Today is the 55th anniversary of the Watts rebellion.
On August 11, 1965, police pulled over Marquette Frye’s car. An altercation ensued, and a crowd quickly gathered as the police beat Marquette and his brother Ronald, before arresting them along with their mother Rena.
On August 11, 1965, police pulled over Marquette Frye’s car. An altercation ensued, and a crowd quickly gathered as the police beat Marquette and his brother Ronald, before arresting them along with their mother Rena.
Within 30 minutes of the arrests, hundreds of people were in the streets in mass protest. Over the next 6 days, the Black community of Watts poured out into the streets by the tens of thousands in mass action against the social conditions they lived in.
The Watts rebellion exposed the true nature of the police force and who it protects - the ruling class. As the Black community rebelled, using force to change their economic and political situation, the government's main priority was to maintain the existing, racist social order.
As we are still amidst a nationwide revolt against racism and police terror; the conditions which set off the Watts rebellion of 1965 persist, in many communities to a higher degree.
55 years later, Watts and similar rebellions are part of a larger movement in the struggle against class and national oppression. They display the revolutionary potential and rage of the oppressed masses.
For true and lasting liberation, rebellion and spontaneous uprisings must be elevated to a higher level of struggle; where workers and oppressed are organized, led by a battle-tested leadership capable of facing the ruling class.
