August 2025 marks 60 years since the Watts Uprising in Los Angeles, California. Sparked by police brutality and decades of disinvestment in the then-predominantly Black neighborhood, the unrest left 34 people dead, thousands injured, and caused more than $40 million in property damage.
In the Word In Black video above, we revisit what happened over the six days of unrest. It began on August 11, 1965, after the arrest of two brothers and their mother. Eventually, California’s then-governor deployed 14,000 National Guard Troops to halt the uprising. But six decades later, some residents say the issues that led to the unrest — from economic disenfranchisement to overpolicing — have yet to be fully addressed.