ABSTRACT
On December 2, 1965, the California Governor's Commission on the Los Angeles Riots released its report, Violence in the City-An End or a Beginning? The eight-member, blue-ribbon commission, headed by former CIA director John A. McCone, determined that police brutality, substandard schools, and poor living conditions were the fundamental causes for the Watts riots, the largest urban uprising of the Civil Rights era. The committee recommended increased communication between the police and the community, and a new system for handling citizen complaints. Each day, reports addressed the carnage: the costs of the riots, the buildings burned and businesses looted, and officials injured. The international response to the Watts riots focused on racial discrimination, police brutality, unemployment and illiteracy as systemic causes for the riots-as did the California Governor's Commission on the Los Angeles riots. The news coverage of the Baltimore riots combined detailed information about the conflict, with reactions from community leaders, politicians, and government officials.
