first night, “the mob stoned automobiles, pulled Caucasian motorists out of their cars and beat them and menaced a police field command post,” according to the McCone Commission report, which added that although things appeared largely under control by 1 a.m., there continued to be “sporadic reports of unruly mobs, vandalism, and rock throwing” until early morning.
Twenty-nine people were arrested that first night.
The civil unrest – which included looting, arson, clashes between residents and law enforcement, the deployment of the California National Guard and a night curfew – lasted six days.
In the end, 34 people died, more than 1,000 were injured and over 3,900 were arrested. Countless buildings were damaged or destroyed — resulting in an estimated $40 million in damages.
Relations with LAPD
Brenda Hackett-Hall had just turned 15 when the riots erupted in summer 1965. Looters raided the store her mom worked at, and she was instructed to stay home and not go outdoors for her own safety.
Now 75, Hackett-Hall still lives on the same street in Watts that her family moved to when she was 2.
Brenda Hackett-Hall, 75, has lived in Watts since about age 2. She recalls the store her mother worked at got looted during the 1965 Watts Riots. Although she trusts the police, many in her community still do not, she says. (Photo by Line Tat/SCNG)On Tuesday, Aug. 5, during Watts’ National Night Out – an annual event meant to bring together the community while promoting positive relationships with local law enforcement – Hackett-Hall said that although she trusts the police, many in the community still don’t. The reason, she said, is “because we’re not treated fairly.”
Black people, she added, “are pulled over more often than others for no reason.”
Asked if events like National Night Out are effective in rebuilding trust with law enforcement, Hackett-Hall chuckled.
“It’s nice,” she said, “but people still don’t trust.”
UCLA social welfare professor Jorja Leap says it will take more than events like National Night Out or youth outings to athletic games organized by local law enforcement for there to be meaningful progress.
A professor at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs, Leap has worked as research director for the city of L.A.’s Gang Reduction Youth Development Program and as clinical director of the Watts Regional Strategy for the L.A. mayor’s office.
“The LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) and the Sheriff’s Department have to stop being badge-heavy,” Leap said. “Day in and day out, they have to act as respectful partners. As long as we have people being stopped without cause, whether they are Black or Brown, we have a problem. And all the National Nights Out isn’t going to matter.”
LAPD Assistant Chief Emada Tingirides is a former Watts resident who decided to become a police officer following a wave of civil unrest in Los Angeles in 1992. Earlier in her career, she implemented the department’s Community Safety Partnership program as a way to strengthen relationships between the community and law enforcement. Assistant Chief Tingirides speaks at the Nickerson Gardens housing project in South Los Angeles on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (Photo by Raphael Richardson, Contributing Photographer)LAPD Assistant Chief Emada Tingirides said she understands there is still mistrust of law enforcement, but she believes the department has undergone decades of transformation.
About 56% of the sworn officers in the department today are Latino. About another 23% are White, 8% are Black and 8% are Asian. These numbers roughly mirror the overall demographics of the city of L.A., she said.
In addition, Tingirides said, officers receive extensive training in implicit bias and cultural competency.
Tingirides, who is Black, spent part of her childhood living in Watts and other parts of South L.A. In 2011, while assigned to the Southeast Area Community Police Station, she implemented the department’s Community Safety Partnership program, in which officers are assigned to some of the city’s most violent areas and remain in that assignment for several years to build relationships and trust with the community. Officers are expected to get out of their cars and engage with the community through active listening.
The Community Safety Partnership program is now considered a national model for relationship-based policing.
Before the LAPD launched the program, Watts went through a 10-year period in which it averaged about seven homicides per year between three of its public housing developments, Tingirides said. But those numbers dropped after the program was implemented. There was one period when the Jordan Downs housing community went nearly three years without a homicide, she said.
Programs like Community Safety Partnership and other partnerships with youth and families, along with the city’s Gang Reduction and Youth Development program and other intervention and prevention strategies – including adopting alternative responses when it comes to individuals with mental health needs – have helped reduce crime and violence overall, Tingirides said.
“When you look at the police agency that we were in 1965 compared to the police agency that we are now, and the relationships and the trusts that have been built, we’ve come a long way,” she said.
“And yet we rise”
Although claims of police brutality was certainly part of the conversation during the Watts Riots, it was not the only issue the uprisings cast light on.
Watts residents had long felt they were looked upon as second-class citizens and that their community was not given the same resources and public investments needed to thrive.
The McCone Commission had determined the root causes of the riots included frustration over high unemployment, poor schools and sub-par living conditions in Watts.
Residents also lamented the lack of public transportation and access to quality health care. It was in response to the Watts Riots that the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital later opened in South L.A.
Since then, the community has continued to evolve.
Watts in 1965 was made up of predominantly Black residents. Today, it is majority Latino.
Racial make-up aside, poverty and violence continue to persist. Yet those who have devoted their lives to improving conditions in Watts have no plans to abandon their mission.
Timothy Watkins, president and CEO of Watts Labor Community Action Committee in Watts on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)Tim Watkins was born and raised in Watts and still calls the neighborhood his home. Nowadays, the 72-year-old runs the Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC), a nonprofit that provides services ranging from housing and meal programs to job training and youth enrichment activities.
The organization opened in 1965, shortly before the riots, and saw its building burn about three decades later during the 1992 L.A. Riots that erupted in the city after four LAPD officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King, a Black man.
But WLCAC – founded by Watkins father, Ted Watkins, Sr., for whom a park in Watts is named – has remained a staple in the community.
Tim Watkins, who grew up in one of Watts’ housing projects and recalls witnessing a murder, looting and gunshots that August of 1965, describes a community that has been tested.
“This community is battle-hardened,” he said. “Not by the riots, not by the revolt, but by the constant trauma of living in the shadow of poverty with no promise of a way out.”
At the same time, he said, “all of the odds are stacked against us and yet we rise.”
Aqeela Sherrills, a former Watts gang member, helped bring the Blood-Crip truce of 1992 together. Sherrill is now the Executive Director of the Community Based Public Safety Collective. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)Less than a mile from WLCAC is The Reverence Project, which provides a healing space and services – including healing circles and therapeutic services – to those who have undergone traumatic experiences. The nonprofit was founded by Aqeela Sherrills, a former gang member born and raised in Watts who, in 1992, helped broker a peace treaty between the Crips and Bloods gangs.
Although Sherrills, now 55, wasn’t born until several years after the riots, he grew up with activist parents and learned early on about racism and social injustices.
“The Watts Rebellion was the epicenter of the Black consciousness movement,” said Sherrills.
“Everybody knew what the conflict was about,” he said of the 1965 uprising. “It was cops, excessive force issues. Folks were fed up with law enforcement enforcing this rule of white supremacy to keep Black folks as second-class citizens.”
“The Civil Rights Act (of 1964) had already passed. It was like, ‘come on now,’” Sherrills said. “People were fed up. People pushed back.”
Sherrills offered a nuanced response when asked if the community he grew up in has changed in the six decades since the Watts Riots.
“Is the cosmetics of the community changing? The demographics? Income? Probably,” he said. “In terms of folks having ownership of things and being able to participate in the economy in a real meaningful way? Probably not much.”
Sherrills said there is interest among nonprofits and social entrepreneurs to provide services to Watts residents. But funding is often a problem, and that’s one area where the government could do a better job – by helping organizations help others, he said.
Sherrills said it’s often difficult for nonprofits to secure a government contract and even when they do, government agencies often are months behind in reimbursing service providers. That makes it difficult for organizations to continue to operate.
Overall, Sherrills said, the government needs to invest more in under-resourced communities.
Other community members on the Watts Gang Task Force have also worked to reduce violent crime in the neighborhood.
Black Lives Matter Los Angeles co-founder Melina Abdullah, in this file photo, leads a chant during a Los Angeles City Council meeting on January 17, 2023. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles, also noticed the lack of investments. When she first moved to L.A. and worked in Watts, she found a tight-knit community “starved of resources” but full of “pride and love,” she said.
“There were no resources. But there was still this kind of soul in Watts that you don’t find in many other places in Los Angeles,” she said.
“There needs to be a way to hold onto that,” she continued. “You see a change in who lives there. You see rent prices and housing costs driving people out of Watts so we’re losing the Black foothold in Watts. I hope there’s a way to retain the beauty … and the preservation of Black community in Watts.”
Abdullah credits positive changes in Watts over the years to the community itself.
“The resources that are in Watts come from community because the community is a beautiful community that does things for itself,” she said. “But the public resources aren’t there, and there needs to be a much greater public investment in Watts.”
Government’s role
L.A. City Councilmember Tim McOsker, who lives in San Pedro but represents Watts, in a statement acknowledged that “generations of Watts residents have endured disinvestment and neglect from the very governmental structures and officials charged to represent the community.”
“The 1965 uprising was a turning point in the history of both Watts and Los Angeles, sparking some important reforms, but 60 years later the work of restoring public trust and delivering the investment the community of Watts deserves is far from finished,” McOsker said.
Since taking office in late 2022, McOsker said, he’s made it a priority to re-invest in Watts by partnering with the community to reopen a municipal building on 103rd Street, supporting local nonprofits and renovating public assets such as the historic Mafundi Building and Watts Towers Campus, among other things. In addition, he said, improvements have been made to vital infrastructure.
“Most importantly, all of these investments and efforts are the result of public input, have been community driven, and implemented in partnership with the residents of Watts,” he said.
L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who represented Watts when she served on the L.A. City Council years ago, was 13 and at church camp when the Watts Riots broke out.
She recalls hearing on the news that her father, Kenneth Hahn, who represented Watts as a member of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors at the time, had gone over to Watts to check out the scene when someone threw a brick that smashed into the window of the car he was in. Her father sustained a cut on his face from some of the broken glass but was otherwise OK, Hahn recalled.
Six decades later, Hahn said Black people are still more likely than others to be arrested, live in poverty, suffer from serious health conditions or become homeless. The county, she said, is committed to disbursing funds to different communities based on equity.
In addition, Hahn – who led an effort several years ago to return two parcels of oceanfront property to the family of Willa and Charles Bruce, a Black couple whose land was taken by eminent domain by the city of Manhattan Beach in the 1920s – said she wants to see more acts of reparations for communities of color.
“There has been a lack of reparations. Let’s go all the way back to slavery for African Americans who, through no fault of their own, were brought here, enslaved and then denied basic rights that people take for granted. … There should be more reparations today,” she said.
“There’s a lot of those opportunities,” she added. “But it’s going to take money and people who really want to repair the wrongs.”
“Not waiting around”
Time will tell what the community of Watts will look like down the road.
Meanwhile, organizers of the annual Watts Summer Festival like to refer to their event as “one of the positive outcomes of the 1965 Watts Revolt.”
The first festival took place one year after the uprising.
Pamela Garrett, executive director of Watts Summer Festival, at Ted Watkins Memorial Park in Watts on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)“East 103rd Street didn’t look the same anymore. Everything was burned. But the people still had energy left over from ‘65,” said Pamela Garrett, the festival’s executive director.
“Some of the community members and some of the different organizations got together and decided to do something so this energy could go in a different direction. The outcome was to have the Watts Summer Festival,” Garrett said.
In its heyday, the festival lasted seven days and featured a parade. This year, the one-day event was held on Saturday, Aug. 9, at Ted Watkins Memorial Park.
Although the event no longer runs for a week, the goals remain the same. Each year, organizers take a moment to remember what happened in Watts in August 1965 and call out the names of the 34 people who died.
“The mission is to hold an event in the community of Watts every year that focuses on the history, preserving the history of Watts, honoring the African American culture and memorializing the 34 people who lost their lives during the revolt,” Garrett said.
Leap, the UCLA professor, said a number of dedicated community leaders deserve credit for their commitment to uplift Watts.
“Probably one of the most remarkable things that I have seen in the 60 years is, through its community leaders, Watts has taken on responsibility for their own fate,” she said.
“That for me is what’s most meaningful,” she added. “They are not looking for political leadership to solve the problems of Watts. And they are not waiting around for someone to come save them. The community leaders have assumed that responsibility.”
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