LAPD Systematic Brutality in Watts Documented Before Uprising

Before the 1965 uprising, the Los Angeles Police Department under Chief William Parker had documented patterns of brutality in Black neighborhoods. Parker had publicly compared Black residents to 'monkeys in a zoo' in 1965. The McCone Commission confirmed 'deep and long-standing schism between a substantial portion of the Negro community and the Police Department' as a primary cause of the unrest.