TPPM Watts: (23) Sam Yorty

[Paul Nightingale]

"For his Mayor, Sam Yorty, is a great believer in the virtues of
Overwhelming Force as a solution to racial difficulties. This approach
has not gained much favour in Watts."

Very few named individuals in the essay. Deadwyler, McNamara, Malcolm X.
And Sam Yorty, "the very incarnation of the little man", who enjoys his
15 minutes of fame (quoted in several books, including Dallek's Flawed
Giant) for saying the war on poverty "foster[ed] class struggle" in
American cities.

See also: Terry Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties (1996)

"When black residents asked that anti-poverty funds from federal grants
be spent in Watts, Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty said that such demands
were caused by 'Communist agitation.' When [Martin Luther] King
complained about housing restrictions, the mayor responded, 'That's no
indication of prejudice. That's personal choice.' It was, but only for
whites. When King asked the police chief why he referred to black
rioters as 'the criminal element' and as 'monkeys,' the chief declared,
'That's the only language Negroes understand.' City police forces were
notorious. Before urban riots of the 1960s, almost all policemen in
every major city were whites, graduates of high school only, and in the
ghetto cops were known for racism and brutality. Policemen called
sections of Watts 'charcoal alley,' and their billy clubs were 'nigger
knockers.' In most cities black joggers were considered criminals
running from a theft, and police routinely stopped and frisked them.
During the Watts riot, President Johnson asked two trusted assistants to
fly out and investigate. One was white, and the other was Roger Wilkins,
a black assistant attorney general. The two men drove into Watts, and
immediately were pulled over by two white policemen. While one cop asked
the white official some questions and for identification, the other
policeman pulled Wilkins from the car, frisked him roughly, drew his
pistol, jammed the barrel into his stomach, and began asking questions
to find out 'why a nigger was riding with a white,' Wilkins recalled.
'My blood was boiling, and I came an inch of exploding--and losing my
life--until the other policeman told his companion, "Well, well, we've
made a hell of a mistake."'" (134)