Watts Rebellion of 1965

The Rebellion

The Watts Rebellion began on August 11, 1965, when Marquette Frye, a young African American male, along with his stepbrother Ronald, was stopped on a “routine” traffic stop on Avalon Blvd. in South Central Los Angeles. Ironically, it turned out that Frye was pulled over because an African American truck driver had flagged down California Highway Patrol officer Lee Minikus to describe a vehicle he had just observed being driven erratically.

When officer Minikus finally caught up to the vehicle Marquette was driving, Marquette told Officer Minikus that he had lost his driver's license not long ago, which was true. Nevertheless, Minikus became skeptical of Marquette's story and asked Marquette to step out of his vehicle. Though he had in fact been drinking, as he readily admitted, Marquette stated that he was not drunk. With this information, Officer Minikus asked Marquette to take a sobriety test. As this was taking place, community residents and pedestrians began to observe the ensuing situation.

Initially, Marquette remained calm and jovial; however, when it became clear that he was being arrested and his vehicle was being impounded, he became combative. When Officer Minikus, and several other officers who came onto the scene for backup, attempted to handcuff Marquette, he resisted. Meanwhile, a throng of people had begun to form. A neighbor of the Fryes ran to the Frye residence to alert Rena Frye, Marquette's mother, that her son was having some trouble with the police. When she arrived on the scene, it aggravated Marquette even more. Rena Frye attempted to calm her son, but to no avail. As the situation escalated and police backup arrived, Joyce Anne Gaines, a student at Compton Junior College, was mistakenly identified as someone who had spit on one of the police officers on the scene. In their attempt to quell an already tense situation, a few officers restrained and handcuffed Joyce and placed her into a police vehicle. Rena Frye was also assaulted by police as she tried to intervene when her son Ronald was being jabbed with a police nightstick. Naturally, this added fuel to an already tense situation.

...