The Guard
was convinced that they were being personally threatened, and the
officers issued live ammunition to all the men.
By the end of the riot, the Guard had fired thousands of rounds of
ammunition. The press portrayed Watts as an armed camp with scores of
black snipers systematically trying to pick off the police and the
Guard. In retrospect, both the police and the Guard came to believe
that most of the snipers had really been the police and the Guardsmen
unknowingly shooting at each other. When all of the evidence was
examined in the calm light of day, very little of it pointed to the
existence of snipers. Gradually, the Guard gained confidence in itself
and in the situation. The more that it acted in calm and deliberation,
the more quickly peace was restored to the area. Finally, eleven days
after the Frye arrest the last members of the Guard withdrew, and the
next day the police returned to normal duty.
In the light of the victories of the Civil Rights Movement, whites
were bewildered by the anger which exploded from the black ghetto.
They thought of their concessions to blacks as gifts from a generous
heart.
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