A black man named Marquette Frye was pulled over in a working-class Los Angeles neighborhood on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. When another officer began hitting Frye and his mother, the crowd that had gathered threw stones and bottles. Then came looting and fires. In response, police cracked down on the black community at large.The year was 1965, and the Voting Rights Act had just passed. Many Californians were shocked by the uprising. Gov. Pat Brown maintained that California was “a state where there is no racial discrimination.”
