My 18th
birthday was on August 28, 1965, which meant that I was now officially (and
legally) an adult, even though I did not feel any different.
Apart from the
fact that my relatives and friends helped me to celebrate the day, the world as
a whole did nothing to commemorate the date, even though the local draft board
may have noticed that I was now old enough to join the Army and save the world.
(Fortunately, I had been accepted at the University of Minnesota, which allowed
me to get a student deferment (2S)
However, 1965
turned out to be a year that saw a lot of significant events.
For starters, a
march that started in Selma, Alabama on March 7 quickly led to some very
significant civil rights legislation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965
Closer to home, the Mississippi river over flowed, which flooded downtown St. Paul, and gave some of my classmates a chance to earn some extra money filling sandbags.
In addition to the
troubles at home, turmoil overseas was starting to heat up.
In 1965, the
number of troops sent to Vietnam was 184,330, and eventually reached a peak of
536, 100 in 1968.
The passage of the
Voting Rights Act did not improve the lives of black people overnight, which
led to an event that started in August of 1965.
- On August 11, 1965, a white California Highway Patrol officer pulled
over a black man named Marquette Frye, 21, for suspected drunk driving.
- An altercation broke out after a crowd gathered, escalating into a
confrontation between residents and police.
- Rumors spread and
police brutality rumors escalated tensions, triggering widespread rioting,
looting, and arson that lasted for six days.
Britannica +4
The riots, which resulted in 34 deaths and over $40 million
in damages, highlighted the desperate need for social reform in urban American
cities.
Britannica +4
Key
Underlying Causes:
- Police Brutality & Tension: Deep-seated
animosity existed between the Black community and the LAPD, which was seen
as an occupying, abusive force.
- Economic Deprivation: High unemployment rates and
lack of economic opportunity created a feeling of hopelessness among
residents.
- Systemic Neglect: Residents faced substandard
housing, poor education, and systemic racial discrimination.
- Geographic/Social
Isolation: The Watts community was
largely segregated and neglected by city services.
Civil Rights Digital Library +4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King
Although the Watts
riots led to an attempt to improve the relations between the police and the
black community, it was not enough – which led to the arrest of Rodney King on
March 3, 1991.
On March 3, 1991, he was severely beaten by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) during his arrest after a high-speed pursuit for driving while intoxicated on Interstate 210. An uninvolved resident, George Holliday, saw and filmed the incident from his nearby balcony and sent the footage, which showed King on the ground being beaten, to a local news station, KTLA. The station broadcast the film, which was rebroadcast by other stations, with this exposure precipitating riots.
When a jury in Simi Valley acquitted charges against 3 of the 4 police involved, riots started.
Though few people
at first considered race an essential factor in the case, including Rodney
King's attorney, Steven Lerman,[he Holliday videotape was at the time stirring deep resentment
among black people in Los Angeles and other major cities in the United States,
where they had often complained of police abuse against their communities. The
officers' jury consisted of Ventura County residents: ten white, one mestizo or
aboriginal, one Asian. Lead prosecutor Terry White was black. On April 29,
1992, the jury acquitted three of the officers but could not agree on one of
the charges against Powell.
Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley said,
"The jury's verdict will not blind us to what we saw on that videotape.
The men who beat Rodney King do not deserve to wear the uniform of the
LAPD."] President George H. W. Bush said, "Viewed from outside the trial, it was hard to
understand how the verdict could possibly square with the video. Those civil
rights leaders with whom I met were stunned. And so was I, and so was Barbara, and so were my kids."
Within hours of
the acquittals, the 1992 Los Angeles riots began, lasting six days. Black Americans were outraged by the
verdicts and began rioting in the streets. By the time law enforcement,
the California Army National Guard, the United States
Army, and the United States Marine Corps restored order, the riots had resulted in 63 deaths, 2,383
injuries, more than 7,000 fires, damage to 3,100 businesses, and nearly $1
billion in financial losses. Smaller riots occurred in other U.S. cities such
as San Francisco, Las Vegas, Seattle, and as far
east as Atlanta and New York City. A civil disturbance occurred on
Yonge Street in Toronto, Canada
when Canadians gathered to protest the acquittal in Los Angeles as well as
local police killing of a black man in Toronto two days prior.[
I thought of the Watts riots today after I finished reading a book titled “The Hate U Give”. By Angie Thomas.
The book was
assigned reading for an English class that I monitored a week ago. After a
brief review of the book, I decided to put it on hold at our local library.
I started reading
it yesterday morning, and finished reading it this afternoon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hate_U_Give
The Hate U Give is a 2017 young adult novel by Angie Thomas. It is Thomas's debut novel, expanded from a short story she wrote in college in reaction to
the police shooting of Oscar Grant. The book is narrated by Starr Carter, a
16-year-old African-American girl from a poor neighborhood who attends an elite
private school in a predominantly white, affluent part of the city. Starr
becomes entangled in a national news story after she witnesses a white police
officer shoot and kill her childhood friend, Khalil. She speaks up about the
shooting in increasingly public ways, and social tensions culminate in a riot
after a grand jury decides not to indict the police officer for the shooting.
The Hate U Give was published on February 28, 2017, by HarperCollins imprint Balzer + Bray, which had won a bidding war for the rights to the novel. The book was a
commercial success, debuting at number one on The New York Times young adult best-seller list, where it
remained for 50 weeks. It won several awards and received critical praise for
Thomas's writing and timely subject matter. In writing the novel, Thomas
attempted to expand readers' understanding of the Black Lives
Matter movement as well as difficulties faced by black
Americans who employ code switching. These themes, as well as the vulgar language, attracted
some controversy and caused the book to be one of the most challenged books of
2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021 according to the American Library Association.
The book was adapted into a film by 20th Century Fox in October 2018, which received positive reviews. The novel
was also adapted into an audiobook, which won several awards and earned praise for its narrator, Bahni Turpin
Angie Thomas was born on September 20, 1988, in Jackson, Mississippi, where she was raised.
Thomas was subject
to multiple instances of gun violence at a young age. She grew up near the home of assassinated civil rights activist, Medgar Evers, stating that her mother heard the gunshot that had killed him. When
she was 6 years old, Thomas witnessed a shootout between gangs.
In an interview
with The Guardian, she recounted how her mother took her to the library the following day
to show her that, "There was more to the world than what [Thomas] saw that
day." This inspired her to take up writing.
In her
adolescence, Thomas shared her skills as a rapper, although her career in music
was short-lived. She was, however, the subject of an article in Right On! Magazine,
and went on to obtain a Bachelor of Fine Arts] from Belhaven University.]She was the first Black teenager to graduate from her creative writing
course.
Your mood while reading this
book will fluctuate from rage to joy to sorrow – and back to joy again.
Sadly, that is NOT true
of too many people employed by ICE.
I would recommend reading this book, even if it makes you uncomfortable.
After all, that is the only way
that our society can become better.
