de bene esse: The Dapper Rebels of Los Angeles, 1966

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

In the summer of 1965 riots broke out in the Watts neighborhood of southern Los Angeles for six days. Thirty-four were killed, 1,032 injured and over 3,438 arrests made.

In 1966, LIFE magazine revisited the site of the worst riots America had ever seen in its history. The photo essay depicting the region’s ‘fearsome street gangs’ but read like a fashion shoot for dapper style…

In preppy cardigans, high-waisted rolled trousers and Wayfarers - these young men of South Central Los Angeles were a dandy bunch in contrast to their oppressive environment.

The African-American community of Watts came to a boil in August 1965 after years of police discrimination, exclusion from high-paying jobs and indignities of residential segregation. Racially restrictive covenants kept 95% of Los Angeles real estate off-limits to Black and Asian communities, severely restricted in education and economic opportunities.

When Blacks bought homes in American suburbia to live the middle-class dream, racial violence would escalate. White gangs bombed homes and burnt crosses on their lawns. In response to these assaults, Black mutual protection clubs were formed, becoming the basis of the region’s fearsome street gangs.

In the 1960s, the LAPD was known for its brutality against the city’s Latino and black residents. Police chief, William Parker made it policy for officers to ‘establish dominance’ in the face of young Black and Latino teens and pre-teens to show who was boss. Frequent beatings, wrongful arrests, and assaults on women plagued the African American community. On the night of August 11th, intimidation and racial injustice backfired as the Watts’ African American population met its breaking point.

The riot began after a young African American was pulled over by officers for suspicion of driving under the influence. When the driver’s family got involved, they were also arrested, including his mother. Local residents gathered as the situation intensified. Yelling escalated to hurling rocks, bricks and other handy missile they could find at the police. Twenty-nine were arrested with no effect. By the following night Watts was in flames.

Armed rioters passionately shouted, “Burn baby burn” and “Long live Malcolm X.” The fires raged four more days. Civil rights activist, Bayard Rustin wrote, “the whole point of the outbreak in Watts was that it marked the first major rebellion of Negroes against their own masochism and was carried on with the express purpose of asserting that they would no longer quietly submit to the deprivation of slum life.”