The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
TEMPERS FLARE
Civil unrest in Southern California has occurred in 1943, 1965, 1992 and now in 2020. All were racially charged. Today we look at the similarities and differences in these tragic events.
THE SPARK THAT LIT THE FIRES ZOOT SUIT RIOTS, 1943
In early June, young men who had enlisted to fight in World War II clashed with other young locals in Los Angeles, kicking off what became known as the Zoot Suit riots. Most of the youth in “zoot suits” were people of color, and their baggy outfits were depicted negatively by the media and the military. Local papers framed the racial attacks as a vigilante response to an immigrant crime wave, and most of the people arrested during the fighting were Latino. The riots didn't die down until June 8, when military personnel were ordered to stay in their barracks. The week of conflict resulted in no deaths.
WATTS RIOTS, 1965
Thousands of African Americans moved to Los Angeles during World War II, often to work in aerospace and other manufacturing jobs. But when the war ended, unemployment — particularly in the black community — exploded. By the mid-1960s, race relations in the area were strained, as they were in the rest of the nation. A state-mandated investigation after the riots found that the conflict was driven, in part, by long standing grievances in Watts about high unemployment rates, substandard housing and inadequate schools.
Here's how it unfolded:
A routine arrest
1. On the night of Aug. 11, near Watts, a white police officer was flagged down by a black man who told him a man in a white Buick was driving recklessly. Officer Lee W. Minikus pulled over Marquette Frye, a young African American, on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Frye failed several sobriety tests and was taken into custody. But as Frye's mother, Rena, and his brother, Ronald, arrived at the scene, so did a crowd of onlookers that grew to about 300 people.
Backup officers arrived and Marquette, Ronald and Rena all were arrested, along with an onlooker who allegedly spit on the officers.
Soon, riots spread in the commercial section of Watts, followed by widespread looting.
2. On Aug. 12, community members and police met at Athens Park, prompting leaders and a member of the Frye family to issue a public request for peace. But that request went unheeded and rioting continued, prompting state leaders to call for 14,000 California National Guard troops to go to South Los Angeles to work with police.
3. On Aug. 13, a stretch of 103rd Street in Watts burned to the ground, an area later known to locals as “Charcoal Alley.” Looting and rioting spread from South Central to other areas, with Pasadena, Pacoima, Monrovia, Long Beach and Wilmington all seeing some conflict.
In the end, 34 people died, about 2,000 others were injured and more than 600 buildings were damaged.
LOS ANGELES UPRISING, 1992
On April 29, after a jury acquitted four Los Angeles police officers (three of whom were white) of crimes connected to the widely seen beating of a black man, Rodney King, rioting broke out in South Los Angeles and quickly spread to other parts of Southern California. Over the next six days, 53 people were killed, about 2,000 others were injured, and billions of dollars of property were damaged or destroyed. The conditions that led to the violence, including police interaction with minority communities, economic inequality and racial injustice, became part of a national conversation that continues today.
GEORGE FLOYD RIOTS, 2020
Protests began in Minneapolis on May 26, a day after videos surfaced showing the death of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, under the knee of a white Minneapolis Police Department officer, Derek Chauvin. Within a day, demonstrations were held in dozens of cities across the country. By May 30, Los Angeles and at least 12 other major cities declared curfews. As of Tuesday, governors in 24 states and Washington, D.C., had called in the National Guard, with over 17,000 troops activated. To date, at least 12 people have died and an estimated 11,000 have been arrested. Video continues to surface from many cities showing violent police interactions with protesters around the country.