This year marked the 25th anniversary of the L.A. riot and the 50th anniversary of the Newark and Detroit riots — all sparked by incidents of racially biased police actions against blacks, combined with a long history of biased policing and lack of economical and educational opportunities. The Remix looks back at the 1965 Watts riot, one of the first major uprisings to draw the public’s attention to racial discrimination and police bias. 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that “a riot is the language of the unheard.” King wasn’t condoning the violence of a riot, but he was condemning the legacy of racially based injustice that led to riots. And he was acknowledging how “violent rebellions” were a response to continued abuse of power from those forced to live under a system where equality and justice were systematically denied.

This year marked the 25th anniversary of the L.A. riot and the 50th anniversary of both the Newark and Detroit riots. All of the uprisings were sparked by incidents of racially biased police actions against members of the black community, combined with a long history of biased policing and lack of economical and educational opportunities. 

In 2015, The Remix looked back at the1965 Watts riot, one of the first major uprisings to draw the public’s attention to racial discrimination and police bias.