Fifty years ago today, police clashed with a black motorist in Los Angeles, beginning what came to be known as the Watts Riots or the "rebellion." The violence began after two policemen scuffled with a black motorist in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. Thirty-four people died and $40 million in property was destroyed. Erin Aubry Kaplan grew up a few minutes away -- in what seemed like a "better neighborhood." But, in the latest edition of Los Angeles Magazine, she writes that Watts came to be a symbol of protest… and even pride.
Alma Reaves Woods Watts Branch Library
Photo: Laurie Avocado
