Remembering The Watts Riots

"The riot was a rebellion, a naturally formed revolution, an unconscious expression of a people who had lived entire lives, many generations, in a state of enforced unconsciousness. It was about people who were poor and undereducated, people who had no motherland or mother tongue or even a history as far as most of them knew.

I was 12 years old that summer. My parents had moved west by then, over near Fairfax and Pico. But on the third night of the riot, I found myself being driven through parts of town that were rife with burning, looting and violence. One might think that this would provide me with an interesting memory of that time. But I don't find it particularly enlightening. Violence is merely a symptom of a deeper malady."

Thanks to Chris Steins