In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in 2020, cities across the United States erupted in protests, some of which descended into rioting and looting. Outrage at continued police violence against Black Americans sparked a national reckoning. But this kind of uprising in response to police brutality is nothing new. Fifty years earlier, similar unrest took place in the 1960s, when Black communities grew fed up with systemic police abuse and government inaction. One of the most significant instances of this unrest occurred in Watts, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, in August 1965. The Watts riots lasted for six days and left an indelible mark on the nation.
The spark that ignited the Watts riots came from what should have been a routine traffic stop. On August 11, 1965, a Black man named Marquette Frye was pulled over by police on suspicion of drunk driving. While such stops often escalate for Black individuals, what happened that day would not only change Frye’s life, but would also serve as a catalyst for widespread unrest in the Watts community.
After Frye was stopped, someone contacted his mother, Rena Frye, who came to the scene. A confrontation unfolded when she arrived, and the police used excessive force to arrest Marquette, his brother Ronald, and their mother. A crowd began to gather, outraged by the way the police treated the Frye family and bystanders. By the time police backup arrived, tensions had boiled over. As the officers tried to leave, angry residents threw rocks at the police cars. What followed was an all-out riot that raged for six days.
During those six days, Watts was engulfed in chaos. Over 1,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed, 34 people were killed, and more than 1,000 were injured. The unrest was so intense that the National Guard had to be called in to restore order. But as destructive as the riots were, they weren’t just about the incident with Marquette Frye. They reflected deeper frustrations within the Black community—frustrations over racial profiling, police brutality, and a lack of protection or opportunity in their neighborhoods.
The Broader Context: Unrest Across America
Watts was just one of many places where racial tension exploded during this time. Between 1964 and 1968, more than 200 riots and violent incidents occurred across the United States, including major uprisings in Detroit, Cleveland, and Newark. Most of these riots, like Watts, were sparked by incidents involving Black citizens and white police officers.
The scale and frequency of the unrest reached a point where the U.S. government could no longer ignore it. In response, President Lyndon B. Johnson established the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, better known as the Kerner Commission after its chairman, former Illinois Governor Otto Kerner. The commission was tasked with investigating the causes of the riots and offering recommendations to prevent future unrest.
The Kerner Commission Report: A Damning Indictment of American Racism
The Kerner Commission’s report, released in 1968, was a searing critique of America’s racial divide. The report famously declared that America was becoming “two societies, one Black, one white—separate and unequal.” It found that the primary cause of the riots was the abrasive relationship between police and Black communities. Time and again, the report noted, it was police actions that ignited the violence, and it was the broader reality of systemic racism and inequality that fueled the rage.
The Kerner Commission didn’t just focus on police brutality; it also detailed how racism and segregation prevented Black Americans from advancing. Black people were consistently shut out of economic opportunities, forced to live in underfunded neighborhoods, and deprived of quality education. These systemic injustices kept Black communities in a cycle of poverty and disenfranchisement.
The commission laid out a clear path forward, offering a series of recommendations. It called for:
- Full integration of Black citizens into American life through massive investments in Black communities.
- Reforms in policing to eliminate the use of excessive force and ensure that Black people were treated with dignity and equality.
- Efforts to address segregation in housing, education, and employment to close the economic gap between Black and white Americans.
Despite the urgency and clarity of these recommendations, none of them were implemented. Not a single one. The federal government largely ignored the Kerner Commission’s findings, and the conditions that had led to the riots remained unaddressed.
The Pattern of Injustice: Unheeded Reports and Unchanged Realities
This pattern—of investigating racial injustice, issuing a report with recommendations, and then failing to act—has repeated itself throughout American history. The Watts riots were followed by the Kerner Commission, but nothing changed. In 1991, when Rodney King was brutally beaten by Los Angeles police officers, the Christopher Commission was established to investigate policing in Los Angeles. That report also made recommendations for reform, but once again, little changed.
This same story can be traced back decades. In 1919, after a Black teenager named Eugene Williams was killed in the Chicago Race Riots, a commission was formed to investigate the violence and its causes. The conclusion? The same as the Kerner Commission’s: Black people were being treated unjustly, and unless the country changed, the cycle of violence would continue.
The underlying conclusion of all these reports—whether from 1919, 1968, or 1991—is the same: systemic racism is the root cause of unrest, and the solution is to dismantle the structures of inequality and injustice that marginalize Black Americans. Yet time and again, the recommendations go unheeded. The calls for justice are ignored. And the cycle of injustice continues.
The Present Day: Still Waiting for Change
If you were to read the Kerner Commission’s report today, you might think it was describing the current state of Black life in America. The problems it identified—police brutality, segregation, economic inequality—are still with us. The murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the protests that followed are proof that the issues raised in the 1960s remain unresolved.
The Kerner Commission’s recommendation for justice and equality was clear, but the United States has yet to fully embrace that vision. Injustice, followed by an investigation, followed by another round of injustice—this is the cycle of being Black in America. The system knows what the problem is and has been told how to fix it, time and time again. The solution has always been justice and equality, but the nation has yet to accept that path.
Until America is willing to implement the long-ignored recommendations of the Kerner Commission and others like it, the struggles of Watts, Rodney King, and George Floyd will remain part of the tragic pattern of racial injustice in this country.
