When the smoke finally subsided several days later, more
than thirty people were dead, hundreds had been injured, and almost
four thousand had been arrested. Property damage ran into the
millions.
The nation was shocked. The mass communications media tended to
exaggerate the amount of damage done and also conjured up visions, in
the mind of white America, of organized black gangs deliberately and
systematically attacking white people. Many felt that it had been the
worst racial outbreak in American history. In fact, it was not. The
1943 riot in Detroit and the 1919 riot in Chicago had both been more
violent. The 1917 race riots in East St. Louis, Illinois, had outdone
the Watts outburst in terms of the amount of personal injury. The
violence in most previous riots had been inflicted by whites against
blacks, and perhaps this was why white America did not remember them
very clearly. The violence in Watts, though not directed against white
persons as many believed, was still accomplished by blacks and aimed
against white-owned property. White Americans were confused because
they felt they had given "them" so much.
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