Tension between the LAPD and African Americans boiled over and had its hand in starting the Watts riots. The traffic stop of Marquette Frye made the community believe excessive force was used. Once the residents of the Watts suburb witnessed Marquette, his brother and mother get arrested they went into battle mode.
The Watts riot was also a result of the Watts community's longstanding grievances and growing discontentment with high unemployment rates, substandard housing, and inadequate schools. The oppression the community felt caused them to feel as if they weren't good enough for help. The unemployment rates were on purpose. This is true since many trade unions and apprenticeship programs were practices resulted in the discrimination for Negroes (Herald). When they went looking for jobs that were clearly available they found they weren't available to them. Those who went to predominantly African and Mexican American schools were not offered the same educational opportunities as those who lived in advantaged places. Many of the schools in these poor neighborhoods lacked better teachers. Three or more years of experience was what teachers in richer neighborhoods had. They also lacked libraries in disadvantaged schools. If students wanted to go to a better school they could not since transportation was costly.
The riot did inspire the federal government to implement programs to address unemployment, education and housing under Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty." Before this many school in poverty stricken communities' lunch was not provided for students. Unfortunately much of the money set aside for these programs was eventually absorbed by the Vietnam War. The community was forced back to square one. .
Prior to the LA riots the people who lived in poorer neighborhoods in Los Angeles had a hard time than those who did not. This is one the sparks that started the LA riots. For many of those who lived in places such as South Central many necessaries weren't offered.