Abstract

The Language of Watts

In all the analyses, post-mortems and search for causes conducted in Los Angeles, California after the Watts riots, there has been a solid reluctance to admit that the local events foretell changes for the African Americans in the U.S. The attempt to explain that violence entirely in terms of local conditions not only ignores changes within the national African American community but actually obstructs a real understanding of those changes. The Watts riots represent a marked and obvious shift in attitude among African Americans in Los Angeles. And, given the recent history of the African Americans, it follows that from Los Angeles there stem national implications. Thus, it becomes immaterial whether Watts is or is not a "slum area," whether criminal elements were or were not responsible for the rioting; or whether police brutality did or did not occur.