Marquette Frye and the Watts Riots
By:Ariyana Griffin
You may not be as familiar with the name Marquette Frye as you are with George Floyd, but this young 21 year old changed Los Angeles and their relationship with the police indefinitely. His arrest for suspected drunk driving erupted to what we know now as the Watts Riots of 1965. These riots would change Los Angeles, specifically Watts, and to this day the small urban city still hasn’t fully recovered or healed.
It was a typical warm California evening on August 11, 1965 when Marquette Frye and his brother Ronald Frye decided to get some cool beers. As they headed home, driving along Avalon Blvd., they were pulled over by CHP Officer, Lee Minikus, after he witnessed the 1955 Buick swerve. As Marquette got out of the car and started the sobriety test, which he failed, Ronald headed home to grab their mother to bring her to the scene. By the time she arrived at the corner of Avalon Blvd. and 102nd St. , the spot was already hot and buzzing with onlookers. The crowd grew as they watched as the volatile scene turned into an altercation between the officer and the Fryes.
Once Marquette failed the sobriety test given to him by the officer, his once cooperative mannerisms turned to panic and resistance. As he resisted, the officer began to get physical, and rough. According to NPR.Org, Dr. Perry Couch was a 16 year old boy at the time of the riot and heard the confrontation first hand. He stated, “I was right there when [the officer] started calling him ‘nigger boy’ and all that stuff right here,” Crouch remembers. “And his mother says, ‘His name is Marquette. You don’t have to call him like that.’ He told her, ‘Shut up, you black bitch, stay in your place.’ And then people were like, ‘I know he didn’t say that.’ “
Dr. Couch explained as more racial slurs were exchanged, the altercation began to escalate and after the officer pushed Marquette ‘s mother, it was on and poppin. At this point there are many rumors about what happened, who did what, and who hit whom. However what is clear is that Marquette, Ronald, and their mother Rena were all arrested that night. They were later released the next morning on bail, but by that time the city was already on fire.
Not even an hour after the arrest the riots had begun, the small urban city of Watts turned into a war zone as rocks were thrown, stores were looted, and the city set ablaze. Small businesses were burned to gravel, dust, and bricks. Most small businesses were unable to recover from the ultimate destruction, leaving the city empty for years to come. The riots lasted about a week,
“More than a thousand people were injured; more than 100 were shot. And 34 people died — 23 of whom were killed by the police and National Guard. Two law enforcement officers and a fireman were among the dead.”
Police didn’t do much to stop the fires, looters, or destruction. They more so sat back and watched the urban ghetto town burn to the ground. The city is still healing and the scars of the riots are still prevalent to today. The community’s frustration and tiredness of being mistreated sparked the uprising as a way to be heard after being silenced. Black people were tired then, and Black people are tired now.
Afterwards Marquette struggled to maintain a stable job, he was often seen as a menace after the riots. He even went as far as disconnecting himself by changing his last name to his mother’s maiden name, Price. He spoke in his community about violence, gangs, and drugs after the riots but he still struggled mentally from the whole ordeal. After his son passed away after only being alive 18 months, his mental health deteriorated more to the point where he tried to stab himself.
He was laid to rest after passing from pneumonia at the age of 42 on Christmas Eve of 1986. Marquette Frye’s unfortunate run-in with LAPD on a warm night in 1965 changed his life and many others for years to come. Scars from the altercation healed, but the damage that was done by his encounter left he and his community irreparably scarred emotionally and economically. History keeps repeating itself, when will it end?
Major Sources: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-watts-riots-explainer-20150715-htmlstory.html
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/frye-marquette-1944-1986/
https://daily.jstor.org/did-the-1965-watts-riots-change-anything/
