BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
ACR
92 (Gipson)
As Amended July 2, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Judiciary |8-2 |Mark Stone, Alejo, |Wagner, Gallagher |
| | |Chau, Chiu, Cristina | |
| | |Garcia, Holden, | |
| | |Maienschein, | |
| | |O'Donnell | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Commemorates the 50th Anniversary of the Watts Revolt.
Specifically, this resolution:
1)Declares that:
a) Economic inequality is a critical component of community
well-being and the maintenance of social peace.
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b) In 1964, there were a total of eight revolts across
African American communities, including Chicago, New York
City, Philadelphia, and Jersey City, that came as a result
of racial tension and economic deprivation.
c) August 2015 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Watts
Revolt, which began on August 11, 1965, when Marquette Frye
and his brother were stopped by police under a drunk
driving suspicion, which resulted in a hostile
confrontation between the Frye family and police officers
on the scene.
d) The Watts Revolt was the culmination of historic and
systemic circumstances of racial and economic injustice
that include frustration with the passage of Proposition 14
of 1964 in California, which sought to nullify the state's
fair housing law.
e) The historic event, which took place in the greater
Watts neighborhoods of Los Angeles and the City of Compton,
involved six days of protest resulting in 34 deaths, 1,032
injuries, and over $40 million worth of property damage.
f) Between 31,000 and 35,000 adults participated in the
revolt over the course of six days.
g) The Watts Revolt is an important part of Los Angeles
history and it is critical that we mark the 50th
anniversary of this event appropriately.
h) The McCone Commission was established to investigate the
Watts Revolt and identify solutions to ensure that such an
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event never reoccurred.
i) The results of the investigation found that the Watts
Revolt was a consequence of discrimination in employment,
education, housing, healthcare, and law enforcement.
j) The aforementioned issues persist within the communities
today.
aa) When discussing the topic of social unrest in America,
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "I would be the first to
say that I am still committed to militant, powerful,
massive, nonviolence as the most potent weapon... But it
would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without,
at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable
conditions that exist in our society."
2)Resolves that the California Legislature should do the
following:
a) Commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Watts Revolt,
one of the largest uprisings in 20th century America.
b) Urge the development of public and private solutions to
statewide and local disparities on the basis of legal and
institutional racism in areas including but not limited to
education, employment, housing, healthcare, and law
enforcement.
c) Pay tribute to the establishments of institutions that
sought to remedy the key challenges in the South Los
Angeles Community, including California State University,
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Dominguez Hills, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and
Science, and Martin Luther King General Hospital and
Outpatient Center.
d) Celebrate the organization of local peaceful actions to
redirect community energy in positive and constructive
ways, including the development of the Watts Summer
Festival, Watts Summer Games, Watts Christmas parade, and
Watts Labor Community Action Committee.
e) Transmit copies of the resolution to the Cities of Los
Angeles and Compton and encourage them to disseminate
copies to local, community, and statewide organizations
throughout California.
FISCAL EFFECT: None
COMMENTS: This resolution commemorates the 50th anniversary of
the Watts Revolt that occurred in the Watts neighborhood of Los
Angeles in August 1965. Like so many subsequent episodes of
racial and social unrest, that event was sparked by an encounter
between police and an African American man in a community
located within a setting of racial and economic injustice. The
Watts Revolt was neither the first nor the last "race riot" in
American history, but coming only five days after the signing
the historic 1965 Voting Rights Act, the event drew national
attention to persistent but often overlooked issues of racial
injustice outside of the southern United States. In the summers
of 1966 and 1967, similar unrest occurred in cities throughout
the nation. The 1965 McCone Commission investigation and report
- like the national 1967 Kerner Commission report on the later
riots - concluded that the unrest was due to a potent
combination of poor police-community relations, poverty and
unemployment, deteriorating urban infrastructure, under-funded
schools, and a general sense of hopelessness among the African
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American community. This resolution not only remembers the
event itself, but perhaps more importantly, calls upon the
Legislature to urge public and private solutions to the
conditions that gave rise to the Watts Revolt and continue to
persist and negatively impact communities of color in California
and the United States, as well as to celebrate peaceful efforts
to redirect community energy into more constructive channels.
There is no opposition.
Analysis Prepared by:
Thomas Clark / JUD. / (916) 319-2334 FN:
0001144