The Watts Riots of 1965 resulted as seemingly the boiling point of African American frustration with unfair and unequal treatment. They were being treated like second class citizens and knew how unfair that was. Tensions boiled over when Marquette Frye, a 21 year old black man, was arrested for drunken driving. His mother came to the scene to claim the car when for some reason an argument broke out between Frye, his mother and the police officer. Things ended that night with many people witnessing the officer throw Frye’s mother to the ground and kick her. To make matters even worse was the fact that she was pregnant. Once word got around the community that an African American women, a pregnant one on top of that, was beaten by an officer, that was the final straw for people here. What resulted was six days of rioting throughout the area which ended up with 34 people dead, 1,032 people injured, 3,438 arrests and over 40 million dollars in property damage. These were the immediate results but there were plenty more lasting ones. This showed just how fed up these people were about being treated so poorly. They let the whole nation know that being treated like second class citizens would be tolerated no more.
In an article I read, the arresting officer and Frye’s mother talked about the roles they played in starting the riots. Frye’s mother was mainly upset about the whole incident because she felt the arresting officer had lied. She did not believe that her son had been drinking and therefore was unjustly arrested. She also claimed that these riots had taken an immense toll on Marquette himself. She stated that after the riots were over, he was more reserved and was seemingly weighed down by the whole thing.
The arresting officer stated that he would not change a single thing that he did on the night he arrested Marquette Frye and in turn started the Watts Riots. He also claimed that numerous militant groups out of Watts put a bounty on his head after the events. His family could have even been in danger. This just goes to show how serious these riots were. They effected everybody who was involved and if one was involved, they would never forget it. It would influence them for the rest of their lives. Frye and the officer actually became friendly at one point too, keeping in contact every now and again to check up on each other. I find this astounding due the the reasons certain frustrations boiled over in Watts, namely police discrimination. I guess that’s the first step in moving past a bad situation. Maybe that even made the matters in Watts a little better after the Riots ended.
cosmopm19 