Roots, Rebellion, and Reform
This chapter closely examines three of LA’s biggest violent disturbances—the 1943 Government Riot (popularly known as the Zoot Suit Riots), the 1965 Watts Rebellion, and the 1992 Rodney King Uprisings. Each section begins with a brief recounting of the circumstances of the outbreak of each disturbance. Following this, the authors discuss the preconditions of each event: from the social, economic, and political changes to the role of LA police and government in each period. Each section culminates in an analysis of the reports produced by each “riot commission.” The final section highlights what the authors found. Tracing LA’s history of violent disturbances, they show that community governance discourse has time and again been used as part of a larger public confidence-building project.