DESTINATION WATTS THEN AND NOW
By Tim Watkins, CEO, Watts Labor Community Action Committee; Mark Ravis, Attorney Public Interest Law and Litigation
Published December 17, 2020
Tim Watkins (Courtesy photo)
Watts is a historic place. It’s where oppressed people from the Deep South and, more recently, from around the world, have come to start a new life in fabled California. They fled the remnants of slavery, Jim Crow, the Klu Klux Klan, lynchings, and corrupt political and legal systems. They fled oppression and political exclusion and came with great hope in search of a new life.
While better than the lands they fled, Watts was far from paradise. Until the mid-1900’s, the Klan was in Watts too and segregation and political exclusion were political norms in Los Angeles. It has always been rough in Watts but a community managed to take hold and was proud of its new struggling place in the sun. People established roots and took pride in Watts. They fought political battles