KTLA News: "Anniversary of the Watts Rebellion of 1965" (1978)

started when two white traffic officers arrested a black drunk driving suspect that was the spark that ignited the flame of civil unrest that spread from coast to coast in the 1960s it happened first in Watts the community burned for days the final official death toll was set at 34 although people in Watts will tell you it was higher and most of those who died lived there when the Flames were finally snuffed out Watts looked like a battlefield which it was it took a holocaust like the Watts Riots to get things done and in the years since then millions of dollars and thousands of hours of hard work have gone into rebuilding it 103rd Street which they call Charcoal alley then is dotted with new buildings all over the community new building a new sense of community Pride the Watts labor Community Action Council came into being just before the riot and in the years since has been a building force in the community I can definitely see some I think that if you you know uh drive down Central Avenue which is a major thorough Fair uh if you drive down 103rd Street you'll be able to see what some of the effects are with the new housing and and some of the new development um I I think a significant change has come in in Central Avenue where at one point um there were major you know blocks uh one is across the street from where we are now um that contain nothing but junkyards and that has been changed in the senior citizens centers and across from it uh for 20 years there were tires being stored and that is now a an economic development uh uh uh project that wlcac operates the 115 center it's obvious that a tremendous amount has been accomplished in watt since those flaming deadly days 13 years ago but it's also quite obvious that much remains to be done Mike botula in Watts for channel 5 news watch [Music] y'all filming them they bup y'all should [Music] film 5:00 10: [Music] since the riots years ago there have been millions of dollars poured into the Watts community and a tremendous amount of construction and programs have uh come to pass and yet there are still those that say that the basic problems haven't been solved what is the situation well I think that the only thing that I can really comment on is the uh impact that wlcac is having on the community and the fact that we feel that based on our efforts uh um we are able to bring hope to people here in the community who at one point did not have any hope um possibly didn't have any hope as recently as 1975 um you have a vast number of programs that wlcac is involved in what is the direction what what do you try to accomplish um we are trying to create a stable community and we are trying to do that uh through the use of all of our funding um concentrating our efforts in specific areas and what um and trying to create um that stability by providing jobs say to construct homes um the homes being single family homes which people will be able to own in 20 years um you know it's have you do you feel there is progress being made real firm progress being made uh in the direction of alleviating the conditions that existed in the community 13 years ago what will be happening in the community in the next few years well I would expect that if we're allowed to continue um in the direction that we are operating in that you'll see a major change in terms of the housing uh availabilities and and the type of housing that's available um the economic development should change to uh complement that uh the support services um and not only that but some of the amenities that you know make Westwood or any place else a nice place to live you have a theater to go to within walking distance or within a short drive and you know shopping centers and things of that nature I can foresee once we're able to stabilize some of the housing conditions that those conditions would begin to emerge as well and watch will continue to become a growing Community uh that's what we anticipate and that's what we're looking forward to all right back [Music] okay it's quite obvious that a tremendous amount has been accomplished here since the Flaming deadly days of August 13 years ago but it's also quite obvious that much remains to be done in Watts Mike botula for channel 5 news watch