Watts Riots Essay

The Watts riots is one of the most important riots in the many important riots that have occurred in the United States. Thousands of African-Americans, fed up with the horrible police brutality at the time, reacted by battling the police in the streets along with the looting and burning of White-owned stores. The riot was unprecedented, but not unexpected, during a time of great racial tension, with the Civil Rights Movement having become an ever-increasing strain on the country. Police brutality was not the only factor in causing the riot, as there were economic problems in the Black community at the time that also contributed to the unrest. The Watts riot, also known as the Watts Rebellion, influenced riots to come in the decades following

The phenomenon of ‘White flight’ became ever more drastic after the Watts riots were spread over every newspaper and television broadcast. Data shows a definite increase in the amount of Whites moving out of cities with a relatively high Black population, as well as declining property values in those same cities afterwards. While the Civil Right Movement gained even more traction after the Watts riots, even after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Black population had still any direct results other than years later when a Black workforce started to come into being. Strain theory seems to be relevant when analyzing any Black riots, as many consist of Blacks looting and burning community stores and, in some cases, destroying their own homes and neighborhoods as well, and applying strain theory would seem to imply that Blacks having nothing to lose by doing so. Opinion polls since the era show sudden change in White opinion on Blacks, especially when looking at the approval ratings of interracial marriage. In 1958, only 4% of Americans approved of interracial marriage, which seems to support that the Watts riots, while accelerating some aspects of the Civil Rights Movement, seems to have created an image in the back of the mind of American citizens of an unruly Black

While the L.A. riots were far larger, and the effects are still being felt, I still feel that the Watts riots had more of an impact. I had known about the riots previously, as I had been interested and looked into it on my own, but I had not looked into the economic at the time. Seeing that there were not any real economic effects from the riot, and in-fact some things may have gotten even worse, changes how I think of riots reported on in the media. Although there has been little in empirical studies done on the impact of the Watts riots, which is odd due to their importance in recent American history, especially now, it is clear that the riots started a trend of misguided racial tension that continues to this day, one that has prolonged the suffering and disenfranchisement of Blacks in the United States. While I do not believe another riot is the answer, researching this riot has shown me that while the riots can be considered important, the reality is that their effects on society are quite minimal, and only the political discussion of the riots is what has lasted to today. The failure of any real reform since then of the treatment of Blacks in general, let alone in the criminal justice world, shows to me a real lack of justice in the United