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LOS ANGELES (CA) RIOT OF AUGUST 1965

NCJ Number
48390
Journal
Social Problems Volume: 15 Issue: 3 Dated: (WINTER 1968) Pages: 322-341
Author(s)
A OBERSCHALL
Date Published
1968
Length
20 pages
Annotation
SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS AND EXPLANATION OF THE CAUSES AND COURSE OF THE WATTS (LOS ANGELES, CALIF.) RIOT ARE GIVEN. BAD POLICE-COMMUNITY RELATIONS AND DEEP DISSATISFACTION WITH COMMUNICATIONS WITH AUTHORITIES ARE CITED.
Abstract
ARREST DATA, INTERVIEWS, AND GOVERNMENTAL COMMISSION STUDIES WERE ALL SURVEYED IN AN ATTEMPT TO FIND OUT WHO THE PARTICIPANTS WERE IN THE WATTS RIOT, WHAT THE MOTIVATING FACTORS WERE, AND HOW THE POLICE CONTRIBUTED TO THE CONTINUATION OF THE RIOT. POPULAR EXPLANATIONS FOR THE RIOT WERE THAT IT WAS AN ORGANIZED CONSPIRACY AND THAT IT WAS THE WORK OF HOODLUMS AND CRIMINALS. EXAMINATION OF ARREST DATA FOR THE 4,000 PERSONS BOOKED ON RIOT-RELATED CHARGES FOUND THAT THE MAJORITY EITHER HAD NO PRIOR CRIMINAL CONVICTION OR HAD CONVICTIONS ONLY FOR MINOR OFFENSES. FURTHER, MOST OF THE CHARGES WERE DISMISSED OR THE PERSONS WERE CONVICTED MERELY FOR TRESPASSING. ARREST DATA ALSO SHOW THAT THE RIOT DREW AT LEAST SOME PARTICIPATION FROM ALL SOCIAL STRATA WITHIN THE PREDOMINANTLY LOWER CLASS BLACK AREA WHERE IT TOOK PLACE. EVIDENCE INDICATES THE RIOT WAS A MASSIVE, VIOLENT, LOWER CLASS BLACK OUTBURST WHICH STOPPED SHORT OF BEING AN INSURRECTION. EXAMINATION OF EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE RIOT SHOW THAT THE AREA HAD A HIGH LEVEL OF UNEMPLOYMENT, NEGLECTED HOUSING AND SOCIAL WELFARE NEEDS, AND HAD A HISTORY OF POOR-TO-BAD POLICE AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS. WHILE MOST BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS IN THE COUNTRY HAD DEVELOPED SOME ACCEPTABLE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR THE FEDERAL WAR ON POVERTY PROGRAM BY THE SUMMER OF 1965, IN LOS ANGELES THE PROGRAMS LED ONLY TO DISAPPOINTMENT AND FRUSTRATION. IN ADDITION, THE CITY GOVERNMENT WAS UNRESPONSIVE TO CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS WHO COMPLAINED ABOUT DISCRIMINATORY LAW ENFORCEMENT, USE OF ABUSIVE AND DEROGATORY LANGUAGE BY POLICE, AND GENERAL DISREGARD FOR THE RIGHTS OF MINORITY CITIZENS. THE FACT THAT ONLY 10 NATIONAL GUARDSMEN OUT OF 13,900 WERE REPORTEDLY INJURED WHILE 90 LOS ANGELES POLICE OUT OF 1,653 WERE VIOLENTLY ATTACKED, SUPPORTS THE VIEW THAT THERE WAS A SYSTEMATIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE GRIEVANCES AND THE TARGETS OF AGGRESSION. SINCE PERSONS IN THE RIOT AREA OBSERVED TRAFFIC LAWS, EVEN WHEN CARRYING AWAY STOLEN GOODS, AND ONLY BUSINESS ESTABLISHMENTS WERE DELIBERATELY BURNED, THE UNCONTROLLED MOB THESIS IS DISCOUNTED. INSTEAD, AN ACT OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IS CALLED MOST PLAUSABLE. FOOTNOTES ARE PROVIDED. (GLR)