I was 12.

One minute I was listening to the Beatles. In the next I saw riots in Watts on the news.

And there was something I couldn’t quite understand…

The riots began on August 11, 1965, in Watts, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, when Lee Minikus, a California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer, pulled over Marquette Frye, who Minikus believed was intoxicated because of his observed erratic driving.

Frye failed to pass sobriety tests, including walking in a straight line and touching his nose, and was arrested soon after. Minikus refused to let Frye’s brother, Ronald, drive the car home, and radioed for it to be impounded. As events escalated, a crowd of onlookers steadily grew from dozens to hundreds.

The mob became violent, throwing rocks and other objects while shouting at the police officers. A struggle ensued shortly resulting in the arrest of Marquette and Ronald Frye, as well as their mother.

Though the riots began in August, there had previously been a buildup of racial tension in the area. Finally, tension broke and violence spilled onto the streets of Watts for four days.

34 people were killed, 2,032 injured, and 3,952 arrested.

[[Wikipedia]]

Photos below are from Life Magazine, August 25, 1965.