Watts Riots
Introduction:
The picture depicts a nearly empty street in Watts, California, with a sign standing in the middle of it reading “Turn left or get shot.” This is a powerful message, and came after a big event in Watts. The photographer of this image, Kerry James Marshall, was actually living in Watts at the time of the 1965 riots, and got to see a lot of the despair preceding them both in Watts and in other areas of the US.

The image:
As stated previously, the image shows a barren street with a box lying in the middle of it bearing the message “Turn left or get shot.” The picture was taken a few days after the riots and after order was restored. The original caption to the image read “Although law and order have been re-established in the strife-torn Watts district of Los Angeles, this sign remains as a terrifying symbol of the events that passed. As a further sign of peace, Governor Edmund G. Brown ended 8/17 the curfew forbidding people from being on the streets after dark.” The riots were caused over racial tensions that have been building up, and to intensify the feeling of inequality and poverty, the image captures along with the box in the middle of the street, the sign from a liquor store nearby. Liquor stores, while not a phenomenon only in poor areas, are thought to be prevalent in economically depressed areas. Capturing that storefront along with the sign really helps add a dimension to the poverty in Watts in 1965.

The race riots:
After a black man suspected of drunk driving, Marquette Fry, was pulled over and interrogated by a while police officer Lee Minikus, he was arrested along with his brother and mother. This event drew a large crowd, which saw that as racism, and began rioting soon after. The riots lasted six days, during which national guard was called in, thirty four people died, 1,032 people were injured, 3952 people were arrested, 977 establishments were burned or looted, and forty million dollars in damage was caused. Most of the damage to buildings was confined to while owned businesses that caused resentment in the primarily black area.
-”The entire Negro population of Los Angeles County, about two thirds of whom live in this area, numbers more than 650,000. “ (McCone)


Underlying reasons why the riots happened:
-“It is found that racial isolation is strongly associated with a willingness to use violence under two subjective condition: (a) when isolted individuals feel a sense of powerlessness in the society and (b) when such isolated individuals are highly dissatisfied with their treatment as Negroes” (Ransford 581))
-”The mass society approach sees current structural processes such as the decline in kinship, the increase in mobility, and the rise of huge bureaucracies as detaching many individuals from sources of control, meaning, and personal satisfaction.” (Ransford 582)
-”a feeling of powerlessness is one form of alienation. It is defined in this research as a low expectancy of control over events. This attitude is seen as an appropriate variable for Negroes living in segregated ghettos; that is, groups which are blocked from full participation in the society are more likely to feel powerless in that society.” (Ransford 583)
-”With the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, race relations seemed to be headed in the right direction. However, states acted to circumvent the new federal law, including California that created Proposition 14, which moved to block the fair housing section of the Act. This created anger and a feeling of injustice within the inner cities. “ (http://www.pbs.org/hueypnewton/times/times_watts.html)
“After the Watts Riots, then Governor Pat Brown named John McCone to head a commission to study the riots. The report issued by the Commission concluded that the riots weren't the act of thugs, but rather symptomatic of much deeper problems: the high jobless rate in the inner city, poor housing, and bad schools. “ (http://www.pbs.org/hueypnewton/times/times_watts.html)
-”- Not enough jobs to go around, and within this scarcity not enough by a wide margin of a character which the untrained Negro could fill.
- Not enough schooling designed to meet the special needs of the disadvantaged Negro child, whose environment from infancy onward places him under a serious handicap.
- A resentment, even hatred, of the police, as the symbol of authority. “ (McCone)



White reaction to the riots:
“It is found that prior social contact with Negroes is an important determiner of white attitudes towards the disorder. Those lacking contact are more fearful of Negroes, cite more outside agitator explanations, evidence more feelings of increased social distance, and voice more punitive responses than those having contact.” ( Jeffries)



Bib:
Ransford, Edward H. "Isolation, Powerlessness, and Violence: A Study of Attitudes and Participation in the Watts Riot." The American Journal of Sociology 73 (1968): 581-91.

Violence in the City -- An End or a Beginning?, A Report by the Governor's Commission on the Los Angeles Riots, 1965, John McCone, Chairman, Warren M. Christopher, Vice Chairman.

Jeffries, Vincent, and Edward H. Ransford. "Interracial social contact and middle-class white reactions to the Watts Riot." Social Problems 16 (1969): 312-24.