Watts Riots 1965 was a Indian Wars and Frontier Conflicts engagement fought in California, 1965. It was a California National Guard victory.
The Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC) is a non-profit, 501 (c) 3 organization incorporated in the State of California, in 1965. Its mission "is to improve the quality of life for the residents of Watts and neighboring communities."
The WLCAC was established by Ted Watkins, who was part of the United Automobile Workers Union shortly before the Watts riots in 1965 Watts, California.
Theodore Watkins, better known as Ted Watkins, founded the Watts Labor Community Action Committee. Watkins was born in Meridian, Mississippi in 1912. He moved to Los Angeles, California at the age of 13 after receiving a lynch threat, and soon began working for Ford Motor Company. Shortly thereafter he joined the United Auto Workers, quickly gaining prominence within the union. Throughout his years of involvement with the local chapter of the United Auto Workers, Watkins witnessed many instances of discrimination towards workers in the community. Eventually, with the help of the United Auto Workers, he founded the Watts Labor Community Action Committee. It grew to prominence as a community self-help agency aiding thousands of residents in gaining employment and essential services.
Through the WLCAC, Watkins initiated various programs aimed at alleviating poverty in Watts and generally improving the quality of life for members of the community. During his lifetime, Watkins was involved in the construction of a financial institution and hospital in Watts, as well as the development of low-income housing and youth programs. Following the 1981 riots in London, England, the British prime minister contacted Watkins to fly out to London and help the British government by applying methods used by the WLCAC in the aftermath of the Watts riots. Aided by the relationships he was able to form with public officials and policymakers, Watkins implemented a multitude of programs through the WLCAC.
Right before his death in 1993, Watkins helped to rebuild the WLCAC after it was burned down in the Los Angeles riots of 1992.
WLCAC was initiated largely due to the absence of essential infrastructure in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles such as: Intra-community transportation, housing, senior programs, employment training, job placement, homeless services, health services, and businesses. Watts lacked an advocate to advance concerns regarding the high unemployment rates, poverty, and inadequate living conditions.
The WLCAC's headquarters is located at 109th and Central Avenue in Watts, California.
The War on Poverty, proposed by Lyndon B. Johnson to address the national poverty rate of about nineteen percent, led to the creation of the Economic Opportunity Act, which then established the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to administer the local application of federal funds targeted against poverty. OEO was created to fix the high unemployment rates rising in poverty areas. But from "1965 until 1970, OEO scrambled for an average of about $1.7 billion per year" which "the amounts never amounted to more than around 1.5 percent of the federal budget." The War on Poverty failed to provide the funds and services it promised to areas such as Watts, which led to the creation of many local programs to aid their communities.
Approximate location. The nearest recorded settlement is shown; the exact site is unrecorded.
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