What started the Watts riot?

Answer 1

Here are five common sense reasons for the Watts riots: 1) blacks migrated to LA from the South (almost 300,000 in the previous 20 years) and provided for themselves and their people insufficient job opportunities and no housing; 2) white males provided blacks housing and jobs, however, white males simply could not provide enough housing and jobs i.e. a critical mass level had been reached in both categories ; 3) the Civil Rights Act implied to blacks that they had a historic "right" to integrate, and this denied historic right (by whites) was the source of all their real or imagined ills in Watts (and America); 4) blacks perceived the white police officers as the enforcement arm that had, and still did, maintain the color-line (remember, the black man now believed that his freedom, his dignity and even his very manhood are all achieved through integration with whites - the very people he's also calling his brutal oppressor); 5) the TV networks provoked a continuation by providing a national audience - to the criminal element - and failed to condemn the behavior.

As for the actual flashpoint for the Watts Riots, there is one and only one action which provoked the 5 days of riots:Marquette Fry bolting toward the black crowd. Had Mr. Fry simply submitted to the arrest ... the Watts Riots NEVER would have occurred.