GAINED DIGNITY THROUGH WATTS REVOLT
As a result of the Watts "insurrection," the Negroes of Los Angeles, California, now feel more confident about themselves, This is the conclusion of Dr. Harold W. Jones, a Negro psychiatrist who heads a mental health clinic in the area,
"They feel morally right about what they have done," Dr. Jones is quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times [August 17]. "They look upon it as a revolt rather than a riot and therefore subject to a. different value system.
"They see their insurrection as an opportunity to achieve dignity and self-respect. It is as if they are saying, ‘It's better to be feared than to be held in contempt.'"
One of the significant reasons listed by the psychiatrist for the Watts revolt was the "gradual realization" among Negroes through civil-rights victories that they are entitled to more respect than they receive,
A good many of the participants "were white-collar workers from many parts of the county who came over to applaud what was going on because they felt the need to demonstrate their worth and importance."
A political motive wags also discernible. The participants were attempting to give Negro leadership in the Los Angeles area a bargaining position it now lacks with white authorities,
A common motivation was shared by the participants, "a determination to show their strength by using violence -- and in this sense their activities were not without direction."
Dr. Jones noted that the looting and burning were not merely expressions of uncontrolled passioh; "they were controlled in the sense that they were directeit chiefly at merchants whom the people feel are exploiting the neighborhood without contributing to the Negro good,'
To illustrate his point about the incorrectness of seeing
merely total lawlessness, Dr. Jones told about one Negro whom he saw loading a truck with furniture from a store. He drove off only to wait several minutes at an intersection for a traffic light to change.
In Watts, the police are only too often white and thus a symbol of persecution. The people "truly hate the members of the Los Angeles police department."
Besides an extremely high rate of unemployment (34%), overcrowding in the ghetto was held to be a factor in the social explosion. According to the mental health department, the nonwhite population of Los Angeles rose from 218,000 to 462,000 between 1950 and 1960, an increase of over 100%. This compared with a 25% growth in the white population.
In 1960, 37% of the housing units in the south-central area of Los Angeles were substandard compared with 5% for the county as a whole. ,
Twenty-eight per cent of the dwelling units in Watts are listed as overcrowded. This compares with 8% for the whole county, 6 to 8% for Granada Hills, 0.5% for Beverly Hills, 15% for Venice and 30% for Compton-Willowbrook,
The population density of Watts in 1960 was 14,090 persons per square mile and slightly less than 16,000 for the Santa Barbara Ave, — area. The county average was 4,800, In the Harlem district of New York City it is about 20,000. -
LE CORBUSIER
By David Daumesnil
Paris
Charles Edouard Le